There are 5 really strong Big East teams. 4/5 seeds are likely have to play 3 to win the title (4/5, 1, and 2/3), while 1/2/3 will only play 2 of them. Tougher to win the whole thing from 4/5, but on the other hand good for resume building.
BUT if you now consider Villanova with Moore to be "back" and a peer to that group, then the 3 seed loses a lot of relative value, because you likely get Nova first, which means you also have to play 3 tough games.
But either way, saying we tied for 3rd on the season feels a lot closer to what we expected coming into the year than a 5th place finish... even if our record is the same.