Latest from the ATHLETIC:
Big East
Georgetown’s moment on the Bubble Watch page didn’t last long. Any loss at DePaul on Wednesday night would have been harmful. A loss by a margin you’d typically expect when, say, Gonzaga meets a low-level WCC opponent — final score: 101-69! — only cakes on another layer of bad. The Hoyas had only just moved into the picture last week and were still working themselves up from the bubble fringe since, looking to overcome a high-70s NET and a 233rd-ranked nonconference strength of schedule. They still have Saturday’s game at Marquette to redeem themselves, but getting Zag’d by DePaul is cause for banishment for now.
Speaking of possibly temporary banishment: Xavier. The Musketeers’ thrilling push toward the bubble — a five-game winning streak dating to Feb. 13, including wins over Creighton and Villanova at home and Seton Hall and St. John’s away — hit its first pushback on Tuesday night at Butler. We figure the Musketeers probably had to win out (and do work in the Big East tournament) to climb into that first-four-out mix, but a win over St. John’s on Saturday and the aforementioned tournament work might still do the trick. Let’s see how this weekend goes and adjust accordingly, yeah?
Locks: Villanova, Marquette
Work to do: Creighton, Seton Hall, St. John’s
Creighton (16-13, 8-9 — NET: 52, SOS: 13): Don’t look now, but the Bluejays’ 76-70 overtime win over Providence was their fourth straight. It’s hard to overstate just how much of a turnaround the past two weeks have been. Remember: This team lost four straight in two respective stretches in early January and February; after the second, Bubble Watch left it for dead. Yet last Sunday’s win at Marquette was enough to propel the Bluejays back into the picture, and Wednesday’s OT holdout was enough to keep them there. Up next: Saturday at home against a DePaul team that is suddenly good at basketball. Everything’s on the table.
Seton Hall (17-12, 8-9 — NET: 61, SOS: 38): Seton Hall’s gonna Seton Hall, right? The Pirates lost three straight — all well-played, hard-fought games, two of which came on the road, but still — before Wednesday’s visit from Marquette. Seton Hall trailed the Golden Eagles by nine with just under five minutes to play, the doom of a fourth straight loss encroaching by the second. Naturally, the Pirates won, 73-64, thanks to an 18-0 run to end the game. This is their season in a nutshell. They are equally capable of playing brilliant basketball and beating nearly any team in any gym (see Kentucky on a neutral court, Maryland at Maryland, etc.) as they they are of extended periods of losing basketball. The overriding hope is that the former outweighs the latter. For now, with none but Villanova (at home) standing between them and the Big East tournament, the bubble balance appears to be tilted toward the Hall.
St. John’s (20-10, 8-9 — NET: 62, SOS: 71): Just last week, the Red Storm were listed as “should be in,” and even if they weren’t anywhere near a lock, their at-large odds felt as short as they had at any point during the season. Two losses later — one at home to Xavier, then last Sunday’s 92-83 defeat at DePaul — and they look destined to spend the days between now and the selection show in a state of at least mild uncertainty, even if we still think they’re in the bracket at the moment. That uncertainty could be heightened on Saturday, when they visit a raucous Cintas Center to face the same Xavier team that beat the Johnnies in New York just nine days before.
