Welcome to the second edition of the 2010-2011 Big East Power Rankings. Yes, I know it says week three in the headline, but we're only doing this every-other week until Big East play starts. The rules are simple, we've invited theSB Nation (or friend of SB Nation) blog for each team to cast a vote. They rank the teams from one to 16 and then we bring you the results. Enjoy.
Man, was I looking forward to introducing this week's power rankings. My beloved UConn Huskies went on an absolute tear in the past two weeks, beating two top-10 teams and generally showing the world that the Huskies are back. If there was ever a week for the Huskies to make the leap to No. 1 and give me a full platform for gloating, this was going to be it. But then something rather unfortunate happened. My colleagues either refused to be swayed by the UConn's rediscovered dominance, or they let their petty jealousy of Jim Calhoun get the best of them and they voted Pittsburgh first. Jerks.
Anyway, just because they refuse to overrate a team based on three games doesn't mean I have to do the same, because UConn's is No. 2 baby and they have four* shiny first-place votes in their back pocket (*Blue Demon's Den was unable to vote, but I've been assured he was in the Huskies corner). You poor saps thought you'd have another year to try and steal a Big East title before the Huskies were back, but you didn't count on Kemba Walker turning into some sort of otherworldly force. Huskies, baby; Huskies.
You know who else did well this week? Notre Dame. Apparently starting 7-0 is a good way to climb in the polls as the Irish reached all the way up to sixth place, which is pretty impressive considering the five teams ahead of them are all ranked in the Top 15 of this week's coaches poll.
Georgetown and Syracuse both kept up the good work, and have been duly rewarded. One question though, can someone tell me if Villanova is any good? Depending on what ballot you look at, they're somewhere between the second or the eighth best team in the conference and that confuses the hell out of me.
This is supposed to be a "down year" for the conference, but take it from the guy who tabulates the votes, this sucker is still deep. When Marquette comes in at 11th place, you know you're in good shape.
Of course, there is the bottom of the conference, which is well, bad. How bad? Well, we all agreed to add TCU this week just so we could have DePaul be lower than 16th. That bad.
On to your homer and hater votes of the week. First, the Homer Vote of the Week, which goes to well, TheUConnBlog. I can (and will) defend our choice to slot UConn in at No. 1 based on last week, but still, it's just three games, and if I wasn't a UConn fan, I'd have to admit that that Pitt team seems pretty damn impressive. Since I'm feeling schizophrenic, our Hater Vote of the Week is going to Friar Blog and The East Coast Bias who voted UConn No. 4. I mean, really guys? They beat two Top-10 teams, what else can you ask? The worst part is that both kept Villanova above the Huskies, despite the Wildcats' loss to Tennessee.
Enjoy the rankings, see you in two weeks.
1. Pittsburgh (6) (7-0): 155 points -- Last Poll: 1
2. UConn (4) (5-0): 148 points -- Last Poll: 7
3. Georgetown (6-0): 133 points -- Last Poll: 3
4. Villanova (5-1): 127 points -- Last Poll: 2
5. Syracuse (6-0): 125 points -- Last Poll: 4
6. Notre Dame (7-0): 107 points -- Last Poll: 9
7. West Virginia (4-1): 99 points -- Last Poll: 5
8. Louisville (4-0): 94 points -- Last Poll: 10
9. Cincinnati (5-0): 77 points -- Last Poll: 12
10. St. John's (4-1): 74 points -- Last Poll: 8
11. Marquette (5-2): 68 points -- Last Poll: 6
12. Providence (5-1): 47 points -- Last Poll: 14
13. Seton Hall (2-3): 35 points -- Last Poll: 11
14. Rutgers (3-2): 34 points -- Last Poll: 15
15. South Florida (4-3): 27 points -- Last Poll: 13
16. TCU (4-2): DePaul +1 points -- Last Poll: NR
17. DePaul (1-4): 10 points -- Last Poll: 16
Past rankings: Week 1
Individual ballots after the jump.
Anonymous Eagle:
1. UConn
2. Pittsburgh
3. Syracuse
4. Georgetown
5. Villanova
6. Notre Dame
7. Louisville
8. West Virginia
9. Marquette
10. Cincinnati
11. St. John's
12. Rutgers
13. Seton Hall
14. Providence
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
BlueDemon'sLair:
Unable to get a ballot in, but he said if he had been, UConn would have been No. 1 and DePaul No. 16. Smart man, very smart man.
Card Chronicle:
1. UConn
2. Pittsburgh
3. Syracuse
4. Georgetown
5. Cincinnati
6. Louisville
7. West Virginia
8. Villanova
9. Notre Dame
10. St. John's
11. Marquette
12. Providence
13. Seton Hall
14. Rutgers
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
Cardiac Hill:
1. Pittsburgh
2. UConn
3. Syracuse
4. Georgetown
5. Notre Dame
6. Louisville
7. Cincinnati
8. Villanova
9. West Virginia
10. St. John's
11. Marquette
12. Providence
13. Seton Hall
14. Rutgers
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
Casual Hoya:
1. Pittsburgh
2. Georgetown
3. UConn
4. Villanova
5. West Virginia
6. Syracuse
7. St. John's
8. Notre Dame
9. Marquette
10. Louisville
11. Cincinnati
12. Providence
13. Seton Hall
14. Rutgers
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
The East Coast Bias:
1. Pittsburgh
2. Georgetown
3. Villanova
4. UConn
5. West Virginia
6. Syracuse
7. Notre Dame
8. St. John's
9. Louisville
10. Marquette
11. Cincinnati
12. Providence
13. Rutgers
14. Seton Hall
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
Friar Blog:
1. Pittsburgh
2. Syracuse
3. Villanova
4. UConn
5. Georgetown
6. Notre Dame
7. West Virginia
8. Louisville
9. Marquette
10. St. John's
11. Cincinnati
12. Providence
13. Seton Hall
14. Rutgers
15. South Florida
16. DePaul
The Nova Blog:
1. UConn
2. Pittsburgh
3. Villanova
4. Georgetown
5. Notre Dame
6. Syracuse
7. Louisville
8. West Virginia
9. Cincinnati
10. Marquette
11. Providence
12. St. John's
13. South Florida
14. Rutgers
15. Seton Hall
16. DePaul
Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician:
1. Pittsburgh
2. UConn
3. Villanova
4. Syracuse
5. Notre Dame
6. Georgetown
7. Louisville
8. West Virginia
9. Cincinnati
10. Providence
11. St. John's
12. Marquette
13. Rutgers
14. South Florida
15. Seton Hall
16. DePaul
TheUConnBlog:
1. UConn
2. Georgetown
3. Pittsburgh
4. Villanova
5. Notre Dame
6. West Virginia
7. Syracuse
8. St. John's
9. Cincinnati
10. Louisville
11. Marquette
12. Seton Hall
13. Providence
14. South Florida
15. Rutgers
16. DePaul
Voodoo Five:
1. Pittsburgh
2. Villanova
3. UConn
4. Georgetown
5. Syracuse
6. Louisville
7. Notre Dame
8. West Virginia
9. St. John's
10. Marquette
11. Cincinnati
12. South Florida
13. Rutgers
14. Seton Hall
15. Providence
16. DePaul