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

Marquette started conference play relatively slowly but has rattled off four wins in its last five games to solidify itself as a Top 5 team in the country. In my opinion, there is a big gap between Marquette and Providence in my rankings despite the fact that their respective conference records are not all that different. The Golden Eagles deserve to be lumped much closer to the upper echelon of the league rather than the bottom half.

They should be a lock to reach the NCAA Tournament and they also have a relatively favorable schedule approaching as well. Five of Marquette’s next seven games will be played in the Fiserv Forum as the team will be looking to make a push up the power rankings.

As long as Markus Howard returns soon (injured against Xavier), this is a darn good offensive team that has proven inconsistent but capable on the defensive end of the floor. Sacar Anim is blossoming into a star as the second-best offensive threat on the team and Koby McEwen has been stepping up in the big moments.

I understand the reasons to be skeptical about Marquette. The team is quite volatile and dependent on its 3-point shooting to win games. With Howard and Anim, they are quite deadly from beyond the arc (39.4%, 6th nationally in 3P%) but that is a strength that can be taken away simply by those two having “off nights.”

Additionally, the Golden Eagles do not have that many high-quality wins so it’s reasonable to question how when they can compete with the best of the best.