Big East Tournament Scenarios
The field is set, but how will the teams be seeded?
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Big East Tournament Seeding Scenarios
With one weekend to go, the four-team field for the Big East Tournament is set. Georgetown, St. John’s, UConn and Xavier will descend on Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio May 22-25 in a double-elimination format for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The four squads are separated by three games and Xavier is the only team not alive for an outright league title because the winner of the St. John’s and Georgetown series will finish ahead of the Musketeers.
As a refresher, here are the Big East standings:
UConn owns the tiebreaker over each school, as well as the three-way tiebreaker that’s possible between the Huskies, Red Storm and Musketeers. St. John’s owns the tiebreaker over Xavier, which owns the tiebreaker over Georgetown. Georgetown’s final game against Creighton was rained out, leaving the Hoyas with 20 conference games.
Based on the three series that will impact the final standings in the top half, here is where UConn can finish.
UConn finishes first if…
UConn finishes 3-0
The Huskies win the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 2-1
The Huskies win the Big East outright if St. John’s loses at least one game
OR
UConn finishes 1-2 AND St. John’s finishes 2-1
The Huskies share the regular season conference championship with St. John’s
OR
UConn finishes 1-2 AND Georgetown finishes 3-0
The Huskies win the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 1-2 AND Georgetown finishes 2-1
The Huskies win the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 0-3 AND Georgetown finishes 2-1
The Huskies share the regular season conference championship with St. John’s and Xavier, if Xavier finishes 3-0
UConn finishes second if…
UConn finishes 1-2 AND St. John’s finishes 3-0
St. John’s wins the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 0-3 AND St. John’s finishes 3-0
St. John’s wins the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 0-3 AND St. John’s finishes 2-1
St. John’s wins the Big East outright
OR
UConn finishes 0-3 AND Georgetown finishes 3-0
Georgetown wins the Big East outright
RPI Update
UConn has moved up two spots in the RPI, as the Huskies sat at No. 44 last week and are at No. 42 heading into their final series of the season. There are just three regular season games left, each of which are Quad 4 against No. 185 Butler.
Fortunately for Jim Penders and Co., these games are on the road and a sweep will be worth approximately 30 points in a vacuum. However, UCF is No. 41 in the RPI and is 43 points ahead, which means UConn will need some help to move into the top 40 before the conference tournament next week. Any loss to Butler would also be treacherous, as even a 2-1 series win would cause a one-spot drop without accounting for other results.
Looking ahead to the Big East Tournament, there are no RPI anchors, as Georgetown is the worst team in the field in the metric, at No. 75, which still represents a Quad 2 game at a neutral site. The Huskies can play as few as three or as many as five games at Prasco Park, which will be a good opportunity to get moving up the rankings.
Bracketology
Baseball America
It’s a tough draw in Baseball America’s projection, which moved the Huskies from a 3-seed to a 2-seed this week. They’re traveling to the Lexington Regional, which is hosted by No. 1 overall seed Kentucky. The two are joined by Virginia Tech and North Dakota State.
Xavier is in the Corvallis Regional, which is hosted by No. 13 Oregon State, as a 3-seed, while St. John’s is the first team left out of the field. No. 16 UC Santa Barbara is the only team the Huskies played in a weekend series projected to make a Regional, while Bryant (4-seed), No. 12 Indiana State, Kansas State (3-seed), Northeastern (3-seed) and UC Irvine (2-seed) appeared in a single game. Contests against Cincinnati (3-seed) and Columbia (4-seed) were also rained out.
D1Baseball
D1Baseball.com kept UConn as a 2-seed and sent it out west to the Corvallis Regional, hosted by No. 13 Oregon State. TCU and Saint Louis complete grouping. While it’s unclear where the Huskies are in the 2-seed pecking order, they’re likely at least higher than UC Irvine, which got sent east to No. 9 Florida State and the Tallahassee Regional, and UC Santa Barbara, which is in No. 15 Virginia’s Charlottesville Regional.
Xavier is a 3-seed in the Knoxville Regional, hosted by No. 2 Tennessee, while St. John’s isn’t on the bubble. The NerdCast dismissed the Red Storm due to its RPI. UC Santa Barbara (2-seed) is the only weekend foe projected to make a Regional. Bryant (4-seed), No. 11 Indiana State, Kansas State (3-seed), Northeastern (3-seed) and UC Irvine (2-seed) were single game opponents. UConn endured rainouts against Cincinnati (3-seed) and Columbia (4-seed).
The Week Ahead
Thursday: at Butler; 3 p.m.; FloSports
Friday: at Butler; 3 p.m.; FloSports
Saturday: at Butler; 1 p.m.; FloSports
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