Big East Big Five: Week 2

This seemed to work out pretty well last week, so we return this week to provide you a tipoff to the best five Big East games getting tipped off between now and Sunday. As always, all times are Central.

Monday, November 21: Notre Dame vs #24/#25 Missouri (6:30pm, ESPN2) - Tim Abromaitis returns from his 4 game suspension for scamming the NCAA out of an extra year of eligibility, and just in time, too. This game will be in the Sprint Center in Kansas City, making the crowd about as partisan as you can get for a neutral court game.

Monday, November 21: Georgetown vs #12/#11 Kansas (10:50pm, ESPN2) - Holy crap, this is an opening round matchup for the Maui Invitational? Stacked field there, kids. Winner might get an easy game into the finals, as this game is partnered with UCLA vs. Chaminade, and given that the Bruins got punted last time out by Middle Tennessee State, that one's up for grabs.

Wednesday, November 23: #5/#5 Syracuse vs Virginia Tech (8:30pm, ESPNU) - Since this is a semifinal in the NIT Season Tip Off in Madison Square Garden, this game will have the opposite effect on Syracuse that Notre Dame's game will have on them. I expect Syracuse to win, if for no other reason than it helps the ongoing saga of Seth Greenberg's Selection Sunday trauma.

Friday, November 25: #9/#9 Pittsburgh @ Penn (6pm) - The Panthers make the trip to Philadelphia and the Palestra. I would have included this game just for being in the Palestra, but the Quakers are 3-1 and battle tested after going 1-1 in 2 overtime contests already this season.

Saturday, November 26: Providence vs Northern Iowa (9pm, CBS Sports Network) - The South Padre Island Invitational is played in a round robin format, so Providence has two games guaranteed. KenPom provides the tiebreaker, and UNI (64) beats out Iowa State (102). Sorry, Scott Christopherson.