I’m sure after reading last week, some of you jumped off the Big East bandwagon. It was a tough week for the conference. Seton Hall fell out of the rankings following a loss to Rhode Island and Xavier had a bit of a free fall after a loss to Arizona State. At this point in the season, it’s hard to see that this is the second or third best conference in the nation. After all, they only have one more ranked team than the American and really no good wins (more to come on that wins thing). But top to bottom, there might not be a single conference better (more to come on that, also). Don’t hop off the bandwagon yet.

Battle 4 Atlantis turns out to be quite civil

The Battle 4 Atlantis has been good to Villanova in recent years. This year was their first appearance since 2013 when they defeated number 2 Kansas en route to a championship victory. This year, the schedule did not quite work out in that fashion.

Nova drew what was probably the least talented team in the first round with Western Kentucky. They proceeded to play really poorly against the Hilltoppers and only won by eight. All while they were putting up this disappointing performance in the first round, the other ranked teams in Purdue and Arizona were losing. Ultimately, the tournament worked out in the worst possible way to help Villanova’s strength of schedule and they had to only add wins against Tennessee and Northern Iowa to complete the championship run. Wins are wins, but this has to be an extremely disappointing tournament for Jay Wright and co. A game against Gonzaga next week marks the most important of the young season for the Wildcats.

Big East, big scoring

Seven teams in the Big East are currently averaging at least 79.5 points per game. Creighton and Xavier are both over 90 points per game. Georgetown is currently outscoring Villanova on a per game basis. There are dudes in this conference that can get buckets. While some blue bloods are struggling because they don’t have a “guy” (looking at you, Kentucky), almost every Big East school has someone they trust they can go to. Nova has two in Brunson and Bridges. Marquette has Rowsey. Seton Hall has Desi Rodriguez. Creighton has Marcus Howard. Providence has Bullock and Cartwright. There are guys in this league that are dudes, if you know what I mean.

St. John’s and Georgetown are good (maybe, possibly)

Right now, it’s looking like the Big East is back to the way it should be: with only DePaul being irrelevant. This conference is better when the big names are better, and St. John’s and Georgetown are both historic programs that should be dominant.

St. John’s is not the powerhouse it was in the 80’s. But with a member of that team back at the helm in Chris Mullin, there is a sense of hope again. Last season was a major rebuilding year for them. The talent was obviously there, it was just too young to get anything done. ]But this year, they are off to a 6-1 start, still led by a lot of youth, but this year at least a year older. There are only six players on the roster that are either Juniors or Seniors. That’s not a recipe for immediate success, especially in a veteran conference like the Big East, but the talent is at least paying dividends now. The class that was Mullin’s first, headlined by Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett, is now leading this team to some success, which is extremely promising for the future.

Georgetown took a similar coaching approach to their rebuilding when they hired former star Patrick Ewing to lead the process. Unlike Mullin, he inherited some veteran talent, though. His three top scorers are all either junior and seniors, led by senior big man Jessie Govan. Really, big man is doing this monster a disservice. He has three double-doubles already and is averaging 19 and 12. Ewing has also shown his recruiting potential with fourth-leading scorer Jahvon Blair, who is currently at 11 per game. Of course, Georgetown hasn’t quite had the schedule yet, but wins are wins.

Some other stuff

• Providence needed a Kyron Cartwright buzzer beater to defeat Belmont. That’s not a great thing.
• Mikal Bridges dipped below 3 steals a game and I am absolutely shook about it.
• Andrew Rowsey continues to have no chill.
• Seton Hall not being ranked is absolutely laughable. Xavier and Creighton in the 20’s is almost as funny.
• I can’t figure out if I would rather try to rebound against Angel Delgado or Jessie Govan. I would like some clarity on this. What happens when they try to rebound against each other? Is that how black holes are created? Is the world going to end on January 13 when Seton Hall and Georgetown face off for the first time?
• Butler beating former coach and now coach of Ohio State, Chris Holtmann, made me unreasonably happy. This can really be one of those things that gets the ball rolling for them. College basketball deserves Butler to be good.
• Xavier is going to shmack Baylor tonight. Baylor is not very good.