The Big East pecking order has been established to some extent, but the picture is still muddy. Here's how it looks to be playing out now:
LOCKS - Nova, Xavier
IN TODAY, BUT MORE WORK TO DO - Seton Hall, Providence
BUBBLE - Georgetown, Butler
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN - Creighton, Marquette
OUT - St. John's, DePaul
The conference really only has two stone cold locks right now. Locking up PC was premature on my part given the minor swoon they are currently in. PC is an easy tournament team today, but let's make sure they don't go on a complete nose dive from here on out, and the schedule isn't exactly favorable - still have road games at Marquette (who already beat PC), Xavier, and Seton Hall.
Seton Hall is trending the other way, making this an easy four bid conference right now. Some tough games to negotiate down the stretch, but three more wins gets SHU to 20 wins on the season and 10 in the conference. - and they should get two of them against SJU and DePaul (although both of those games are on the road). 3 more wins is enough for a bid IMO, and one win in the BET likely locks it.
On the bubble, Butler is clearly in the best shape now to make it a 5 bid league, but they are not safe by any means. The win at home over Georgetown was huge, and the Purdue win is still holding up. But the RPI is not good right now (68 - behind teams like Arkansas-Little Rock, Stony Brook, Yale, and Princeton). They need an absolute minimum of three more BE wins, and probably need at least four before the conference tournament. It starts with a big game on Wednesday night at home against SHU - a win there would really help Butler. After that, two more big chances for marquee wins down the stretch against Xavier (at home) and at Nova.
Georgetown is in major trouble. 11 losses already, currently 3 in a row, and two, possibly three, terrible losses on the resume. Couldn't get wins at Butler or at SHU. I don't think the Hoyas can afford more than two losses down the stretch, and they still have to play at PC, SHU, Xavier, Butler, at Marquette (where Butler just lost), and at Nova. Very, very hard to see them going 4-2 in that stretch the way this season has gone.
Creighton/Marquette are well outside the bubble right now - both RPI's in the triple digits. This is looking strongly like a 4-5 bid league.
LOCKS - Nova, Xavier
IN TODAY, BUT MORE WORK TO DO - Seton Hall, Providence
BUBBLE - Georgetown, Butler
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN - Creighton, Marquette
OUT - St. John's, DePaul
The conference really only has two stone cold locks right now. Locking up PC was premature on my part given the minor swoon they are currently in. PC is an easy tournament team today, but let's make sure they don't go on a complete nose dive from here on out, and the schedule isn't exactly favorable - still have road games at Marquette (who already beat PC), Xavier, and Seton Hall.
Seton Hall is trending the other way, making this an easy four bid conference right now. Some tough games to negotiate down the stretch, but three more wins gets SHU to 20 wins on the season and 10 in the conference. - and they should get two of them against SJU and DePaul (although both of those games are on the road). 3 more wins is enough for a bid IMO, and one win in the BET likely locks it.
On the bubble, Butler is clearly in the best shape now to make it a 5 bid league, but they are not safe by any means. The win at home over Georgetown was huge, and the Purdue win is still holding up. But the RPI is not good right now (68 - behind teams like Arkansas-Little Rock, Stony Brook, Yale, and Princeton). They need an absolute minimum of three more BE wins, and probably need at least four before the conference tournament. It starts with a big game on Wednesday night at home against SHU - a win there would really help Butler. After that, two more big chances for marquee wins down the stretch against Xavier (at home) and at Nova.
Georgetown is in major trouble. 11 losses already, currently 3 in a row, and two, possibly three, terrible losses on the resume. Couldn't get wins at Butler or at SHU. I don't think the Hoyas can afford more than two losses down the stretch, and they still have to play at PC, SHU, Xavier, Butler, at Marquette (where Butler just lost), and at Nova. Very, very hard to see them going 4-2 in that stretch the way this season has gone.
Creighton/Marquette are well outside the bubble right now - both RPI's in the triple digits. This is looking strongly like a 4-5 bid league.
