The title of a tale on local Big East Hoops would read “The decent, the bad and the ugly.”  Neither Seton Hall, St. John’s or Rutgers has truly turned the corner - but the three schools are at different levels right now.

*Seton Hall is clearly better than both the Red Storm and Scarlet Knights at the moment.  Jeremy Hazell is at the top of the Big East in scoring and the Pirates are 10-5 overall.  More importantly, they are 1-3 in the league after defeating Cincinnati over the weekend.  Hazell averages nearly 24 ppg and in conference play has been even better.  He scored 41 points against West Virginia and 33 points against the Bearcats.  Seton Hall’s next game is Thursday night at Georgetown.  If Bobby Gonzalez’s team could ever steal this game vs the Hoyas…they could potentially go on a big run here.  The next two games afterwards are Louisville and Pitt…and these two games are winnable because they’re at home.  The Pirates play very well at the ROCK in Newark.  And then they play at South Florida - you don’t get any more winnable than that.  But Jeremy Hazell needs help.  Herb Pope is the only other player that averages double digits at 13ppg.

*St. John’s let a huge opportunity slip away when they lost to Providence at home at the beginning of conference play.  Then a tough loss at Louisville which was expected….but now it’s time to get going.  The good news is that Cincinnati at the Garden is a very winnable game for them.  The bad news is that Mick Cronin’s team just lost at Seton Hall over the weekend, so they’re going to come out looking for blood.  But the excuses have to end now in St. John’s land.  No more rebuilding, no more ‘Beast of a Conference’ talk…..get some wins. Anthony Mason Jr…..stay healthy.  Players other than DJ Kennedy and Dwight Hardy….put the ball in the basket.  Norm Roberts has a done a very good job and his kids play hard.  Now these guys have to start showing some results.

*To say things are rough in the land of Rutgers is an understatement.  They have a four game losing streak going, 0-3 in the Big East and one of the best sophomores in the league, Gregory Echenique, has transferred.  And their games the rest of January consist of Syracuse, Villanova and Notre Dame at home….and they have to play South Florida, Georgetown and Marquette on the road.  Rutgers has to improve defensively folks.  Big East opponents are shooting 47% against them.  It’s hard to win when you’re giving up almost 50% from the field.

1.  Seton Hall:  I still think the Pirates are the best team in metropolitan area.  Jeremy Hazell can score 30-40 points on any given night and this team has a big time home court atmosphere.  Their last win vs Cincinnati keeps them in this spot for another week.

2.  St. John’s:  I’m gonna keep the Red Storm in the #2 spot but I’m not thrilled about it.  But Norm’s team has to show me something in these next two home games vs Cincinnati and DePaul or there will be some repercussions.

3.  Iona:  I can’t think of a team in the area in recent years that has exceeded expectations more.  Kevin Willard’s team was picked to come in 9th place this season because he has 9 freshmen and sophomores on the team.  Meanwhile, the Gaels have 11 wins already, have beaten Providence and this month have beaten Niagara, Rider and Loyola on the road.

4.  Rutgers:  The Scarlet Knights are ice cold and need a win badly.  Syracuse at home is tough but if Rutgers could knock down some shots against the zone….you never know.  I like the game after that for RU….at South Florida.

5.  Manhattan:  The Jaspers crushed St. Peter’s at home recently and only lost by 1 point to Rider and by 3 points to Fairfield.

6.  Hofstra:  The Pride are 2-6 in their last 8 games and have lost two in a row.  They dropped a tough one at home last night to VCU 81-68.

7.  Fordham:  The Rams are 2-12 overall….And other than the two point loss at UMass last week, Jared Grasso’s team hasn’t been in a close game in a long time.

A good amount of readers have written to me recently about LIU potentially making the cut - perhaps by bumping out Fordham or Manhattan.  And here’s the deal….

The Blackbirds are close….they’re only 6-9 overall but they are 4-0 in NEC play and beat Robert Morris recently.  But before that, they lost 6 games in a row - and 2 of the losses were Morgan State and Bethune-Cookman.  And as bad as Fordham is….the A-10 is light years ahead of the NEC.  But they’re close, very close.