Big East What To Watch: Week Seven

It’s a short week of Big East basketball.

It’s not just because of Christmas Eve on Friday and Christmas on Saturday. There were supposed to be two games on Monday, but those are not happening. Both Seton Hall and DePaul have been issued forfeits by the Big East as they do not have enough players to be able to play the games due to COVID issues on each team.

For the record, those forfeits only matter in the Big East standings and only factor in for the seeding for the conference tournament. In the NCAA’s eyes, the games have been struck with the designation of “no contest” and will not count towards their NET rating or their NCAA tournament standing if that matters comes March.

That leaves us with just five games between now and Thursday..... although maybe not. The final game that is set to go this week is, as luck would have it, Seton Hall visiting DePaul. It is possible that game also does not happen. Both teams would be assigned forfeits by league rule if neither team can compete, which is just wild.

Highlights time!

Tuesday, December 21: #18 Xavier Musketeers at #23 Villanova Wildcats (6pm Central, FS1) - FUN FACT: Xavier is not the highest ranked Big East team this week, as that honor goes to Seton Hall at #15. This is, however, the only game in the league this week between two teams earning votes in the AP poll, so it is automatically The Game Of The Week and also a highlight to be included here. Villanova has lost two straight, both on the road but also both in horrible fashion. Can the Musketeers hand the Wildcats their third straight loss or will returning to The Finn help solve VU’s problems?

Tuesday, December 21: RV Connecticut Huskies at Marquette Golden Eagles (8pm Central, FS1) - Both of these teams would quite like to pick up a win here. UConn has dropped out of the AP top 25 after losing at home to Providence in a bit of an upset on Saturday, while Marquette has lost three of their last four games and could use the win to buoy spirits heading into the Christmas break. Adama Sanogo did not play for the Huskies in their game against the Friars, but the 6’9” big man is close to playing for the first time since November 30th.

Wednesday, December 22: RV DePaul Blue Demons vs #20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7:30pm Central, FS1) - This women’s game is infinitely more interesting than the Georgetown/Providence men’s game that will be immediately before it on FS1 on Wednesday. The Blue Demons are 11-2 on the year and riding a seven game winning streak, including topping then-#14 Kentucky in Lexington. FUN FACT: DePaul has scored 100 points or more in five of their last six games, with the lone exception being the road win over the Wildcats..... and they still got 94 in that one. Notre Dame is 10-2 and has won three straight coming in and five of the last six with only a loss to UConn messing things up there.

Here’s the whole men’s basketball schedule for the week, or at least what it looks like on Monday afternoon.