The Marquette Golden Eagles clinch the Big East’s automatic NCAA tournament bid after beating Xavier 65-51 in Madison Square Garden. Marquette entered the tournament as the top seed in the conference and finished strong after some close calls earlier in the tournament. The Golden Eagles will now wait to see how the rest of the tournaments play out to see if the will be a number one or two seed in the Big Dance.
Big East player of the year, Tyler Kolek, led the way for Marquette scoring 20 points and recording eight rebounds. David Joplin came off the bench and added 12 points and four rebounds of his own. The Golden Eagles took command early and never looked back, leading by 15 at the half. Xavier outscored Marquette in the second half, but the Golden Eagles had already put the game out of reach. It’s Marquette’s first ever Big East tournament title.
MARQUETTE IN THE BIG DANCE
The Golden Eagles finished the regular season ranked number six in the country. They survived an overtime scare from St. John’s and managed to edge Connecticut at the buzzer before handling Xavier in the final. Of the five teams ahead of them in the rankings, Kansas lost in the Big 12 tournament final. Houston, UCLA, Alabama and Purdue have all reached their tournament finals. Marquette would need three of those four to lose and hope their performance impressed the selection committee to get a number one seed. In all likelihood, Marquette will be a two seed when the bracket is announced Sunday.
BIG EAST TEAMS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
When the 68 teams are selected for the tournament Sunday, the question on a lot of Big East fans’ minds will be how many teams will make the Big Dance. The Big East regularly gets between five and six bids. Right now, four of the bids are secure. Marquette clinched the automatic bid by winning the conference tournament. Xavier, Creighton and Connecticut are all ranked in the Top 25 pretty much securing their spots. Will the Big East get more than these four bids?
Providence had a good year but faltered late. The Friars went 4-5 in their final nine games finishing fifth in the conference. Providence has some big wins, and I could see them getting in the tournament as an eleven seed. They may have to play one of those four “first round” games in Dayton, but I think Providence is going dancing. Villanova finished sixth in the conference, one game above .500 in the standings. Everyone from the Wildcats down are out. The Big East is assured four bids, and I think they’ve secured a fifth. It’ll be interesting to see how the conference fares in the Big Dance.
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