The final of the the Big East Tournament will take place on Saturday night, with the Xavier Musketeers taking on the Marquette Golden Eagles. This game pits one of the veteran Big East teams in Marquette against one of its newcomers in Xavier, with huge NCAA Tournament seeding implications for both teams. This Xavier vs Marquette matchup could come down to which team can simply outlast the other after a grueling couple of days at Madison Square Garden.
Xavier vs Marquette Betting Pick
| ℹ️ The Pick: | Marquette -1.5 |
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This game will be played at Madison Square Garden at 6:30 PM ET on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
Why Bet on Marquette:
✅ This will be the first game of this tournament where Marquette is not playing in a hostile environment. They beat the hometown team in St. John’s in the quarterfinal, and a Big East favorite in UConn in the semis. Here, they should have the crowd on their side finally.
✅ Marquette has played two games in two days, just like Xavier. But star guard Tyler Kolek should be relatively fresh for this game after sitting out large portions of the semifinals with foul trouble against UConn.
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Xavier Musketeers: Looking For First Big East Title
The Xavier Musketeers took down the Creighton Bluejays in Big East Tournament semifinals, blowing them out by 22 points to reach the final. Xavier dominated that game in just about every facet, holding the Bluejays to 37.5% shooting and dominating them on the glass by a margin of 45-27. Now, Xavier is one win away from winning their first Big East conference championship.
For Xavier to win another game and claim the Big East title on Saturday, Souley Boum needs to have another big game. Boum scored 23 points to lead all scorers, propelling the Musketeers to victory. If he can be similarly effective in this contest, the Musketeers could end up winning the Big East Tournament for the first time in their history.
Marquette Golden Eagles: Weathered the Red Storm
Marquette is also looking for its first Big East Tournament title, after beating the UConn Huskies in the semifinals on Friday. Marquette’s defense stepped up in a big way down the stretch of that game, making up for its sputtering offense in the final minutes. That defense will be needed again here to get Marquette across the finish line as the top seed in this tournament.
Marquette will also need to avoid foul trouble in this contest if they are going to win. Tyler Kolek got off to a hot start against UConn, but was relegated to the bench with foul trouble for large chunks of the game. He will be needed on the floor for nearly all of this game, which will mean avoiding foul trouble as much as possible.
Recent Big East NCAA Tournament History
Winning the Big East is a huge achievement, but it has not necessarily meant success in the NCAA Tournament. The Big East has won three of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments, with Villanova winning two of those and UConn winning another. But only one of those teams won the Big East Tournament en route to the national title.
The 2018 Villanova Wildcats won both the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But the 2014 UConn Huskies and 2016 Villanova Wildcats did not win the conference title en route to winning the national title. So there is still hope for the loser of this game, even if both teams really want to come out and win this one.
