BETology 3/3

The Rant will be your daily site to find out exactly how your team stacks up against the rest of the conference as we creep closer to the Big East Tournament in New York City, which begins March 12th. 

A crazy day in the Big East on Saturday cleared some things up at the top of the standings, and left some other things even more congested in the middle of the pack.  We also had our 1^st teams clinch double byes with wins on Saturday as well.

STANDINGS:

*#Georgetown Hoyas 13-3
3-6 @ Villanova
3-9 vs Syracuse

#Louisville Cardinal 12-4

3-4 vs Cincinnati
3-9 vs Notre Dame

*#Marquette Golden Eagles 12-4
3-5 @ Rutgers
3-9 @ St. John’s

#Pittsburgh Panthers 10-6

3-3 vs Villanova
3-9 @ DePaul

#Syracuse Orange 10-6

3-6 vs DePaul
3-9 @ Georgetown

#Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10-6

3-5 vs St. John’s
3-9 @ Louisville

UCONN Huskies 9-7

3-6 @ South Florida
3-9 vs Providence

#Villanova Wildcats 9-7

3-3 @ Pitt
3-6 vs Georgetown

#Providence Friars 8-8

3-5 vs Seton Hall
3-9 @ UCONN

#St. John’s Red Storm 8-8

3-5 @ Notre Dame
3-9 vs Marquette

#Cincinnati Bearcats 8-8

3-4 @ Louisville
3-9 vs South Florida

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 4-12

3-5 vs Marquette
3-8 @ Seton Hall

Seton Hall Pirates 3-13

3-5 @ Providence
3-8 vs Rutgers

DePaul Blue Demons 2-13

3-3 @ South Florida
3-6 @ Syracuse
3-9 vs Pitt

South Florida Bulls 1-14

3-3 vs DePaul
3-6 vs UCONN
3-9 @ Cincinnati

#- Clinched Opening Round Bye

*- Clinched Bye into Quarterfinal Round

YESTERDAYS RECAP:

Louisville- 58

Syracuse- 53
Louisville gets revenge on Syracuse, handing the Cuse their 2^nd consecutive loss in the Carrier Dome after winning 38 in a row their.  Louisville now holds a 2 game lead over Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame for 3^rd place and is tied with Marquette for 2^nd place.  Louisville can clinch a double bye in the Big East Tournament a few different ways in the upcoming week.  One win in their final two games or a Notre Dame or Syracuse loss in either of their final two games will clinch it for them.

With the loss yesterday, their 3^rd straight, Syracuse drops into a 3-way tie for 4^th place.  If Notre Dame, Pitt and Syracuse all finished tied, the tiebreaker used is “best win” since they have all beat each other.  If Marquette or Louisville wins the conference, Syracuse will get the 4-seed.  If Georgetown wins the conference, Pitt will get the 4-seed and Syracuse would drop to the 5^th spot.

Marquette- 72

Notre Dame- 64
Marquette became the 1^st team to clinch an automatic birth into the Big East quarterfinals with their 25^th straight home win yesterday.  Marquette can still win the regular season title if they win their final 2 games and Georgetown loses their final 2 regular season games.

Notre Dame drops into a 3-way tie for 4^th place with Syracuse and Pitt after the loss to Marquette.  The Irish can claim the 4^th seed in the conference tournament, but they will need a few things to fall their way.  Notre Dame holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with Pitt, but not Syracuse and they cannot win a 3-way tiebreaker.  Therefore, the only way for Notre Dame to claim the 4-seed is for Syracuse to lose at least one more game.  If Notre Dame wins their final 2 games and Syracuse loses to either DePaul or Georgetown, Notre Dame will finish in 4^th place.

Cincinnati- 61

UCONN- 56
A big win for Cincinnati, snapping a 3 game losing streak, moves them into a 3-way tie with Providence and St. John’s for 9^th place in the conference, but with UCONN not playing in the postseason, it is a tie for the 8-seed in the tournament.  The bad news for Cincy is that they finish last in that 3-way tiebreaker.  Cincinnati lost to both St. John’s and Providence during the regular season.  Despite all of that, the Bearcats can still finish as high as 5^th in the conference if things fall the right way for them.

Providence- 62

St. John’s- 59
Friday St. John’s lost D’Angelo Harrison, their leading scorer, for the season due to a suspension.  Yesterday they lost a basketball game to Providence, a team they are battling with for position in NYC.  Providence now owns a head-to-head tiebreaker with St. John’s and could actually climb as high as 5^th in the final standings in the Big East if they win out and get some help.  The Friars cannot move all the way to 4^th place however.

St. John’s, like Providence, can still move up quite a bit in the standings, but will need a lot of help from other teams for that to happen.

Georgetown- 64

Rutgers- 51
Georgetown remains in 1^st place in the conference after their 11^th straight win.  The Hoyas have clinched a double bye in New York and will clinch the overall regular season championship by winning 1 of their 2 final games.

Rutgers is already locked into playing on Tuesday in New York, but they can still drop in the standings depending on how the final two games on the schedule play out.

TODAY’S GAMES:

Villanova @ Pitt

NOON ESPN Regional

DePaul @ South Florida

2:00pm ESPN Regional

UPCOMING GAMES:

Monday:
Cincinnati @ Louisville, 7:00pm ESPN

Tuesday:

St. John’s @ Notre Dame, 7:00pm ESPN2
Marquette @ Rutgers, 7:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Seton Hall @ Providence, 9:00pm ESPN Regional TV

Wednesday:

DePaul @ Syracuse, 6:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Georgetown @ Villanova, 7:00pm ESPN2
UCONN @ South Florida, 9:00pm ESPNU

Friday:

Rutgers @ Seton Hall, 7:00pm ESPN Regional TV

Saturday:

Providence @ UCONN, NOON ESPNU
Syracuse @ Georgetown, NOON ESPN
Pitt @ DePaul, 2:00pm, ESPN Regional TV
Marquette @ St. John’s, 2:00pm ESPN
South Florida @ Cincinnati, 4:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Notre Dame @ Louisville, 4:00pm CBS

BETology:

TUESDAY March 12th:
7:00pm
12 – Seton Hall
Vs
13 – DePaul

9:00pm

11 – Rutgers
Vs
14 – South Florida

WEDNESDAY March 13th:

NOON
8 – Providence
Vs
9 - St. John's

2:00

5 – Syracuse
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner

7:00

7 – Villanova
Vs
10 - Cincinnati

9:00

6 – Notre Dame
Vs
Tuesday 9:00 winner

THURSDAY March 14th:

NOON
1 – Georgetown
Vs
Wednesday NOON winner

2:00

4 – Pitt
Vs
Wednesday 2:00 winner

7:00

2 – Louisville
Vs
Wednesday 7:00 winner

9:00

3 – Marquette
Vs
Wednesday 9:00 winner
Check back tomorrow for another update!