Thanks to the Emerald Coast Classic women’s basketball event in Florida and the Players Era men’s basketball event in Las Vegas, we’ve got DAYTIME BASKETBALL~! at 11am and 1pm Central time on Monday. That’s
why you might be reading this on Sunday after the Week Three games have wrapped up. That means it’ll be up bright and early on Monday, long before the new Associated Press polls come out. So, if you’re reading this, then I haven’t updated the rankings that you see below. If you read this and then come back later and this is MYSTERIOUSLY GONE, then the rankings are accurate as of the November 24th polls.
We got a taste of FEAST WEEK last week, and now it’s in FULL SWING! We’ve got Players Era, Maui, ESPN Events Invitational, Rady Children’s Invitational, and Emerald Coast Classic on the men’s basketball side, plus a couple of special one-off games. Over with women’s basketball, we’ve got Emerald Coast Classic, Turkey Tip-Off, Coconut Hoops, and Cayman Islands Classic as far as events go, and the very last game to tipoff of the week for WBB is the very first Big East league game of the season…. although to be honest, that might be one of the least competitive contests of the year.
The upside of FEAST WEEK? Lots of big time basketball games that mean a whole lot to a bunch of teams. The downside of FEAST WEEK for the purposes of this schedule before the week starts? There’s a lot of games that would definitely be highlights of the week that are still total mysteries on Sunday morning. Nowhere is this worse than the Players Era event, where it’s not even a bracket situation. We have no idea as to the opponent of not one but two Big East teams for their third game in that event…. and to be honest? We don’t even know what day they’ll be playing that third game right now! Wild stuff, but at least it turns into interesting basketball by the end of it.
Okay, let’s get into the rundown of what you need to keep an eye on!
Monday, November 24: RV Creighton Bluejays vs RV Baylor Bears (1pm Central, truTV) — This will be the Bluejays’ first game since announcing that sophomore forward Jackson McAndrew is done for the year with a foot injury. It’s also CU’s second game of importance this year after they got walloped by 27 by Gonzaga on November 11th. CU’s second Players Era game is MUCH harder (give us a second, we’ll get to it) and just 24 hours later, so this is an interesting test against a quality opponent.
Monday, November 24: Seton Hall Pirates vs #25 NC State Wolfpack (1:30pm Central, ESPN2) — No one had a lot of faith in Seton Hall going into the season, and there’s nothing in their 5-0 start that says “ah, yes, much better than expected.” Their Maui Invitational opener is their first crack at a top 200 KenPom team this season, and a ranked foe to boot. Let’s see what happens.
Monday, November 24: #14 St. John’s Red Storm vs #16 Iowa State Cyclones (3:30pm Central, truTV) — Yep, it’s a Big East doubleheader on truTV in the Players Era event. This is the first contact with a notable opponent since the Red Storm gave up 103 points in regulation to Alabama at the Garden, so it’s a pretty big spot for Zuby Ejiofor and friends. FUN FACT: It’s not Game Of The Week in the Big East!
Tuesday, November 25: RV Creighton Bluejays vs #16 Iowa State Cyclones & #14 St. John’s Red Storm vs RV Baylor Bears (1pm & 4pm Central, truTV) — Yep, same teams as Monday, 24 hours later in Las Vegas, just changing up the matchups. These are big games on their own, and whatever happened on Monday turns the storyline one way or another.
Wednesday, November 26: Creighton Bluejays kind of at UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (2pm Central, no television) — Jim Flanery scheduled up, even though he knew he was losing pretty much every player he relied on last year. This has backfired on him, as the Jays are 1-3 on the year right now with nothing but BartTorvik.com top 160 opponents. UNLV is a top 70 squad and this is in Las Vegas for an event that the Rebels are hosting, just not in their usual home gym, and it’s apparently in a camera-free mystery box!
Thursday, November 27: Providence Friars vs #23 Wisconsin Badgers (4:30pm Central, FS1) — I don’t know if Wisconsin’s still going to be ranked after getting smoked by BYU, but the fact remains that Providence is digging out from under their losses to Virginia Tech and Colorado. They just beat Penn State on Saturday, so that’s a positive step, but if they want to be a tournament team, the Friars might need to get this W in their first Rady Children’s Invitational game, too.
Thursday, November 27: RV Georgetown Hoyas vs Dayton Flyers (6:30pm Central, ESPN2) — The Hoyas have wins over Clemson and Maryland already, and are clearly steering towards being a team of note in the Big East this season. Here they get a Dayton team that’s already beaten Marquette and would love to open up the ESPN Events Invitational with another Big East victory.
Friday, November 28: Marquette Golden Eagles vs #12 Iowa State Cyclones (10am Central, FloSports) — Skylar Forbes had an awful start to MU’s road trip against Minnesota and the Golden Eagles lost by more than 40 points. This Coconut Hoops event gives Marquette a chance to right that wrong and put them on track to an NCAA tournament bid…but the Cyclones (including old friend Kenzie Hare!) appear to be better than the Gophers. Has MU learned and grown? Let’s find out.
Friday, November 28: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs #8 Illinois Fighting Illini (11:30am Central, Fox) — See, there’s the Game of the Week in the league. The Huskies are probably annoyed about their close loss to Arizona at home without Tarris Reed in the lineup, and getting the Illini at the Garden is a nice way to deal with that frustration. Illinois is 1-1 against high major opponents, getting a good win over Texas Tech at home but losing to Alabama at the United Center. This is their first game even approaching a road contest this season.
Friday, November 28: Marquette Golden Eagles vs Oklahoma Sooners (1pm Central, NBC) — Both teams are oh-fer against top 180 KenPom opponents this season, and Oklahoma can’t even say they played a top 300 team yet. This one will be played in what appears to be a mostly empty home arena for UIC, so who knows what that means for the environment…. although your loyal blogger is going to be there!
Friday, November 28: St. John’s Red Storm vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (4pm Central, FloSports) — Well, the Red Storm figured out how to beat a ranked Oklahoma State team last week. Congrats to them on balancing out their road loss to Harvard, I suppose. Now they go down to the Cayman Islands to face a GT team with solid computer numbers but a not-okay loss to Jacksonville on their docket.
Sunday, November 30: #1 Connecticut Huskies at Xavier Musketeers (1:30pm Central, FS1) — Told you there was a Big East league game this week, and I also told you that it’s probably not going to be competitive. BartTorvik.com says UConn by 30 and literally lists the odds of victory at 100%. But it’s on teevee!
Here’s the full Big East men’s basketball schedule for the week, at least as far as we know it right now! We’ll update as we can/need to.
Here’s the full Big East women’s basketball schedule for the week, at least as far as we know it right now! We’ll update as we can/need to.
