Big East Basketball Rankings: Villanova rising, Creighton struggling

VILLANOVA, PA - NOVEMBER 06: Jermaine Samuels #23, Phil Booth #5, Eric Paschall #4, Collin Gillespie #2, and Dylan Painter #42 of the Villanova Wildcats huddle prior to the game against the Morgan State Bears at Finneran Pavilion on November 6, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Wildcats defeated the Bears 100-77. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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Seton Hall Pirates’ mascot celebrates at Madison Square Garden on December 8, 2018 in New York City. /

Despite the fact that Seton Hall has lost three of its last four games, they still belong fairly high on this list. The Pirates, on the whole, have vastly exceeded expectations to this point in the year and their overall resume warrants a high placement. With offensive superstar Myles Powell leading the way to go with the conference’s most efficient defense, this is a team that should continue to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid as the year goes on.

Head coach Kevin Willard has really done a nice job with this roster and their strong rotations on defense make it hard for opponents to score consistently. Looking ahead, the Pirates will take on DePaul at home in their next game before taking on Villanova in a pivotal road game. As of right now, Seton Hall sits rather firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble and back-to-back wins during this coming week should put them in a stronger position.

The majority of Seton Hall’s remaining games will come at home in the Prudential Center so they should be able to use that advantage to potentially end the regular-season with a winning record in conference play. Not many teams will be able to brag about that, in my opinion.

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