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Big East Basketball Rankings: SJU remains undefeated, DePaul surprising

By Lukas Harkins

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski directs his players during the first half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks during the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament at Barclays Center on November 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Marquette Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski directs his players during the first half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks during the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament at Barclays Center on November 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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CINCINNATI, OH – FEBRUARY 28: Head coach Cooley of the Providence Friars argues. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – FEBRUARY 28: Head coach Cooley of the Providence Friars argues. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

And now we get into the potential NCAA Tournament teams, in my opinion. Yes, the Big East is in the midst of an extremely down season but it is still reasonable to think that seven of the 10 teams are still in the running to land Big Dance bids later in the year. Additionally, it is important to mention that I do believe that Providence will be better than this No. 7 ranking in the long run. Ed Cooley is simply too good of a head coach to finish this low in a relatively weak conference.

The issues regarding the Friars, though, center around non-conference resume and health. For starters, the best win to date for PCBB came on the road against Boston College, who is a fringe top-100 team in the country and not exactly an “elite” win. They also needed overtime to come away victorious. Their only other wins that could be classified as resume-builders came over South Carolina (No. 115 KP) and Rhode Island (No. 91 KP), both of which came at home. It is also important to mention that the Friars have suffered two brutal losses (to Wichita State and UMass) in addition to their blowout defeat at the hands of Michigan.

Additionally, the loss of freshman A.J. Reeves to injury is a seriously big deal. Entering this year, my biggest fear regarding Providence was their lack of 3-point shooting. And while the team as a whole has vastly exceeded expectations in this facet of the game, Reeves was clearly the best perimeter threat. He started the season 24-for-54 (45.3%) from beyond the arc before going down with an injury. Reeves will remain out for the next 3-5 weeks with a foot injury and it might be difficult for the team to make up for his shooting/scoring.

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