Dom Pointer on Big East Honor Roll; St. John's receives zero votes in top 25

Although they put up a valiant effort against number five Duke yesterday in a 77-68 loss, St. John's has dropped completely out of both the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls that were released earlier today.

The Red Storm received zero votes in both polls for the first time since the end of November, as they now sit at 13-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big East after they defeated Marquette at home on Wednesday before the Duke loss yesterday.

Currently in 8th place in the Big East and in desperate need of a few conference wins in a row, St. John's will go at Creighton on Wednesday before coming back home to The Garden on Saturday afternoon to play Providence.

AP Top 25

Poll Movements Across the Big East

The Villanova Wildcats remain the top-ranked Big East team in the nation this week, despite dropping three spots in each of the polls to number seven overall. The Wildcats were demolished on the road at Georgetown one week ago, 78-58, but they rebounded nicely over the weekend with a 71-50 blowout win over Creighton.

Now at 18-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big East, Villanova will face DePaul on Saturday in a rematch of their January 10th meeting (which the Wildcats won 81-64), which will be their only game in the upcoming week.

Re-entering the top 25 this week are the Georgetown Hoyas, who after an average 2-2 start to Big East play have now won four straight to improve their conference record to 6-2.The Hoyas enter the rankings as number 21 in the AP Poll and number 22 in the Coaches Poll after an undefeated week in which they dominated Villanova and outlasted Marquette on the road in overtime.

With sole possession of first place in the Big East after the first month of conference play comes to a close, Georgetown will face Xavier tomorrow night at home before they go at Creighton on Saturday.

And the final Big East team to appear in the top 25 this week are the Butler Bulldogs. Squeaking into the rankings at number 25 in the AP Poll but remaining unranked in the Coaches, the Bulldogs held off Creighton on Wednesday night before dismantling Seton Hall in an impressive rout yesterday by the score of 77-57 to improve their record to 15-6 overall.

After losing two of their first three in Big East play, Butler has rebounded nicely with four wins in their last five conference games, including a sweep of Seton Hall. They'll have five days of rest this week before they travel to Marquette on Saturday in their only game this week.

The Seton Hall Pirates were dropped from their 24th spot to out of the rankings this week after they lost a pair of games to DePaul and Butler. Losers of four of their last five conference games, The Hall received just 10 votes in the AP Poll and was completely absent from the Coaches Poll.

At 13-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference, Seton Hall appears to be feeling the impact of the loss of their top freshman guard Isaiah Whitehead, who has been sidelined over a month with an injury and will miss at least two more games according to head coach Kevin Willard. This week the Pirates will play at Marquette on Wednesday and home to Xavier on Saturday.

The fifth and final Big East team to make their mark on the top 25 rankings this week were the Providence Friars. After a week in which they defeated both Creighton and Xavier, the Friars are now up to a tie for second in the conference with a 5-2 Big East record and a 15-5 overall record.

The Friars were ranked 30th in the AP Poll and 33rd in the Coaches Poll earlier today, and they will get a chance to possibly enter the top 25 in a week with games against DePaul and St. John's this week. Their game against DePaul, which was originally scheduled for tomorrow night, has been postponed due to snow until Thursday, so they will face a tough turnaround when they travel to The Garden to face St. John's on Saturday.

Still no where near a top 25 ranking with an 11-10 overall record, but still impressing many with their play in Big East action so far are the DePaul Blue Demons. DePaul was able to go at Seton Hall and hand the Pirates a loss on Thursday, and they nearly did the same to Xavier on Saturday before they fell 89-76.

The Blue Demons are now off to an out-of-nowhere 5-3 start to Big East play and are currently tied with Butler for fourth place in the conference as January comes to a close. As stated earlier, they'll face Providence not tomorrow night, but on Thursday night before they get a rematch with Villanova on Saturday.

The Xavier Musketeers were also predictably absent from this week's rankings with a 13-7 overall record and 4-4 mark in the Big East. They split their games against Providence and DePaul this past week, and are now in the bottom half of the conference in sixth place.

This week sees them play two tough road games against Georgetown and Seton Hall in what could be a make or break week for the Musketeers this season.

And finally, rounding out the Big East in eighth and ninth place, respectively, are the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Creighton Blue Jays.

Very little has gone right for these two in conference play so far, as Marquette is stumbling with a 2-5 conference record and Creighton has yet to win a Big East game with an 0-8 conference record. Creighton has now dropped nine straight games and has not a game since December 19th.

Weekly Awards Recap

The Big East handed out their weekly awards today as well, with Providence's LaDontae Henton being named Big East Player of the Week and Georgetown's Isaac Copeland named Big East Rookie of the Week.

Henton scored 24 and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Friars win over Xavier on Thursday, while Copeland scored a career-high 17 points in both of the Hoyas wins this week.

Sir`Dominic Pointer made his mark on the Big East Honor Roll after his exceptional do-it-all play this week, and he was joined by Butler's Roosevelt Jones, DePaul's Myke Henry, Georgetown's Joshua Smith, and Xavier's Myles Davis.