I hope DePaul at least keeps Purnell employed through our New Years Eve game. Marquette threw away our 2010 game at the Allstate Arena against them, but they played with a renewed effort under interim coach Tracy Webster in that game (after basically giving up on Coach Wainwright).
Understand the skepticism with my Xavier pick, but I still really like their roster and believe they have the highest ceiling of anyone outside of Nova and maybe Georgetown in the conference. They have been mediocre against a terrible out of conference schedule, doing nothing away from home and not having tested themselves against a surefire NCAA team. Still, I think they mostly meet their potential and finish strong enough to sneak into the NCAA's (and they will have to finish high in the league given that rubbish of a non-conference schedule). They need to improve their defense, but are really good on offense and I believe will outscore enough teams to win the majority of nights.
The Whitehead injury likely derails Hall's strong start to the season. Khadeen Carrington is a nice looking player for the future, but is best served now in his current 6th-7th man role (as is the case for most non-elite recruits). Their start to conference is not horribly tough, but some of those likely home wins may now be toss-up games or narrow losses that ultimately may cost the Hall a tourney bid (though like Marquette, they can potentially present the case of two different teams and the results of each teams). Still, I would flip at least 1-2 of Hall's wins to losses now.