NCAA Basketball: Pac-12 tumbles in latest conference rankings
By Adam Childs
The Big East gets a slight edge over the conferences above them, but they will need to pick it up if they want to stay ahead. Villanova has somewhat righted their ship after a bad start as they beat Florida State to win the AdvoCare Invitational. They did show their youth as they then returned home and almost got beat by a winless LaSalle team. But they still have one of the best coaches in the country in Jay Wright and cannot be taken lightly.
The biggest surprise right now, though, maybe that the St Johns Red Storm is the last remaining undefeated team in the conference at 7-0. They do not have any jump off the page wins, but they have played well and look to be a challenger when conference starts.
Georgetown and DePaul both just have one loss and are playing well. Creighton did lead Gonzaga by double digits in the first half before losing at home. Butler has looked good at times but also lost to Dayton in the Bahamas.
No team in the Big East is under .500 but with only Villanova ranked the country obviously is not very impressed with who the conference has beaten. There does not appear to be a clear-cut favorite going into conference play and that could end up hurting them as everyone beats up on everybody and no truly elite teams rise up. The Big East may struggle to get to four bids this year.