Big East Basketball: Projecting the 2018 Gavitt Games with Big Ten

Potential Big East-hosted games

Michigan at Villanova

This is the obvious one. National championship rematch opportunities don’t come around often, and it fits well logistically within the format of the event. Villanova can afford a home Gavitt Game this year, and Michigan should now play on the road after hosting Xavier in 2015 in the Wolverines’ lone Gavitt Game appearance. Some of the stars of the title game will be gone, but there is still plenty of elite talent remaining on both sides. Bart Torvik’s projection system has both teams in its preseason top 10.

Ohio State at Seton Hall

The Buckeyes and the Pirates are losing key veterans, but both squads still have eyes on the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. This will be a good test for two solid programs looking to find their footing early in the season. Seton Hall’s graduating class scored over 63 percent of the team’s points last year; Ohio State will no longer have second-team All-American Keita Bates-Diop at its disposal. Keep in mind – Buckeyes’ head coach Chris Holtmann went 5-1 against Seton Hall in his three seasons with Butler.

Penn State at Butler

Similarly to Seton Hall and Ohio State, the Nittany Lions and Bulldogs are losing key first-team all-conference players in Tony Carr and Kelan Martin, respectively. But even without their lead scorers, Penn State and Butler should have enough talent left in the pipeline to finish above .500 within their conferences. Penn State is coming off an NIT championship run; Butler is one of eight schools to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the past four years.

Iowa at Xavier

This hypothetical contest is a battle of two teams meeting in the middle. Xavier grabbed the Big East regular-season title last season, but will likely slip down the standings without Trevon Bluiett and JP Macura on the perimeter and Sean O’Mara and Kerem Kanter down low. The Musketeers have also transitioned to new head coach Travis Steele, who has already managed to grab two grad transfers in his first week on the job.

Iowa, meanwhile, is expected to climb the Big Ten ladder this upcoming season after finishing 12th last year. The Hawkeyes had 11 underclassmen on the roster in 2017-18, so another offseason should be crucial for the team’s development. Two of Iowa’s top scorers – Tyler Cook and Isaiah Moss – have tested the NBA draft waters without an agent. Obviously, their pending return changes the outlook for Fran McCaffrey’s bunch in 2018-19.