By Michael Gross

🔐 UConn 

“Near Lock”

None

“Good Shape”

Nova, St. John’s 

“Bubble”

Creighton, Butler, Seton Hall, 

“Fringe Bubble”

Xavier

           Welcome to 🔐 status to the UConn Huskies. UConn has built quite a resume which is highlighted by 4 wins against potential protected seeds! Who else will join the Huskies from the Big East in the NCAA Tournament?

           Villanova and St. John’s appear to be in the best shape to join them. St. John’s has rebounded from a disappointing home loss against Providence by winning 4 straight games including 3 on the road. A win over either Seton Hall or Xavier this week would probably move them up to “Near Lock”. If they win both, they definitely move up. Despite the home loss to St. John’s, Nova is still in fine shape with their 4-4 Q1/2 record as well as a spotless Q3/4 record. With UConn looming this weekend, the Wildcats need to take care of business against Georgetown at home.

           Tough weekend for the Pirates of Seton Hall. Not only did they lose at home to Butler to bolster Butler’s hopes, but the win against NCST in Maui lost the punch that was driving their resume. Their predictives were already an issue, but now their resume metrics which were mostly in the 20s have dropped to around 40. They do have a 5-4 Q1/2 record, but they don’t have any wins against the current projected field. If they don’t pull off an upset against St. John’s they must win their next 3 games against DePaul, Xavier and Marquette.

On the flip side, that was a huge win for Butler knocking off the Pirates in New Jersey! Also helping matters is how good that win over Virginia looks now! It’s more than enough to overcome a loss to Boise St. that isn’t even THAT bad. Butler needs to hold serve against DePaul and Marquette at Hinkle this week!

Creighton just can’t get any traction going this season so far. They barely beat Georgetown at home and then lost on the road to Providence. At 3-7 in Q1/2 and 6-8 in Q1-3 combined, they need to beat Xavier at home this week to stay in the “Bubble” section.

          Xavier has a little bit of life after beating Providence and Butler at home. Butler beating Seton Hall to help Butler’s hopes also helps Xavier in a positive way. I do think Xavier needs to beat both St. John’s and Creighton this week to continue their upward trajectory towards a potential bid.