Big East Tournament 2015: Bracket, Schedule for Madison Square Garden Showcase

The Big East wouldn't survive, they said. The Big East would crumble, they said. The Big East would never be the same, they said.

They were wrong.

Two years into the Big East's overhaul, the conference remains one of the best in the nation. Led by a potential No. 1 seed in Villanova and a cabal of tough teams in the middle, the intraconference competitiveness is no joke on a nightly basis. ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently has the Big East landing six tournament teams, tied for third among conferences and an impressive feat given there are only 10 teams in the field.

Best among that bunch has been Jay Wright's Wildcats, who have reeled off 12 straight victories and would lock in a top seed with a conference tournament triumph. Villanova earned a school-record 29th regular-season victory in its 105-68 thrashing of St. John's on Saturday. 

“They’re very cohesive in their approach at both ends of the court, what we call ‘tied together,’” St. John's coach Steve Lavin told reporters, via PhillyVoice's Rich Hofmann. “Offensively, they play with great purpose and have excellent spacing. They put multiple shooters on the floor that can tickle the twine from long range. They can beat you off the bounce. They share the ball, and it’s a team that enjoys the thrill of the pass.”

USA TODAY Sports

The Wildcats are fourth nationally in offensive efficiency, per kenpom.com, and take 42.5 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc. That's led some to bring up the "live by the three, die by the three" moniker when dismissing them as a true title contender. And when compared to other contenders, Villanova is more reliant on the three ball; none of Lunardi's other two two-seeds so much as rank inside the top 100 of three-point attempt percentage.

But if there is anything that undoes Villanova, it's going to be its defense. The team lacks in rim protection and can at times be leaky on the perimeter; opponents take nearly a third of their shots from beyond the arc against the Wildcats. Problems are going to arise when the long-range shots aren't falling for Villanova and are for its opponents.

Such was the case on Jan. 19 when Georgetown handed Villanova its most recent loss. The Hoyas knocked down more than half of their shots in a game that helped propel them into NCAA tournament lock status. They closed their regular season 5-1 in their last six games, including a 60-54 win over Butler that helped them clinch the tournament's No. 2 seed.

In typical John Thompson III style, Georgetown is good at a bunch of things but great at very few. The team will be hoping leading scorer D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who missed the season finale against Seton Hall, can get back in the lineup.

“I don’t anticipate him missing any part of the Big East tournament,” Thompson said, per Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. “But we’ll see.”

Game	Time (ET)	Date	Matchup	Television
1	7:00 pm	March 11	No. 8 Seton Hall vs. No. 9 Marquette	Fox Sports 1
2	9:30 pm	March 11	No. 7 DePaul vs. No. 10 Creighton	Fox Sports 1
3	12:00 pm	March 12	No. 1 Villanova vs. Winner of Game 1	Fox Sports 1
4	2:30 pm	March 12	No. 4 Providence vs. No. 5 St. John's	Fox Sports 1
5	7:00 pm	March 12	No. 2 Georgetown vs. Winner of Game 2	Fox Sports 1
6	9:30 pm	March 12	No. 3 Butler vs. No. 6 Xavier	Fox Sports 1
7	7:00 pm	March 13	Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4	Fox Sports 1
8	9:30 pm	March 13	Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6	Fox Sports 1
9	8:30 pm	March 14	Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8	Fox Sports 1

Any potential absence from Smith-Rivera opens the doors in what's a wide-open tournament behind Villanova. Six different teams have at least a .500 record in the conference and can lock down tournament berths with a deep run. Xavier is the team most on the bubble but would probably clinch a berth with its second win over Butler in less than a month. 

Butler, Providence and St. John's all enter the tournament hoping to improve their seeding. The Bulldogs and Friars could probably move into the No. 5 range with a deep run or possibly even No. 4 by taking down Villanova. Butler's win against North Carolina in non-conference in particular makes it look competitive against the nation's other top conferences.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

St. John's right now is considered a No. 8 seed by Lunardi and would undoubtedly prefer to get a couple wins and ascend into the No. 7 range, avoiding a matchup against a top seed in the Round of 32. Lavin's team has seen wild ups and downs—particularly the latter in a stretch of seven losses in 10 games—but have recovered to clinch their tournament status. 

The remainder of the field is filled with teams in spoiler-only status. Once ranked inside the Top 25, Seton Hall imploded in the second half of its season. The Pirates dropped 11 of their final 14 regular-season games, earning wins over fellow basement dwellers in Marquette and Creighton along with a home win against Xavier. Viewed as a young, ascending group in January, Kevin Willard's program appears stuck in neutral.

That said, everyone in the field is staring up at Villanova. Based on the regular-season results, there is little reason the Wildcats shouldn't earn a sweep of the regular season and tournament championships. They're deeper, more experienced and more talented than any other team in this conference. They're a monolith amid a group of teams that probably won't make it to the second weekend.

That is, as long as the shots stay falling.

Tournament Pick: Villanova

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.

Advanced metrics are via kenpom.com.