Big East Roundup: No Championship This Year

They’ve won five of the last ten NCAA Championships, including a pair through the Villanova Wildcats, but whoever ends up cutting down the nets in San Antonio on Monday, April 7, it won’t be a team from the Big East Conference.

The Big East sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament this season: St. John’s, the conference championship winner and the No. 2 seed in the West Regional; UConn, winners of the last two titles and a No. 9 seed; the Xavier Musketeers, a No. 11 seed and a member of the First Four in Dayton; and Marquette and Creighton, the No. 7 and No. 9 seeds, respectively, in the South Regional.

No teams made it past the Round of 32, with the conference compiling a 4-5 record overall. Xavier won their First Four matchup against Texas 86-80, creating plenty of buzz as a dark horse contender after winning seven in a row to close the regular season, but flamed out against Illinois in the Round of 64 despite 27 points from sophomore guard Dailyn Swain. Marquette suffered a stunning 75-66 upset against No. 10 seed New Mexico (and possible Villanova head coaching target Richard Pitino) in that same round.

This marks the first season since 2019 that no Big East team made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Letdowns in the Round of 32

Creighton powered past Louisville 89-75 in the first round but saw their season come to an end against No. 1 seed Auburn… although Ryan Kalkbrenner put on an excellent performance against likely player of the year Johni Broome, limiting the power forward to just eight points.

UConn and St. John’s, similarly, rolled through the first round, dispatching Oklahoma and Omaha, respectively, but came to a screeching halt in the Round 0f 32. The Red Storm flamed out against Arkansas in a duel between hall of fame head coaches Rick Pitino and John Calipari, while the Huskies got a tough draw against No. 1 seed Florida, who currently hold the second-best odds of cutting down the nets at +325. Nevertheless, Dan Hurley’s squad still made a game of it, falling 77-75.

Four teams from the Big East remain active in the postseason, however, with Georgetown, Butler, DePaul and Villanova all receiving invites to the College Basketball Crown, a new tournament set to begin in Las Vegas on March 31.