BIG EAST Power Rankings: 'Nova and the Newbies

We're back again for the New Year's Eve edition of the VU Hoops BIG EAST Power Rankings! And this week, we've got a twist. I asked each member of the staff to submit their game picks (we'll repeat this each week and keep score) for 5 carefully selected games. The tiebreaker (this will change weekly) for our first edition is the highest scoring player NOT named Doug McDermott.

This week, I carefully selected all of today's games since most of us will likely be tuning in and out of the BIG EAST Tip-Off Marathon all day long. Several people did not respond. Oh well, they get 0s. Here's what we came up with:

Chris Lane: Xavier, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette - JayVaughn Pinkston

Brian Ewart: Xavier, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Bryce Cotton

kevin.pulsifer: Xavier, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Bryce Cotton

novanation63: St. John's, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Kellen Dunham

MikeReilly: St. John's, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Bryce Cotton

rsaccoma2016: Xavier, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Sterling Gibbs

Ryan Irwin: St. John's, Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton - Bryce Cotton

And now, here are your VUhoops Power Rankings:

1. Villanova (7) - 11-1

"They'll be fine, but it is really troublesome to see a game where only two players show up. That's how you head home early in March." - Chris Lane

"Really surprised that the Butler game has not sold out. Should not be a crazy atmosphere because the students are on break, this is a must win for the Wildcats.." - MikeReilly

"If you told me in October that we'd enter BE play having gone 2-1 against ranked teams, I'd call it a rousing success. Lots of time to fine-tune until March." - kevin.pulsifer

"Their 3-point shooting has always concerned me this year. If we run the offense through the paint most of the time, and make a large portion of our points at the charity stripe, I can see us going undefeated the rest of the way." - rsaccoma2016

2. Creighton - 10-2

"Ethan Wragge is going to be a guy that we are screaming at when we play them. I can see it now." - Chris Lane

"JSan Diego State is now 21/19 in the polls and GW is receiving votes. Not horrible losses for a team currently garnering votes as well.." - kevin.pulsifer

"Still getting some votes in the AP Poll, and I just realized that Doug McDermott doesn't have a scholarship and he might be the best walk-on player off all time." - MikeReilly

"3rd in the country in assists/game, and averaging close to 50% shooting. Add this to the reality that stopping McDermott is not as possible as it seemed and they'll find themselves back in the top 25." - rsaccoma2016

3. Butler - 10-2

"Pretty nervous about Dunham, he is shooting about 45% from 3 and it just seems like a game where a he goes off for 30." - MikeReilly

"Did a little research on LSU, Butler's only real hiccup thus far. 9-2, with a 17-point win over Saint Joe's (Pa) and losses to ranked Memphis and UMass. Randy Rosetta's Tigers have something cookin' down on the bayou (as do the Bulldogs, who I expect will be in one of the play-in games in March)." - kevin.pulsifer

"The fact that they are one of the worst assisting teams in the country leads me to believe that they will shoot themselves in the foot a few times this year." - rsaccoma2016

"We are Evander Holyfield, and they are Charlie Steiner. Come on out and get ya whoopin' Butler!" - Chris Lane

4. Xavier - 10-3

"It's officially been over a month since their last loss, and my fellow writers are realizing that. Winner of their matchup with the Johnnies takes the 4 spot in next week's rankings." - kevin.pulsifer

"Like I've mentioned week in and week out, simply feeding off of Matt Stainbrook results in a win. This season shows that." - rsaccoma2016

"Really surprising start by the Musketeers, have to wonder if they would be getting some votes if they beat Iowa at the Battle 4 Atlantis, maybe they are the dark horse in the New Big East." - MikeReilly

"One year too early for them, but man have they rebounded well from the Atlantis disaster." - Chris Lane

5. Georgetown - 8-3

"Hoping that the Hoyas are going to go on a stretch and reclaim so dignity." - MikeReilly

"Congratulations on beating FIU, I guess? Do you want a cookie?" - kevin.pulsifer

"Like Villanova, I think their big weakness at the 3-ball can be accentuated and weak teams can keep close." - rsaccoma2016

"Casual Hoya took a Twitter poll today on if fans cared. That's not good." - Chris Lane

6. St. John's - 9-3

"With their inconsistency, they remind me of a poor man's UNC. The Big East must be VERY poor." - rsaccoma2016

"Really looking to see how they handle Xavier on the road. I'm not expecting much." - Chris Lane

"The Big East currently has 10 losses in regulation to teams outside of the AP Top 30. Johnnies have 0." - kevin.pulsifer

"They almost lost to Columbia, but ended up winning by 6. Am I crazy to pick them away against Xavier?" - MikeReilly

7. Marquette - 8-5

"I think they'll finish in the top 3 of the conference now that they have a much easier strength of schedule in the conference games." - rsaccoma2016

"The only reason I have them this high is because I can't bring myself to believe that they would lose to any of the teams below them." - MikeReilly

"I had a dream that every BE team was in the top 100 in RPI. I woke up realizing it was a pipe dream, but never expected Marquette to be one of the reasons why." - kevin.pulsifer

"They have the same record as DePaul. That is not a typo." - Chris Lane

8. Providence- 10-3

"Surprisingly all of their loses are to actually good teams, but losing Dunn gives them little hope of making noise this year." - MikeReilly

"An overtime loss to a ranked team on the road means nothing good or bad. They couldn't pull it off but they have proven themselves as interesting competitors." - kevin.pulsifer

"On paper, the loss of Kris Dunn doesn't seem too detrimental, but the Friar's loss of his defense will be targeted by the true big men of the power conference." - rsaccoma2016

"Big missed opportunity against UMass. The Friars (and the conference) could really have used a victory there." - Chris Lane

9. DePaul - 8-5

"Are they good enough to claim a couple of scalps this year? My head says no but my heart says yes." - Chris Lane

"I refuse to move DePaul from the bottom until they defeat a foe in the Big East, and it doesn't look like that is going to happen anytime soon." - MikeReilly

"If rooting for the Blue Demons to destroy the Hoyas by 30 is wrong, then I don't want to be right." -kevin.pulsifer

"DePaul makes an Al Gore book from your aunt seem like an XBOX One." - rsaccoma2016

10. Seton Hall - 9-4

"Fun with Meaningless Statistics: The Pirates' losses are by a combined 11 points, less than Villanova's 16. It's the second best of the 10 BE teams, to Butler's 4." - kevin.pulsifer

"They can be around 4th place in this conference when everyone's healthy. Unfortunately, that won't happen until the end of January, providing that no one else falls." - rsaccoma2016

"Gibbs and Edwin have been a pretty good combo...yea right, who am I kidding?" - MikeReilly

"Injuries on injuries on injuries. I feel really bad for Kevin Willard. Then I remember the monster recruiting class he somehow brought in and I don't feel bad for him - just for the players." - Chris Lane

Would you have ranked the teams differently? And who will win the pick'em contest?