It’s the start of Feast “Week” in college basketball, so we’ve got some possibly notable games that we can’t talk about here.
We’ve got the start of FEAST “WEEK” on the schedule this time around. As such, there’s a few games on the Big East schedule that probably deserve to be in our highlight section, but we don’t know what the actual matchups are until the first (or second!) game of the multi-team event is actually played. We’ll try to keep the schedules down at the bottom of the page updated as needed as the week goes along, so keep stopping on back to figure out what’s on when.
Even without Feast “Week” taking up space, there’s still a lot of interesting contests on both the men’s and women’s side of the aisle this week. Let’s get into the big stuff that you need to know about!
Tuesday, November 19: #15 Marquette Golden Eagles vs #6 Purdue Boilermakers (8pm Central, FS1) — I don’t have to explain this one.
Thursday, November 21: Seton Hall Pirates vs RV VCU Rams (4pm Central, ESPN2) — This is Seton Hall’s first game in the Charleston Classic. The Pirates are 2-2 after a 54-28 win over Wagner, and you ever wanted to see how you could win a game by 26 points and make no one feel good about it, well, there it is. They are not favored here. There’s just one other team in the eight team Charleston Classic that they would be favored against. I’m not saying the red warning light is blinking on this season for Shaheen Holloway, but I am saying it might come on over the weekend.
Thursday, November 21: Seton Hall Pirates vs Princeton Tigers (6pm Central, FloSports) — I’m almost including this one more for Princeton, who is having a heck of a weirdo season so far. They’re 2-2…… but 2-0 against the Big East with wins over DePaul and Villanova. The Pirates will be coming off a road trip against what appears to be a decent Cincinnati team on Monday, and Carla Berube’s Tigers look to be the best team that Tony Bozzella’s squad has faced so far this season…… and their last warm up before facing USC next Wednesday.
Thursday, November 21: #22 St. John’s Red Storm vs #13 Baylor Bears (6pm Central, CBS Sports Network) — Okay, St. John’s. You think you’re supposed to be something this season, time to prove it. The Johnnies opened the season with three shellings of three overmatched opponents (one of whom then turned around and beat Seton Hall), and they kept right on going on Sunday against New Mexico at The Garden. Now you get a Big Boy Team in Norchad Omier and the Bears in the front end of the Baha Mar Hoops event down in the Bahamas. Let’s what you’ve got.
Friday, November 22: Creighton Bluejays vs #21 Nebraska Cornhuskers (5pm Central, FloSports) — I’m writing this on Saturday afternoon, so I’m pretty sure Creighton’s not even going to be receiving votes when the new poll comes out, not after their 18 point loss to #10 Kansas State. Fair? Maybe not, but they got dropped hard out of the AP poll for losing to South Dakota State. Anyway, they get a ranked team in DJ Sokol Arena here, and it’s an in-state rivalry game to boot. Big spot for them if they want to get back in the top 25 voters’ good graces, not to mention for their overall NCAA tournament profile.
Saturday, November 23: #15 Marquette Golden Eagles vs Georgia Bulldogs (10am Central, FloSports) — I can not repeat this enough: This game is exclusively available on FloSports. You have to subscribe to the streaming service, which costs $20 a month for the new FloCollege option, or $12.50 if you use the Big East’s link to subscribe. I’ll be watching, but that’s because I have an annual subscription for soccer/volleyball/women’s basketball/lacrosse reasons.
Saturday, November 23: Villanova Wildcats vs Texas A&M Aggies (8pm Central, FloSports) — Kind of a sneaky big matchup for Jasmine Bascoe and company here. A&M is 2-2 to start the season, but they’re #40 on BartTorvik.com. That means the Aggies are favored here, but it’s far from a run away situation for the first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis. A win probably throws the Wildcats into a semifinal game against #14 North Carolina as opposed to a consolation bracket game with Ball State. I won’t call it pivotal for their season, but it’s definitely a Sliding Doors situation.
Sunday, November 24: #22 St. John’s Red Storm vs Georgia Bulldogs (10am Central, CBS Sports Network) — I’m only putting this one on here in contrast to the Marquette game against the same opponent that is on FloSports. See, St. John’s understands how to get on TV in a one-off game, why can’t Marquette get that figured out? Intriguing.
Sunday, November 24: Villanova Wildcats vs RV Maryland Terrapins (Noon Central, ESPN) — The Wildcats have to play Penn at home on Tuesday night before going up to the Prudential Center in Newark for this Gotham Classic event. If they get through the Quakers — yes, they’re heavily favored but that doesn’t mean anything for Kyle Neptune right now — then they have to tangle with a Maryland team that just stood toe to toe with Marquette on Friday night. Eric Dixon And Friends gave up runs of 18-2 and 14-2 to a going nowhere this season Virginia team, so what’s going to happen when they face a team that appears to be NCAA tournament caliber at worst for the first time this season?
Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week!
Here’s the full women’s basketball schedule for the week!