NCAA Basketball top 25 power rankings: Tennessee and Villanova rise, Alabama falls
By Joey Loose
16. Seton Hall (9-1)
There’s a number of Big East teams who have had a nice early showing but it’s hard to top what Seton Hall has accomplished in the early going. Nobody quite expected such a solid start from these Pirates, who picked up a pair of impressive wins in the nonconference slate and look ready for Big East play; whenever that starts for them.
The Pirates got big wins on the road at Michigan and at home against Texas. They’ve notched a few other nice wins, beating California and Rutgers among others, while the lone loss came to a very talented Ohio State team over a month ago. Unfortunately, Seton Hall hasn’t played in two weeks due to their current COVID pause, which has already scratched their first two conference games. The Big East will be a battle, but wins over Michigan and Texas is certainly something to brag about for the Pirates.
Jared Rhoden has done great work picking up the torch and running with it, while the rest of this Pirates squad has done just enough to get these nice wins. Like some of these other Big East teams, the defense has helped bring them to wins, while the offense has survived some inconsistent shooting along the way.
They may be our highest rated team in the conference, but it remains to be seen if Seton Hall can keep putting together these kinds of performances to win the Big East. For now, they look like a solid bet, even though the conference slate will be quite a grind.