No. 25 Marquette, Seton Hall open Big East Tourney

Mar 12, 2008 / By Nick Bailey

The Big East tournament gets underway Wednesday with the Seton Hall Pirates facing the No. 25-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles at Madison Square Garden.

Marquette is a 10½-point favorite at Sportbet, while the total is 149.

While the Golden Eagles are more or less assured a berth in the NCAA Tournament, they can’t take this week off after dropping two of their final three regular-season games to fall to the sixth seed in the tournament.

If Marquette wins Wednesday, it faces the No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Thursday's quarterfinals.

Marquette is a perfect 4-0 against Seton Hall over the past four meetings, including the last time the team’s squared off on Feb. 12, when the Golden Eagles decimated the Pirates 89-64, easily covering the 4-point road spread. The score just inched over the total of 152.

During the regular season, Marquette was 22-8 SU and 11-7 in the Big East, while Seton Hall was 17-14 SU and 7-11 in conference play.

Marquette is one of five ranked teams in the Big East, the others being Notre Dame, No. 9 Georgetown Hoyas, No. 13 Louisville Cardinals, and No. 15 Connecticut Huskies.

In their last game, the Pirates lost to Rutgers 64-61 as an 8-point favorite on Sunday, with the score going under the over/under total of 143.

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