Big East Basketball Power Rankings, Week 9: Orange Earn Top Spot

The Syracuse Orange can claim that not only are they one of the Top 5 teams in the nation, but they are also THE top team in the latest SB Nation Big East Basketball Power Rankings posted Monday at The UConn Blog.

"Here's a quick test to determine if you're one of the two best teams in the Big East: look at your jersey," wrote Andrew Porter on Monday. "If it says Syracuse or Pittsburgh, then congrats, you're on top. The Orange and the Panthers combined to collect all 12 first place votes this week, standing well above all comers."

Last week, the Orange (16-0, 3-0) tied with Pittsburgh (15-1, 3-0) for first overall.

However, the Orange just keep winning and now are the only undefeated team in the conference -- the Cincinnati Bearcats (15-1, 2-1) lost to the Villanova Wildcats on Sunday. It seems like that credential alone helped SU earn a few more votes than the Panthers.

The St. John's Red Storm (10-4, 3-1) were slotted seventh out of 16 teams. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-5, 1-2) are ranked 12th.

(Click here for complete rankings at The UConn Blog.)

NCAA College Basketball Rankings, Week 10: Syracuse Stay At No. 4, St. John's Recieves Votes

A lot of differing opinions in this weeks college basketball polls.

Besides the Syracuse Orange, Pittsburgh Panthers and Villanova Wildcats remaining at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 7, respectively, in both polls; and eight teams in the Big East Conference are still in the Top 25 -- five teams are in the Top 10 -- in the AP poll. There's a lot of shuffling going on between both weekly rankings.

First, the St. John's Red Storm, which beat the Georgetown Hoyas last Monday but lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday, didn't make the list in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll but did receive votes in the AP poll.

The AP poll has Notre Dame ranked No. 9 and the Connecticut Huskies at No. 10. However, the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll placed UConn at No. 9 and left Notre Dame out of the Top 10 at No. 11 -- Brigham Young squeaked in at 10.

ND beat both UConn and St. John's last week. On Sunday, UConn won in overtime at No. 12/14 Texas Longhorns.

The Louisville Cardinals, who beat the Seton Hall Pirates and South Florida Bulls last week, are No. 17 in the USA Today/Coaches poll but No. 18 in the AP poll.

After losing to both St. John's and the West Virginia Mountaineers last week, the Georgetown Hoyas dropped to No. 19 in the USA Today/Coaches poll and No. 22 in the AP poll -- Georgetown was ranked 13th in both polls last week.

The Cincinnati Bearcats lost to 'Nova Sunday but remaining No. 25 in the AP poll. The loss knocked them out of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.

In both polls the Top 5 reaming the same: the Duke Blue Devils at No. 1, Ohio St. Buckeyes at No. 2 and Kansas Jayhawks at No. 3.