With the Big East baseball tournament just a week away, three teams have already punched their ticket to Clearwater, while seven teams battle for the last five positions. UConn, St. John's and Pittsburgh are all guaranteed a spot in the tournament, and every team except Villanova and Georgetown can still make the eight-team field. Here are the current Big East standings, with the tiebreakers included:
| * Connecticut | 20 - 4 | .833 | 37 - 14 - 1 | .725 |
| * St. John's | 16 - 7 | .696 | 30 - 17 - 0 | .638 |
| * Pittsburgh | 15 - 9 | .625 | 31 - 19 - 0 | .620 |
| Cincinnati | 13 - 11 | .542 | 28 - 23 - 0 | .549 |
| West Virginia | 13 - 11 | .542 | 27 - 23 - 0 | .540 |
| Notre Dame | 12 - 11 | .522 | 21 - 24 - 1 | .467 |
| Louisville | 12 - 12 | .500 | 26 - 26 - 0 | .500 |
| Seton Hall | 11 - 13 | .458 | 25 - 23 - 0 | .521 |
| USF | 11 - 13 | .458 | 22 - 28 - 0 | .440 |
| Rutgers | 9 - 15 | .375 | 18 - 29 - 0 | .383 |
| Villanova | 6 - 18 | .250 | 19 - 30 - 0 | .388 |
| Georgetown | 5 - 19 | .208 | 23 - 30 - 0 | .434 |
- Rutgers owns the tiebreaker over Seton Hall.
- Seton Hall owns the tiebreaker over Louisville.
- USF owns the tiebreaker over Seton Hall and Rutgers.
- Louisville owns the tiebreaker over USF, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Cincinnati.
- Notre Dame owns tiebreaker over USF, Seton Hall, and Rutgers.
- West Virginia owns the tiebreaker over USF, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati.
- Cincinnati owns the tiebreaker over Seton Hall.
After the jump, a look at the weekend matchups and see what each team has to do to make the Big East tournament.
This weekend's series are:
Rutgers at West Virginia
Georgetown at Seton Hall
Pittsburgh at USF
Notre Dame at Louisville
UConn at Cincinnati
- West Virginia and Cincinnati each have it pretty simple. All the Mountaineers and Bearcats need to do is win one game, or have either USF or Seton Hall lose one game, and they are both in the tournament. UConn will make Cincinnati work for a victory, but expect both to make it to Clearwater.
- For Rutgers, it's pretty simple. To get the 8th and final seed, the Scarlet Knights will have to sweep West Virginia, and then hope that Seton Hall loses two out of three to last-place Georgetown AND that USF gets swept by Pittsburgh. It's a tough mountain to climb for the Fighting Fred Hills, but weirder things have happened.
- Notre Dame and Louisville play each other in the series to watch. Whoever wins the series will automatically clinch a spot in the tournament. The loser will really be sweating it if they are swept, because it will give both USF and Seton Hall wila chance to leapfrog them.
- For USF and Seton Hall, the goal is simple: try to sweep their series. If either team can win all three games, they will be in no matter what anyone else does. If either team wins two out of three AND either Louisville or Notre Dame is swept, they will be in. If USF and Seton Hall are tied for 8th with the exact same record, USF will go to Clearwater due to their series win over the Pirates earlier this year.
- Don't even ask me what happens if Louisville, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and USF all finish with the same record...