Two games tonight:
8:00 PM XAVIER at Creighton (CBS Sports Network) (Kenpom: 80-79 Xavier (51% chance of Creighton win)
8:30 PM VILLANOVA at DePaul (Fox Sports 1) (Kenpom: 73-60 Villanova (89% chance of VU win)
Though kenpom shows this as being a close game, I struggle to see Xavier not playing well. They are project as a #1 or #2 NCAA Tournament seed, I think that their kenpom metrics are a little off because of the impact of the games in which Sumner was out. But who knows - the Creighton crowd is awesome and being on the low end of the bubble, this would be a massive win for them and possibly position them to get 11 BE conference wins in the regular season. It is a shame this isn't part of a BE twin-bill on FS1 because I would certainly like to see the last 5 or 10 minutes if the game is close.
Expect Villanova to come out in full attack mode tonight. The players and staff probably would downplay the #1 ranking a bit but I think the ranking will serve as extra motivation in a game that could have been one of those where the team starts out a bit flat. It will be interesting to see a) how Ochefu plays if he is back in the rotation and b) what Reynolds does for an encore after opening a big can at Providence.
BE Tracker:
https://villanova.n.rivals.com/news/2015-16-big-east-tracker
8:00 PM XAVIER at Creighton (CBS Sports Network) (Kenpom: 80-79 Xavier (51% chance of Creighton win)
8:30 PM VILLANOVA at DePaul (Fox Sports 1) (Kenpom: 73-60 Villanova (89% chance of VU win)
Though kenpom shows this as being a close game, I struggle to see Xavier not playing well. They are project as a #1 or #2 NCAA Tournament seed, I think that their kenpom metrics are a little off because of the impact of the games in which Sumner was out. But who knows - the Creighton crowd is awesome and being on the low end of the bubble, this would be a massive win for them and possibly position them to get 11 BE conference wins in the regular season. It is a shame this isn't part of a BE twin-bill on FS1 because I would certainly like to see the last 5 or 10 minutes if the game is close.
Expect Villanova to come out in full attack mode tonight. The players and staff probably would downplay the #1 ranking a bit but I think the ranking will serve as extra motivation in a game that could have been one of those where the team starts out a bit flat. It will be interesting to see a) how Ochefu plays if he is back in the rotation and b) what Reynolds does for an encore after opening a big can at Providence.
BE Tracker:
https://villanova.n.rivals.com/news/2015-16-big-east-tracker
