4 BEast teams in top 25

[BigmanU]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ings/top25

Villanova #8
Butler #20
Georgetown #22
Providence #23

Shocked to see Georgetown on the list. Butler is the real deal and love the way they ball. This is the team I loved to watch and expected to see. Tip of the hat.

[stever20]

I'd be shocked to see either Georgetown or PC in the real top 25 polls. Butler I'm 50/50 on them getting in this week.

[marquette]

I'd expect Nova, Butler, and maybe PC in the AP/CP. We'll see. Congrats to everybody for getting some recognition.

[stever20]

don't see PC staying in AP or moving up in coaches into the poll. Not only the loss to Kentucky, but also the close win vs Yale. They'll be like 29 or 30.

Butler will be the real interesting one. Wouldn't shock me at all to see them ranked- but then again, wouldn't shock me to see them not ranked.

[Bill Marsh]

don't see PC staying in AP or moving up in coaches into the poll. Not only the loss to Kentucky, but also the close win vs Yale. They'll be like 29 or 30.

Butler will be the real interesting one. Wouldn't shock me at all to see them ranked- but then again, wouldn't shock me to see them not ranked.

I have no way of knowing how the voters will vote in the polls, but I do know that the normal volatility in the polls will prevail at this time of year.

I'll be surprised if the loss to #1 Kentucky hurts PC in the slightest. Nor do I expect the close win over Yale to matter any more than seeing Louisville held to 45 points by Cleveland State will hurt them. Providence was 25th in the coaches' poll last week and 28th in the writers' poll. I expect they'll do at least as well this week.

Butler hadn't received a single vote in either poll last week. It's unusual for teams to jump right into the top 25 without previously having received a single vote. They'll get votes this week but I'll be surprised to see them in the top 25

12 ranked teams lost this week so there is no doubt that some will be dropping. Here are the ones whose losses hurt.

VCU had a bad loss to Old Dominion as well as losing to Villanova.
Florida lost to Georgetown & North Carolina. They now have 3 losses.
Creighton lost to Ole Miss.
Iowa State lost to Maryland.
UConn suffered their 2nd loss of the season - to Texas at home.
UCLA lost twice, Oklahoma & North Carolina. 2 losses in a week are never good no matter who the opponent.
North Carolina suffered a bad loss to Butler.

All of the above should be dropping.

[Jet915]

Creighton jumped in with no votes after beating Oklahoma. Beating #5 UNC and Georgetown should get you ranked but I'm biased of course.

[Bill Marsh]

Creighton jumped in with no votes after beating Oklahoma. Beating #5 UNC and Georgetown should get you ranked but I'm biased of course.

No argument here, but it's rare especially since we're a little farther down. The road than when Creighton was ranked.

As it turns out, Butler is ranked by the writers but not by the more conservative coaches where they were 4th in votes among those outside the top 25. So, we were both right. They made it into one poll but not the other.

[Bill Marsh]

don't see PC staying in AP or moving up in coaches into the poll. Not only the loss to Kentucky, but also the close win vs Yale. They'll be like 29 or 30.

Butler will be the real interesting one. Wouldn't shock me at all to see them ranked- but then again, wouldn't shock me to see them not ranked.

I have no way of knowing how the voters will vote in the polls, but I do know that the normal volatility in the polls will prevail at this time of year.

I'll be surprised if the loss to #1 Kentucky hurts PC in the slightest. Nor do I expect the close win over Yale to matter any more than seeing Louisville held to 45 points by Cleveland State will hurt them. Providence was 25th in the coaches' poll last week and 28th in the writers' poll. I expect they'll do at least as well this week.

Butler hadn't received a single vote in either poll last week. It's unusual for teams to jump right into the top 25 without previously having received a single vote. They'll get votes this week but I'll be surprised to see them in the top 25

12 ranked teams lost this week so there is no doubt that some will be dropping. Here are the ones whose losses hurt.

VCU had a bad loss to Old Dominion as well as losing to Villanova.
Florida lost to Georgetown & North Carolina. They now have 3 losses.
Creighton lost to Ole Miss.
Iowa State lost to Maryland.
UConn suffered their 2nd loss of the season - to Texas at home.
UCLA lost twice, Oklahoma & North Carolina. 2 losses in a week are never good no matter who the opponent.
North Carolina suffered a bad loss to Butler.

All of the above should be dropping.

Nothing much changed for Providence. They lost a few votes among the writers, dropping from 28th to 29th. While they technically dropped out of the coaches' poll, they actually received a few more votes, so the coaches didn't hold Kentucky against them. Their ranking slipped from 25 to 27 despite the increase in votes. Creighton dropped out of the writers' poll but were stil in the top ten among others getting votes in both polls.

Butler got a lot of attention from the voters after their bid week, breaking into the AP poll and just missing the coaches' top 25. Villanova jumped into the top 10 in both polls.

Here's how the others on my list fared:

VCU and UCLA dropped out of both polls. UConn &. Florida both dropped out of AP but hung in at #23 and #24 respectively with the coaches. Iowa State dropped from 13 in both polls to 19/20. North Carolina dropped from 5/6 to 12 in both polls.

[Jet915]

Yahoo chimes in on the great start by the Big East:

Conference that excelled

Concern that Villanova might be the Big East's lone nationally relevant team this season have proven totally unfounded thus far. The league amassed an impressive 48-12 November record with a collection of quality wins rivaling those of any other conference. Butler toppled North Carolina at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Villanova defeated VCU and Michigan to win the Legends Classic. Creighton stunned Oklahoma. Georgetown upset Florida. Providence bested Notre Dame. Heck, even DePaul got in on the fun, rolling past Stanford by 13 points on Sunday afternoon. You can argue that the Big 12 has been the nation's best conference so far and that the ACC has the most potential Final Four teams, but no league exceeded expectations more in November than the Big East.


Conference that got exposed

Whatever momentum the American Athletic Conference gained from producing the national champion last March has dissipated quickly because of a rough start to the 2014-15 season. Poor strength of schedule and a lack of quality wins have dropped the league to 10th in conference RPI, behind the likes of the Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10 and WCC. UConn may yet live up to its preseason Top 25 ranking, but the Huskies have lost to the two best teams they've faced so far this season. Same goes for SMU, which is 0-for-3 against Arkansas, Indiana and Gonzaga. Throw in Cincinnati's suspect offense and Memphis' poor guard play, and the AAC doesn't pack much of a punch at the top. The most impressive win any team in the league has notched? Either UConn's victory over Dayton in Puerto Rico or Tulsa's win over Auburn in Las Vegas.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/best-and-worst-of-college-basketball-s-opening-month-181337866.html

[Edrick]

https://twitter.com/mattglenesk/status/ ... 3230716928

@MattGlenesk: Best program in the state? #Butler has been ranked in the Top 25 in seven of the past nine seasons: http://t.co/W6I5HHobwV