Villanova at 17, Marquette at 21 in latest AP Top 25

The Villanova Wildcats and Marquette Golden Eagles are representing the Big East in this week’s AP Top 25.

After sitting 21st last week, Villanova jumped up to 17th for this week’s rankings. The Wildcats have won six in a row and took two from the Temple Owls and St. Joseph’s Hawks this past week as they continue to mow through Big 5 play. A big week awaits them as they take on the Penn Quakers in their final Big 5 game, and then it’s on to Lawrence to play the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse.

Marquette, meanwhile, jumped back into the Top 25 and now sits at 21st, where ‘Nova was last week.The Golden Eagles have won five in a row and picked up two wins last week against the UTEP Miners and their rivals, the Wisconsin Badgers. The latter was a quality win, as Wisconsin was ranked 12th in the polls, and now sits 16th (despite MU beating them, of course). We won’t see Marquette again for another eight days, as they’ll play North Dakota and then the Buffalo Bulls, who currently rank 14th in the nation.

Three other Big East squads received Top 25 votes this week. The St. John’s Red Storm, undefeated at this point, racked up 57 votes this week. The Butler Bulldogs scored two, and the Seton Hall Pirates, who knocked off the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at MSG, picked up one.