3. St. John’s Red Storm (7-2)
St. John’s flirted with danger on Saturday as the Red Storm trailed Kansas State at halftime before rattling off 53 points in the second half to win comfortably.
The schedule is light for the Johnnies, but maybe that is exactly how Rick Pitino wants it with a non-conference matchup with Bryant on Wednesday night before beginning league play next Tuesday against DePaul.
The time is now for the Storm to begin Big East play with a bang.
4. Creighton Bluejays (7-3)
The biggest debate in the rankings this week was whether to put Creighton or Butler in the No. 4 spot but if you are coming off a week in which you beat the No. 1 team, you get the benefit of the doubt.
So, the Bluejays are sitting pretty for now, but Greg McDermott has so much work ahead of him with this team after it was announced that prized transfer Pop Isaacs will miss the season due to a hip injury.
There is still talent on this Creighton team but the versatility of scoring prowess of Isaacs, who had 27 points against Kansas, will be greatly missed. The pressure on the shoulders of Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth just went up tremendously.