Big East Big Five: Week 4

Based on the weeks of games that we've had coming after Thanksgiving, I'm almost afraid to see what's going to happen once finals are over and we're just killing time until the Big East schedule starts.  Might get a little lean around these parts.

But, until then, we're going to celebrate the stack of great games we've got this week, including what is probably my favorite yearly non-conference game that doesn't involve Marquette.  If you've been paying attention to these posts then you already know exactly what game it is.

Last Week: 4-1 (Thanks for nothing, Seton Hall.)
This Season: 14-6

Monday, December 7: #9 Villanova vs #7 Oklahoma (6pm Central, FS1) - It's a matchup between two undefeated top ten teams!  Of course it's going to be on the Big East Big Five!  This game is being played at Bloch Arena in Hawaii as one half of the Pearl Harbor Invitational, commemorating the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Wednesday, December 9: Creighton vs Nebraska (7pm Central, CBS Sports Network) - A Big East team clad in blue batting a Big Ten team from the same state clad in red?  It's not the game that you think, but with that kind of setup, it's definitely going on the list this week.  Creighton is favored to get the win here according to KenPom, but they also just lost to Loyola-Chicago in their most recent outing.

Saturday, December 12: Marquette at Wisconsin (12:30pm Central, ESPN2) - Well, duh.

Saturday, December 12: #12 Xavier vs #23 Cincinnati (4:30pm Central, FOX) - This is the game that I was referring to up top.  The Crosstown Shootout is my favorite non-conference game that happens every year that doesn't involve Marquette.  The best part about this game is that unlike in the Old Big East, I don't have to pretend to root for Cincinnati any more because it's beneficial to Marquette.  We're all Xavier, all the time over here now!  As if we needed anything else to juice this game up, this year both teams are ranked, so there's just a little bit more meaning to the game.  Plus it's on big time broadcast FOX!

Sunday, December 13: St. John's vs Syracuse (11am Central, FS1) - I don't have a good feeling about this one, guys.  I mean, it's going on the list because it's an old school Big East game, and on top of that, it's going to be at Madison Square Garden.  But Syracuse is coming off getting popped by Georgetown (ok, they've got their regularly scheduled game against Colgate in the middle) and they're not going to be pleased, and St. John's lost to Fordham last week.  Badly.