Big East as of 2/19/2024
Locks: UConn, Marquette, Creighton
Probably in:
Coin flip: Butler, Providence, Villanova, Seton Hall
Probably Out: St John's, Xavier
No Shot: Georgetown, DePaul
Creighton is now a lock after a nice road win at Butler. They are flirting with 4 seed consideration. Tuesday's home tilt with UConn will be a big one.
Things look very bleak for St John's. They have lost 8 of their last 10 and Pitino went scorched earth on his players in the postgame. They really need a 2-0 week. They play at Georgetown and then host Creighton.
Seton Hall had a nice week picking up wins over Xavier and at St John's. They have a really good Big East record (10-5) but their non-conference performance was a nightmare. Seton Hall played the #240 non-conference SOS and went 0-4 vs the NET top 140. That said, their wins over UConn, Marquette, Butler, St John's (2x) put them squarely on the bubble for now. They really need to take care of business against Butler at home next weekend before back to back road games at Creighton and UConn.
Villanova held serve by winning at Georgetown. They now get Butler at home before an away trip to UConn. Probably fair to place Nova in "next 4 out" territory as of now. It would be pretty funny to see them miss the tournament as they are fielding one of the most expensive rosters in the sport.
Xavier is pretty much toast. They are 2-9 in Quad 1 after falling on the road at Seton Hall. The committee isn't going to like having ample opportunities for big wins but always losing. They still play Marquette twice so need to at least split that and probably win every other game on the schedule. Tall, near impossible task.
The Big East has by far the most bubble teams of any conference.