The Big East received the ultimate validation last season when Villanova tore through the NCAA tournament on the way to a national championship. The Wildcats were again one of the top teams in the country entering the Big East tournament this season at Madison Square Garden, and this year took home the conference tournament crown, too.
Big East Tournament 2017: Live bracket updates and scores
NCAA defending champs Villanova were favored to win the Big East title, and did.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The Big East was top-heavy with ‘Nova, Butler and Creighton looking strong going into March. Villanova, led by National Player of the Year contender Josh Hart, is poised to make a deep postseason run and are the clear favorites. But two of the Wildcats’ three losses in 2016-17 came at the hands of Butler, who ended the season with a loss to Seton Hall.
Seton Hall, who edged out Villanova in the Big East championship game last year, this year lost to Nova in a hard-fought semifinal matchup. Still, Seton Hall has an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume behind monster rebounder Angel Delgado.
Meanwhile, Creighton boasts one of the top offenses in the country, led by guard Marcus Foster and a potential NBA draft lottery pick in freshman center Justin Patton. The Bluejays made it through to the final, where they lost to Villanova, the defending NCAA champs.
The format
There are 10 teams in the present-day Big East, and they all qualify for the conference tournament with seeding based on conference record. The top six seeds get a bye, while seeds 7 through 10 play each other in the first round to see who makes it to the quarterfinals. There, the top two seeds play the winners of the 7/10 and 8/9 games. The rest of the tournament is single-elimination.
The tournament, which will take place in Madison Square Garden in New York City, will be four rounds, each taking place on a different day from March 8-11.
The teams
- Villanova
- Butler
- Providence
- Marquette
- Seton Hall
- Creighton
- Xavier
- St. John’s
- Georgetown
- DePaul
The bracket
You can see the whole bracket here.
Via NCAA March Madness on Twitter
Schedule and Results (all times Eastern)
Wednesday, March 8 (First Round) at Madison Square Garden
Game 1: No. 8 St. John’s 74, No. 9 Georgetown 73
Game 2: No. 7 Xavier 75, No. 10 DePaul 64
Thursday, March 9 (Quarterfinals) at Madison Square Garden
Game 3: No. 1 Villanova 108, No. 8 St. John’s 67
Game 4: No. 5 Seton Hall 82, No. 4 Marquette 76
Game 5: No. 7 Xavier 62, No. 2 Butler 57
Game 6: No. 6 Creighton 70, No. 3 Providence 58
Friday, March 10 (Semifinals) at Madison Square Garden
Game 7: No. 1 Villanova 55, No. 5 Seton Hall 53
Game 8: No. 6 Creighton 75, No. 7 Xavier 72
Sunday, March 11 (Championship) at Madison Square Garden
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