Big East What To Watch: Week 11

We have one undefeated team in the Big East, one team with one loss in league play, and everyone else is at two or three losses. Is that a sign of separation starting to pop up, or is it a sign of everything’s a total toss up mess and will stay that way all season long? Maybe this week will help us figure that out.

Let’s see what the highlights of the week are.

Tuesday, January 15: #15 Marquette Golden Eagles at Georgetown Hoyas (7:30pm Central, FS1) - Let’s be clear: Marquette’s road win over Creighton last week did nothing to inspire anyone’s confidence levels that the Golden Eagles are going to be just fine on the road. Yeah, they won, but the Jays ran roughshod all over them and it took a freak chance and a miracle buzzer-beater for MU to capture said win. It is literally the most improbable win of the year according to KenPom.com, and the second most improbable win of the year involved the refs deciding that a “foul whilst up three with mere seconds left” foul was a flagrant foul for some godforsaken reason. MU heads back out on the road here to see what they can accomplish, and they need to get the win here if they have eyes on the Big East regular season title. Meanwhile, in the past seven days, Georgetown blew a 17 point lead on the road and needed two buzzer beaters to force overtime twice to beat the only team in the league without a win so far. They’re either teetering on the edge or desperate for a solid win.

Wednesday, January 16: Creighton Bluejays at St. John’s Red Storm (5:30pm Central, FS1) - For a moment there, both of these squads looked like contenders in the Big East. Then Creighton got run over by Butler, gutpunched by Marquette, and blew a lead against Villanova, with the last two happening at home. Their reward? Getting to go to New York and face a Red Storm team that’s probably super pissed off about losing to DePaul even though Shamorie Ponds wasn’t in the lineup. It’s unclear at this point if Ponds will be back for this game, but either way, both teams need to find a way to win this game, but only one will.

Wednesday, January 16: Butler Bulldogs at DePaul Blue Demons (7:30pm Central, FS1) - Yep, I just put DePaul in the highlights for the week. Look, they’ve won two in a row, both against teams that at least in late December had designs on contending for the league title. The Seton Hall win was straight up, but there is a question about the St. John’s win, since Shamorie Ponds was out. Butler has been struggling mightily lately, with a smashing of Creighton at home being their only win in their last five games. They just blew a 10 point lead with four minutes left in Cincinnati on Sunday, and if we’re being honest here and taking all of that into account? DePaul absolutely should be able to beat them.

Saturday, January 19: DePaul Blue Demons at Seton Hall Pirates (7pm Central, FS1) - You’re damn right DePaul’s a highlighted game for both of their contests this week! They beat Seton Hall at home, and now they’re going to The Rock just 13 days later, possibly riding a three game winning streak. DePaul hasn’t won three straight Big East games since starting out 3-0 in 2014-15, and the last time they won four conference games in a row, it was against Southern Miss, TCU, Saint Louis, and Cincinnati waaaaaaaaaay back in Conference USA in 2004-05. This is a very real thing that could be happening this week. Or they’ll turn back into a pumpkin and lose by a collective total of 48 points. One or the other.

Sunday, January 20: Providence Friars at #15 Marquette Golden Eagles (11am Central, CBS Sports Network) - I don’t care what the actual basketball situations are here. It’s Marquette and Providence and it’s Providence’s first trip to Fiserv Forum and they’re coming in on the day that MU is celebrating the career of Dwyane Wade. Something incredibly stupid is bound to happen because it’s Marquette and Providence. A bat loose in the building? A player’s brother coming out of the stands to argue a foul call? The referees changing how they’re calling the game midway through because of condensation on the court? A Big East single game scoring record? These are all things that have happened between these two squads. Nothing is too weird or too wild.

Here’s the full schedule for the week! Enjoy!