Big East Basketball Power Rankings Week Five

Welcome to the third edition of the 2010-2011 Big East Power Rankings. Yes, I know it says week five 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.

I think I'm going to be sick. I founded a blog called "TheUConnBlog" for a reason, and that reason was not to write good things about Syracuse. But yet, I must, because the Orange have been the most convincing team in the conference so far. As a result, they're No. 1 this week, leapfrogging my beloved Huskies. If you want a reason, look no further than Michigan St. UConn beat them by 3, Syracuse beat them by 14. That's convincing enough for me (though, it should be noted, not convincing enough for Casual Hoya, who put Georgetown ahead of Syracuse in a very hater-y move).

But, if we're being honest, it'll be tough to really differentiate between anyone until Big East play starts. The top six teams seem to have broken to the head of the pack, but I could really see anyone in the top 10, especially Notre Dame or West Virginia ending in one of the league's top 4 slots. Make no mistake, this is a deep, deep league.

Of course, like any deep body of water, there is a shallow end, and man are St. John's, South Florida and DePaul drowning in it. If anyone there deserves special mention, it's preseason darkhorse St. John's. The Red Storm were a media darling because of all their returning seniors, though the media apparently forgot that when a bunch of guys were terrible as juniors, they'll probably also be terrible as seniors, no matter who their coach is.

For our Hater Vote of the Week, we're going with the three blogs who had Louisville lower than 5th, especially Casual Hoya, who had them at 8th. The Cardinal's haven't played the world's toughest schedule, but they just beat a solid UNLV team and are undefeated, what more could you ask from them? For our Homer Vote of the Week, we're dipping all the way down to pick on Voodoo Five. Everyone but V5 has South Florida in 15th, V5 had them in 13th. The Bulls just put up 42 points against Florida Atlantic and lost to Kent St. If it wasn't for DePaul, they'd be last. That's a homer vote if I've ever seen one.

1. Syracuse (5) (10-0): 138 points -- Last Poll: 5

2. UConn (3) (8-0): 132 points -- Last Poll: 2

3. Pittsburgh  (10-1): 124 points  -- Last Poll: 1

4. Georgetown (1) (9-1): 116 points -- Last Poll: 3

5. Villanova (8-1): 111 points -- Last Poll: 4

6. Louisville (8-0): 106 points -- Last Poll: 8 

7. Notre Dame (9-1): 87 points -- Last Poll: 6

8. Cincinnati (8-0): 78 points -- Last Poll: 9 

9. West Virginia (7-2): 74 points -- Last Poll: 7

10. Marquette (7-3): 66 points -- Last Poll: 11

11. Providence (10-2): 55 points -- Last Poll: 12 

12. Rutgers (6-2): 41 points -- Last Poll: 14 

13. Seton Hall (4-4): 36 points -- Last Poll: 13 

14. St. John's (5-3): 32 points -- Last Poll: 10 

15. South Florida (4-4): 20 points -- Last Poll: 15

16. DePaul (3-6): 9 points -- Last Poll: 16

Past rankings: Week 1 | Week 3

Individual ballots after the jump.