It’s time for a SUNDAY NIGHT EDITION of What To Watch because we’ve got a pair of very early Monday games, one for men’s basketball, and one for women’s basketball in the Big East. On top of that, the men’s calendar for the week wraps up on Tuesday anyway, so the earlier the better when it comes to making this a useful document for as long as possible.
The men’s calendar for the week ends on Tuesday because of the Christmas holiday break for everyone. In fact, women’s basketball in the Big East plays
a pair of games on Monday, and then is off until fitting in four more games next Sunday, just under the wire for this week. All told, there’s just 11 Big East basketball games this week.
Because we’re coming at you very early, the rankings you’ll see below are from the Associated Press poll on December 15th. Once the new poll comes out on the 22nd, we’ll update as needed.
Let’s get to the highlights in this short week, shall we?
Monday, December 22: St. John’s Red Storm at Villanova Wildcats (11am Central, ESPN+) — Villanova moved to 2-0 in the Big East by plunking Seton Hall by 17 on Friday. That makes them one of three unbeaten squads left in the league alongside #1 UConn (3-0) and Creighton (1-0). They can extend their run against a St. John’s team that’s 11-2 overall on the year but 1-1 in the Big East after being the Bluejays’ victim for their loss.
Monday, December 22: Butler Bulldogs vs NJIT Highlanders (1pm Central, ESPN+) — I’m only highlighting it because it’s the very early men’s game I mentioned earlier, and wouldn’t you like something to keep you busy during a holiday week Monday afternoon at the office?
Monday, December 22: Seton Hall Pirates at Creighton Bluejays (3pm Central, ESPN+) — It’s been a rough season for Jim Flanery’s Bluejays so far, but as mentioned above, they’re 1-0 in the league. Now they get a chance to go 2-0 if they can deal with a Pirates squad that probably doesn’t want to lose a second straight road game, but things might have gotten harder for them when Savannah Catalon left the Nova game with a fourth quarter injury.
Tuesday, December 23: RV Villanova Wildcats at RV Seton Hall Pirates (6pm Central, Peacock) — You get the fun of Kevin Willard returning to the Prudential Center to lead the opposing team against his former squad here, but there’s more to it! Seton Hall’s 11-1 and 1-0 in the Big East after beating Providence by 5 on the road, while this is Villanova’s league opener after a 9-2 start and an overtime win over Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum on Friday night.
Sunday, December 28: Providence Friars at South Carolina Gamecocks (11am Central, SEC Network) — I put this in here just to say that BartTorvik.com says South Carolina by 40.
Sunday, December 28: #1 Connecticut Huskies at Butler Bulldogs (3pm Central, TNT/truTV) — I put this in here just to say that BartTorvik.com says Huskies by 36.
Here’s the full Big East men’s basketball schedule for the week! All times Central, of course.
Here’s the full Big East women’s basketball schedule for the week! All times Central, of course.
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