Big East What To Watch: Week Three

Hello and welcome to the primary session of FEAST WEEK!

There are a ton of basketball games going on this week, and as always with these events, we’re only going to talk about the highlights of the week that are set in stone. There are going to be tons of big contests for the Big East on both the men’s and the women’s side of things all week long, and most of them are going to be decided by results on the court in the various tournaments. We’ll keep the schedules at the bottom of the page updated as much and as often as we can as the week continues onwards.

Let’s get started with the highlights then, and hoooooboy is it a big one for the Golden Eagles fans in the audience.....

Monday, November 21: RV Marquette Golden Eagles vs #20 UCLA Bruins (11am Central, ESPN2) — HOLY CRAP, MARQUETTE IS IN THE BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Heck, UCLA’s appearance here is deserving of shouting as well, since the Bruins probably weren’t supposed to get past Tennessee in the semifinals, but they did! Both teams are playing with house money after a 2-0 start to their trip to the Bahamas, so this should be super fun to watch.

Monday, November 21: #10 Creighton Bluejays vs #21 Texas Tech Red Raiders (1:30pm Central, ESPN2) — Well, that’s certainly a fine how-do-you-do for the Bluejays to start off their run in the Maui Invitational. “Here, stick your arm into this finely tuned woodchipper that Mark Adams has created.” The entire Maui field is loaded, so no matter how this turns out, Creighton should still get some good chances at quality wins by the time Thanksgiving Day rolls around.

Wednesday, November 23: Butler Bulldogs vs #22 Tennessee Volunteers (6:30pm Central, ESPN2) — This is the first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis for Chuck Harris and crew, and, uh, well, after they lost at Penn State, I’m not holding out a lot of hope for them. It’s a major opportunity and as we’ve seen this past weekend, that ballroom turned into a gym in the Bahamas has been holding a lot of luck for the Big East so far.

Thursday, November 24: RV Xavier Musketeers vs Florida Gators (4:30pm Central, ESPN2) — This will be Xavier’s first contest in the Phil Knight Legacy eight-team tournament, and things do not get easier from here, that’s for sure. Xavier is coming off a narrow home loss to Indiana, so maybe they’re not earning AP votes after the new poll comes out on Monday, while Florida took a home loss to Florida Atlantic back on Monday, so they won’t be in the polling, either. That makes this a big spot for both squads, as wins in the next two rounds might be hard to come by.

Thursday, November 24: Seton Hall Pirates vs Memphis Tigers (6:30pm Central, ESPN News) — At a glance, it certainly seems like this ESPN Events Invitational (formerly the Old Spice Classic or the Advocare Invitational) was bracketed poorly, as this will be the only time this week that Seton Hall is exposed to a squad earning votes in the AP Poll last week. Maybe that changes in the new poll on Monday, but also Memphis might be dropping out of the polling after losing to Saint Louis on Tuesday. Big spot for Sha Holloway and his team, as getting onto the winner’s bracket is probably kind of important for them given the lineup. On top of that, the Pirates got punched right in the face by Iowa in their only game against a KenPom top 220 opponent so far this season.

Thursday, November 24: #20 Connecticut Huskies vs RV Oregon Ducks (7pm Central, ESPN2) — If you can keep your eyes open through the tryptophan kicking in and that second slice of pumpkin pie, then tune in to see what the Huskies can do in their first game of the PK Invitational. This will be UConn’s first real test of the season after playing an assortment of sub-200 KenPom squads to start the year. That’s no slight on them given what they’ll see at this event and the next two games afterwards, but it is their first exposure to the fire.

Friday, November 25: DePaul Blue Demons vs #14 Maryland Terrapins (10am Central, FS2) — I am reluctant to put this here because Doug Bruno’s Blue Demons are clearly going through it early in the season and this is absolutely not the matchup that the Fort Myers Tip-Off thought they were getting. Still, it’s a big chance for Aneesah Morrow and DePaul to get back on something resembling the right track by pulling what has turned into a pretty big upset for them.

Friday, November 25: #16 Creighton Bluejays at Xavier Musketeers (11am Central, FloSports) — Hi! It’s the start of league play for women’s basketball! Randomly in November! Surprise! I remember seeing this note in the schedule announcement back in September, but I only remembered seeing it once I saw this on the schedule for the week. Something something scheduling conflicts.

Friday, November 25: #23 Villanova Wildcats vs Belmont Bruins (12:30pm Central, FloSports) — Guys, this field for the Gulf Coast Showcase is looooooaded, and I don’t know if the schedule makers just caught a break or what. Maddie Siegrist and teammates could end up playing three straight games against a team at least earning votes in last week’s AP poll, and who knows what Monday’s is going to look like. Belmont is 1-3 on the season, but GIANT BLINKING ASTERISK, two of their losses are to top 10 squads in Louisville and Iowa. With that said, the loss to Middle Tennessee probably cost them their AP votes when that new poll comes out.

Friday, November 25: DePaul Blue Demons vs RV Texas A&M Aggies (1pm Central, FS1) — I’m putting this in here because it’s probably going to go overlooked with all of the major events going on. This is just a home game for the Blue Demons, sitting over there in the middle of Black Friday. It’s also a massively important game for them, as Buzz Williams and the Aggies are currently Going Through It with losses to Murray State and Colorado in their Feast Week event this past weekend. DePaul has their own problems after taking on losses to Santa Clara and Oklahoma State at their event in the Bahamas. This could be a big time rebound game for them, but A&M will be looking for the same opportunity after dropping out of last week’s top 25.

Friday, November 25: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs RV Duke Blue Devils (5pm Central, ESPN Family) — It’s not settled what channel ESPN is going to put this semifinal in the Phil Knight Legacy event on, so keep your eyes peeled on Friday. Azzi Fudd and the Huskies are ROLLING right now after beating Texas and smashing NC State this past week. A win here over a currently 5-0 Duke squad would probably propel them to a showdown on Sunday against Caitlin Clark and Iowa, and that would be very watchable television.

Saturday, November 26: Seton Hall Pirates vs RV Georgia Bulldogs (2:15pm Central, ESPN3) — Tony Bozzella’s Pirates are going into the Paradise Jam with a two game losing streak. No knock on losing to a ranked at the time Princeton squad, but falling at home to Columbia probably wasn’t great. This event in the Virgin Islands is three pre-set games, so we know that they’ll be getting the Bulldogs in their third game in three days. That’s perhaps not ideal for Lauren Park-Lane and friends, but it’s also a big opportunity for them with Georgia sitting at 5-0 as they get on the plane.

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

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