The Holy Land of Hoops

Movement since last Sunday:
Butler: +2
Xavier: +1
DePaul: +1
Georgetown: -2
Seton Hall: -2

In a possible preview of the tournament championship game, Villanova @ Butler should be a war this week. "Must see" TV. A win by Villanova would pretty much lock up the #1 seed for them. A Butler win would keep competition for the top spot alive with Villanova still having to travel to Providence and Xavier. Should be a mad scramble for the next 3 seeds behind them with every game being a "must win".

Here's the current Ken Pom projected bracket-
8 St John's 8-10 vs 9 Marquette 6-12- winner vs 1 Villanova 14-4
4 Providence 10-8 vs 5 Xavier 9-9
7 Seton Hall 8-10 vs 10 Creighton 4-14 winner vs 2 Butler 12-6
3 Georgetown 11-7 vs 6 DePaul 8-10

DePaul gets the 8-10 tiebreaker due to 3-1 vs tied teams.

Wow, that would be absolute best case scenario for Providence. DePaul and Butler to get to the Finals? Nova, Marquette, St. Johns, Georgetown and Xavier all on the opposite side of the bracket? Yes, please.

When all is said I done I predict


#8 Seton Hall VS #9 Marquette ------> winner gets #1 Nova
#7 DePaul VS #10 Creighton ---------> winner gets #2 Butler

#6 St John's VS #3 Providence

#4 Xavier VS #5 Georgetown

Who would've thought that DePaul would get the #6 seed, thereby gaining a bye to skip the first round altogether, and that BOTH St. John's and Seton Hall would have to play their way into the quarter finals!

But that seems to be what's likely to happen at this point.

Bill Marsh wrote:Who would've thought that DePaul would get the #6 seed, thereby gaining a bye to skip the first round altogether, and that BOTH St. John's and Seton Hall would have to play their way into the quarter finals!

But that seems to be what's likely to happen at this point.

Yeah, it's very possible. And very strange.

It's a shame that DePaul didn't have 3 more wins right now from OOC. They would be 15-10, with a decent OOC resume with that Stanford win. They would have been bubble for sure, and probably unlikely, but they would have had a real fighting chance.

Also, if DePaul does claim the 6 seed, it would be their first time EVER in the Big East where they don't play on the first day/night. The last time DePaul didn't play on the first day of a conference tourney it was the 2003-04 season, where they were the #1 seed in C-USA. They actually made the title game that season.

Only thing stranger Bill would be if Marquette got a couple more wins, made it where Seton Hall and St John's had to play each other in the 1st rd.

Milloy wrote:Wow, that would be absolute best case scenario for Providence. DePaul and Butler to get to the Finals? Nova, Marquette, St. Johns, Georgetown and Xavier all on the opposite side of the bracket? Yes, please.

To get there, Providence is probably going to need 4 more wins. Neither of the 2 games left with Villanova can be assumed to be wins, which means winning 4 of the other 5. It could come down to the last game of the season against Butler, which would shape up as a close game. Man, that could be a war!

The results would be impact full. A win would likely move PC into a 3rd place tie with Georgetown where they own the tie breaker. A loss would likely drop them into a 4th place tie with Xavier, whom they would then play in the 4-5 game with Villanova awaiting the winner. Wow! What a difference.

Even a win over Butler creates an interesting scenario. With a 3rd place finish, they get DePaul in the first round, which is nice. (No offense to DePaul fans.) but that would likely force a rematch against Butler whom they'd have to beat for the 2nd time in less than a week. Tall order.