The rush of early season tournaments concluded on Sunday, putting them largely in the rearview mirror for this season. It was a nice day for the Big East, closing out a great week for the conference and providing a bright light for a conference that certainly entered this season with question marks.
Both championship games on the day were won by the Big East member, as Villanova beat Florida State 66-60 to win the AdvoCare Invitational and Seton Hall closed out the weekend by holding on to beat former Big East rival Miami 83-81.
Villanova, of course, had a well-documented week to forget prior to this one, losing two straight games for the first time since the 2012-13 season. One area where they have had plenty of success of late – there aren’t many where they haven’t had much success, of course – is in-season tournaments, as the Wildcats have now won the last six they have participated in.
This weekend certainly helps them get back on track, and with a win over a very good Florida State team to clinch it. Their prior wins over Oklahoma State and Canisius are hardly worthless – the Cowboys should be a factor in the Big 12 and the Golden Griffins should contend in the MAAC – but putting aside that it was a championship game, the win over Florida State looks like the crown jewel of the weekend.
Seton Hall, meanwhile, came into the season with some clear questions given their personnel losses from last season. They had some pieces to build around besides Myles Powell, who figures to be the clear first option now, but how they would form was the question. While the Wooden Legacy was not a loaded field, it was a good one, and the Pirates beat a Miami team that has played well thus far. This should help them get going after a couple of humbling losses before this weekend.
Powell was the star, scoring 77 points in the three games including 17 on Sunday night, but he’s not alone. Michael Nzei has been the biggest help, and he led the way on Sunday with 21 points on 8-8 shooting. The senior big man hasn’t been the rebounding machine Angel Delgado was, but he went 17-21 from the field in Fullerton to help the cause. Sacred Heart transfer Quincy McKnight and freshman Anthony Nelson are showing promise at the point, though there are bound to be some growing pains with both.
The game was played within a small window and was full of offense, but the Pirates opened up an 80-73 lead for their largest of the game and made it stand up despite a couple of free throw misses late that could have sealed the game sooner. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field, with Miami going 16-24 in the first half, although neither team shot better than 35 percent. Instead, both teams got a lot of points in the paint, an indication that this was not a world-class defensive effort.
This concludes a week where Big East teams won four tournament championships, with St. John’s winning the Legends Classic and Creighton winning the Cayman Islands Classic earlier in the week. That gives the Big East supremacy in this area as four teams won championships, while the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten were right there with three each as well.
With a lot of teams, including Villanova, losing a lot of experience and production, the Big East had some questions entering this season. Recent history suggests the conference as a whole would be fine, but how that would look was in question. The thought has been that Villanova still carries the flag, but who challenges them and just how good all of these teams (including the Wildcats) are remained to be seen.
While it is still true that we don’t know just yet – these tournaments are but a single data point, a snapshot of part of the conference – we have more to go on now. St. John’s looks like they may finally be ready to contend under Chris Mullin, while Villanova now looks better than they previously did and Seton Hall appears to be coming to life. Marquette has looked promising, Georgetown looks to be on the way up, Providence looks like they have a chance, Creighton looks like Creighton and Butler looks like Butler. And as a whole, the conference looks solid – not full of world-beaters, but about what we’ve come to expect. The one thing that is less clear right now is how this will all shake out within the conference, but that will make Big East play all the better to watch.
Side Dishes
Elsewhere in the AdvoCare Invitational, Oklahoma State pulled away from LSU 90-77 to take third place, getting 28 points from Cameron McGriff. College of Charleston took fifth place as Grant Riller scored 32 points and nine assists to close out a nice weekend in his hometown of Orlando to lead the Cougars to a 78-75 win over Memphis. UAB salvaged seventh place by rallying from an early 15-point deficit to beat Canisius 68-58.
In the Wooden Legacy, Fresno State took care of Hawaii 79-64 for third place, Northwestern took fifth place by breaking away from Utah 79-57, and Grand Canyon took seventh place with an 82-70 win over winless La Salle.
One team that beat Villanova during that rough week, Furman, improved to 7-0 on Sunday with a 65-61 win at UNC Asheville, which is never an easy place to win although the Bulldogs are 1-5 on the season.
Oregon State continued their great start, improving to 5-1 as they went to Long Beach State and edged the 49ers 75-72 behind a combined 35 points from Ethan and Stephen Thompson Jr.
Tonight’s Menu
With most of the big in-season tournaments in the rearview mirror, the slate gets lighter, although the ACC/Big Ten Challenge takes center stage the next few nights.
- That event starts with Nebraska visiting Clemson (7 p.m.) and continues later with Minnesota visiting Boston College (9 p.m.)
- South Carolina gets a challenge as Wofford comes to town (7 p.m.)
- Murray State has had a light slate thus far with just two games, but they will travel to give Alabama a challenge (8 p.m.)
- Out west is a battle between a couple of struggling northern California teams as Cal hosts Santa Clara (9 p.m.)
Great read every morning!