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It’s the home stretch in the Big East Title race, and subsequently the Big East Tournament seeding. The Big East is far from decided, although it does seem to be just a two horse race. That said, the seeding is clearly up in the air as the 3-10 seeds are still all within two games of each other.
Big East Regular Season Championship
The only way Marquette or Villanova was going to “run away” with the regular season championship was if one of them had an epic collapse. Well, Villanova just lost four of its last five games, the first of which came on the road at the Golden Eagles. Marquette now holds a 1.5 game lead over the Wildcats, and even if they lose on the Main Line in two days, they’ll still be in sole possession of first place.
- Marquette (12-2)
- Villanova (11-4)
- St. John’s (8-7)
- Seton Hall (7-8)
- Xavier (7-8)
- Georgetown (6-8)
- Butler (6-8)
- Creighton (6-9)
- DePaul (5-9)
- Providence (5-10)
Unless Villanova wins three straight and Marquette drops at least two of their last four, Marquette is going to win their second ever Big East Championship, possibly even their first outright title. Marquette’s “magic number” to win at least a share of the title is 2. That means they could lock it up with a win at Villanova this week.
Big East Tournament Seeding
For those teams that aren’t in the title race, they still have a shot in the Big East Tournament. As we’ve seen in the past, any team is capable of running the table and earning a spot in the NCAA tournament regardless of their record. The lower seeds had started to separate a little bit, but now the 3-10 seeds are all back within 3 games of each other. With that in mind, here’s what the current seeding for the BET would look like:
First Day: Wednesday, March 13th
- #7 Butler vs #10 Providence
- #8 Creighton vs #9 DePaul
Quarter-Finals: Thursday, March 14th
- #1 Marquette vs #8 Creighton/#9 DePaul
- #4 Seton Hall vs #5 Xavier
- #2 Villanova vs #7 Butler/#10 Providence
- #3 St. John’s vs #6 Georgetown
We’re starting to get close to seed locking territory. That said, Villanova isn’t guaranteed one of the top two spots yet. St. John’s could still jump ahead and steal that from the Wildcats unless they win at least one more game. On the other hand, St. John’s could drop their last three games and wind up playing in the opening round on Wednesday. Everything is still too close to call.