Big East What To Watch: Week Four

We got through FEAST WEEK~! As a result of all of those high quality matchups over the last 10 days or so, things get a little quiet around these parts for most of this week. Friday and Saturday are pretty big days, though.

Wednesday, December 1: Providence Friars vs RV Texas Tech Red Raiders (7:30pm Central, FS1) - Yep, that’s right, the Big East/Big 12 Battle gets started on Wednesday night. I maintain that this event would be more fun if it could be contained to a day or at least a weekend, or heck, as we’ll get to next week, even just one full week. That’s not what’s happening though, so we’ll just enjoy the games as they happen. Here, the Friars are hosting a team earning votes in this week’s AP poll, so this is a big opportunity for PC. They’re 6-1 with a getting more impressive road win over Wisconsin and a not so inspiring loss to Virginia on a neutral floor, so getting this W would be a big deal. Tech will come in undefeated, but they have yet to play a KenPom.com top 240 team this season or play a true road game.

Friday, December 3: Georgetown Hoyas at Creighton Bluejays (Noon Central, FloHoops.com) - I’m highlighting this for really only one reason, but there’s a fun secondary reason. This is the first Big East conference game for women’s basketball this season, so that’s why it’s in here. The fun secondary reason is that the game has been moved to CHI Health Center in Omaha in order to free up DJ Sokol Arena because of the NCAA tournament volleyball matches on Thursday and Friday. It’s probably going to be a weird experience, given that the Bluejays are averaging less than 900 fans per home game this season AND it’s a noon start, but still kind of neat for both teams to play in the big arena that CU’s men’s hoops team plays in regularly.

Friday, December 3: St. John’s Red Storm vs #8 Kansas Jayhawks (6pm Central, FS1) - This one is coming at you live and hot from the new UBS Arena out on Long Island, aka the Brand New Home of the New York Islanders. I don’t really know why St. John’s opted to play the game there instead of at Madison Square Garden or even at Carnesecca Arena, but there you go. Hopefully the home court advantage transfers and it doesn’t somehow turn into 10,000 Jayhawks fans holler their hearts out.

Saturday, December 4: RV Marquette Golden Eagles vs #23 Wisconsin Badgers (11:30am Central, Fox) - I don’t want to say Fox caught a break with this game coming in with one team receiving AP votes and the other team going from no votes last week to into the top 25 this week, but you definitely won’t hear a Fox Sports executive complain about it, either. This will be both Marquette’s first true road game of the season and new head coach Shaka Smart’s first time leading the Golden Eagles into the Kohl Center. Before the season, I would have said MU has a pretty good shot of knocking off the Badgers in the Kohl Center, and after Providence did it earlier this season, I felt pretty good about that idea. But Johnny Davis missed that PC game for Wisconsin, and that guy is on an absolute heater right now, which is how Wisconsin knocked off a highly regarded Houston team to get into the top 25.

Saturday, December 4: DePaul Blue Demons vs RV Loyola Chicago Ramblers (3pm Central, FS1) - It’s put up or shut up time for DePaul, as they have run their record to 6-0 to start the season. They have a win over Rutgers that’s looking less impressive by the second, and a bunch of wins over some directional schools. This battle for supremacy in Chicago gives them both a chance to show their crosstown rivals what’s up as well as make a major national statement.

Saturday, December 4: Creighton Bluejays vs #19 Iowa State Cyclones (8pm Central, FS1) - At a glance, at the start of the season, this looked like a pretty good setup for the Big East/Big 12 Battle. Both sides with a lot of question marks and this game would give both teams a chance to say something about themselves. Now it’s turned into a game against a ranked opponent for Creighton and an “are you for real?” game for Iowa State. As long as the Cyclones get past Arkansas Pine Bluff earlier in the week, they’ll be 7-0 with wins over three Major Seven opponents coming into this one, and that includes a W against Xavier. Can Creighton figure out a way to make a statement for both themselves and the entire Big East in this game?

Sunday, December 5: #2 Connecticut Huskies vs #24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11am Central, FS1) - Look, if Geno Auriemma is going to keep scheduling tippy top non-conference games for his team, we’re going to keep highlighting them. In this case, we catch a break as the Irish have just jumped into the top 25 this week after beating that Georgia team that stomped Marquette and then-#16 Oregon State down at that same Daytona Beach Invitational the the Golden Eagles were in. As you read this, UConn hasn’t played since falling apart down the stretch against South Carolina and they won’t play again until they visit Seton Hall on Friday. It’ll be a quick turnaround after a long layoff and a road game, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.

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