Big East Big Five: Week Eight

10 games have been played on the 2015-16 Big East conference schedule.  We've had some surprising wins, some surprising losses, at least one notable injury, ups, downs, turnarounds, and pretty much everything you can think of has happened at some point.

Let's look at the week ahead, shall we?

Tuesday, January 5: Georgetown at Creighton (8pm Central, FS1) - Ok, Hoyas, you're 2-0 with wins at DePaul and at home against Marquette.  Let's see you do something interesting, like go to Omaha and pull out a win in front of 18,000 screaming Bluejays fans.  Meanwhile, the Jays are 1-1 after dealing with St. John's effectively and getting clipped at home by Villanova.  Those results are pretty much the expected outcomes for those games, so now we get to see what you're made of this season, too.

Wednesday, January 6: Seton Hall at #11 Villanova (6pm Central, FS1) - The Pirates have won seven in a row.  The last time SHU won seven games in a row that included at least 2 Big East games was 2003!  Wow!  Can they keep this roll going against a Wildcats team that's very clearly running on all cylinders after demolishing a wounded Xavier team and popping Creighton by 14 in Omaha?  Fun Fact: Three of the best KenPom players in the Big East play for Villanova: Josh Hart (#1), Daniel Ochefu (#2), and Ryan Arcidiacono (#5).

Sunday, January 10: #11 Villanova at #18 Butler (6:30pm Central, FS1) - Between now and tip off of this game, Butler's going to get a chance to right the ship at the Allstate Arena when they take on DePaul on Tuesday.  So, hopefully, the Bulldogs aren't desperate for a win come Sunday night.  They're 0-2 league play right now after ascending to the top 10 of the Associated Press poll, but neither loss is VERY surprising: at home against Providence, and at Xavier?  That kind of thing happens with that kind of open.  Even if they get in the win column against the Blue Demons, this game looms very large as a statement of what the Bulldogs are about this season.

The Big East Women's Basketball Game Of The Week

Tuesday, January 5: #24 DePaul at #25 Seton Hall (6pm Central, FS2) - This was not my original choice for the GOTW.  My original pick was Seton Hall & St. John's mixing it up later on in the week, because that one gives St. John's a chance to show what they've got after taking their first league loss against DePaul on Sunday.  BUT, when the AP poll puts two teams in the league in the top 25 and those two teams are playing each other, you gotta make it Game Of The Week.  Seton Hall is on top of the league standings right now at 3-0, while DePaul is sitting tied with Xavier at 2-0 right behind the Pirates.

The Worst American Athletic Conference Game Of The Week

Wednesday, January 6: South Florida at Central Florida (6pm Central, ESPN News) - Honestly, I'm not excited about calling this one the worst game of the week.  I think the rivalry game aspect of this in-state contest should carry it out of Worst Game status.  But USF is the worst team in the AAC and their other game this week is against Cincinnati.  Tulane, the next worst team, is playing Houston and Tulsa, and while the Golden Hurricane are 0-2, they're not actually bad.  In general, the games this week are top end teams playing bottom end teams.  So we'll point at the worst KenPom team in the AAC playing the third worst KenPom team, and that's ultimately okay.