Butler plays Providence in the first game of the Big East Tournament on March 8. Photo by Grace Hensley.
DAVID JACOBS | STAFF REPORTER | drjacobs@butler.edu
The women’s collegiate basketball season is coming to an end, which means conference tournaments and March Madness are on deck.
For the Big East, each team will be congregating at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on March 8 to begin the grueling four-day tournament.
The front-runners
Although anything can happen come March, this tournament is UConn’s to lose. The Huskies sit at 26-5 and a perfect 18-0 in conference play.
Led by junior guard Paige Bueckers and senior forward Aaliyah Edwards, the nation’s ninth-ranked squad is looking to continue their six-game winning streak to another conference championship.
While UConn is easily the favorite, Creighton cannot be overlooked. The Bluejays sit at 24-4 with a 15-3 conference record.
Thanks to senior forward Emma Ronsiek and senior guard Laura Jensen, the Bluejays have risen to No. 21 in the AP poll and are primed for a deep tournament run themselves.
UConn got the best of Creighton on Feb. 19 with a 73-53 defeat in Storrs. It is hard to go against the previous outcome when trying to determine the winner in a potential rematch with the conference championship on the line.
The dark-horses
Marquette, the third-best team in the conference, had an impressive 22-7 record this season.
The Golden Eagles were once ranked as high as 18th in the country before stumbling upon a rough patch to start conference play.
With a 6-2 record over their last eight games, Marquette appears to have once again found their footing heading into the conference tournament.
Victors of three in a row, Georgetown is playing some of their best ball of the season as of late.
The Hoyas sit at 19-10 on the year and have an impressive 10-5 record on the road. No stranger to hostile environments, it is not unfathomable for the Hoyas to continue their win streak through the tournament.
Boasting a 17-13 record, St. John’s has won two in a row entering the tournament including a Feb. 27 win over Marquette.
Led by senior guard Unique Drake, the Red Storm holds one of the conference’s top defenses — holding opponents to under 60 points a night.
It would take a strong effort to win the three games in a row for the championship, but as the fifth seed in the tournament, the path is not impossible.
The field
For one reason or another, the remaining teams of Villanova, Seton Hall, Butler, Providence, DePaul and Xavier just do not have what it takes for a championship run.
The best of the group, Villanova sits at fourth in the conference standings but has collapsed in the second half of the season. The close games they were winning at the beginning of the year have turned into close games they are now losing.
Butler’s opener
The Dawgs open conference tournament play against Providence on March 8 at 11:00 a.m..
Splitting the regular season series with the Friars, the Bulldogs hope to set the tone for a daunting task ahead.
Winning five of their last seven games, Butler is one of the hottest teams in the field. However, with three first-years starting, the Dawgs might just be a bit too inexperienced to win the tournament as an eight seed.
Providence is home to one of the more lackluster offenses in the conference as they average just 58 points per game, which pairs perfectly for Butler’s improving defense.
The Bulldogs are holding opponents to just over 60 points per game and just 31% from beyond the arc — as a team that shoots 39% from deep themselves — so the perimeter is where this game will be won.
