Xavier coach Chris Mack has stated the obvious on more than one occasion when talking about who owns the BIG EAST. He likes to say until someone takes down mighty Villanova, the conference belongs to the defending national champion Wildcats. Period. End of conversation.
But while injuries have helped short-circuit any hopes of Xavier or Creighton from preventing Villanova from clinching a fourth straight BIG EAST regular-season title, there just might be a new kid on the block who is ready to challenge Villanova for conference supremacy.
Meet the Butler Bulldogs. A team picked sixth in the BIG EAST coaches’ preseason poll and one that lost program stalwarts Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones to graduation and all kinds of crazy statistical numbers that went out the door with them.