Final Big East tournament bracket: Villanova handles Creighton

The Big East conference tournament has come to an end.

The Villanova Wildcats are your 2017 Big East conference tournament champions! The Wildcats took care of the Creighton Blue Jays, 74-60, at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening.

Villanova knocked off St. John’s in the quarterfinals and Seton Hall in the semifinals on the road to the championship game.

Here’s a look at the final tournament bracket. Click to enlarge:

Villanova was led by National Player of the Year candidate Josh Hart, who finished with 29 points and six rebounds. Hart shot a pretty efficient 7-of-18 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc. Jalen Brunson (17 points) and Kris Jenkins (14 points) were the only other Wildcats to finish in double figures.

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On the defensive end, Villanova was impressive. The Wildcats kept both guard Marcus Foster and center Justin Patton in check. Foster finished with 13 points, but shot just 5-of-13 from the field while Patton managed just 10 points of his own. Creighton as a team shot a meager 41.4 percent from the field. That’s not going to get the job done on most nights, let alone against the defending national champions

The Bluejays won’t be too stressed about losing the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, though. Their season-long body of work, which includes an early season win over the Wisconsin Badgers, should be enough to secure them an at-large spot in the Big Dance.

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The win is a big one for Villanova, though, as it likely secures the Wildcats the No. 1 overall seed and placement in the East Regional. Those Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games will take place right back in Madison Square Garden where Villanova just cut down the nets for the conference tournament title.

First, the Wildcats will have to handle their first and second round opponents. We’ll find out who those are on Selection Sunday.