Big East basketball at the Mecca. Does it get better than this? The highly anticipated Big East Tournament kicks off Wednesday with storylines galore, starting at the top. St. John’s won the Big East regular-season crown convincingly and polished off the effort with an 86-84 overtime victory over Marquette to finish 18-2 in conference play. The Johnnies enter Madison Square Garden as the team to beat.
But it won’t be easy. Surging Xavier has been the best team in the Big East since Feb. 1, per Bart Torvik. Sean Miller’s crew is squarely on the bubble entering the Big East Tournament, but a quarterfinals win over fourth-seeded Marquette would go a long way in solidifying Xavier’s at-large bid.
UConn, Creighton and Marquette join St. John’s as programs safely in the Big Dance field, but there’s plenty to play for across the board, including with Villanova, who looks every bit the part of a club that could pull an NC State and try to earn the automatic bid. Eric Dixon and Wooga Poplar certainly have a lot in common with DJ Burns and DJ Horne, who led the Wolfpack on an insane “five wins in five days” path to the ACC Tournament crown last year before eliciting a Final Four run.
Can Villanova follow that blueprint?
The hunt for Saturday night at the Garden starts … now. Below is the full schedule and tip times for the tournament.
2025 Big East Tournament schedule, scores
Location: Madison Square Garden — New York City, New York
Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free) | Follow live: CBS Sports App
All times Eastern; some start times approximated
First round — Wednesday, March 12
Game 1: No. 9 Butler 75, No. 8 Providence 69 | Recap
Game 2: No. 10 DePaul 71, No. 7 Georgetown 67 | Recap
Game 3: No. 6 Villanova vs. No. 11 Seton Hall | GameTracker
Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 13
Game 4: No. 1 St. John’s vs. Game 1 winner | Noon on Peacock
Game 5: No. 4 Marquette vs. No. 5 Xavier | 2:30 p.m. on Peacock
Game 6: No. 2 Creighton vs. Game 2 winner | 7 p.m. on FS1
Game 7: No. 3 UConn vs. Game 3 winner | 9:30 p.m. on FS1
Semifinals — Friday, March 14
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner | 6:30 p.m. on Fox
Game 9: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner | 9 p.m. on Fox
Championship — Saturday, March 15
Game 10: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner | 6:30 p.m. on Fox
Follow below for updates, analysis and highlights throughout the event.
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