By Aidan Joly
One of the more popular college basketball early season events returns this week.
The annual series of games between the Big Ten and the Big East gets going on Monday night. Eight games are set to be held over the next five days with Friday’s games, Indiana at Xavier and Villanova at Michigan State, being the headliners of the slate.
Here’s a preview of each of the eight games this week.
DePaul at Minnesota, Monday, 7 p.m.
Not much to get excited about. Neither of these teams are expected to make noise in their respective leagues, but they will kick off the event. Both teams come in at 2-0 with DePaul beating Loyola (Md.) and Western Illnois, with Minnesota beating Western Michigan and St. Francis (NY). Former Oklahoma star Umoja Gibson has averaged 18 points a game over the first two for DePaul and Dawson Garcia is Minnesota’s leading scorer so far at 17 a game.
Winner prediction: DePaul
Butler at Penn State, Monday, 8:30 p.m.
Both of these teams should be in the bottom half of their leagues too. Butler has only played once this season, a 89-53 win against New Orleans on opening night, while Penn State is 2-0 with wins over Winthrop and that same Loyola team. Penn State has a pretty balanced attack though, which shouldn’t be a bad watch.
Winner prediction: Penn State
Northwestern at Georgetown, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Lol. Neither of these teams will be any good, but they’re both 2-0 after Northwestern beat Chicago State and Northern Illinois and Georgetown beat Coppin State and Green Bay. Qudus Wahab is a Hoya again? That’s all I got here.
Winner prediction: Northwestern
Marquette at Purdue, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.
If Marquette plays up to the opponent, this could be a sneaky good game. Marquette only beat Radford by four though, so it might be a long year for Shaka Smart’s squad. Nobody on that roster really impresses me, but I’m willing to hear them out. Zach Edey is always a fun watch for the Boilermakers on what’s a generally young Purdue team this year.
Winner prediction: Purdue
Iowa at Seton Hall, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
I’m excited for this one. Seton Hall, under Shaheen Holloway, has been terrific on the defensive side of the ball for two games so far, wins over Monmouth and Holloway’s former school in St. Peter’s. It will be interesting to see how that defense matches up against Hawkeye star Kris Murray, who has put up 14 and 22 points in each game so far. Granted, it was against Bethune-Cookman and North Carolina A&T, but this game represents a great test for both teams.
Winner prediction: Iowa
Nebraska at St. John’s, Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
Back to games that aren’t really anything to get excited about. Fred Hoiberg has seemingly been on the verge of getting canned in Lincoln for a couple years now and although rare, a midseason firing wouldn’t be too much of a shocker. However, the Cornhuskers have taken care of business through the first two with wins against Maine and Nebraska-Omaha. David Jones has been good for St. John’s thus far in the Johnnies’ 2-0 start, which will presumably be 3-0 by Thursday.
Winner prediction: St. John’s
Indiana at Xavier, Friday, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Indiana with a tough road test against the Musketeers. Trayce Jackson-Davis is looking to transform into a household name this season and has put up 15 and 21 points in the Hoosiers’ first two games this season. For Xavier, Zach Freemantle and Jack Nunge are both back for Sean Miller’s first year at the helm in Cincinnati. Both of these teams are off to 2-0 starts and Xavier will presumably by 3-0 by this time. Fantastic early season game here.
Winner prediction: Indiana
Villanova at Michigan State, Friday, 8 p.m.
Both of these teams have an early-season loss to their names, with Villanova falling in a road game at Temple and the Spartans losing to No. 2 Gonzaga, both on Friday. It was an excusable loss for Michigan State obviously. Meanwhile, Villanova seems to be still working out the kinks under Kyle Neptune. Michigan State will see Kentucky in the Champions’ Classic on Tuesday before this one, having loaded up in nonconference. The Wildcats will have a tune-up game against Delaware State on Tuesday.
Winner prediction: Michigan State
AJ Hoops 