Mat Mlodzinski gives his Big East basketball power rankings heading into week 5 of the 2024-25 season.
Matchup of the week:Â #5 Marquette at #6 Iowa State (Dec. 4 – 8 p.m.)
Sneaky good matchup of the week: DePaul at Texas Tech (Dec. 4 – 9:15 p.m.)
All games listed are EST
1. Marquette Golden Eagles
Last week’s ranking: 2 (+1)
Record: 8-0
Last two weeks: W vs. #6 Purdue (76-58), W vs. Georgia (80-69), W vs. Stonehill (94-59), W vs. Western Carolina (94-62)
Next week: at #6 Iowa State (Dec. 4 – 8 p.m.), vs. #11 Wisconsin (Dec. 7 – 1:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: vs. Purdue, at Maryland, vs. Georgia,
Bad losses: N/A
Marquette is clicking on all cylinders and is also pretty much the only Big East basketball team that has shown any sort of competence this season. They’ve already got a stellar ranked win and this week, have chances at two more with a trip to Ames to face Iowa State and a battle with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Kam Jones and David Joplin make it so that teams can’t just try to take away the Golden Eagles’ best scorer – because they’ve got two elite bucket-getters. Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross have upped their offensive games too.
But the most impressive thing about Marquette has been their defense. They held a good Boilermakers team to below 60 and a solid UGA squad to below 70. There may not be a team as good as Marquette in the country that isn’t getting the praise as much as teams like Auburn and Gonzaga. But I would bet Shaka Smart prefers it that way.
2. Butler Bulldogs
Last week’s ranking: 7 (+5)
Record: 6-1
Last week: W vs. Merrimack (78-39), W vs. Northwestern (71-69), W vs. #25 Mississippi State (87-77)
Next week: vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 3 – 6:30 p.m.), at #17 Houston (Dec. 7 – 5:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: vs. Mississippi State, vs. SMU, vs. Northwestern
Bad losses: vs. Austin Peay
Talk about making up for your bad loss! I think we can officially forgive Butler for dropping a game to Austin Peay, as the Bulldogs now have wins against Mississippi State, SMU, and Northwestern. None of those will make anyone believe Butler is a Final Four contender, but it is the best chain of wins in Big East basketball outside of Marquette.
The question is if Butler can continue shooting threes at a 42.7% clip. That’s a tremendous percentage and one that will take teams very far but it’s tough to keep that up as a team. We may get an answer this Saturday as Butler plays at Houston, a program built on defense.
Also, to clear these power rankings up – I don’t believe Butler is the second best team in Big East basketball. But they’re sure playing as the second-hottest.
3. UConn Huskies
Last week’s ranking: 1 (-2)
Record: 5-3
Last two weeks: W vs. East Texas A&M (81-46), L vs. Memphis (99-97), L vs. Colorado (73-72), L vs. Dayton (85-67), W vs. UMES (99-45)
Next week: vs. #15 Baylor (Dec. 4 – 6:30 p.m.), at Texas (Dec. 8 – 5 p.m.)
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: N/A
While UConn still doesn’t have a resume-crushing loss, the Huskies missed every and all opportunity at any helpful wins, going 0-3 in Maui. All of their five wins are against teams outside the top 300 of KenPom, so despite the many blowouts, it doesn’t really show us anything meaningful.
The biggest plus going forward for the Huskies is their offense. Dan Hurley’s bunch has no trouble scoring points. But the defense has been a nightmare. Without Donovan Clingan manning the paint, teams have had their way at scoring buckets near the rim, which hasn’t been the case against UConn for a few seasons.
4. St. John’s Red Storm
Last week’s ranking: 4 (-)
Record: 6-2
Last two weeks: L vs. #13 Baylor (99-98), W vs. Virginia (80-55), L vs. Georgia (66-63), W vs. Harvard (77-64)
Next week: vs. Kansas State (Dec. 7 – 11:30 a.m.)
Quality wins: vs. New Mexico, vs. Virginia
Bad losses: N/A
St. John’s just can’t seem to make up it’s mind. One game, they’re heading to extra basketball in a shootout against Baylor. The next game, they’re blowing out Virginia and dropping 80 points on the Cavaliers’ defense. The following outing? Scoring 63 points in a loss to Georgia.
At 6-2, I see St. John’s to be a quality team, but I’m not sure what their identity is. The hype around Kadary Richmond was well justified, but he’s the third-leading scorer on this team and his numbers have dipped all across the board. Deivon Smith’s stats have also gone down and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but at some point, the Red Storm may need to decide who are the stars of this team. It can be tough playing with such an even identity, but who am I to question Rick Pitino? The man is a champion and likely knows what he’s doing. It just seems like St. John’s hasn’t figured out some crucial points in terms of how they want to operate.
5. Xavier Musketeers
Last week’s ranking: 5 (-)
Record: 7-1
Last two weeks: W vs. Siena (80-55), W vs. South Carolina (75-66), L vs. Michigan (78-53), W vs. SC State (71-68)
Next week: at TCU (Dec. 5 – 8 p.m.)
Quality wins: vs. Wake Forest
Bad losses: N/A
The Musketeers are kind of flying under the radar, after taking a 25-point loss to Michigan. But besides that, Xavier is 7-1 with wins against Wake Forest and South Carolina, proving they at least have to be taken seriously.
In the Michigan game, Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf dominated, combining for 38 points and 19 rebounds. That’s something to note because Xavier isn’t necessarily the biggest team in the world. How they handle stronger, bigger teams will be crucial once Big East basketball play begins.
This week, Xavier plays at TCU, which should be a good litmus test to see how X handles a tough road environment.
6. Creighton Bluejays
Last week’s ranking: 3 (-3)
Record: 5-3
Last two weeks: L vs. Nebraska (74-63), L vs. San Diego State (71-53), L vs. #20 Texas A&M (77-73), W vs. Notre Dame (80-76)
Next week: vs. Nebraska (Nov. 22 – 8 p.m.)
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: N/A
Like UConn, Creighton hasn’t lost any games that will crush their resume, but their best win being by four points over Notre Dame won’t convince anyone the Bluejays are a team to fear.
Unlike the Huskies, Creighton’s losses haven’t all been that close. Nebraska won by double-digits in Omaha and San Diego State completely shut down the Jays’ offense. Ryan Kalkbrenner’s numbers look good, but his dominance doesn’t feel the same when you watch this team.
The biggest reason to believe this won’t last? Creighton is shooting less than 32% from distance. They have too many proven shooters for that percentage to stay that way and I’ve got to think a coach like Greg McDermott will figure it out.
7. DePaul Blue Demons
Last week’s ranking: 9 (+2)
Record: 7-0
Last two weeks: W vs. Eastern Illinois (78-69), W vs. Northern Illinois (98-52), W vs. Valpo (89-70)
Next week: at Texas Tech (Dec. 4 – 9:15 p.m.)
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: N/A
I’m going to leave DePaul’s note very short. The Blue Demons are 7-0. We’ve got to give credit where credit is due. This program hasn’t seen barely any success in a LONG time so there’s a reason to be excited.
But with a road test at Texas Tech, the Blue Demons now have the chance to prove they need to be taken seriously. At this point, they’ve beat up on mid-majors, which is cool at all, because a lot of teams have dropped buy games. But a win over a Big 12 team would really show us how much Chris Holtmann has changed this program in a short period.
8. Georgetown Hoyas
Last week’s ranking: 10 (-2)
Record: 6-1
Last two weeks: W vs. Mount St. Mary’s (79-51), W vs. St. Francis-PA (82-65), W vs. Wagner (66-41), W vs. UAlbany (100-68)
Next week: vs. UMBC (Dec. 2 – 6:30 p.m.), at West Virginia (Dec. 6 – 7 p.m.)
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: vs. Notre Dame
Maybe we should reconsider Georgetown for the time being. The loss to Notre Dame wasn’t shocking but seemed to show that Ed Cooley hasn’t changed much of the culture yet. But a four-game winning streak (albeit all in buy games) at least gives GTown some momentum, especially with a challenge against WVU coming up this week.
The Hoyas program is dying for a quality win like this and they’ll have the opportunity at it in Morgantown.
9. Providence Friars
Last week’s ranking: 6 (-3)
Record: 5-3
Last two weeks: W vs. Delaware State (78-48), L vs. Oklahoma (79-77), L vs. Davidson (69-58), L vs. #14 Indiana (89-73)
Next week: vs. BYU (Dec. 3 – 8:30 p.m.), at Rhode Island (Dec. 7 – Noon)
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: N/A
After posting a nice record in year one, Kim English is experiencing some adversity in year two. The Friars have lost three straight, and an 11-point loss to Davidson was certainly the low point in that.
Providence has struggled at defending its competition, and like UConn, its only wins are against far worse competition.
This week it doesn’t get any easier. They’ve got a strong BYU team and a URI team that is still undefeated. We all know that if the Friars were to take care of business in one of these games, it would be the latter. But it’s to the point where they also need to start putting together a resume, so this BYU game is also crucial.
10. Villanova Wildcats
Last week’s ranking: 8 (-2)
Record: 4-4
Last two weeks: W vs. Penn (93-49), L vs. Maryland (76-75), W vs. Rider (72-48)
Next week: vs. #14 Cincinnati (Dec. 3 – 6:30 p.m.),
Quality wins: N/A
Bad losses: vs. Columbia
Villanova just isn’t a quality basketball team. At this point, the program is even taking a hit, which is crazy to think about considering just a few years ago we were talking about Nova as a potential blue blood.
This year’s version of the Wildcats seems to be just Eric Dixon, and then everyone else. The Wildcats’ star is averaging over 25 points per game, which is great for him, but since his team is just 4-4, it’s obviously not working.
I’m just not confident that Wooga Poplar, Jhamir Brickus, or anyone else has what it takes to elevate their games and bring Villanova out of the bottom of the league. They’re solid role players, but they can’t seem to move the needle.
11. Seton Hall Pirates
Last week’s ranking: 11 (-)
Record: 4-4
Last week: W vs. VCU (69-66), L vs. Vanderbilt (76-60), W vs. FAu (63-61), L vs. Monmouth (63-51)
Next week: vs. NJIT (Dec. 4 – 8:30 p.m.), vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 8 – Noon)
Quality wins: vs. VCU
Bad losses: vs. Fordham, vs. Hofstra, vs. Monmouth
Justtttttttt when we thought the Pirates had turned things around after going 2-1 in the Charleston Classic, they lost the worst buy game in Big East basketball this season, by 12, to 0-8 Monmouth.
I’m just going to say it for what it is. The Pirates have no capabilities on offense. Isaiah Coleman is solid, but on teams in the middle of the pack in the conference, he’d be a third or fourth option. Chaunce Jenkins can make tough shots and catch fire, but what good is that if no one else can chip in? Defense may be the motto, but the scoring is so non-existent, it really doesn’t matter.