Some Pre-Season Poll Fodder

ESPN.com's Andy Katz released his personal Top 25 ranking and while it isn't official and you won't see any numbers to the left of team names based on his poll, it does raise an intriguing point. Is the Big East the best conference in the nation?
I know that Danny touched on this point earlier, but here is some empirical data to back it up, even if it someone else's opinion.
Katz has five teams in his top 20, and it would not be too difficult to see the same when the first AP poll comes out in a few weeks.
Connecticut is the top Big East team, up at No. 2. Contingent on A.J. Price coming back at full strength, the Huskies will definitely be a top 7 team.
Louisville is right on the Huskies' tail, coming in at No. 3. With Terrence Williams' injury not extremely serious, their biggest problem will be figuring out who is the first option.
Pittsburgh comes in at six. Of course this is all dependent on a healthy Levance Fields. They are a different team without him.
Notre Dame is at No. 11 and Marquette stands at 19. These two teams are eight spots apart but worlds away. The Irish are well rounded and have one of the best in-out combos in the country. Kyle McLarney and Tory Jackson are also as good a backcourt as you will get in the Big East. The Golden Eagles have the outside threats but their lack of inside scoring may become a big factor once conference play starts. And who knows how the team will adapt to Buzz Williams as its new coach.
Katz also lists Villanova, Georgetown and Syracuse as teams that just missed the cut.