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Big East Bubble Watch: Is UConn Safe Bet for March Madness?
- Get the best Big East basketball odds at BetUS.
- St. John’s has the shortest odds of winning March Madness among Big East teams.
- Read on for my March Madness breakdown for Big East teams this week.
As conference play heats up, there is a chance that no Big East team will be among the top 16 seeds in the March Madness bracket. The NCAA selection committee had its first reveal of the top seeds with St. John’s coming in at No. 16. Will the Red Storm continue to hold down one of the top seeds?
All three home teams came away with wins on Tuesday, although UConn failed to cover against the college basketball spread in its comeback win over Villanova.
St. John’s (+3000) has the shortest odds of winning March Madness among Big East teams. Two-time defending national champion UConn (+5000), Marquette (+7500) and Creighton (+10000) are other teams from the Big East in the top 30 in the championship odds.
St. John’s (-900) and Creighton (+700) lead the way in the odds of winning the Big East title Marquette (+2400) and UConn (+4000).
This is hardly the best season in recent memory in the Big East. Keep reading as BetUS will provide a weekly update on the March Madness hopes of Big East teams.
Big East March Madness Analysis
Will Bubble Burst for Defending Champion UConn?
An 11-2 home record, a 6-3 mark on the road and wins in four of five games against ranked teams look good on the surface. However, when you are the team going after a third consecutive national title, that is not good enough.
The 2024-25 journey for UConn was summed up in a span of five days when the Huskies won at Creighton behind a brilliant showing from freshman Liam McNeeley and then fell in overtime to a Seton Hall team with one conference win coming into the game.
UConn is sitting at No. 36 in the NCAA NET rankings. However, four of its eight losses came in Quad 2 and Quad 3 matchups. If the Huskies can win on Sunday against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden and at home against Marquette, that would do wonders for the Huskies and perhaps keep them from being on the bubble.
The Huskies are showing up as No. 8 or 9 seeds in March Madness bracketology projections after making college basketball news by erasing a double-digit deficit to beat Villanova on Tuesday.
“This could be galvanizing for us.”https://t.co/sIQy0G83GL
— David Borges (@DaveBorges) February 19, 2025
Villanova and Xavier each have one Quad 1 victory so it might be kind to list the Wildcats and the Musketeers as bubble teams. Villanova squandered a double-digit lead to UConn and a chance to sweep the season series with the reigning national champions, which would have been a huge help for the Wildcats.
Xavier moved up a spot to No. 52 in the NCAA NET rankings after its win over Butler while Villanova is holding steady at No. 54. Xavier seems to have a better shot at sneaking into the March Madness field as an at-large team as Villanova has defied the college basketball odds with three losses to Quad 2 teams to go with three Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses.
The Contenders
St. John’s has a two-game lead with five games left in the regular season, including matchups with Marquette and UConn. The Red Storm are undefeated at home and 3-1 against ranked teams, per NCAAB betting trends. However, a 3-4 mark when facing Quad 1 opponents could be an issue when the March Madness bracket is finalized.
“To me at the college level, he’s basically Pat Riley”
🔊 Chris Mullin has high praise for Rick Pitino as his alma mater is playing their best basketball in 40 years #RedStorm@TermineRadio | @TheFrankIsola | @StJohnsBBall | @SXMCollege pic.twitter.com/njXwYDlCwm
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 18, 2025
St. John’s is listed by the NCAAB betting line as a 13-point favorite at DePaul in one of the two Big East games being played on Wednesday.
No. 23 Marquette is one spot behind St. John’s for the top NCAA NET rankings among Big East teams. The Golden Eagles have lost three of the five games against ranked teams and two of the six losses have come against Quad 2 squads.
Marquette could be saving the best for last with the final two games of the regular season coming against UConn and St. John’s.
Creighton had a scare when star forward and Big East Preseason Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner had to be helped off the court in a recent loss to St. John’s. Fortunately, he was able to return. Three of the final five games in the regular season come against teams with losing records so even if the Bluejays win out, they might have a hard time cracking the top 30 in the NCAA NET rankings.
Some Work To Do
There is a substantial gap between the top six teams in the Big East and the other squads just playing out the rest of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Georgetown, Providence and Butler all have a chance to finish over .500 in Big East play. The Hoyas and Friars square off on Wednesday with the BetUS sportsbook listing Georgetown as a 3.5-point favorite despite the uncertain status of freshman forward Thomas Sorber.
No. 82 Butler is 2-5 in Quad 2 games, No. 83 Providence is 3-13 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents while nine of Georgetown’s wins have come against Quad 4 opponents.
Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets
Questions Of The Day
How many Big East teams are undefeated at home this season?
One. St. John’s is 15-0 at home to lead the way in a conference when 10 of the 11 teams have winning records at home.
Who is the top scorer in the Big East this season?
Eric Dixon of Villanova leads all Division I men’s players with an average of 22.9 points per game.
