Wisconsin and Seton Hall look for Big Wins on Friday before Christmas

The last time we talked was Wednesday morning, the day of the Creighton-Xavier game in the Big East.  The Bluejays looked like a completely different team than the one we saw play the first 10 games of the season.  Xavier looked like the team we saw at the beginning of the year, and that is not good for Richard Pitino.  Creighton made a ton of threes and beat Xavier by 40.  That poses the question, then, is Creighton back?

Georgetown beat a bad Marquette team.  The Golden Eagles are struggling, scoring few points and lacking depth.  Georgetown can be a factor in the Big East, but they have to get downhill and play through star Malik Mack on offense.  If the Hoyas do that, they will win some games. Vanderbilt stayed undefeated with a hard-fought win at Memphis.  Finally, in the nightcap, the UCLA Bruins picked up a decent win over Arizona State at Pauley Pavilion.

Finals week is finally over, and the games pick up in a big way over the weekend before the holiday break. There are two huge games tomorrow that could have tournament implications for a couple of teams.  After breaking down those games, I will pick the winners of each game.

Seton Hall Pirates at Providence Friars - Big East Upstarts against team searching for answers

The Pirates head into the game at the Dunkin' Donuts Center with 10 wins.  Seton Hall had seven wins all of last year and has looked like one of the better teams in the Big East all season long.  Head coach Shaheen Holloway preaches defense his team plays some of the best defense in the country.  The Pirates are physical and will make sure opponents know who they are playing.  Confidence is a real thing in the sport of basketball, and Seton Hall got a ton of it after beating NC State in Maui.  There has been no looking back since then.

Providence has struggled under Kim English to replicate anything close to the success that the Friars had under former head coach Ed Cooley.  Even though Providence has 7 wins, the wins have been against mid majors, and the Friars have only beaten one power five school, that was Penn State who is one of the worst teams in the Big Ten.  Providence doesn’t defend and until they get that figured out they will never reach their ceiling.

Villanova Wildcats vs Wisconsin Badgers - Battle in Milwaukee

Villanova is fresh off a blowout loss to Michigan, and Villanova, much like every other team in the country, didn’t play that badly against Michigan, but still got pounded.  New head coach Kevin Willard is trying to bring the Wildcats back to glory and hopes to do so by taking and making threes and using his big man, Duke Brennan, to dominate on the glass, which he has so far this season.  Villanova isn’t great right now, but as the season goes on and this team gets more comfortable with one another, they are going to be a sneaky team to play.

Wisconsin went to Lincoln and got beat by 30 against an excellent Nebraska team.  The Badgers didn’t play well and were far too reliant on the three-point shot that night.  It also didn’t help that star John Blackwell couldn’t put the ball in the basket.  That is going to change Blackwell, and point guard Nick Boyd is, too. Good and will be the best players on the floor in this matchup.  Will the Badgers defend, though?

Here are the picks for the rest of the games: