The Corona Virus has hit the Big East hard in the past month and almost every team has had to shut down at some point so far this season. Everyone has played a wide range of conference games, with Creighton having already played more than double the number of conference games than Xavier and Villanova. The Big East has not announced when all the canceled games will be played, but it is unlikely they will be able to make all of them up before the conference tournament. This is the first year UConn is back in the conference, and it has made it even tougher. There is not an easy game in the Big East.
Current Standings:
Villanova
Creighton
UConn
Seton Hall
Xavier
Providence
St. John’s
Marquette
Butler
Georgetown
DePaul
Update on the Top Five Teams:
Villanova has only played five conference games, but is in the driver’s seat with no losses. They were off for over a month, but in their two games back continue to look like one of the best teams in the country. Their only loss came to a ranked Virginia Tech team the first week of the season. Villanova has a veteran team that can shoot the ball very well. It looks like they are on track to win a third straight Big East championship.
Creighton has played the most games so far, but is still hard to figure out. They lead the league in points per game and have two of the top five shooters in the Big East. They play a very high tempo offense. However, most of their wins have been by less than ten points and they randomly lose to bad teams. Earlier this month, they lost back to back games to Providence and Butler, two of the bottom teams in the league. When teams slow the game down against Creighton, they tend to struggle. Creighton has the potential to challenge Villanova if they can play consistently.
UConn has returned to the Big East to make the conference even deeper. They have been tough to beat in the conference, but they have yet to play the top teams like Villanova, Seton Hall, or Xavier. They lost both of their games against Creighton. UConn could continue to struggle because their top scorer James Bouknight has to get elbow surgery and could be out for a while. The Husky's offense is towards the bottom of the Big East in terms of points per game and field goal percentages, but play tough defense. UConn will have a real challenge coming up when they have to face the better teams in the league, and we will likely see their true colors.
Seton Hall had a slow start to their season, but has picked things up since then. They play tough defense and leads the league in blocks and steals. Seton Hall has had some inconsistent results that make them hard to figure out. They have played some of the top teams close, losing only by two to Villanova and beating Xavier by twenty, but also lost by twenty to Creighton.
Just as Xavier was getting on a hot streak, they got shut down again. Xavier has been a surprise team so far this season, and when they are hitting shots, it’s going to be hard to beat them. They have been able to close out close games, with two sports center worthy buzzer beaters. Sophomore Zach Freemantle has made large improvements and is a huge help on both sides of the ball. Xavier’s struggles come when they can’t make shots. They need to get better on defense so when shots aren’t falling they can stay in the game.
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