The Power Six Podcast: Big East Basketball Show

Power Six Big East Basketball Show: It's UCONN's Title to Lose; Xavier & Creighton get Bounced

The Final Four is set, and the UConn Huskies have flat out dominated every team in their path heading into a matchup with Miami. Brian and Sam discuss Xavier's slow start and eventual exit at the hands of a high-powered Texas team. Adam Kunkel put forth a heck of an effort in his last game in a Xavier uniform. Sean Miller's first season in Cincy can only be considered a success. B-Frank and Sam pivot to recapping Creighton's best tournament run in school history after a wildly entertaining Sweet 16 matchup against Princeton and poor second-half shooting performance against San Diego State. Sam waxes poetic about such a tumultuous season in which his Jays went from 9-8 to an Elite 8. Greg McDermott has taken five cores of players to a top-10 ranking and this group accomplished something no Creighton team had ever done. The guys finish by recapping UConn's dominating wins over Gonzaga and drubbing of Arkansas. They are a heavy favorite in Houston and look every bit a team that wins six NCAA Tournament games by double digits. The Huskies are well poised to win their 5th national title in 24 seasons with their third different coach, which is patently absurd. They face a familiar foe in Jim Laranaga, who knocked off a heavily favored UConn bunch en route to the Final Four during George Mason's storybook run. Go Big East!

Power Six Big East Basketball Show: Three Sweet Teams & A Wild Coaching Carousel

B-Frank & Sam return to decompress after an action packed week for the Big East, both on the court and off it! They begin by running through how the conference fared in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Providence is the only Big East team to have lost in the round of 64, and their coach being one foot out the door likely contributed. Marquette breezed past Vermont after a competitive start, but fell victim to Tom Izzo & the Michigan State Spartans in the Joey Hauser revenge game. The loss kept Shaka Smart from reaching his first Sweet 16 since 2011 and the Golden Eagles from reaching the second weekend since 2013. Jay Wright remembers debates between Big East coaches as to whether they'd prefer to cut down the nets on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, or win a Sweet 16 game. Marquette will have to settle for the former. Xavier survived a frisky Kennesaw State Owls squad that gave Creighton fits at the beginning of last season before dismantling Sean Miller's alma mater in the second round. Six Muskies scored in double figures to down Pittsburgh, but Texas looms in the Sweet 16. UConn looks every bit as formidable as they did when they climbed the polls to #2 before conference play. They've got two of the most convincing wins of the tourney thus far and have folks predicting a national championship. Adama Sanogo is playing his best basketball of the year ahead of a matchup with a feisty Arkansas squad in what could be the best game of the Sweet 16 slate. Sam was present for Creighton's narrow win over NC State in Denver last Friday, and he and B-Frank recount that game as well as the Jays' near wire-to-wire win over Baylor. Both games featured dueling 30-point scorers, an incredible rarity in NCAA Tournament history. They've got a great shot to advance when they tip off Friday night against Princeton in Louisville. It's time for this team to live up to the lofty expectations that have followed them all season. Finally, the guys discuss Ed Cooley's ungraceful exit from Providence and tone-deaf arrival at Georgetown. Rick Pitino has held little back since being named the head man at St. John's. Rick Barnes disciple Kim English is now Providence's head coach as he takes over a program with plenty of question marks. Hopefully you'll hear great news from us next week ahead of the Final Four!

Power Six Big East Basketball Show: MSG Recap, Honors, Tournament Talk

Believe it or not, there's no shortage of DePaul talk in this episode.  B-Frank and Sam are back to recap the (yet again) most entertaining conference tournament during championship week. Though their brackets were in disarray and Creighton couldn't get past the semifinal round, it was another storybook week as Marquette brought home the first ever Big East tourney crown for the Midwest.  They move on to conference honors, but with a twist. While the typical player, coach, and teams are on their lists, they also recount the best upset, most entertaining games, notable moments, and their favorite moments from their alma maters.  The guys conclude by running through the conference's NCAA Tournament & NIT participants. Though Villanova and Seton Hall have already exited, the possibility exists that four Big East teams could reach the Elite 8! It won't be easy to transition from detesting UConn to pulling for them for the good of the conference (win shares, people!).  The best four days of the sports calendar are upon us. Enjoy listening, and go Big East!

Power Six Big East Basketball Show: It's Conference Tournament Time

B-Frank & Sam return to preview the Big East Basketball tournament, which tips off Wednesday. They discuss numerous storylines ahead of what's sure to be an incredible four days of competition at Madison Square Garden.  After knocking off UConn on the road earlier in the year and a furious comeback fell short against Marquette, how dangerous can St. John's be? Can Villanova put together a storybook run to reach the NCAA Tournament after an abysmal start to the season?  Can Xavier keep winning now that we know Zach Freemantle will miss the remainder of the season?  Can UConn maintain the level of play that has national talking heads predicting a deep run? Can Creighton get over the hump and raise a trophy after losing the league championship game in their previous 4 trips? Will Providence's abhorrent defense put them back on the bubble?  There's no way Marquette can manage to get through a regular season and conference tournament losing just three games to a league this deep, is there?!  The guys also take the temperatures on their alma maters. Kadary Richmond's health remains a question mark for Seton Hall, who demolished Providence at the AMP the last day of the regular season. Creighton enters the tourney as one of two teams who are riding multiple game winning streaks in which they've won by double digits. UConn is the other and a popular pick to cut down the nets Saturday night, but what happens when Dan Hurley is faced with tough coaching decisions down the stretch in tight games?  Six teams have a legitimate shot to take home the crown, and predicting the outcomes is darn near impossible, but B-Frank and Sam share their picks for every game as well as who the tournament's Most Outstanding Player might be depending on who wins.  We're in for a wild ride, and this episode is the perfect primer!

Power Six Big East Basketball Show: A Couple Top Teams Finally Lose at Home & The League is Marquette's to Lose

B-Frank & Sam return for a quick show ahead of the penultimate weekend of Big East hoops to review a decisive previous week. On one side of the standings, Georgetown picked up an elusive road win. On the other, Marquette's win in Omaha has them primed to hang a regular season banner. They'll remind anyone who is willing to listen that they were picked NINTH in the preseason coaches poll.  Each co-host's alma mater left some meat on the bone this past week as Seton Hall let another winnable game slip away and Creighton dropped their first home game of the conference slate, and only the league's second home loss among the top 4. UConn is hitting their stride at the right time as Jordan Hawkins' draft stock continues to rise. Xavier (twice) and Providence (once) fell to dash their hopes of winning the league's regular season, but this just creates more must-watch seeding storylines ahead of the conference tournament at MSG.  Elsewhere, Villanova has won 4 of 5 ahead of the Creighton game Sam will attend Saturday in Philly, Butler is still undefeated in games decided by five points or fewer, DePaul still hasn't won since knocking off Xavier at home, and St. John's remains...interesting as contributors either returned from suspension or are mysteriously missing.  It's little surprise that Marquette laid claim to the best stretch as they won the de-facto regular season title beating Creighton in a nail-biter. Xavier dropped two in the past week as their struggles without Zach Freemantle continue, thus they received the dishonor of worst stretch.  This week's top performers are all on teams that are rolling at the right time as a new name has justifiably entered into the Big East POY discussion.  This week's big question revolves around who we'd least like to run into at the Big East Tournament. Though some probable matchups scare Brian and Sam, neither wants anything to do with Marquette for a few reasons.  They wrap up by mentioning the league's must-see games ahead of next Saturday's all-day regular season finale.