Big East Basketball Rankings: SJU remains undefeated, DePaul surprising

Marquette, in my opinion, should be the clear favorite to win the Big East at this point in time. And that is coming from a writer who grew up a Wisconsin fan. Quite simply, the Golden Eagles have played at an extremely high level ever since getting dismantled by Indiana in the third game of the season. The team has won seven of their last eight games with that lone loss coming at a neutral site against the No. 1 team in the country in the Kansas Jayhawks.

Additionally, head coach Steve Wojciechowski’s team has snagged wins over Louisville, Kansas State, and Wisconsin during their current six-game winning streak. It is simply hard to argue with how well the Golden Eagles are playing at this point in time. Markus Howard, who is averaging 23.2 points and 4.5 assists per game, should be the clear frontrunner for Big East Player of the Year heading into conference play and he is getting plenty of help from the Hauser Brothers in the frontcourt.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Marquette is an entirely different team this year on the defensive end. The Golden Eagles made massive strides on that end of the floor over the course of the offseason and it has been abundantly clear on the court. After finishing in the bottom half of the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency in each of the last two seasons, Marquette currently stands at 44th in that statistic. That…is something.

On the whole, who really knows what is going to happen in Big East basketball this season? I sure don’t. The league has the potential to be incredibly competitive from top to bottom this year and, while this might not yield a ton of NCAA Tournament bids compared to prior seasons, it should be incredibly fun. Will Villanova figure it out? How good is St. John’s really? Will DePaul actually escape the basement? Oh, I can’t wait for conference play.