Big East What To Watch: Week Six

Just 12 games on the Big East men’s basketball schedule this week. Finals week is slowing things down through Saturday, which is when seven of the games are being played. Still, there’s two games worth keeping an eye on before Friday, and both involve the same team…….

Tuesday, December 14: RV Creighton Bluejays vs Arizona State Sun Devils (7pm Central, FS1) - That RV sits in front of Creighton’s name here because they have picked up one 25th place vote in Monday’s brand new Associated Press poll. The Bluejays are 8-2 overall and snagged that vote by way of a win over then-#24 BYU this past weekend. It was their first win against a KenPom top 100 opponent in three tries this season, so you can see why the rest of the AP voters didn’t run to support them. The Sun Devils are not likely to help Creighton in that top 100 wins thing, as they currently sit at #101. They are on a two game winning streak, though, and that includes a road overtime win at Oregon.

Friday, December 17: #9 Villanova Wildcats at RV Creighton Bluejays (7pm Central, FS1) - Told you the two pre-Saturday games involved the same Big East team. In this case, this one goes in the highlight list not for any real particular reason other than this is the first in-league game of the year in men’s basketball. It’s the only game involving Big East teams on Friday at all, so everyone can keep their eyes on it. It’ll be an interesting matchup with the Jays coming off whatever happens against Arizona State and Villanova looking to bounce back from whatever their loss to Baylor on Sunday was while starting out the conference schedule on the road.

Saturday, December 18: Butler Bulldogs vs #3 Purdue Boilermakers (11am Central, Fox) - A Major Seven foe in the top 5?? That’s definitely a highlight of the week. The fact that this is part of the yearly all-Indiana Crossroads Classic just adds some fun to the proceedings. I still think that the organizers should turn this into more than just a four team event with the other D1 teams in the state, but I’m also not the guy with the money putting these things together.

Saturday, December 18: St. John’s Red Storm vs Pittsburgh Panthers (11am Central, FS1) - I’m putting this in here not to highlight a game against a Major Seven opponent or to give the spotlight to a RASSUM FRASSUM OLD BIG EAST game on the schedule. No, instead, I merely wanted to point out that depending on how this week goes, Pitt might be outside the top TWO HUNDRED in KenPom when this game tips off. How the mighty have fallen.

Saturday, December 18: DePaul Blue Demons at Northwestern Wildcats (2pm Central, Big Ten Network) - This is a big test for DePaul, and not just because it’s their second crosstown road game of the week after visiting UIC on Tuesday. See, KenPom.com says the 8-1 Blue Demons are not favored in this game against the 7-2 Wildcats. We’re getting verrrrrry close to the DePaul hype train actually firing up their engine, and pulling off this win might actually get it started.

Saturday, December 18: #16 Seton Hall Pirates vs Iona Gaels (2pm Central, FS2) - I think it is a very terrible thing that Kevin Willard vs Rick Pitino at Madison Square Garden is being relegated to an FS2 broadcast. Also, this is a sneaky tough game for the Pirates, as Pitino’s Gaels have already beaten Alabama and are the favorites to win the MAAC.

Saturday, December 18: RV Providence Friars at #20 Connecticut Huskies (4pm Central, Fox) - Alright, Friars, put up or shut up time. 10-1 on the year with only a neutral court loss to a sketchy Virginia team marring things up. Want to prove you deserve enough AP votes to actually get ranked? Well, here’s your shot. Go beat the Huskies up in CT and we’ll talk.

Sunday, December 19: #7 Connecticut Huskies at #6 Louisville Cardinals (2:30pm Central, ESPN) - Well, the Huskies are at their lowest point in the AP poll since 2007. Paige Bueckers is unavailable for the long term, while Nika Muhl and Azzi Fudd are both nursing short term injuries. Oh, and UConn just had a second player announce their departure from the program since the season started. Have fun against the tippy top ranked Cards, y’all!

Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week!