2. Bizarro world
A show of hands: Who had Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Villanova at the bottom of the Big East standings in mid-January? And how about Seton Hall, which is ranked for the first time since 2001? The Pirates appear ready to challenge for a top-four seed in the conference tournament despite being chosen by coaches in the preseason to finish 13th. "Every school in the league, basketball is its most important sport," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "You might pick one or two that you could argue with. But it's a basketball league, so anybody can be good every year because it's important to everybody."
3. In the pits
The poor play of Pittsburgh, the defending regular-season Big East champ, has been incredible. The Panthers (11-6, 0-4) enter the weekend on a five-game losing streak and are coming off a 39-point performance (at home!) against Rutgers. In league games, they are averaging 60.5 points while shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three-point range. Pitt has played its last nine games without point guard Travon Woodall, but coach Jamie Dixon said he won't "make excuses about what we don't have. We've got to play with who we have. We haven't come up with reasons why. We just have to play better."
4. Quite a scramble
La Salle leads the Atlantic Ten with a 2-0 mark, but the Explorers would do well not to stare into their rearview mirror. Six teams, including St. Joseph's, are right behind them at 2-1. For a better look at relative strengths of the teams at this stage, we'll rank those half-dozen by their current RPI: Dayton, Xavier, St. Joseph's, Massachusetts, Charlotte, and St. Bonaventure. Temple (1-1) actually has the best RPI in the league at No. 17 while the Explorers sit at No. 77, which is lower than all the 2-1 teams except for the Bonnies.
5. Big one, for now
