Providence Friars (9-10, 5-8)
Excluding projected “safe” teams, Villanova and Creighton, the Big East have a big logjam in the middle. It looked as if UConn and Xavier were going to separate themselves but one has been without its best player (James Bouknight for UConn), while the other (Xavier) has been on pause as of late. That left the others to play each other in a bubble battle royale of sorts.
And from this past week, there was one clear “loser” of the group. And that’s the Providence Friars, who lost both of their home games to Seton Hall and St. John’s. Compound that with their lone loss at Georgetown in the week prior, and you now have a team currently under .500 overall with still several rough games left.
The metrics have frowned on the Friars as well. The NET Ranking is around 90 and has little on the resume outside of a victory over Creighton. And nothing left in the regular season will move the needle outside of the home finale against Villanova. And that game might be meaningless if Providence continues to keep losing.
The Friars are 2-6 since the start of January and are trending towards nowhere near the bubble. And while this program has a history of late-season runs, there’s a lack of both time and big opportunities for them to make up. And if they can’t win at home, there’s no reason to think Providence will get the wins needed on the road to get back onto the bubble.