This week's full poll resides here. Enjoy, comment, discuss.
1. Louisville - it's not pretty but I can't pick anyone above the Cardinals right now.
2. Georgetown - that guard play's gonna bite them in the tail.
3. Connecticut - playing big and athletic now, getting it done inside.
4. Notre Dame - crisp, solid ball.
5. Marquette - still explosive, still inconsistent
6. Pittsburgh - even less pretty than Louisville.
7. Syracuse - great talent, but young.
8. Cincinnati - winning on defense and Deonta.
9. West Virginia - they should be better than a mid-pack Big East team, but getting absolutely crushed by Cincy is an eybrow raiser.
10. Seton Hall - not shooting well (approx 41eFG%), giving up lots of offensive rebounds, and giving up points too easily in this 3-game losing streak.
11. DePaul - they're not very good on defense. Until they play St. John's.
12. Villanova - even Rutgers put up points on this squad. The boo birds are growing for Jay Wright.
13. St. John's - after being so atrocious, a three-game winning streak against the weak sisters makes the Johnnies seem competitive... we will see after the net few games.
14. Providence - not a lot of talent, and everyone knows Tim Welsh is a few losses from a precipice at Providence.
15. Rutgers - two nice wins, and there is crazy hope for the future.
16. South Florida - weather's nice. Lots of foreign talent. And the weather's nice.
Freshman: Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
Player of the Week: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame - a monster scoring and rebounding week from the big lunchpail forward; I was deciding between him and Jeff Adrien (who got the official Big East honors), but playing against Georgia Tech takes away from big numbers.
Note St. John's own Larry Wright on the Big East honor roll for his scoring punch off the bench. Way to go Larry, the St. John's fans have much love for you.