Big East Basketball: Xavier, Seton Hall rises, Villanova slides in latest power ranking

9. Providence Friars

Providence’s lack of success over the past few games is not the fault of Kim English and this team, they just ran into the worst-case scenario for their season. Losing Bryce Hopkins for the season is a blow that is not something teams can recover from and remain that solid ranked team they were. Devin Carter has beem absolutely outstanding, but he can only do so much when this team was built around the star that is Hopkins. They have only defeated DePaul since the injury to Hopkins, and while they played in a couple close games, it is clear they are not the same team.

Their record still sits at 12-6, and they have a chance to finish with a winning record, and if they get hot and pick up some solid wins, there is a very slight chance at a tournament bid in a best-case scenario. However, it seems that this team is going to continue to struggle without their superstar, and this team should not get much blame for how they perform the rest of the year.

Fully healthy, Providence probably is a comfortable top-five team in the Big East, but they find themselves in the bottom three given their situation. However, they are not an easy win at all in this conference, and they still hold a great home-court advantage that can help propel them to some key victories down the stretch. Friar fans should still have a ton of hope for the English era, especially if this team is able to stabilize their season despite the adversity they have had to face.