Big East Tournament 2023: 1 dark horse who could start March Madness early

The Big East should send five teams to March Madness, but one sleeper could get hot at Madison Square Garden and steal the league’s auto-bid.

Few tournaments are a better embodiment of Championship Week than the Big East Tournament. Although the tournament hasn’t been the same since the original Big East broke apart in 2013, there is still something special about seeing some of the nation’s best basketball schools fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament over a week at Madison Square Garden.

The 2022-23 Big East has been a solid conference that should send five teams to the dance in Marquette, Xavier, UConn, Providence and Creighton. There is the potential for a sixth, however, as a traditional powerhouse having a down year could cause some havoc in New York.

Villanova could be a problem at the Big East Tournament

This year was always going to be a transition year for Villanova, which saw long-time head coach Jay Wright unexpectedly retire after reaching the Final Four last season. Former assistant Kyle Neptune returned to succeed Wright after a strong year at Fordham but the Wildcats struggled early, losing non-conference games to Temple and Portland before stumbling to a 4-8 start in conference play with losses to Butler and DePaul.

Things have turned around for the Wildcats, however, with the return of star Justin Moore from an ACL injury in late January. Moore got hurt in Villanova’s Elite Eight win a year ago, arguably torpedoing the team’s hopes in the Final Four, but his leadership was profoundly missed on a young Villanova team this season.

It took a bit for Moore to get going but he is playing quite well, entering March averaging 13.3 points per game and posting a combined 48 points in road wins over No. 16 Xavier and Seton Hall. The addition of Moore has also eased the burden on star freshman Cam Whitmore, a potential NBA lottery pick who is averaging 12.6 points per game on the season and can now play more of a complementary role.

The mix has gelled nicely for Villanova, which has won six of its last seven games entering March, a run that includes a sweep of Seton Hall as well as victories against ranked foes in Xavier and Creighton. This group is playing with house money and is extremely dangerous, making them a true threat to steal the Big East’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament if they can stay hot.

Few teams will want to play Villanova right now, which is a much different team than the one that struggled for the vast majority of the season. The Big East’s top teams are certainly vulnerable as everyone except Marquette has at least five league losses, which shows how close this league is talent wise.

The Wildcats also play a lot of close games, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see them grind out wins over the league’s top dogs to steal a spot in March Madness. There is potential for chaos in New York and Villanova figures to be right in the middle of all the madness.