The Big East is not what it once was. With that being said, the defending champs do hail from the Big East. Villanova hasn’t had the season that we have seen from them in years past, but they still locked up a #1 seed in the wide open Big East Tourney. Joe Lunardi has them projected as a #6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Marquette is probably the league’s best team, but they come in to the conference tourney on a 4 game skid. The Golden Eagles moved into the top 10 in the nation right before the losing streak.
Taking a look into this conference over the past month or so, it’s difficult to tell who is good. Seton Hall closed out the season by beating the top 2 seeded teams in the conference to basically solidify themselves a spot in the Big Dance. St. Johns and Creighton are considered bubble teams, but the Creighton has only one win against NCAA Tournament teams this season.
The quality of the conference as a whole has been down this season, but the parity should cause an eventful conference tournament.
March 13th-16th Madison Square Garden, New York
- Villanova +200
- Marquette +210
- Creighton +460
- Seton Hall +560
- Xavier +1200
- St. Johns +1200
- Georgetown +1800
- Butler +2000
- Providence +3200
- Depaul +4600
The best part of Big East Basketball, past and present, is their venue for the conference tournament. Madison Square Garden hosts the tourney again, and that alone gives it the nostalgia award. This tournament is anyone’s to take. Considering the #7 seed in St Johns is on the bubble for the NCAA Tourney, that should be a great indicator of how entertaining this tourney should be.
Pick: Seton Hall Pirates +560
Seton Hall closed out their regular season with 2 monster victories against Marquette and Villanova. Both of these wins did take place on their home court, but I think their confidence moving forward can propel them to Big East tourney champs.
March is all about who is hot and Seton Hall has been a very streaky team this season, good and bad. Fortunately for them, this time of year there can only be the good streaks. They will take a 4-0 record on neutral courts into this neutral site. Statistically, there’s nothing that really jumps off the page about this team. But as we all know, narratives can take you deep in March and the Pirates narrative is closing out the season beating the top 2 teams in the conference.
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