Marquette And Louisville Move Closer To Safety; Seton Hall And UConn Slide Closer To The NIT

There were two significant Big East Bubble Watch games on Sunday afternoon, and Marquette and Louisville are now in much better shape because of them.

Marquette 84, Seton Hall 83 (OT) (recap): After a Seton Hall rally forced an extra session, the Golden Eagles grabbed their 19th win and 10th in the conference with a thrilling win over the Pirates, whose hopes are now on life support. Marquette can all but solidify a bid with home wins over Louisville and Notre Dame to close the regular season. Seton Hall will need to win to beat a quality opponent in the Big East Tournament and hope, as they close with Rutgers and Providence.

Louisville 78, Connecticut 76 (recap): The Cardinals also had to rally, but they managed to get the win and sweep the season series with the Huskies, ending UConn's three-game win streak. Thanks to other results this weekend, the Huskies remain in my projection for the moment, but they won't for long if they can't bounce back from this loss. Games at Notre Dame and South Florida will be true tests for them. The Cardinals also won't have it easy, as they travel to Marquette and host revenge-seeking Syracuse, who could very well be ranked number one heading into Freedom Hall.