Villanova (15-1, 4-0) was picked to finish fourth in the Big East by coaches in a preseason poll, despite returning the core of their team, including junior JayVaughn Pinkston, sophomore Ryan Arcidiacono, junior Daruun Hilliard, and senior James Bell. They're now the sixth ranked team in the country and undefeated in the conference largely because of the improvement of all four of those players. Also spurring the Wildcats is the precocious play by freshman Josh Hart and sophomore center Daniel Ochefu. Rounding out the rotation is transfer Dylan Ennis and backup point guard/senior Tony Shenault. Even with Jay Wright's frequent substitutions, the roster is so deep that sweet shooting freshman Kris Jenkins and Ocheful get only inconsistent minutes and Tony Shenault, who probably envisioned himself as a larger contributor when he transferred from Wake Forest to 'Nova after the 2011-12 season, has been mostly reduced to a caretaker's role.

"We're a tough-minded team and that comes from coach (Jay Wright) getting on us in practice and bringing us together," Pinkston told ESPN.

Suffice to say, they're huge favorites at home (17.5, according to Vegas Insider), against Depaul (10-8, 2-3) at 4:00 pm EST on FSNY (local television channel). The Blue Demons are on a two game roll with close victories against two struggling but talented teams in Butler (10-7, 0-5) and St. John's (9-8, 0-5). They're led by senior forward Cleveland Melvin (16.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg), shooting an absurd 49 percent from three point range this year (on just under two 3's per game).

The Wildcats "core four" for lack of a less Yankee-influenced but more apropos term have melded together in unique ways. They all fill different enough roles in strong enough ways to make this perhaps the best team Jay Wright has coached since his final four appearance in 2008-09. Only "Arci" hasn't progressed to the same degree from a pure skills perspective, but, as perhaps the most sentient member of the team, he seems to have recognized he doesn't really have to yet; more important is managing a team filled with talent and desire.

Well, I've focused 75 percent of this article on Villanova. Might as well pick them for the cover.

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Regular season: 0-2

Picking Schedule:

Butler @ Creighton: L (picked Butler, +10.5)

UConn @ Memphis: L (picked Memphis, -7.5)