With six weeks remaining until everyone’s favorite CBS overindulgence, Selection Sunday, conference seasons are in full swing and the field of 64 is starting to come into view. Lunardi’s weekly bracketology has the Big East as one of the most represented leagues in the nation, coming in weekly with six or seven entrants. Of those, there is the probable number one overall seed Villanova Wildcats and Xavier, who is also a Final Four threat.

Within the conference, there is one of the hottest regular season conference race in the nation. Number one is all but locked up, with Nova up a win in the loss column and the clearest threat Xavier not seeming to have any inkling of how to defeat the reigning champs. The race for three through seven is absolutely flaming hot and it will have major implications come tournament time, deciding if the league can send their ceiling of seven teams, or the floor of five.

Villanova (20-1, 7-1) Tournament Chances: must I answer?

I understand how the loss of Phil Booth may limit their depth a bit, but Nova is cooking on all cylinders. Although their normally stingy defense is down to just within the top 100 in points allowed, the offense is cooking like it never has in the Jay Wright regime. Led by the probable first round draft pick duo of Jalen Brunson (better known as the best point guard in the nation) and Mikal Bridges, Nova has the ability to score from any spot on the floor over half court. Their defense is still also 32nd in kenpom’s adjusted defense rankings. Nova is going to hold on to a number one seed and is without a doubt one of the clearest choices for National Championship.

Xavier (19-3, 7-2) Tournament Chances: higher than Bill Walton at a Grateful Dead Concert

Xavier is most likely going to lock in another two seed with Chris Mack again having the Musketeers running on high efficiency success. A huge boost for them this season is Green Bay transfer Kerem Kanter. He is providing a massive low-post scoring option, which is spurred on by a shocking lack of big men in college basketball that understand post defense in any capacity. Recognize the name? His older brother Enes is ruffling feathers in the Turkish government front office and throughout the ranks of the NBA. Kerem plays the game with a shocking resemblance to his newfound NBA villain brother. Even though star Trevon Bluiett is probably capable of more, he is still scoring at will and leading this group along with first team all-scrap nominee J.P. Macura.

Creighton (17-5, 7-3) Tournament Chances: higher than former star Doug McDermott’s chances (on a scale of 1-10) to ever score 30 again (5 or 6 seed)

Creighton can score the basketball. I’m not talking like that one dude in the pickup gym that rides his one good game per week as an excuse to wear leg sleeves and shit talk. I mean absolutely constant and efficient scoring game in and game out. I want to use their continued success as a springboard to talk about head coach Greg McDermott’s status as one of the most underrated coaches in college hoops. After his son left and they took a year or two to recover entirely, Greg has had the Blue Jays as a consistently top four team in one of the three best leagues in the nation. He coaches his teams with a brand of unselfish basketball that is beautiful to watch and scary to defend.

Seton Hall (16-5, 5-3) Tournament Chances: higher than my confidence (on a scale of 1-10) regarding my take they could make the Final Four (6 or 7 seed)

I had a take a few weeks ago in this article series that Seton Hall is a Final Four threat. Since then, they have lost a lot of games to not-so-good teams and their stars have struggled. Although my confidence is wavering, it is not entirely gone. I say it almost weekly on The Campus Cover, but there are four things that matter in March.

1) veteran leadership. The three best Pirate players (Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado and Khadeen Carrington) are all seniors. 2) Elite guard play. Both Carrington and sophomore Myles Powell are averaging more than 13.5 points and 2.5 assists per game. 3) coaching. Kevin Willard spent the first few years (maybe too long) of his tenure recruiting Seton Hall into a place of prominence. In the last three years, it has led to tournament bids and success. He is not elite by any stretch, but he is definitely capable. 4) game changing big man. Angel Delgado fits this category better than almost anyone in the nation with 15 double doubles and two games with at least 15 points and 15 boards. I don’t need you to be convinced, I’m just trying to reassure myself.

The rest

Providence (14-7, 5-3), Butler (15-7, 5-4) and Marquette (13-8, 4-5) all currently sit on Joe Lunardi’s nine or 10 lines. All three will make the tournament, especially since Marquette has gotten through the teeth of their conference schedule, but more importantly, both Providence and Butler have flexed their muscles in the league with wins over Xavier and Villanova, respectively. All three are threats for at least one win in the tournament, and are all capable of knocking off a team that are highly seeded. Still, they are not worth me doing a 200 word write up.

Notes on the teams that don’t matter

• Georgetown is going to be a tournament team next year. Ewing has them going in the right direction and they are returning all of their minutes. I expect them to fight for a finish from five to eight in the Big East in their 2018-2019 campaign.
• St. John’s has had an injury bug this season that has ravaged them more than the Black Plague ravaged Europe. It has severely hurt their development and put their season in the shitter.
• DePaul is and always will be bad. They are the Browns of the Big East. The day DePaul wins the Big East is the day the sun turns into a black hole and we are all sucked into one of the bad Rick and Morty alternate dimensions.