3. St. John’s Red Storm (11-2, 2-0 Big East)
St. John’s, one of the teams that played this week, made quick work of Delaware after stealing a victory on the road over Providence last Friday night behind Zuby Ejiofor’s buzzer beater to continue its positive momentum this season.
The Johnnies have been good but haven’t shown anything overly impressive, but Rick Pitino’s team can prove to the rest of the conference what it really made of in the next three games with two of them coming on the road.
THIS WEEK: at. Creighton (Tuesday) and vs. Butler (Saturday)
4. Creighton Bluejays (8-5, 1-1 Big East)
Creighton looked as bad as it had all season when losing by 24 points on the road against Georgetown before responding with a victory at home over Villanova in which the ‘Jays hit 14 3-pointers.
The adjustment to playing without Pop Isaacs will be noticeable but players like Jackson McAndrew and Jamiya Neal will have to fill the void as Fedor Zugic, the international prospect who had just been cleared by the NCAA prior to Creighton’s game against Villanova, will be a wildcard for the rest of the season.
THIS WEEK: vs. St. John’s (Tuesday) and at. Marquette (Friday)
5. Villanova Wildcats (8-5, 1-1 Big East)
Villanova still has a lot of ground to make up after early season losses to Columbia, Saint Joseph’s, and Virginia but its loss on the road against Creighton snapped a 5-game winning streak and this is a week that the Wildcats could look to get fat.
It’s never easy playing in Hinkle Fieldhouse but a win over Butler and then a home game against DePaul would set Kyle Neptune’s team up for a very interesting stretch against UConn, St. John’s, and Xavier. The time is now to rectify its mistakes.
THIS WEEK: at. Butler (Wednesday) and vs. DePaul (Saturday)