Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Seton Hall on top, Butler recovering

Xavier honestly hasn’t looked any better than the three teams that it is above in these rankings. In fact, both St. John’s and Georgetown might have better chances of hearing their name called on Selection Sunday considering their stronger out-of-conference resumes. The Musketeers just appear to be lost on the offensive end of the floor and their defense is not nearly consistent enough to overcome those issues. With five losses in their last six games, the team now sits at 13-8 (2-6 BE) on the season.

Perhaps the biggest nail in the coffin (so far) was Xavier’s most recent home loss to Marquette. This game went to double overtime but it didn’t need to. The Musketeers led for the majority of the contest and had the advantage of Markus Howard missing the final eight minutes of regulation (and both overtimes) for Marquette. Yet, they still needed a deep 3-pointer in the final seconds just to send the game to overtime as their offense went ice-cold down the stretch of regulation.

In addition to the Musketeers’ inability to hit a field goal, they struggled mightily at the charity stripe when they were able to draw contact. Xavier shot just 11-for-25 (44.0%) at the free-throw line against Marquette and that statistic is pretty indicative of the team’s play since the start of conference play. Even when they do things well, such as shooting the three against Marquette, they have struggled in a different facet to drag them down.

Xavier will play four of its next five games on the road and they are just 1-4 in away games this season. Additionally, they still have to play the top three of the conference (Hall, Nova, Butler) four more times in total.