St. John’s lost to Xavier last night at Madison Square Garden and their tournament hopes are rapidly declining. They may regret that 0-5 conference start even more if 1 win is the difference between NCAA and NIT. It looks like they will have to make a big time run in the Big East tournament if they want to dance on the blue carpet this year. Xavier got a career night out of freshman Jalen Reynolds. If he can play like he did last night down the stretch and through the Big East tournament, Xavier is a totally different team.

DePaul snapped a 10 game losing streak by beating embattled Seton Hall in Chicago. Seton Hall is such an enigma, similar to St. John’s, in that the roster is full of talented players but they haven’t been able to put things together consistently. The Pirates have dealt with a rash of injuries and suspensions and it will be interesting to see if they come out to play on Friday night against the Friars after losing to a perennial Big East doormat. It also looked like Fuquan Edwin may have injured his thumb which could play a factor on Friday. He finished the game but never looked comfortable after the injury occurred.

Just one game in the Big East tonight as Butler will travel to Villanova.