Big East undefeated on opening night

[Marcus92]

Not exactly the most challenging opponents — Marquette faced the only Top 200 team. And Xavier survived a scare from 325th ranked Lehigh. But the Big East took care of business last night. Updated Pomeroy rankings in parentheses.

Villanova (2) beat Lafayette (307) 88-48
Jalen Brunson 17 pts, Kris Jenkins 16 pts

Xavier (16) beat Lehigh (325) 84-81
Trevon Bluiett 25 pts, Edmond Sumner 24 pts

Marquette (33) beat Vanderbilt (72) 95-71
JaJuan Johnson 21 pts, Luke Fischer 18 pts

Seton Hall (37) beat Farleigh Dickinson (265) 91-70
Khadeen Carrington 27 pts, Angel Delgado 22 pts

Creighton (41) beat UMKC (219) 89-82
Marcus Foster 19 pts, Maurice Watson 17 pts

St. John's (94) beat Bethune Cookman (339) 100-53
Federico Mussini 20 pts, Marcus LoVett 19 pts

A number of good non-conference tests coming up in the next week and a half, including:

Nova (2) at Purdue (12) — Monday 11/14
Creighton (41) vs. Wisconsin (8) — Tuesday 11/15
Georgetown (30) vs. Maryland (54) — Tuesday 11/15
Marquette (33) vs. Michigan (31) — Thursday 11/17
Seton Hall (37) at Iowa (55) — Thursday 11/17
Georgetown (30) vs. Oregon (9) — Monday 11/21

[Marcus92]

Just for comparison, not all the power conferences escaped unscathed:

ACC
Boston College (191) lost to Nicholls St. (304) 79-73

Big Ten
Michigan St. (15) lost to Arizona (10) 65-63
Penn St. (106) lost to Albany (155) 87-81

SEC
Georgia (59) lost to Clemson (23) 74-64
Vanderbilt (72) lost to Marquette (33) 95-71
Tennessee (114) lost to Chattanooga (83) 82-69

[geps]

UConn also lost to Wagner at home.

[brewcity77]

UConn also lost to Wagner at home.

To be fair, he did say POWER CONFERENCE teams   

[UticaBusBarn]

Boy is it great to have college basketball back. I don't know about the rest of you, but the down period between seasons seems to have lasted an eternity.

[brewcity77]

Boy is it great to have college basketball back. I don't know about the rest of you, but the down period between seasons seems to have lasted an eternity.

It has been longer than usual the past three years, what with our postseason drought.

[Marcus92]

UConn also lost to Wagner at home.

I think the Big East's conference strength is best measured against other basketball power conferences — and the AAC simply doesn't make the cut. UConn certainly doesn't look like an NCAA team based on how they started the season.

[Galway Eagle]

It has been longer than usual the past three years, what with our postseason drought.

But between the alumni tournament this past year and the Europe trip a couple years ago you'd think it would be going by faster

[Marcus92]

I did omit Kansas (6) in the Big 12 losing to Indiana (12).

[brewcity77]

But between the alumni tournament this past year and the Europe trip a couple years ago you'd think it would be going by faster

Appetizers are nice, but we know the real thing when we see it.

[Galway Eagle]

Appetizers are nice, but we know the real thing when we see it.

Oh I agree my point is just that it's weird that the off-season is going by so much slower when we've actually been lucky to have a short little "appetizer" during the offseason

[MUBigDance]

BEAST has two more on Sunday (DePaul over Robert Morris and SH over Central Conn.).

Lets hope this roll could last a whole week
A couple of tough ones Tuesday and a bunch on Thursday.

thru this weekend there appears to be about 30 games +/-. 
Not sure what would be considered fair/good/excellent.....but I really think the Big East could win close to 90% of these games.

[Marqus Howard]

Villanova (3) at Purdue (15) tonight is a tough matchup too.

[fjm]

Dang! That should be a good game!

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Just for comparison, not all the power conferences escaped unscathed:

ACC
Boston College (191) lost to Nicholls St. (304) 79-73

Big Ten
Michigan St. (15) lost to Arizona (10) 65-63
Penn St. (106) lost to Albany (155) 87-81

SEC
Georgia (59) lost to Clemson (23) 74-64
Vanderbilt (72) lost to Marquette (33) 95-71
Tennessee (114) lost to Chattanooga (83) 82-69

Yale beat Washington yesterday in Seattle and without their breakout player for the season due to a foot injury.

[GB Warrior]

Gavitt games look like a blast, especially if you count ours as one of them.