Big East Basketball: Buy or sell Butler, St. John’s and other bubble teams
By Eddie Herz
Big East Basketball has plenty of bubble teams this season. Which ones are most likely to make the NCAA Tournament?
Excluding the ACC, off years happen for every conference in college basketball. There was a time when the Big East was as bulletproof as a conference could be. In a 16-team league featuring Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and Notre Dame, depth would compensate for transitioning programs. It is no coincidence that a hand full of the Big East betrayers moved over to the ACC.
Now, in a 10-team group, off-years from a bunch of teams will directly impact the success of the conference.
Xavier is in the midst of its worst season since 1995, Providence has performed substantially below expectations, and Butler is surprisingly less of a heel in everyone’s sides than usual. DePaul finding itself right in the thick of things with only six games remaining sums up the state of the Big East more than anything (sorry Demon fans).
Nevertheless, it isn’t as if the conference lacks excitement or competition. Beyond the first two overall placements, seeding for the Big East tournament will be a dog fight up until every team is getting on their flight to the Garden.
There are also a few teams who have potential to do severe damage in the NCAA Tournament, in turn salvaging the conference’s 2018-’19 reputation. Of course, I’m talking about Villanova and Marquette.
While the Cats and Golden Eagles have established firm ground between themselves and the rest of the Big East, that doesn’t mean there will only be a pair of BE teams punching their tickets to March Madness.
As we all know, if a team gets in anything can happen. So, let’s take a look at who to buy and who to sell on the Big East bubble (excluding Nova, Marquette, and Xavier).