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Bracketology 2024: Cincinnati, Northwestern, and St. John's highlight big Bubble Saturday

By Jason Burgess

The Cincinnati Bearcats mascot crowd surfs after the students rushed the court at the conclusion of
The Cincinnati Bearcats mascot crowd surfs after the students rushed the court at the conclusion of / Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY
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No. 17 Marquette (12-5, 3-3) at St. John's Red Storm (12-6, 4-3), Saturday, January 20, 12:00 PM ET, FOX

Rick Pitino went back to some of his coaching roots this season by heading back to the Big East to coach St. John’s. He has the Red Storm knocking on the door of an NCAA Tournament with a 12-6 record and off to a 4-3 start in conference play. They have a big chance on Saturday afternoon when they play host to No. 17 Marquette in the middle of a brutal six-game stretch that has seen them * the first two games with Creighton and Seton Hall.

The Red Storm have won four of their last six after losing to Seton Hall on Tuesday, and the losses in that stretch have come by a combined 16 points. Pitino has his team playing well and this first meeting with Marquette will be a good test for the Red Storm. A win in this one will help separate them from the other bubble teams in the Big East that are also in this stretch, such as Villanova and Xavier.

The Red Storm has played one of the toughest schedules in the country with a strength of schedule at 15th. 11 of their 18 games are either quad 1 or 2 games and they have a 6-5 in those games. Their metric average of 38.75 has them firmly in the at-large conversation and knocking off Marquette will improve those numbers even more.

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