2023-24 Big East Basketball power rankings ahead of conference play

9. Xavier Musketeers

Xavier basketball lost a lot of pieces over the offseason, and while they are not the ranked team they were, this program has done a solid job in their retooling. This team stands at 6-5 and is currently on a two-game winning streak after wins over Cincinnati and Winthrop. They have played some great opponents in Purdue and Houston, so their strength of schedule gives them a leg up here.

They also have a huge win over Saint Mary’s, so for a 6-5 team they have a pretty good resume going for themselves. This team is led by Desmond Claude, who has had a major jump in his sophomore season, putting up 15.5 points per game, good for second on the team. You do not usually view the sophomore as the team veteran, but given the roster turnover he has had to be a big-time leader.

Quincy Olivari came in from Rice and has been a huge impact transfer for the Musketeers. He leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points per game, and that output has been massive for their success. This is still a team learning to play with each other and communicate well, but now that they have some games under their belt this is going to be a sneaky team in the Big East Conference