The Big East is one of the premier conferences in college basketball. With the addition of UConn the conference is loaded with top level programs that are essentially NCAA tournament locks before most seasons start. Villanova, Creighton, Xavier, UConn, Seton Hall, and Marquette comprise the backbone of a conference that usually place all of its teams in the KenPom top 100 and is one of the top three conferences in the nation.
But not this year. Xavier can usually rely on the Big East to not do any significant damage to a tournament resume so long as they navigate it without a complete disaster.