Xavier & the BE Bubble

[MHettel]

Your predictions this year have been….off.

Total carnage in the BET. Nova gets an extra life by beating DePaul at the last second yesterday. SHU, who looked safe just lost to SJU who looked like they needed that win. Providence desperately needed a win against Creighton and got it.

What if Nova beats Marquette later tonight? Pretty much all the teams that needed to help themselves have. And some will still miss out.

SHU still probably ahead of the pack? SJU, then Nova, then Providence? Elimination games tomorrow?

[Xavier]

It will be an interesting case study on how the committee views conference tournaments, for sure.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Total carnage in the BET. Nova gets an extra life by beating DePaul at the last second yesterday. SHU, who looked safe just lost to SJU who looked like they needed that win. Providence desperately needed a win against Creighton and got it.

What if Nova beats Marquette later tonight? Pretty much all the teams that needed to help themselves have. And some will still miss out.

SHU still probably ahead of the pack? SJU, then Nova, then Providence? Elimination games tomorrow?

If Nova wins I think it is more likely that the Big East gets 7 teams than 5.

Best guess, BE gets 6 teams in.

Talk about predictions being off, are you coming off the ledge about the status of the Big East in terms of tourney teams?

[D-West & PO-Z]

It will be an interesting case study on how the committee views conference tournaments, for sure.

Good point. If Providence gets in without winning the BE tourney I don't ever want anyone telling me the conference tourneys don't matter except for minor seeding adjustments.

I'm trying to figure out why Seton Hall is considered in and not Providence though. Seton Hall is 2 spots higher in the NET (X is actually in-between them) and both have 5 Q 1 wins. SH has one more Q2 win but that doesnt seem that important. SH has a Q3 loss while Providence has no bad losses.

I don't know. 5 seems like a lock at this point given what has transpired. 6 is realistic and 7 does not seem out of the question.

UD losing the A10 tourney though hurts all bubble teams.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Nova has gone from inside the top 30 to (probably) outside the top 40 tomorrow. They needed this win, don't think they are in. Giant game for Neptune, changes the conversation on him a lot following Jay Wright.

Likely down to 6 from the BE with a chance but all 6 have a pretty good chance.

[MHettel]

Hard to say what the committee will do. 5 for sure? Maybe 6? This could not have gone closer to the wire.

[XProf]

The impact on Xavier in the NIT is pretty interesting. After the top 3, we rank 4th in NET behind St. Johns, Villanova, and Providence but ahead of Seton Hall, Butler, and the others. St. John's is in nearly every bracket and after last night Villanova is pretty much out. So, the only way we get left out of the NIT is if Seton Hall gets selected but not Providence or if only four get selected (leaving both Seton Hall and Providence out). So we should be rooting for Providence to win over Marquette. fyi the NIT, starting this year, grants two automatic bids to the top NET ranking Big East teams that don't make the NCAA and even gives a home game to those qualifiers. So, Cintas would host a game next week!