By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)
NEW YORK — The Big East tournament tips off on Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden and Daly Dose of Hoops will have wall-to-wall coverage of not just the four local teams – who happen to be the top four seeds in this year’s tournament – but all eleven teams, hitting on all of the major storylines from around the conference.
Here’s one quick thing to watch from each time, followed by staff picks from Jaden Daly and Sam Federman:
1) St. John’s
No team has won both the outright Big East regular season championship and the Big East tournament title in back-to-back seasons since UConn did it in 1998 and 1999. Ironically, 1999 was also the last time the Red Storm made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, which it will have a chance to do this season.
2) UConn
The Huskies are the betting favorite to win the Big East Tournament at -125, but will have a tougher road to the championship game than St. John’s, having to perhaps face Marquette – which it already lost to – and Villanova, the only team besides the top two with odds better than 50-1 to win the tournament.
3) Villanova
Villanova is still learning to build 40 minutes of lineups without Matt Hodge in the picture, but early returns are strong with controlling wins over DePaul and Xavier in the final week of the regular season. The Wildcats are going to make the NCAA Tournament, but could jump a seed line, maybe even two if they get the right breaks, if they beat the odds and win the Big East tournament.
4) Seton Hall
A few months ago, it looked like Seton Hall was going to be a lock at this point to make the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Pirates need to win three games in three days. Shaheen Holloway’s team had chances to beat UConn and St. John’s in both of the matchups against both teams, but couldn’t pick up the big win, and stacked ten conference losses on top of that. Can they grit and grind through a Big East Tournament, winning games in the fifties and low sixties?
5) Creighton
The Bluejays have lost eight of their last 11 games to finish under .500 in Big East play for the first time since 2015, the year after Doug McDermott left town. But because of how top-heavy the league is, that’s still good enough to get a bye. Nik Graves played arguably his best game of the season in the regular season finale, and the Bluejays will need more where that came from.
6) DePaul
Despite finishing with the lowest KenPom rank in the Big East, DePaul rallied to 8-12 and a sixth-place finish. Although no Wednesday DePaul was in play toward the end of the season, the Blue Demons lost the final two games to lock in the six seed. Chris Holtmann still led this Blue Demons squad to a higher finish in Big East play than any other in history.
7) Marquette
The emergence of Adrien Stevens late in the year has complemented the already blossoming young core of Royce Parham and Nigel James with senior Chase Ross to have Marquette playing some much better basketball down the stretch. The Golden Eagles capped off the regular season with a win over UConn, which could be a quarterfinal matchup.
8) Butler
While Butler responded to a six-game losing streak by winning three of the last five games of the regular season, the Bulldogs finished below .500 in the Big East for a sixth straight season, and fourth in a row under Thad Matta. Could this be the last week that we see him as the coach of the Bulldogs
9) Providence
Have the Friars quit? Or will they show fight? Kim English is reportedly out as PC’s head coach – the correct decision after three straight years missing the NCAA Tournament despite the heavy NIL investment into the program. The fanbase and English have gotten toxic with each other, and it’s worth wondering whether the players will show up with a chip on their shoulder at all.
10) Xavier
The Musketeers are right on the cusp of finishing the season outside KenPom’s Top 100 for the first time in program history. Richard Pitino got a late start with building his roster, and certainly needs more NIL support – which he’s reportedly getting next year – but Xavier may leave an exclusive college basketball club. Currently sitting at 97th ahead of Wednesday’s game with Marquette, only Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky, Villanova, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Alabama have never finished outside the top 100, along with Xavier. The Musketeers are the only team on that list to have spent any time outside of the power conferences during that era.
11) Georgetown
Throughout the season, Georgetown has seemingly found new ways to lose basketball games. If there’s one week to sum up their season, it’s losing 93-89 at home to Butler on February 18, and turning around to lose 51-47 to Seton Hall just days later. With KJ Lewis out for the season, it’s incredibly hard to see the Hoyas making any sort of run, but the matchup with DePaul is a favorable one in terms of a 6-seed.
STAFF PICKS
Jaden Daly: Providence over Butler
Marquette over Xavier
DePaul over Georgetown
St. John’s over Providence
Seton Hall over Creighton
UConn over Marquette
DePaul over Villanova
St. John’s over Seton Hall
UConn over DePaul
UConn over St. John’s
I was extremely tempted to pick Seton Hall over St. John’s because I like the draw for the Pirates more than I do for the Johnnies, but the wise man knows to pick against Rick Pitino at his own risk. I do, however, think Friday DePaul will be a thing for the first time this year. The Blue Demons were fortunate to potentially draw a Villanova team that is down a starter after Matt Hodge’s torn ACL, and will have a favorable path to advance to the semifinals. In the end, though, I think UConn will emerge from a thriller against St. John’s to cut down the nets at MSG for the second time in three years.
Sam Federman: Butler over Providence
Marquette over Xavier
DePaul over Georgetown
St. John’s over Butler
Creighton over Seton Hall
UConn over Marquette
Villanova over DePaul
St. John’s over Creighton
UConn over Villanova
UConn over St. John’s
I think UConn takes it, but could see them losing to Marquette again. The Golden Eagles are the team most likely to steal a bid, even though Seton Hall and Creighton would have to play one fewer game.
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