Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Butler, Seton Hall secure road wins

Xavier has the potential to win the Big East this season. I will admit that. The Musketeers are very strong on the defensive end and there is potential to improvement offensively to make a big run. With that said, though, I am simply not a believer in their ability to consistently find ways to score.

Xavier is completely ineffective as a 3-point shooting team and they also turn the ball over at a relatively high rate as well. I absolutely love this team’s toughness and defense but simply have a hard time believing that they will score enough to really shoot up these rankings.

During this past week, Xavier put together a solid performance on the road against Villanova but wound up losing by six. The Musketeers gave up a massive run in the first half to fall behind by double-digits and were never able to get over the hump on any of their comebacks. That should be a testament to Villanova’s ability to stay poised amidst of a run.

With regard to individual leaders, Naji Marshall posted 19 points on the night to lead Xavier.

The team, though, shot just 1-for-11 from three and that was a major downfall. I would like to say that Xavier will not shoot that poorly again this season but it easily could. The Musketeers rank just 297th in the nation in 3-point efficiency at 29.4%. Additionally, not a single individual is shooting over 34.0% from beyond the arc.

Xavier, though, has a favorable schedule approaching with three consecutive home games up next against St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Creighton. This stretch represents a great opportunity for the Musketeers to assert themselves as one of the best teams in the conference. 2-1 or 3-0 would also likely warrant a rise in these rankings.