Big East Ballot- Week 7

Someone's gotta be #1... let's try Marquette. This is the last ranking before conference games start, so take a look at the teams and see how we stack up. First two opponents are right in front and behind us in the rankings. Two wins there could shoot the Irish up into a top 4 position.

Team Rankings-

1. Marquette- Lost to Duke earlier, who Pitt beat (both on neutral floors), but was at least competitive in defeat
2. Pittsburgh- Lost by 25 to a mid-major
3. Georgetown- Nothing close to a really good win
4. Villanova- Only loss was by one... clearly final part of the upper echelon
5. West Virginia- Lost against Oklahoma in front of a friendly "neutral" crowd, but still holds better overall resume than the Irish
6. Notre Dame- Two losses to decent teams still holding them out of the top of the conference
7. Connecticut- Needs to beat a top 100 school before we can pass judgment
8. Providence- Along with Syracuse, managed only three losses against the two strongest nonconference schedules in the league
9. Syracuse- Should get through the next two weeks unscathed, will be tested Jan. 13 @ West Virginia
10. Seton Hall- Beat two decent squads in Virginia and James Madison, but not much else... lost to an unimpressive Penn State team
11. Louisville- Have rebounded well to win four straight against inferior competition
12. South Florida- Lost first three, 9-1 since and playing well
13. St. John's- Opposite of South Florida, started well and 2-5 since
14. Rutgers- Loss to 3-8 St. Peter's in late November a good indicator of how bad this team can be
15. Cincinnati- Win against 6-6 Miami (OH) only victory against a top 200 team
16. DePaul- See Cincinnati, subtract win against top 200 team

Player of the Week- Kentrell Gransberry- South Florida
Freshman of the Week- Anthony McClain- Cincinnati

My apologies if I missed a better freshman for this week's award. McClain had a decent game against Miami (10 and 7), nothing too special, and there was no Syracuse player to award this week.