City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
--

Villanova moved up a spot to No. 16 in the latest Associated Press poll, as the Wildcats prepare to start Big East play this week.

Jay Wright’s group tumbled to No. 17 last week, and the Wildcats’ two losses are both against top 5 teams in No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 5 Virginia. Villanova is 9-0 otherwise and hosts Penn tonight. The entire AP poll can be found here, and Villanova also was tabbed 16th in this week’s coaches poll.

A fellow City 6 team received votes for the first time this season, as St. Joseph’s picked up two in the eighth week of the poll. At 9-2 the Hawks are putting themselves in nice position to reach the postseason entering Atlantic 10 play, and they entered their holiday break with a 17-point break over Virginia Tech.

With the two votes, the Hawks would be 40th in the country, and their pair of losses this season have come against Florida and Villanova.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, were in the top 25 of every AP poll in 2015, with their ranking of 17th last week being their lowest in the calendar year. Villanova will have a chance to make a statement win later this week when the team hosts No. 6 and undefeated Xavier.