All Big East eyes focused on March

With just 15 days between now and the start of the Big East Tournament, the ebbs and flows of the conference season continue. Marquette is now one of the hottest teams in the conference after facing a moment of crisis just weeks ago. Meanwhile, some of the negative indicators are starting to come out that may show us why Connecticut is not as much like the UConn teams of the past as we might think. In this post — which will double as a power ranking — we’re going to take a look at what the numbers have to say about the strengths and weaknesses of the five elite teams in the Big East.

1. Louisville (22-6, 12-3): Winners of seven straight, the Cardinals are playing as well as any team in the country right now, and it’s going well on both ends of the floor. Louisville is just one of two teams — Marquette is the other — that ranks in the top five in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency in conference games (all these rankings are based on my personal calculations). We have seen a couple of chinks in the armor in the last two games though. In the first five games of the streak, Louisville scored more than a point per possession and allowed less than a point per possession in every game. In the last two games, Louisville didn’t manage a point per possession in the first (the win over Syracuse) and didn’t keep Pittsburgh anywhere near a point per possession (1.16) in the second.

Strengths: It’s hard to imagine, but Louisville is the best shooting team in the conference. Its 52.3 percent eFG in conference games is the league-leading mark. The win over Syracuse was the only game in which UofL didn’t break the magical 50 percent eFG mark during this seven-game streak. It’s the inside shooting that is leading to the great overall shooting numbers, as the Cardinals also lead the conference in 2-point field-goal percentage (53.5). The 3-point numbers are only league average, but the Cards continue to chuck them up on 37 percent of all attempts — second in the league to Georgetown.

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