Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Butler, DePaul keep rising

Villanova’s offense is easily one of the best in the entire nation and that is the main reason why the team is still ranked in the No. 2 spot in these rankings right now. While there is a reasonable argument to be made regarding Butler > Villanova right now based on resumes, I side with the team that is more talented and better coached, at least for now. Villanova is one of the youngest teams in the entire conference this year and it is reasonable to think that head coach Jay Wright just needs a bit more time before guiding this team back to the national top-10.

With that said, though, it is not as though Villanova has played poorly to begin this season. Maybe they don’t quite look like a national title contender (yet), but the Wildcats are still a darn-good team. They sit at 6-2 on the year so far with their lone losses coming away from home against top-15 teams in the nation in Ohio State and Baylor. Those would have been hard games to win for any team, let alone one with as much as youth as Villanova.

The Wildcats still hold the No. 17 spot in KenPom at the moment and they should move up the rankings in the coming months. Villanova’s freshmen are seemingly improving with every single game and there is no better example of this than Justin Moore. After struggling as a starter for his first six collegiate games, the 6-foot-4 was relegated to sixth man duty. He has posted 42 total points in his first two games off the bench, bringing his season average up to 12.0 points per game.

With that said, though, Villanova’s improvement moving forward will need to come on the defensive end. The Wildcats currently rank second nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency but just 68th on defense. Opponents have really been able to excel with regard to 3-point shooting against Villanova thus far. That needs to change.