Big East Basketball never disappoints when it comes to producing high-quality matchups with close and competitive battles to determine the winner when the game is on the line.
During a pandemic year, Big East Basketball has surely brought the hype when it comes to providing entertaining and competitive basketball action resulting in multiple close games and game-winning shots on the final possession.
The Big East Conference this season has spotlighted rising stars in the making by coming through in the clutch.
This season, game-winning baskets have already been made by four players in the final seconds. Three of those clutch players include Adam Kunkel of Xavier (vs Marquette), A.J. Reeves of Providence (vs Seton Hall), and Christian Bishop of Creighton (vs Providence).
The latest hero to add his name to this season’s Big East clutch list happened on Sunday when Xavier freshman guard, Colby Jones, hit the game-winning shot with one-tenth of a second left to give Xavier the win over Providence 74-73.
As of this past week, the Big East has been evolving into tiers of which teams are at the bottom, middle, and top of the conference as recent matchups have allowed for teams to separate from one another.
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, five Big East teams are currently in Lunardi’s latest bracketology, with Villanova (1 seed), Creighton (3 seed), UConn (7 seed), Seton Hall (9 seed), and Xavier (9 seed), all making the projected tournament field. While bubble teams Marquette and Providence are currently on the outside looking in.
Villanova is finally back to practice this week; Creighton recorded blowout victories last week at home; UConn returned to the Top 25 on Monday for the first time since 2016; Xavier won a nail-biter to start their second winning streak this season, and Providence has lost three straight to start the new year.
While we are already halfway through the first month of the new year, where do all 11 Big East teams fare in the conference power rankings with two months remaining before Selection Sunday?
*Games included for the rankings are through 1/15