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Whenever you have two teams that are potential No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, you know it’s going to be a good conference tournament. That’s the case of the 2018 Big East tournament, which will feature Xavier, Villanova and others in what should be an explosive four days of basketball inside Madison Square Garden.
Live Stream Info
The tournament starts on Wednesday, March 7, and concludes with the championship on Saturday, March 10. The first eight games will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1, and the championship will be on Fox (full schedule and TV listings can be found here), but if you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of every Big East tournament game by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
FuboTV: Fox (live in select markets) and Fox Sports 1 are both included in the “Fubo Premier” channel package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial, and you can then watch any game live on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
Hulu With Live TV: In addition to their extensive Netflix-like streaming library, Hulu now also offers a bundle of live channels, including Fox (live in select markets) and Fox Sports 1. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the games on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
Sling TV: Fox (live in select markets) and Fox Sports 1 are both included in the “Sling Blue” channel package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial, and you can then watch all the games live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
DirecTV Now: Fox (live in select markets) and Fox Sports 1 are both included in all of DirecTV Now’s four main channel packages. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial no matter what package you choose, plus you can get a free Amazon Fire TV if you prepay two months. Once signed up, you can watch all the games live on your computer via the DirecTV Now website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the DirecTV Now app.
Preview
The Big East tourney is undoubtedly top-heavy. According to Ken Pomeroy’s projections, it’s the only conference tournament this week where only two teams have a greater than 10 percent chance of cutting down the nets.
Here’s the low-down on the Big East. The main event at the Garden.
Xavier is the No. 1 seed after impressively going 15-3 in conference play, but it’s nevertheless hard not to peg ‘Nova as the favorite. Not only do the Wildcats have a potential national player of the year in Jalen Brunson and arguably the country’s best offense (first in effective field-goal percentage, eighth in turnover percentage, 24th in three-point percentage), but they also handed Xavier two of their three conference defeats, winning those games by a combined 40 points.
That said, Xavier obviously shouldn’t be written off. You win in March with excellent backcourt play, and the Musketeers have two of the best veteran guards in the country in Trevon Bluiett and JP Macura. There are questions defensively (73rd in Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings), but there’s no doubt they have the firepower to out-gun anyone when they’re at their best.
Beyond the two main attractions, Creighton, Butler and Seton Hall have the pieces to surprise some people in New York. Creighton beat Villanova and lost to Xavier by just one in February, Butler is a balanced team that ranks 24th nationally in Pomeroy’s rankings, and Seton Hall have a senior trio of Angel Delgado, Desi Rodriguez and Khadeen Carrington who are capable of carrying them.
It would ultimately be a surprise if it wasn’t Villanova and Xavier in the end, but even if that’s the case, it’s still going to be an extremely entertaining ride to get there.