NCAA Basketball: Big East Power Rankings (December 30)

With the start of Big East play, consistent movement between teams should now be expected in the rankings. This week is no different, as carnage was the theme among Big East teams—in and out of conference. Half of the conference's teams lost, and Pittsburgh lost twice, creating lots to talk about.

As always I am joined by my partner Chris Tripodi for this weeks Big East rankings. Let's take a look at where the teams all stack up.

No. 1: Syracuse (14-0)

Ross and Chris's Rank: No. 1

The Orange played possibly their best game of the season in a potential trap game against Seton Hall, blowing out the Pirates 75-49 to open up Big East play.

Cuse's balanced attack wore down Seton Hall, and sophomore Fab Melo had a school record 10 blocks while nearly securing a triple-double.

Syracuse will have to shake off those road cobwebs now, having only played one true road game out of conference. The Orange take on Providence and DePaul this week, both away from the comforts of the Carrier Dome.

2. Connecticut (11-1)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 2

The Huskies got a road scare from South Florida on Wednesday night, but it looks like Jeremy Lamb is picking up right where Kemba Walker left off, coming up with big plays in clutch, late-game situations to make sure his team comes out with a victory.

His 16 second-half points were the reason UConn was able to pick up its 11th win this season. The Huskies probably won't fall very far in these rankings at any point this season with Lamb leading the way, as the sophomore very well could be the conference's best player. (Tripodi)

3. Georgetown (11-1)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 3

The Hoyas' great season continued with a big 71-68 win at Louisville this week behind the strong play of two young players, sophomore Markel Starks and freshman Otto Porter.

Combined with the experience of upperclassmen Jason Clark, Henry Sims and Hollis Thompson, this Georgetown team proved once and for all that it is absolutely for real and deserves a top-10 national ranking. John Thompson III has to get a lot of credit for what he's done with this squad. (Tripodi)

4. Louisville (12-1)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 4

The Cardinals suffered their first loss of the 2011 season at home against Georgetown, but they still could remain in the top 10, which would give the Big East four teams with that distinction assuming the Hoyas move up.

Louisville has still been impressive this season, as many thought the loss of Mike Marra would hurt the team much earlier than it did. The Cardinals shot just 42 percent from the field against Georgetown. (Tripodi)

T-5. Marquette (11-2)

Ross Rank: 5—Marquette did not look like a Top-15 team when Vanderbilt came into its yard and beat it by 17 points yesterday. That makes two losses in its last three games for a team that started the year 10-0.

Losing to Vandy is nothing to be ashamed of, it was a preseason Top-10 team after all, but the Golden Eagles looked completely flat and don't have much momentum going into their Big East opener with Villanova on New Year's Day.

Chris's Rank: 6—Marquette could find its way back into my top five, but after a loss to LSU last week and a home pounding at the hands of Vanderbilt, it falls to sixth.

The Commodores are a good team but not a team that should come into your building and win by 17. Marquette will need a big win at Georgetown next Wednesday or West Virginia to lose to Seton Hall or Rutgers to unanimously move back into the top five.

T-5. West Virginia

Ross's Rank: 6—The score might suggest a blowout, but Villanova gave West Virginia all it could handle for the first 35 minutes on its home court in its Big East opener.

The good news for the Mountaineers is that they came out on top and look to be one of the conference's better teams as Big East play gets underway. Two of their three losses on the year have come against current Top-15 teams, and they lost to seventh-ranked Baylor by only two points in overtime last Friday.

Chris's Rank: 5—West Virginia was 20 seconds away from knocking Baylor from the ranks of the unbeaten, but Pierre Jackson's three-pointer tied the game, and Baylor's superior talent won out in overtime.

All-Big East hopeful Kevin Jones had 28 points and 17 rebounds, and behind his senior leadership, the Mountaineers look like a serious Sweet 16 sleeper. They may not be in the Top 25 like Marquette, but they've been the better team of late.

7. Cincinnati (10-3)

Ross's Rank: 7—As strange as it may sound, the ugly brawl with Xavier might be the best thing that happened to Cincinnati's basketball team all season.

Since the brawl, Cincy has gone undefeated and fluctuated in my rankings, dropping as low as 12th immediately after the brawl to now picking itself back up to seventh.

The Bearcats won a squeaker last night over Oklahoma, which was by far their toughest game since losing Yancy Gates to a six-game suspension. Now with that suspension almost up, Cincy and its new four-guard offense seems to be hitting its stride at just the right time.

The Bearcats will have to play one more game without Gates—their Big East opener at struggling Pittsburgh on New Year's. But if they can manage a win there, Cincinnati will be in great shape going into 2012.

Chris's Rank: 8—Unlike Ross, I've kept Cincinnati pretty steady in my rankings.

It started 10th for the first two weeks, moving up to ninth last week and now eighth. I felt this team was slightly overrated to start the season, but like Ross said above, it will be better in the end thanks to the Xavier brawl and subsequent suspensions.

When Yancy Gates returns for the majority of the Big East schedule, this team will know how to win without him, and if he fits back into the offense seamlessly, Mick Cronin will be very pleased. I didn't expect the Bearcats to beat Oklahoma, especially after they were down by 12 with just over seven minutes left. I'm starting to be impressed.

8. Pittsburgh (11-3)

Ross's Rank: 9—The legitimacy of Pittsburgh as a contender in the Big East seems to be headed in the wrong direction for Jamie Dixon's squad after a terrible week.

Pitt lost its second home game of the season to an unranked mid-major opponent when it dropped to Wagner 59-54 on Friday. And it followed that up with a loss to Notre Dame in its Big East opener.

It may be premature to hit Pitt with the dreaded "overrated" stamp, but the Panthers absolutely have to win this week against Cincinnati and DePaul if they are going to avoid completely falling apart.

Chris's Rank: 8—What happened to this team?

Travon Woodall's injury issues seem to have sapped the life out of the Panthers, and it's obvious now that he's the straw that stirs the drink. Woodall returned from groin and ab injuries against Notre Dame but was ineffective with a 2:2 assist:turnover ratio in 18 minutes.

If Woodall can't get up to speed in time for Sunday's game with Cincinnati, Pittsburgh's free fall out of the Top 25 and down these rankings could continue.

9. Seton Hall (11-2)

Ross's Rank: 8—Seton Hall didn't look good in its Big East opener against Syracuse, but then again no one really should have expected it to.

Even though the Pirates managed a win at Syracuse last season, this is a different Syracuse team, and Seton Hall is nowhere near that level just yet. However, I find it hard to penalize a team for losing to the top team in the country, so Seton Hall remains in the top eight of my rankings.

The Pirates' real test will come this week to see how they match up with West Virginia tonight and UConn on January 3. If it can win one of those two games, expect Seton Hall to make a serious push for the NCAA Tournament.

Chris's Rank: 9—The Pirates weren't expected to compete with Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, but a 15-point first-half performance proved that this team is too reliant on Herb Pope's interior scoring.

Fab Melo and the Syracuse 2-3 zone rendered the Seton Hall star ineffective all night, as he finished with just four points on nine shot attempts. If the Pirates are going to try to sneak into the NCAA Tournament, they will need to find other ways to score when Pope is taken away by Big East teams that will make him their defensive focus.

10. DePaul (9-3)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 10

No games this week for the Blue Demons means no movement from me or Chris in the power rankings.

Much like Seton Hall, I don't expect to punish DePaul much if it falls to Syracuse in its Big East opener on New Year's Day, however a January 5 meeting with Pittsburgh will show whether DePaul is a contender or a pretender in the Big East conference this season. (Bentley)

11. Notre Dame (9-5)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 11

I said that Pittsburgh-Notre Dame could tell us something we didn't know about both teams, and I think it did.

We now know Pittsburgh is not very good without Travon Woodall, that's for certain. Whether Notre Dame is a legitimate conference contender after beating a weakened Panthers team, however, is yet to be determined.

The Irish proved they can represent against a struggling team at home, but next Wednesday's game at Cincinnati may prove to be the true barometer for Mike Brey's Irish squad. (Tripodi)

12. St. John's (7-5)

Ross's Rank: 12—St. John's came out swinging in its first Big East game of the season, smacking Providence by 24 points.

Moe Harkless scored 32 points for the Red Storm, the most ever by a freshmen in their Big East debut, passing the likes of Troy Murphy and Allen Iverson, who both scored 30. The future certainly looks bright with Harkless leading the way for Steve Lavin, but as for this year, they still have a long way to go.

St. John's now opens up a brutal five-game stretch with games against Connecticut, Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette and Georgetown. Once the dust settles there we will see how good St. John's can really be this season.

Chris's Rank: 13—Big East play will certainly help us distinguish some of the teams in the same tier , as it did with St. John's and Providence.

While the Red Storm proved they can beat an untested team at home, I'm not sure this young squad has what it takes to beat the big boys on the road. We'll find out soon as they travel to Connecticut, Cincinnati and Marquette, but unless Steve Lavin's squad can pull off a home upset against Louisville or Georgetown, they might be 7-10 and 1-5 in Big East play two weeks from now.

13. Rutgers (8-5)

Ross's Rank: 14—In one of the bigger upsets of the season, Rutgers pulled out a double-overtime victory yesterday over 10th-ranked Florida. Rutgers, a team I have had on the bottom of my Big East rankings all season long, showed the potential it has with young players like Eli Carter in the win.

Neither I or my colleague gave the Scarlet Knights much of a chance to pull off the upset so their win must be commended with a move up in the rankings. However, this is still the same Rutgers team that has lost to Richmond and Princeton out of conference and was trailing NJIT in the second half.

If nothing else, Rutgers showed it is extremely capable of beating any team on its home court if it gets hot, but consistency is still missing from this team. Wins against South Florida and/or West Virginia this week will go a long way to showing some for Mike Rice's team.

Chris's Rank: 12—It looks like Rutgers may finally be fulfilling some of the promise the Big East coaches saw in this team when it ranked it 11th in the preseason.

A double-overtime win against a Top-10 team like Florida is the "massive upset" I said it would be and is impressive any way you slice it, probably more than St. John's blowout of a pretending Providence team.

For now, the strength of this victory and the upside of this team puts it ahead of St. John's, but I fear the Scarlet Knights may fall victim to a similar trend of big home wins and road struggles as the Red Storm. These two teams might be schizophrenic in these rankings all season.

14. Providence (11-3)

Ross's Rank: 13—The Friars did not get off to the start they wanted in Big East play, getting blown out against St. John's 91-67.

Providence went 11-2 out of conference, which caused many like myself to wonder if maybe, just maybe, the Friars could contend for an NCAA Tournament spot.

It still is in no way out of the realm of possibility for them to do just that, but they will have to play better then they did in their Big East opener. A great way to start would be to upset either Georgetown or Syracuse this week to avoid an 0-3 start in conference play.

Chris's Rank: 14—The Friars had us both fooled, but to our credit, both Ross and I made certain to point out their lack of a quality win outside the conference.

After St. John's scored 91 points on the Friars at home, Ed Cooley had his team up at 6 a.m. the following morning working on defense. It remains to be seen if that extra work will make any difference with some tough games coming up, but until the Friars pick up a quality win, I won't be so inclined to move them from the 14th spot in my rankings.

15. Villanova (7-6)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 15

While teams such as Rutgers and Notre Dame pulled off upsets this week to move up in the rankings, Villanova continued to struggle and now finds itself surprisingly 15th in the Big East power rankings. The Wildcats played West Virginia tough on the road but couldn't manage a win. Now they get Marquette and South Florida this week, and a win over the Bulls is a must to stay out of the basement of the Big East rankings. (Bentley)

16. South Florida (7-7)

Ross and Chris's Rank: 16

South Florida almost pulled off a shocking upset of its own, hanging with ninth-ranked UConn until the final buzzer Wednesday before falling by just three points.

USF is in no way a bad team—it showed that with its game against UConn and its win over Cleveland State. However, the Bulls still struggle offensively, and logic says they are likely the least-talented team in the conference.

Having said all that, South Florida is extremely capable of pulling off four or five conference wins if they can continue to play lockdown defense. They will have possibly their best chances this week when they face off against Rutgers and Villanova, two teams near the bottom of the Big East rankings. (Bentley)