Big East Basketball power rankings: Villanova drops lower, St. John’s rises

1. Xavier Musketeers – 15-3 (7-0)

The Musketeers are the last team standing without a loss in the Big East, taking care of business at home in the past two games. The first was against Creighton, which may be the Game of the Year in conference play so far. The final score was 90-87 in Xavier’s favor, led by 26 points and eight assists from Souley Boum. Colby Jones had 20 points, while Jack Nunge produced 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The next game was also a close battle and entertaining matchup, this time against Marquette. Both teams cooled off after a blazing first-half barrage but Xavier was able to muster enough scoring in the final minutes to pull off the 80-76 victory. It was a balanced effort for the team, with Nunge (16 points and 13 rebounds) and Boum (16 points, 6 rebs, 5 asts) leading the way. Six players for the team were in double figures, including forward Jerome Hunter off the bench.

The Musketeers are alone in first place in the standings and have to be No. 1 in these power rankings. But a case can be made that they’ve benefitted from the most favorable opening schedule compared to the other top contenders in this conference. The three road games to this point were against St. John’s, Georgetown, and Villanova, and not against the likes of UConn, Providence, and Marquette.

The back half of the schedule will get tough for Xavier but not this week, taking on DePaul on the road and Georgetown at home. Anything other than 2-0 would be a surprise from this team and they need to keep stacking wins to build a cushion in this Big East Basketball regular-season title race.