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Message: [QUOTE="YKCornelius, post: 4551944, member: 9864"] Not referring to tonight's Huskies’ Senior Night match-up with Xavier, but rather the Marquette’s Senior Night contest with DePaul. It has big implications to both programs, and to our league by derivative. While we wait for our Senior Night festivities to start, consider this: If DePaul wins, they will meet the minimum winning percentage eligibility criteria (.500) for post-season tournaments regardless of what they do in the BET. In all likelihood, a win secures them a reasonable chance of being selected for the NIT. If the Blue Demons lose, then the only way they are eligible for either the NIT or NCAA is to win both of their first two BET games. Otherwise, they finish below .500, and their season would end. It almost goes without saying that such a two-win scenario would require beating Villanova in the quarterfinals on Saturday, which would (most likely and unfortunately) keep Villanova from hosting the first weekend of the NCAA tourney. Yikes! If Marquette wins tonight, they are still in strong consideration for an NCAA tournament at-large bid, and will carry 20 wins into the BET as the #4 seed – both strong optics for the NCAA selection committee. Of course, that posture will then be affected on how well they fare in the BET quarters (against St John’s). If the Golden Eagles lose, that gives them 10 loses and makes them the #5 seed in the BET – both bad optics for the selection committee. More importantly, it significantly weakens the possibility of five Big East teams making the Big Dance. Bottom line: for all intents and purposes, the Big East tournament starts tonight for both of these teams. Furthermore, I would submit that either Villanova or St John’s will be facing a wounded animal fighting for its post-season life this weekend - pretty intense, don't ya think?!! Glad to be a UConn fan in the Big East! [/QUOTE]

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