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

Providence has now dropped three straight games since starting conference play at 4-1. Even with this recent slide, though, there simply isn’t a better choice for the No. 6 slot as the four teams behind the Friars each have two or fewer conference wins.

The fact that Providence still sits at this spot really shows how top-heavy the league has turned out to be through the first few weeks of the conference season. The Top 4, in my opinion, are definitely ahead of the rest of the pack and that is evidenced by the fact that the Friars are 0-4 against those teams and 4-0 against the other five teams.

With regard to Providence specifically, the team will have a really hard time landing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament at this point. This was already the case before the conference season considering the Friars’ poor performances in non-conference play but that sliver of hope has now essentially disappeared. With three of the next four games on the road for Providence, the team will need to continue growing. The Friars are just 3-7 when playing away-from-home this season.

Perhaps the most intriguing statistical note about Providence is its change of pace since the beginning of conference play. The Friars rated among the fastest teams in the nation during the non-conference portion of the year but have exhibited the slowest pace (66.4) in the Big East through eight conference games.