10. Villanova Wildcats (4-4)
It had to feel good for Villanova fans to get out of the negative spotlight in the conference during Feast Week.
After its gut-wrenching loss to Maryland last Sunday, the Wildcats only played one game over the last week and it was a blowout win over Rider. It tells us nothing if Kyle Neptune's team can turn things around but it did avoid another catastrophic loss.
However, Villanova can prove that it will not be an easy out for the rest of its schedule with a victory at home on Tuesday night against No. 14 Cincinnati. A win won't erase losses to Columbia and Saint Joseph's, but a little fight could go a long way on the Main Line.
11. Seton Hall Pirates (4-4)
I don't want to say everything was in front of Seton Hall after it returned from the Charleston Classic because the team still had three losses but things were looking good for the Pirates.
Shaheen Holloway's team was feeling confident about its 2-1 weekend in South Carolina after losses to Fordham and Hofstra and its upcoming schedule was favorable until traveling to Rutgers in the middle of December.
The first hurdle in that favorable schedule was an 0-8 Monmouth team at home.
Turns out it wasn't a favorable schedule or a small hurdle because the Hawks stunned the Pirates, 63-51.
For all intensive purposes, it eliminated Seton Hall from an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. It would have been an up-hill battle anyway, but losing to a winless team on your homecourt is nearly impossible to comeback from.
A long season seems to be shaping up in South Orange.