College basketball rankings: Butler's wild win over Xavier further tightens competitive Big East race

College basketball rankings: Butler’s wild win over Xavier further tightens competitive Big East race

Friday isn’t the best day for college basketball, at least not at this point in any season. Regardless, Butler and Xavier delivered a wild 40 minutes Friday night inside Hinkle Fieldhouse, where Thad Matta’s Bulldogs won 69-67 thanks to A) Xavier’s Jack Nunge calling a timeout the Musketeers didn’t have with 23.4 seconds remaining and B) a goaltending call on Eric Hunter’s dunk attempt with 2.5 seconds left that provided Butler with the game-winning points.

It was a wild finish that tightened the Big East race.

Marquette (11-3), Xavier (11-3), Providence (10-3) and Creighton (10-3) are now tied for first in the loss column of the Big East standings with three weeks left in the regular season. For what it’s worth, KenPom.com is projecting Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles to ultimately win the league outright with a 16-4 conference record — one game better than how Xavier and Creighton are projected to finish.

The 2-point loss at Butler placed a second defeat to a sub-100 NET team on Xavier’s résumé and dropped the Musketeers to No. 15 in Saturday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Xavier is one of five Big East teams in the Top 25 And 1. The others are No. 14 Marquette, No. 17 Providence, No. 22 UConn and No. 25 Creighton. UConn and Creighton will play each other Saturday at the CHI Health Center Omaha, where the Bluejays are listed as 4.5-point favorites and thus expected to extend their winning streak to eight games while snapping UConn’s at three.