Big East

Now that the riff raff is gone, the Big East reclaims the Garden beginning Wednesday night. Villanova and Xavier are playing for 1-seeds and there’s some unfinished business with seeding and the bubble.

Entering the beginning of the tournament, all 10 teams are in the KenPom top 100 with DePaul straddling the line at 100 and Georgetown at 95. Though it won’t end that way, it’s been that kind of year in the league. Seton Hall, Creighton and Butler all appear safe to get bids but Providence and Marquette have work to do. Providence is in most mocks but they don’t want to give the committee a reason to dig deeper at the resume. They’re only 71st in KenPom, which is 1 spot ahead of St. John’s. Basically, they’ve outperformed expectations. The opening round game against Creighton is one they don’t want to lose.

Marquette is on much shakier ground. I think a win over DePaul keeps them right on the bubble but doesn’t guarantee anything because we don’t know if there’s any bid thieves out there (The A-10/MWC would be a spot to watch). A loss eliminates them from consideration. If they could couple that with an upset of Villanova, I’d move them to lock status.

Villanova can add 3 good wins and probably lock up a 1-seed. 2 would probably do the trick as well.

This tournament could be wide open. I don’t trust Xavier and Nova has been inconsistent the last month. Feels like a surprise is happening here. I’ll pick one, too

The Pick: Butler