The Holy Land of Hoops

Seton Hall @ St John's 12pm
FOX: Joe Davis, Donny Marshall

Butler at Xavier 2pm
FSN: Justin Kuchter and Tarik Turner

Villanova @ Marquette, 2:30pm
FOX: Tim Brando, Jim Jackson

DePaul @ Georgetown, 8pm
CBSSN: Brent Stover/Alaa Abdelnaby/Evan Washburn

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Butler at Xavier

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YES

St. John's
Xavier
Nova
GTown

I'd say St John's(an absolute must win for them), Butler, Nova, and Georgetown.

milksteak wrote:St. John's
Xavier
Nova
GTown

Agreed. These not only are my picks, but also the results that would be best for the conference.

Hoyahooligan - I understand why you think X over Butler is better for the conference since it helps X stay a tournament team, but the loss would potentially hurt Butler's seed. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but it made me wonder: is it better for the conference to have Butler make it to the Sweet Sixteen as a 4/5 seed and X not in the tournament, or is it better to have them both in the tournament as lower seeds and be out after the round of 64?

I don't care what seed butler is they are too strong defensively to lose first round to an 11 or 12 seed. I think butler will fair well no matter what. So I want Xavier to win and solidify their resume. I'd really like 6 teams, and if Xavier beats butler and then loses to SJU after SJU beat seton hall 6 will start to look imminent.

RedStormHoops wrote:I don't care what seed butler is they are too strong defensively to lose first round to an 11 or 12 seed. I think butler will fair well no matter what. So I want Xavier to win and solidify their resume. I'd really like 6 teams, and if Xavier beats butler and then loses to SJU after SJU beat seton hall 6 will start to look imminent.

The problem with that logic is if Butler loses here and 1 more they could start slipping from being a 5 or 6 seed(playing 11/12 1st rd) to being a 7 or 8 seed(playing 9/10 1st rd). There is a HUGE difference between being a 5/6 or being a 7/8. What means more to the conference is getting more teams in the sweet 16 and beyond.

gmoser1210 wrote:Hoyahooligan - I understand why you think X over Butler is better for the conference since it helps X stay a tournament team, but the loss would potentially hurt Butler's seed. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but it made me wonder: is it better for the conference to have Butler make it to the Sweet Sixteen as a 4/5 seed and X not in the tournament, or is it better to have them both in the tournament as lower seeds and be out after the round of 64?

Butler's seed won't take that much of a hit for a road loss to another NCAA Tournament team. Certainly not enough to change their fortunes from likely sweet 16 run to probable first round exit. A Xavier win helps Xavier a lot more than it hurts Butler.

gmoser1210 wrote:Hoyahooligan - I understand why you think X over Butler is better for the conference since it helps X stay a tournament team, but the loss would potentially hurt Butler's seed. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but it made me wonder: is it better for the conference to have Butler make it to the Sweet Sixteen as a 4/5 seed and X not in the tournament, or is it better to have them both in the tournament as lower seeds and be out after the round of 64?

Yeah agree with the others. I think BE gets 4 teams into the sweet 16: Nova, Butler, Georgetown, Providence and I don't think the seed will play that big a deal. Matchups yes, but Butler will get a 4-5 seed at worst don't think this Xavier game will matter much.

Also Butler losing at Xavier also helps me selfishly. Because I want Georgetown to finish 2nd.