Big East Tournament 2022: Betting Tips for Round 1 Odds, Spreads and Over-Under

The Xavier Musketeers can't improve their NCAA men's basketball tournament stock much on Wednesday at the Big East tournament, but they could damage it with a loss.

Xavier drifted toward the NCAA tournament bubble because of a five-game losing streak that knocked it a few games below .500 in Big East play. Travis Steele's side needs to hold serve with a win over the Butler Bulldogs to set up a clash with the top-seeded Providence Friars.

While Xavier is trying to win more games, the Georgetown Hoyas are just hoping to capture a single victory. The Hoyas have not won a Big East contest since they stormed through the 2021 Big East tournament with four wins in four days.

Georgetown would just be happy with a one win in New York this time around, but the Seton Hall Pirates will make that tough to attain.

Big East Tournament Round 1 Schedule and Odds

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No. 9 Butler vs. No. 8 Xavier (-5.5) (Over/Under: 131) (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1)

No. 10 DePaul vs. No. 7 St. John's (-5) (O/U: 153.5) (7 p.m. ET, FS1)

No. 11 Georgetown vs. No. 6 Seton Hall (-10) (O/U: 143.5) (9:30 p.m. ET, FS1)

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Butler vs. Xavier (-5.5)

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Xavier enters the Big East tournament on the "Last Four In" line on the latest NCAA tournament projection from ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

The Musketeers fell down to the bubble with a string of five losses, including two against the St. John's Red Storm, that devalued their resume a bit.

Xavier has some nice non-conference wins over the Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma State Cowboys and Virginia Tech Hokies propping up its resume. So Travis Steele's team has a clear path to exiting the bubble conversation in New York, and that starts with beating the Butler Bulldogs.

Butler enters Madison Square Garden on a five-game skid and off a loss to the Villanova Wildcats in which it managed to score just 59 points.

LaVall Jordan's squad dealt with injuries for most of the season and has been outclassed recently, with three of its past five losses coming by eight points or more.

Butler played Xavier tight in their meeting February 2, but the two-point game came at the start of Xavier's skid. The Musketeers won the first clash by 15 points January 7.

Xavier let out a ton of frustration on Georgetown on Saturday by putting up 97 points in a 22-point victory, and that play should carry over into Madison Square Garden.

The Musketeers have two clear marks to hit on the scoreboard to nail down a win. They need to score more than 74 points and hold Butler beneath 70. Xavier scored 74 or more points in six of its eight Big East victories, and it won four of those contests by holding opponents under 70 points.

Butler reached the 70-point mark on three occasions in its 11 Big East defeats. If Xavier's defense limits the Bulldogs' scoring potential, a win and a cover should be in the Musketeers' future.

Georgetown vs. Seton Hall (-10)

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Georgetown likely can't wait for its nightmare season to be over.

The Hoyas went 0-19 in Big East play and were not competitive in a good amount of those games.

Georgetown appeared to turn some type of corner when it lost to Seton Hall by only five points, but then it was blown out by Xavier in its regular-season finale.

Patrick Ewing's team will not repeat as Big East tournament champion, and it will likely be gone from New York well before most of this year's contenders take the floor.

Georgetown ranks 326th in three-point defense and 346th in two-point offense on KenPom.com, and it lost 11 of its 19 Big East games by double digits.

Seton Hall would love nothing more than to add to that blowout tally and focus on the next round and a matchup with the Connecticut Huskies.

The Pirates got Georgetown's best punch earlier in March, so they should not have their guard down against the No. 11 seed.

Wednesday would be a great time for Seton Hall to kick its recent habit of playing close games against the worst teams in the Big East. The Pirates beat Butler, DePaul and Georgetown by six or fewer points in their past three games.

Seton Hall needs to preserve some energy for what it hopes will be four games in four days, and that motivation should show in a double-digit victory over a team that can't get anything right this season.

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