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This is discomforting. All of a sudden Providence and Seton Hall, are...respectable? What world are we living in?
It's not all bad though. Saccoman's lead is shrinking! Brian closed to within 1 game with a nice week, which included being the only participant to correct predict that Butler would score the lowest amount of points in a game. Another shout out to Tyler Ricky Tynes, who in his debut week of picks went a perfect 5-0 to climb out of the cellar.
Here are the standings heading into this week.
| Contestant | Record | Tiebreak Points |
|---|---|---|
| rsaccoma2016 | 15-5 | 1 |
| Brian Ewart | 14-6 | 3 |
| kevin.pulsifer | 13-7 | 2 |
| novanation63 | 13-7 | 1 |
| MikeReilly | 11-9 | 1 |
| Ryan Irwin | 11-9 | 2 |
| Chris Lane | 10-10 | 1 |
| jeremy.menninger | 9-11 | 0 |
| MikeJ. | 7-13 | 0 |
| Tyler Ricky Tynes | 5-15 | 0 |
| Ed Donohue | 3-17 | 0 |
This week we will be selecting the following games, along with the team who will have the single highest margin of victory in these five games.
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Butler @ Seton Hall
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Providence @ Marquette
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Seton Hall @ Xavier
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Marquette @ St. John's
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Providence @ DePaul
Here are the picks:
Chris Lane: Seton Hall, Marquette, Xavier, St. John's, Providence - Providence (over DePaul)
MikeJ.: Butler, Providence, Xavier, Marquette, DePaul - Marquette (over SJU)
jeremy.menninger: Butler, Providence, Xavier, Marquette, Providence - Xavier (over SHU)
Brian Ewart: Seton Hall, Marquette, Xavier, Marquette, Providence - Xavier (over SHU)
kevin.pulsifer: Butler, Marquette, Xavier, St. John's, Providence - Xavier (over SHU)
MikeReilly: Butler, Providence, Xavier, Marquette, Providence - Xavier (over SHU)
rsaccoma2016: Seton Hall, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence - Providence (over DePaul)
Ryan Irwin: [no picks]
novanation63: Seton Hall, Providence, Xavier, St. John's, Providence - Xavier (over SHU)
Ed Donohue: [no picks]
Tyler Ricky Tynes: [no picks]
And now, here are your VUhoops Power Rankings:
1. Creighton (4) - 18-3
"Chuck Norris checks under his bed for Ethan Wragge." - rsaccoma2016
"I've entered the pathetic part of the season where I become Creighton's opponent's biggest fan." - Chris Lane
"Either their three ball will cool off and they'll start leveling out, or they'll make a decent tournament run." - jeremy.menninger
1. Villanova (2) - 18-2
"We're in the midst of maybe our toughest stretch of the conference season, and winning. No complaints." - Chris Lane
"February 16th is the day: the rematch of Doge McDermott and Ryan Arcidogeacono." - rsaccoma2016
"The close games are making me a little nervous, but winning is winning." - jeremy.menninger
3. Xavier - 15-5
"That win vs. Providence is looking better and better for Villanova. Thank you for your contribution #ForTheGreaterGreat." - rsaccoma2016
"Big showdown with 'Nova coming up, and they need a statement win after some missed opportunities earlier in the year." - Chris Lane
"Don't put much stock in the Providence loss. X is still legitimate." - jeremy.menninger
4. Providence- 15-5
"Big win over Xavier - how did we beat these guys by 30?" - Chris Lane
"We all said you were sneaky at the beginning of the year. Thanks for making us look good." - rsaccoma2016
"I picked them to win two games this week, so they'll probably lose both." - jeremy.menninger
5. Seton Hall - 12-8
"Now that everyone is healthy maybe they can put together a good run and OH NO someone landed on Fuquan Edwin's bad knee." -rsaccoma2016
"Frustrating season for Pirates fans. They look good in spurts, but how much progress is really being made?" - Chris Lane
"Congrats on getting out of the 9-10 spot on my list." - jeremy.menninger
6. Marquette - 11-9
"I still LOL at the fact you were ranked at one point." - rsaccoma2016
"Anonymous Eagle is worried about potential transfers. That's not good." - Chris Lane
"Impressed by their play against us, but they still live in Wisconsin." - jeremy.menninger
7. Georgetown - 11-9
"5 in a row!" - Chris Lane
"When you have a student named Sad Scott maybe you should just pack it in." - rsaccoma2016
"Georgetown has the second-best defensive in conference play and if they could figure out how to draw a foul, they might have won one of their last five games." - Brian Ewart
"We'd rather have the win than Bradley Cooper." - jeremy.menninger
8. St. John's - 12-9
"Still not buying on your talent. You all have strange names too." - rsaccoma2016
"The New York Post is busy trumping up rumors about Steve Lavin's relationship with the Red Storm faithful, but the only thing distracting him from X's and O's is his new love of hipster fashion." - Brian Ewart
"Is there such a thing as a good loss? I was impressed with their effort against Creighton." - Chris Lane
"'Most talent in the Big East.' Well done analysts. We were also written off from winning the conference." - jeremy.menninger
9. DePaul - 10-11
"Slowly fading back to their regular place at the bottom of the barrel." - Chris Lane
"HAHAHAHAHA." - rsaccoma2016
"DePaul's strategy." - jeremy.menninger
10. Butler - 11-9
"Who would have guessed that adding Butler to the Big East was the move that would get DePaul out of the basement?" - Brian Ewart
"You play close in every Big East game, but your first big loss is AT HOME? TO ST. JOHN'S? Join Georgetown and go to your room." - rsaccoma2016
"So much for Hinkle Fieldhouse being a fortress." - Chris Lane