Big Weekend in the Big East

It’s no secret that the Big East has been off to a slow start and is in dire need of some big wins to make sure we get enough teams in the Big Dance. 

For now, the league's best win belongs to the Georgetown Hoyas, going on the road and beating KenPom #60 Maryland, in pretty dominant fashion. The league’s second-best win? Xavier’s 66-62 opening day victory over #154 Marist, a team that MAAC Insider Sam Federman ranked sixth in the MAAC preseason. Other contenders include: Marquette’s win over #171 Southern, Villanova’s win over #205 Queens and UConn’s win over #209 Columbia.

Suffice to say, we need big wins, and that starts this weekend.

Games

Friday:

Xavier at Iowa

Northwestern at DePaul

Providence at Colorado

Saturday:

Clemson at Georgetown

Maryland at Marquette

Butler at SMU

UConn at BYU

I’m sorry to Creighton/UMES and SJU/William and Mary, you do not qualify. Villanova/Duquesne is fringe, but you also do #not make the list.

Xavier at Iowa

Big East-ness aside, Bennett Stirtz is probably my favorite player in the country. He’s appointment TV for me; every time he’s in a big game, I’m trying to watch. He was incredible at Drake last season, particularly in their tournament run, and nothing has stopped him this season. The 6’4” PG is averaging 21.5PPG, 6.5APG and 3 Steals per Game, while shooting 62% from the field, 50% from three and over 90% from the free throw line in Iowa’s two victories.

Alvaro Folgueiras and Brendan Hausen may also be familiar names to Big East fans, with multiple BE schools recruiting Folgueiras this offseason, and Hausen having started his career at Villanova. But Xavier has looked pedestrian this year, Iowa has an All-American and should roll here. Their snails pace will probably make the score closer than the game feels.

Iowa 73, Xavier 60

Northwestern at DePaul

Chris Collins has done a very good job recently with Northwestern. Nick Martinelli is picking up where he left off, averaging 19.3PPG after his 20.5PPG campaign a season ago. He’s a legit All-Big Ten talent and will be a tough cover for DePaul.

You have to feel good for USF transfer Jayden Reid too, as he has looked excellent and much more like his freshman self, after what must have been a very emotional season due to the very unfortunate passing of his coach, Amir Abdur-Rahim. Reid has hit the ground running, averaging 10.3PPG, and with 19 assists to just two turnovers in three games.

DePaul is coming off a really bad performance against Buffalo. They kept the same key pieces, but those guys have shown to be much more like the team that started the season than the one that finished it. DePaul’s 2pt% defense this year has been the lone bright spot, and that’s where Northwestern likes to do most of its attacking offensively. I think this one is a defensive slog that can go either way, but Northwestern pulls away late.

Northwestern 68, DePaul 64

Providence at Colorado

I was very unfamiliar with this Colorado roster prior to writing this. I fully expected UC Riverside transfer Barrington Hargress to be their leading scorer. But instead, it’s freshman guard Isaiah Johnson, who doesn’t even have a picture on ESPN, averaging 20.5 PPG across their first two games.

Colorado has won their first two games by a combined 11 points. Going to altitude is a hard place to play, and I still have a lot of questions with this PC team, but talent should win out here. PC’s roster is just vastly superior. Edwards, Sellers and Oswin should eat.

Providence 87, Colorado 75

Clemson at Georgetown

This game is going to be super physical, it might not break 100 total points. I think it’s a pretty easy one to break down, hard one to predict because of the nature of it.

Clemson will probably win the battle on the glass. Their size and physicality in the frontcourt are apparent, with three 6’10” guys and their best rebounder, RJ Godfrey, being listed 6’8”. Clemson has also done an excellent job this season of not turning the ball over, but Georgetown’s physical guards will absolutely put that to the test. The Hoyas have to force turnovers if they want to win.

The Hoya backcourt will have to help in rebounding and also create easy buckets. Georgetown’s backcourt should have an advantage here, and the Hoyas need Malik Mack and KJ Lewis to make plays. They also need to find some jumpshooting somewhere, as Clemson is letting teams try to beat them from deep. Georgetown has to find a shooter outside of Malik Mack in this one. Not confident in a pick at all on this one, I think this game is very 50/50.

Georgetown 61, Clemson 60

Maryland at Marquette

Buzz Williams returns to one of his like 17 former stops, and comes back to Milwaukee with his Maryland Terrapins. Pharrel Payne (20PPG, 8RPG) will cause Marquette problems. Last year with multiple elite perimeter defenders, Marquette was better equipped to take awesome bigs out of the game. I don’t think Payne will have tons of post-up success, but Payne against Caedin Hamilton on the glass is a severe mismatch. Rebounding was a weakness for this Marquette team, but they made up for it by dominating the turnover battle, something they have not dominated to the same extent this season. Add on missing an All-American in Kam Jones, and the Golden Eagles' wings have looked clipped to start this season.

The status of Myles Rice and Solomon Washington is huge news here. Rice, who played very well against Georgetown, missed their next game against Alcorn State. Rice is their floor general, and really the only guy on this Maryland team who can get downhill at all. Without him, I expect Nigel James to take advantage of his matchup with David Coit.

Solomon Washington’s impact won’t leap out in the box score, but he is an elite offensive rebounder and shot blocker, whose length would cause a lot of problems for this Marquette frontcourt. This is the most intriguing contest of the weekend to me. I’m very 50/50 on it, but I think Rice gives it a go, and I struggle to see how Marquette scores in a half-court game.

Marquette 66, Maryland 70

Butler at SMU

Butler has looked great in their first three games, but has also played the 360(/365) strongest schedule in the country. Bulldogs will actually be tested against SMU here.

In watching a bit of tape on these teams, neither play good pick-and-roll defense. Both teams run a lot of pick-and-roll. SMU is very clearly the faster team, and they play in transition really well. But aside from that, it’s just Boopie Miller pick and rolls. He’s a great player, so it’s tough to stop, but it’s pretty obvious what they intend to do.

Both teams have played at a very fast pace to start this season, but I hope Butler looks to slow this one down. Butler’s half-court offense is much better, and SMU makes consistent defensive lapses on weakside rotations. SMU is the more battle-tested group, but I’m really not impressed with this team. Expect a whole lot of Boopie Miller and Samet Yigitoglu in this one, with Michael Ajayi and Finley Bizjack punching back on the other side. Definitely a homer pick, but:

Butler 74, SMU 70

BYU vs UConn (Boston)

This game seemingly was scheduled as a homecoming for BYU super freshman and potential #1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa. BYU’s offensive potency is well documented, but their trio of Dybantsa, Rob Wright and Ritchie Saunders are averaging 57.3PPG on the season. Those three are just going to find ways to score, and ideally want a more open game, which is the opposite of how UConn plays.

We haven’t seen UConn tested yet, and I’m eager to see how they look here. Opponents have done a very good job of controlling tempo against BYU, and I expect UConn to follow suit. Villanova to open the season did a very good job against BYU on the glass, really dominating the rebounding battle, and finding good looks from long range, against an overhelping and relatively undisciplined BYU defense.

Combine this with the perimeter length of UConn and just how good I think they can be, and I trust this UConn team to give BYU/Dybantsa a “welcome to CBB” moment. I think this is a coming-out party for Silas Demary and Tarris Reed. 

UConn 83, BYU 71