Syracuse vs. Villanova: Who's the best of the Big East?

With Georgetown, Pitt, West Virginia, and UConn all coming down to earth in the last few weeks, Syracuse and Villanova have established themselves unequivocally as the favorites in the Big East.

But who is better?

It depends on how you look at them.

Going strictly by the numbers, its Syracuse. They are first in the country in the RPI, and third according to Kenpom. They've done so playing the fourth-most difficult schedule in the country. They won at West Virginia and handily beat Georgetown at home despite digging a 14-0 hole. They are 4-0 on the road, beat Cal and UNC in MSG early in the season, and also beat Florida in Tampa. Their sole loss on the season was to Pitt.

Their length has made their zone almost impenetrable. They deflect passes and force turnovers, and are able to convert those turnovers into points as well as anyone in the country. Offensively, they play an incredibly smart brand of basketball, rarely taking a bad or forced shot. What proof? They shoot, as a team, 53.4% from the floor, and have an effective field goal percentage of 59.3, second best in the country.

It makes sense that Syracuse's name is being thrown around when talking about the Final Four and the national title. They've had a fantastic season.

But Villanova has been great this year as well.

In fact, they have a better record than Syracuse, as they are 8-0 in the league. They have five wins against the RPI top-50, and nine against the top-100. Their only loss is to Temple, which doesn't look nearly as bad as it did when they were beaten. They've played more games (11) away from home than they have at home (10), and are 10-1 in those games. While their efficiency numbers are lower than you would expect from a team in the top five (Kenpom has them at 13th), a big reason for that is their poor defensive efficiency, which is 71st in the country. But that number has been steadily climbing (they were 95th a month ago), and is made up for by a potent offensive attack.

Those numbers will only get better as Villanova continues to play at full strength. Reggie Redding, the Wildcats best perimeter defender, wasn't eligible until after the Temple loss. Mouph Yarou is back from a bout of Hepatitis, giving Villanova some depth in the paint.

Head-to-head, this game would be a toss-up. Villanova has shooters and penetrators in their back court that thrive against a zone. Syracuse has the size inside and the discipline offensively to pick apart the Wildcat's defense. I don't think I'm the only one that would say the winner of this game would be a toss-up, depending on who got hot and where the game was played.

Having said that, if I had to bet on one of these two teams to win the Big East, I would put everything I own on the Orange.

In a heartbeat.

You see, Villanova has yet to really play the meat of the Big East. In February, not only will Villanova have to play Georgetown, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, they will have to play all five of them on the road.

Going 3-2 in that stretch would be quite an accomplishment.

And that's not it. The Wildcats also have to UConn and West Virginia again at home. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone with a tougher schedule down the stretch than Villanova.

Syracuse doesn't exactly play cupcakes the rest of the season. They get Louisville twice, UConn and Villanova at home, and travel to Georgetown and Cincinnati. But that is a far cry from what the Wildcats finish the season with. Its not crazy to predict the Orange to go 9-1 over their last 10 games, putting them at 16-2 in the conference.

Can Villanova match that?

The most intriguing part in all of this is that Villanova and Syracuse only play once this season, on Feb. 27th. Seeing as the winner will hold the tie-breaker if the two teams should finish the season with identical records, in all probability that game will be the de-facto Big East championship game.

Think the Carrier Dome will be packed for that one?