Big East Basketball: 5 biggest takeaways from 2019 Gavitt Games

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - MARCH 21: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates reacts in the second half against the Wofford Terriers during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 20: Kamar Baldwin #3 of the Butler Bulldogs dribbles the ball while being guarded by Brendan Bailey #1 of the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first half at the Fiserv Forum on February 20, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

Big East Basketball collectively fell to the Big Ten in the 2019 Gavitt Games. What are the overall takeaways from the conference?

In a set of early-season tests, Big East Basketball took on the Big Ten Conference in the annual Gavitt Games, an event where the league’s representative teams face off against one another. There were a lot of key storylines coming into the contests, with some teams needing wins more than others.

In the end, the Big Ten beat the Big East 5-3, after winning the final two games on Thursday night. One of them was Michigan State beating Seton Hall in a thriller, despite the heroics of star guard Myles Powell (more on him later). Overall, there was plenty of good… and bad that happened in the past week. Here are five specific takeaways from the Gavitt Games.

1. Big East was on the losing end in terms of Bracketology

It’s still very early in the season but that doesn’t mean that the games being played don’t already have consequences for Selection Sunday. In that regard, Michigan State was the big winner from this event with a win over a top-15 team, while the Pirates missed out on what probably would’ve been the best resume victory of the entire season.

As for the teams who did win, it’s hard to say if any of them will be considered a “quality” win far as Bracketology goes. Butler beat a Minnesota team who already has two losses and could be 1-3 if they lose at Utah Friday night. Marquette’s victory over Purdue also might not be that strong with the Boilermakers also seeming destined for bubble status. And Iowa already had concerns heading into the season before being smacked by DePaul.

That doesn’t even include letdowns by Villanova and Georgetown and Providence’s disaster of a defeat to Northwestern, which surely seems like it’ll be a bad loss on their resume. There may have been lessons learned from the play on the court but the resume benefits just weren’t there for the Big East.

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