Big East What To Watch: Week 10

Are we inching towards Villanova wrapping up the regular season title sooner than expected?

The Wildcats are 5-0 in the Big East this season. Xavier is 3-2. Creighton, Seton Hall, and Connecticut all have three losses. Nova has two games this week, and they’re both against one of those four teams, giving them a chance to widen their lead. The big reason why things have tilted in this direction is because of the recent two loss skid by the Bluejays. That ended up knocking them out of the top 10 in the AP poll, and now it might actually be costing them their crack at a conference title.

Okay, let’s get into the highlights of the week, shall we?

Wednesday, January 27: #17 Creighton Bluejays at Seton Hall Pirates (6pm Central, FS1) — Well, if I just mentioned both of these teams as hovering within shouting distance of Villanova, then I’d better highlight their game against each other. Creighton snapped the aforementioned two game skid by downing a UConn team that was without James Bouknight. Is that a great win? Maybe not, so CU could use another win to back that one up. The Pirates got blasted by the Bluejays by 36 earlier this month, so they definitely are going to want a revenge win in Jersey here.

Thursday, January 28: #3 Villanova Wildcats at RV Connecticut Huskies (8pm Central, FS1) — Hey, when it’s the only game between two men’s basketball teams getting AP votes, then we have to highlight it, and the fact that it’s one of those two Villanova games is just extra sauce on top.

Friday, January 29: RV Xavier Musketeers at Butler Bulldogs (5:30pm Central, FS1) — I’m highlighting this for two reasons. 1) The Musketeers are earning AP top 25 votes because they’re 10-2 on the year, and 2) This is Xavier’s first game in 19 days. They haven’t played since beating Providence by just one back on January 10th. How will they respond to their return to action?

Saturday, January 30: #3 Villanova Wildcats at Seton Hall Pirates (2pm Central, Fox) — I already talked about this up top, so we’ll just keep it moving. You get the idea.

Sunday, January 31: #3 Connecticut Huskies at #17 DePaul Blue Demons (11am Central, Fox) — Geno Auriemma’s squad won by 23 when these two teams hooked it up in Storrs earlier this season. Will things change as the series shifts to Chicago, or will the Huskies extend their lead in the Big East standings? Either way, it’s definitely the better game between the two UConn games being shown on Big Broadcasting Fox on Sunday.

Sunday, January 31: RV Connecticut at St. John’s (2:30pm Central, Fox) — If we’re being honest, this is the less interesting UConn game on this day. Still, the Red Storm just beat UConn on the road for the first time since 2000, so the Huskies might be a little pissed off, and that’s worth mentioning and maybe worth watching, too. It will be UConn’s third game of the week, though.

Here’s the Big East men’s basketball schedule as we know it for the week on Sunday morning. If there are changes as we go — and of course there will be — post a comment so we can get it adjusted as soon as possible!