How many Big East teams make the NCAA tourney?

[Irishdawg]

The at large field is very, very weak this year. With the latest suspension at Minnesota, the Big 10 stinks out loud outside of MSU and Purdue. The PAc 12 is also down significantly. There will be a lot of mediocre teams getting at large bids this year. To predict ins and outs right now is especially difficult as a result.

Mostly agree with you here, but Ohio State and Michigan aren't bad teams, but definitely fit the profile of a team that can compete or beat a lot of teams in the field, but is just inconsistent in that performance. A lot like Butler or Marquette.

[kayako]

Hard to tell. After the top 4, we may see 1 or 2 teams emerge or 3 maybe even 4 teams do just enough to hang around the bubble. And it depends on how big the bubble ends up being, as bid thieves can make it really tight for middling power conference schools. Too many variables.

[xman]

The way I see it the issue is going to be if any of our teams can make deep runs. I'm worried about that this year more than most. Seeing Xavier get smashed at nova, followed by Creighton getting smashed here yesterday, makes me worried that our teams play such a way that one bad shooting night means the end of a tourney run.

Combine that with the fact that tourney play usually allows greater physical play – clutch and grab type defense – which shooting teams don't employ as much, and I'm not as optimistic as I want to be.

[jfan]

Yeah, I agree with xman on this. We had been bad for a 1/2 of games before, but yesterday was the first time we were outplayed for an entire game. I expected us to lose, but not like this. We weren't even competitive. Someone on our board pointed out that every team has suffered a blowout loss, so maybe we shouldn't make too much of this, but it remains unsettling for the future. X sure seems to have learned from their loss, so hopefully we will learn something. We need to start winning against the top 3 teams in the league.

[sciencejay]

The way I see it the issue is going to be if any of our teams can make deep runs. I'm worried about that this year more than most. Seeing Xavier get smashed at nova, followed by Creighton getting smashed here yesterday, makes me worried that our teams play such a way that one bad shooting night means the end of a tourney run.

Combine that with the fact that tourney play usually allows greater physical play – clutch and grab type defense – which shooting teams don't employ as much, and I'm not as optimistic as I want to be.

I see both V and X as being able to make very deep runs. Those two teams can post up inside, shoot well from outside, dribble penetrate, push the pace or play a half court battle, lock down on D, etc. That's what separates you two in my mind. CU can run someone out of the gym, but teams that can force us to slow down (second half at Baylor, first half against Nebraska, the whole game against X) cause us problems because we need pace for Krampelj to be successful.

If you two make it to EE or FF, that's a plus for the conference. You've both shown that you can make deep runs. It's been said ad nauseum before, but the rest of your BEast brethren need to catch up.

Yesterday was a bad day for CU, but I expect to see a much closer game in Omaha. X is still a terrible matchup for us, so I'm not sure I would predict a CU win, but I do expect we'll play better.

[XUFan09]

Blowouts happen in college basketball. Villanova was blown out by Oklahoma the year they won the national championship.

[kayako]

Latest Lunardi's bracket says 7.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

According to Bracket Matrix, the Big East is still predicted to get 6 bids, but Marquette has replaced St. John’s, and the 5 teams trailing Villanova have all moved up in the composite predictions.

Originally posted on December 27, 2017:

The 2018 Bracket Matrix - Bracket Matrix.com - updated December 24, 2017

# 1 seed (# 1 overall) - Villanova (32 of 32 brackets)
# 3 seed (# 10 overall) - Xavier (32 of 32 brackets)
# 5 seed (# 23 overall) - Seton Hall (32 of 32 brackets)
# 7 seed (# 28 overall) - Creighton (29 of 32 brackets)
# 11 seed (# 45 overall) - Butler (20 of 32 brackets)
# 11 seed (# 46 overall) - St. John's (19 of 32 brackets)

The 2018 Bracket Matrix - Bracket Matrix.com - updated January 12, 2018

# 1 seed (# 1 overall) - Villanova (73 of 73 brackets)
# 3 seed (# 9 overall) - Xavier (73 of 73 brackets)
# 4 seed (# 14 overall) - Seton Hall (72 of 73 brackets)
# 6 seed (# 23 overall) - Creighton (73 of 73 brackets)
# 8 seed (# 31 overall) - Butler (20 of 73 brackets)
# 10 seed (# 37 overall) - Marquette (48 of 73 brackets)

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Latest Lunardi's bracket says 7.

RANKING THE BRACKETOLOGISTS: 5-YEAR BRACKET MATRIX RANKINGS - Bracket Matrix.com

40. Joe Lunardi, ESPN

The Final 2017 Bracket Matrix - Bracket Matrix.com

134t. Joe Lunardi, ESPN

[Edrick]

If you two make it to EE or FF, that's a plus for the conference. You've both shown that you can make deep runs. It's been said ad nauseum before, but the rest of your BEast brethren need to catch up..

Butler has failed to win a NCAA Tournament game one year in the conference's history. The first one, after losing Roosevelt Jones for the entire year in the preseason.

[paulxu]

Psssst...Mudster.

Bracket Matrix has 7 BE teams going to dance this morning.