[Cracked Sidewalks] Big East's Big Week: 7 of top 8 team move up, 4-0 vs. Pac-12, 4-1 vs. SEC, 4-4 when underdog

[CrackedSidewalks]

Big East's Big Week: 7 of top 8 team move up, 4-0 vs. Pac-12, 4-1 vs. SEC, 4-4 when underdog

What a week for the Big East. The week started with Georgetown falling just short of an upset of Duke, 86-84, but the Hoyas still moved up from 38th to 30th at www.kenpom.com.

That started a week in which the Big East went 4-4 in games in which the Big East team was ranked behind their opponent at www.kenpom.com (Providence over Arizona, Marquette's two wins and Seton Hall over Georgia, though in that last game the home court gave Seton Hall a slight edge).

The conference went 4-0 against the Pac-12 and 4-1 against the SEC.

Two of the losses were in a 20-4 week were by lowly St. John's against ranked teams, and DePaul was weak.

Of the top 8 teams in the conference only Butler slid (from 25th to 35th after losing to #16 Miami).

Villanova's actual rating improved to keep them in 2nd place, and the others move up. The week is important because once conference play starts Marquette's opponents must be ranked highly enough to let MU potentially get enough quality wins to earn a bid to the tournament.

The bad news is these teams are looking tougher to beat than it appeared a couple of weeks ago - the good news is there will be enough chances for quality wins that MU could earn a bid.

Big East	Starting Rnk	Current Rnk	Results and Rank of Opponent
Villanova	2	2	54, Akron, W, 75-56; 125, Stanford, W, 59-45 and 88, Georgia Tech, W, 69-52
Xavier	22	18	281, Northern Kentucky, W, 78-66; 95, Alabama, W, 64-45 and 43, USC, W, 87-77
Georgetown	38	30	5, Duke, L, 86-84 and 295, Bryant, W, 77-47
Butler	25	35	16, Miami FL, L, 85-75 and 319, SIU Edwardsville, W, 89-73
Providence	59	46	127, NJIT, W, 83-76; 75, Evansville, W, 74-64 and 19, Arizona, W, 69-65
Creighton	82	53	221, Rutgers, W, 85-75; 123, Massachusetts, W, 97-76 and 166, Western Illinois, W97-67
Seton Hall	91	70	79, Mississippi, W, 75-63 and 59, Georgia, W, 69-62
Marquette	102	99	64, LSU, W, 81-80 and 74, Arizona St., W, 78-73
DePaul	140	150	264, Norfolk St., W, 82-78
St. Johns	156	172	11, Vanderbilt, L, 92-55; 26, Indiana, L, 83-73 and NR, Chaminade, W, 100-93

Source: Big East's Big Week: 7 of top 8 team move up, 4-0 vs. Pac-12, 4-1 vs. SEC, 4-4 when underdog