Big East hoops in March. What a beautiful sentence.
We've officially entered conference tournament season, and the Big East will, like always, be one of the more fun conference tournaments of the week.
St. John's, Marquette and UConn are in the dance no matter what happens at Madison Square Garden this week. Creighton is a near-lock, too. Xavier and Villanova are squarely on the bubble — their respective performances in the Big East tourney are likely to determine their March fates.
Here's what the Big East bracket looks like as madness looms.
Big East tournament bracket
Big East tournament first round game times (all games Wednesday, March 12 on Peacock)
- Providence vs. Butler, 4 PM EST
- Georgetown vs. No. 10 DePaul, 6:30 PM EST
- Villanova vs. Seton Hall, 9 PM EST
How can Villanova, Xaver punch a ticket to the dance?
Just win, baby. Xavier is currently in Joe Lunardi's "Last Four In," and a win against Marquette would probably lift them over the edge.
For Villanova, the path isn't so simple. The Wildcats might need a run to the championship game to be fully confident on Selection Sunday. Just a win over Seton Hall won't do it. Wins against Seton Hall and Creighton make things more interesting, but three straight conference tourney wins would almost surely do the trick.
For the shoo-in teams, the conference tourney is all about seeding in the Big Dance. St. John's is fighting for a top two seed, Marquette would love to jump into a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, and Creighton is trying to prove it should earn a top 8 seed.
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament prediction
I love St. John's because they can't shoot at all (as a team they're under 30 percent for the year) and it doesn't matter because they grind their opponents into a pulp every game and it's led to a 27-4 record.
Give me the Johnnies beating UConn in the conference championship on Saturday and solidifying their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.