NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Illinois rises, Dayton keeps impressing

Butler dropped its third consecutive game to begin this week as it fell on the road to Villanova but then responded in a big way with a gritty home win over Marquette to get back on track. The Dawgs now sit at 16-4 (4-3 BE) on the season and belong safely in the Top 15, in my opinion.

Three of their four losses on the season have come to teams currently ranked in my Top 8 of these rankings and they have a bunch of quality wins. It is easy to overreact to Butler’s recent slide but the fact of the matter is that the team still has one of the best resumes in the country.

Looking ahead, Butler’s upcoming schedule is relatively favorable. The team will be tasked with taking on Georgetown on the road next but will then return home to play four of its next five games at home.

This stretch represents a big opportunity for the Dawgs to potentially re-enter the Big East regular-season title race. They are already a bit behind but have played the toughest intra-conference schedule so far (per T-Rank). Butler seemed to regain some of its rhythm during this past week based on the eye test and that will hopefully continue into the future.

Additionally, Butler’s win over Marquette showed why it is reasonable to think this team can make a deep run in March. To put it simply, Kamar Baldwin is a baaaad man. A mid-range assassin with ambidextrous finishing at the basket, Baldwin outdueled Markus Howard throughout the second-half of that contest while simply willing the Dawgs to victory on both ends of the floor.

Butler was forced to play without Christian David (ACL tear – season-ending) and Aaron Thompson (wrist – day-to-day) in that game but Baldwin took over in their absences with a 31-point performance. Butler has a vaunted defense and a go-to star when it matters most. Those are two key ingredients for success in March.