Holy Land of Hoops - Big East power rankings

[Bill Marsh]

1 Creighton
2 Nova
3 Georgetown
4 Marquette
5 Xavier
6 Providence
7 St John's
8 Butler
9 Seton Hall(they did what they needed to do this weekend- get a split)
10 DePaul

This upcoming week by far the biggest one of the OOC season.

Providence at 6? If you throw out preconceived notions no way is PC at 6 right now. They'd have to be #1 or in the top 3 at least. Again if we're basing it on what we've seen so far, which I understand is very very early.

The thing is Providence hasn't really played anyone yet.
best wins-using Ken Pom:
1 Creighton 62 @ St Joseph's
2 Nova 90 Delaware
3 Georgetown 40 n VCU
4 Marquette 236 Southern
5 Xavier 43 Tennessee
6 Providence 74 Boston College

Only one that I could see maybe out of place is Marquette. We'll learn a lot about them this week. And- for Providence, they have the golden oppurtunity to really turn heads playing Kentucky on Sunday.

Providence hasn't played anyone yet? Well, they beat a LaSalle team that a lot of people thought would be pretty good. They blew out a Vermont team that just gave Duke a scare. Just as important, they haven't lost to anyone. You can't just focus on big wins and ignore the losses. Georgetown lost to a Northeastern team that's no better than the competition that Providence has been grinding up. sand let's be honest here. Ken Pom's ratings are as meaningless as anyone else's at this point in the season. As long as PC keeps winning, they add to their credibility. Some of what appear to be big opponents that others have faced will fade. I'm very dubious about Oregon and Wisconsin, for example, being as good as advertised. We'll see.

BTW how is Nova over 90 Delaware better than PC over 74 BC? Or Marquette over 236 Southern? Even by your list, PC would seem to have the 4th best win, not 6th.

[Bill Marsh]

For another perspective, here's how TeamRankings.com has it, based strictly on what teams have done so far this season:

1. Xavier
2. Creighton
3. Providence
4. Butler
5. St. John's
6. Villanova
7. Georgetown
8. Seton Hall
9. Marquette
10. DePaul

Ouch. Although at this point I can't really argue it...

We have a great opportunity tonight to get a quality road win, we'll see what happens.

Yes, that's a great attitude to have. It just shows how meaningless the computer rankings are at this point. One or two losses looks bad when you've only played 5 or 6 games. But reel off a winning seat of 8 or 10 games and all will be forgotten.