Big East Basketball What To Watch: Week Fifteen

Wednesday, February 14: St. John’s Red Storm at DePaul Blue Demons (8pm Central, CBS Sports Network) - Yes, this is a game between the teams in ninth and tenth place in the Big East right now. I don’t care. St. John’s has won three in a row. I am now 100% committed to the idea of them being in at-large bid consideration if they can run the table, and that means they need to win here. Thus, this game is fascinating and very important.

Friday, February 16/Sunday, February 18: Villanova Wildcats/Georgetown Hoyas at Marquette Golden Eagles/DePaul Blue Demons (various times, VU/DPU on FS1 on Sunday, all others on Big East Digital Network) - Thanks to Xavier being approximately one inch too careless with their feet, Marquette still trails DePaul in the women’s basketball standings by one game. 12-2 on the season for the Blue Demons, 13-3 for the Golden Eagles. Xavier was set to force overtime on Sunday against DePaul, but.... toe on the line on a buzzer beater, thus the Musketeers lost by one instead. That ratchets up the importance on this week’s games for the two teams atop the Big East standings, and they were already pretty important. Villanova is one game back of Marquette in third place, and the Wildcats are hunting for an NCAA tournament at-large berth as well. They definitely could use a big road victory, and VU already beat DePaul in the first meeting between the two. Meanwhile, Marquette will be looking for revenge on Georgetown, as the primary reason that the Golden Eagles are trailing DePaul right now is the #BEATEMDOWN that the Hoyas handed Marquette in Washington, D.C., a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday, February 17: #1 Villanova Wildcats at #4 Xavier Musketeers (3:30pm Central, Fox) - WOOOOO TWO TOP FIVE TEAMS! That would be enough to get this game on this list, but this one has a little extra juice. As things stand right now, both teams are even with two losses in league play, while Xavier has 11 wins to Villanova’s 10. This game will, to a certain extent, determine who wins the regular season title. Both teams play on Wednesday, with VU on the road at Providence and XU hosting Seton Hall. It’s possible that those two contests could dictate the terms of how important Saturday’s game actually is.

Saturday, February 17: Marquette Golden Eagles at Creighton Bluejays (9pm Central, Fox Sports Regional) - If the Big East is going to get seven teams into the NCAA tournament this season, Marquette has to win this game. Period. Full stop. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Marquette will also have to win all of their remaining games, but one step at a time.

Here’s the slate for the week! Enjoy!