Brian Reddy: Beyond the Box Score – Big East NCAA Preview

As the 2024-25 NCAA Tournament begins, your intrepid correspondent will continue to provide coverage, primarily focusing on the Big East teams for as long as we are participating. My current plan is to provide coverage live from Providence, along with long-form stories and photos from the games, courtesy of my daughter who is an aspiring photographer. This will be possible as long as Providence College Senior Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Strategic Communications Arthur Parks continues to be of great assistance with the provision of press passes. As much as there is ample coverage, being in the press pool gives a unique perspective, and Arthur’s help during the season helped my understanding of the Friars this year.

For now, I will identify the five Big East teams in the tournament, their strengths and challenges, and how I suspect they will fare in the opening weekend of the tournament. Obviously, in a tournament where one loss ends your season, anything can happen, and St John’s is the only team seeded to survive this week. I do think there is a good chance multiple Big East are still playing next week. With that in mind, here are the Big East teams playing.

Xavier (11 Seed – First Four in Midwest) – Xavier plays Texas Wednesday in Dayton. Texas finished 19-15 and was the 14^th of 14 Southeastern Conference teams in the field. They are led by future lottery pick Tre Johnson, along with former Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma and one-time Friar recruiting target Kadin Shedrick. Texas tends to be inconsistent with a number of big wins and a few tough losses. Their defense is especially erratic, and it is difficult to know which Texas team will show up. Xavier is a well-balanced team led by Zach Freemantle and Ryan Conwell. After a midseason slump, the Musketeers won 12 of their final 16 games, including wins over Connecticut, Marquette, and Creighton, and two over the Friars. The keys for Xavier will be to handle Tre Johnson, and hope that Conwell and Dante Maddox get hot. I think the biggest advantage for Xavier is the coaching of Sean Miller, and as long as the game is close, I expect Xavier to win. The winner gets Illinois, which is a winnable game for either Xavier or Texas.

Creighton (9 Seed in South) – To be blunt, I believe Creighton got screwed by the committee. They were the top 9 seed, and instead of playing the lowest ranked 8 seed, they are playing Louisville, the highest ranked of the 8 seeds. Even worse, they are playing Louisville in the Cardinals home state of Kentucky. The good news for Creighton is that Louisville is not a big team and I suspect Ryan Kalkbrenner will be a tough matchup for them. Additionally, no one in the ACC plays an offense quite like Creighton, and if Steven Ashworth is hitting from deep, Creighton should be able to handle the Cards. The winner gets Auburn, which is a near-impossible match for the Bluejays. Creighton will need to be on the top of their game with a letdown from the Tigers to have a chance against arguably the best team in the country.

Connecticut (8 Seed in West) – Connecticut has been struggling with consistency all season, so their matchup with Oklahoma pairs two teams with big wins and head-scratching losses. Friar fans will remember that the Friars matched up against the Sooners in the Bahamas and nearly pulled of an incredible comeback after being down 7 in the final thirty seconds to lose on a missed three pointer at the buzzer. Oklahoma is led by Friar recruit Jeremiah Fears and one of the most improved players in the SEC in Jalon Moore. Former Friar Brycen Goodine was also a bench contributor for Oklahoma. I believe that Liam McNeeley and Solo Ball will be the two best players in the game, but they have both struggled lately in carrying the Huskies. I expect them to be refreshed for the tournament. Additionally, a motivated Tarris Reed should be able to bully his way through the Sooner defense. The winner of this game draws top seeded Florida, and while UConn would probably have a better chance against the Gators than Oklahoma, it would be a major upset for either of them to win.

Marquette (7 Seed in South) – Marquette begins their journey against Friar alumnus Richard Pitino and the New Mexico Lobos. New Mexico is led by Mountain West Player of the Year Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph, who began his college career playing for Rick Pitino at Iona. As good as Dent is, I think Stevie Mitchell will be able to stifle him defensively. I also think this is the type of team that Kam Jones can dominate with the ball and would not be surprised to see him put up thirty or more points. The winner likely gets second seed Michigan St. Two years ago, Marquette was a 2 seed that was upset by 7 seed Michigan St. I think there is a good chance to see a reverse of this on Sunday.

St. John’s (2 Seed in West) – The Rick Pitino show begins at the Amica Mutual Pavilion Thursday evening as the Red Storm face off against Summit champion Omaha. While the Johnnies have been known to struggle offensively, I am confident Pitino will have them fully prepared and not overlooking anyone. RJ Luis and Kadary Richmond will be looking to improve their professional resumes in the tournament, and the Mavericks have not faced anyone as physical as Zuby Ejiofor and a defense as smothering as St. John’s. The interesting time will be in the second round on Saturday, when they meet up with either Bill Self and Kansas or John Calipari and Arkansas. Kansas was the top ranked team in the country until they got drubbed by Creighton, and have been one of the more underachieving teams this year. They still have a lot of veteran talent, led by all-American Hunter Dickinson and Zeke Mayo. It would not surprise me to see them come alive this week. The alternative is an Arkansas team led by several of Calipari’s players and recruits that followed him from Kentucky. The Razorbacks had an up and down year that began the year ranked 16^th in the nation and ended the season on the tournament bubble. Regardless of the Red Storm’s opponent, I think they a will be the better team, and as long as they avoid a shooting slump, they should be making plans for San Francisco next week.

As mentioned at the beginning, I hope to provide more details about the tournament throughout the week, including the press conferences from Wednesday through Saturday. While the Friars season is over, there is still plenty of basketball to be played, and I will be rooting for the conference for as long as they are involved.

#GoBigEast