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Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Butler, Villanova assert their spots

By Lukas Harkins

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - DECEMBER 21: Aaron Thompson #2 of the Butler Bulldogs dribbles the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers during the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 21, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - DECEMBER 21: Aaron Thompson #2 of the Butler Bulldogs dribbles the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers during the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 21, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 21: Villanova Wildcats react. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 21: Villanova Wildcats react. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Big East basketball just capped off arguably its best weekend of the entire season. Where does every team stand in the power rankings now?

Big East basketball started this season a bit slow but the conference is really starting to hit its stride. Over the past couple of weeks, the league has secured several top-tier wins as everyone is seemingly thirsty to prove itself not only worthy of early NCAA Tournament consideration but in-the-hunt for landing a spot in the AP Top 25. That much has been evident as of late with nine (!!!) teams receiving votes for the most recent poll that was released on Dec. 23rd.

Starting with Villanova, they secured the biggest win for the conference while defending their home-court in a narrow victory over Kansas. That performance showed that Villanova is still one of the best teams in the entire country even though it is a young team still learning to play as a  unit. Additionally, Butler once again proved that it deserves to be mentioned among the elites by controlling Purdue for a neutral-site victory to move to 11-1 on the season. The Dawgs have been remarkably impressive all season long.

Perhaps even more important than the Big East’s leaders showing out, the “bottom” of the conference also put forth some big-time performances. Most notably, St. John’s was able to upset nationally-ranked Arizona at a neutral-site despite playing without Mustapha Heron. Furthermore, Providence seemed to right the ship (at least a little bit) in a dominating home victory over Texas.

The Big East is starting to look more and more like the deepest conference in the entire country. With that said, though, that just makes these weekly power rankings for the conference even more difficult to figure out. As I have stated in the past, I firmly believe that Villanova/Butler belong as the top tier and Providence sits at the bottom (for now). With that said, though, there is a rational argument to be made for ranking 3-through-9 in any order.

Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into this week’s edition of my Big East Power Rankings.

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