The top-seeded Villanova Wildcats (29-4) can likely lock up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a victory against the third-seeded Seton Hall Pirates (24-8) in the Big East tournament championship game on Saturday.
The Wildcats are seeking their second consecutive Big East tournament title as the top seed after routing the sixth-seeded Xavier Musketeers 69-52 as 7.5-point favorites in last year’s championship game.
Villanova opened as a seven-point betting favorite for Saturday's matchup with Seton Hall.
The Musketeers earned the second seed this year and had hoped to meet Villanova for a third time this season.