BETology 3/6

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.

At one point last night, it looked like we might be getting one more wrench thrown into the Big East standings in the final week of the season.  It was all for not however, as all the favorites were able to fight back for wins.  With that we have just 10 games left in the regular season and there is still yet to be a team to clinch their seed in the tournament.

STANDINGS:

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

*#Louisville Cardinal 13-4

3-9 vs Notre Dame

*#Marquette Golden Eagles 13-4

3-9 @ St. John’s

#Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11-6

3-9 @ Louisville

#Pittsburgh Panthers 11-6

3-9 @ DePaul

#Syracuse Orange 10-6

3-6 vs DePaul
3-9 @ Georgetown

UCONN Huskies 9-7

3-6 @ South Florida
3-9 vs Providence

#Providence Friars 9-8

3-9 @ UCONN

#Villanova Wildcats 9-8

3-6 vs Georgetown

#St. John’s Red Storm 8-9

3-9 vs Marquette

#Cincinnati Bearcats 8-9

3-9 vs South Florida

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 4-13

3-8 @ Seton Hall

Seton Hall Pirates 3-14

3-8 vs Rutgers

South Florida Bulls 2-14

3-6 vs UCONN
3-9 @ Cincinnati

DePaul Blue Demons 2-14

3-6 @ Syracuse
3-9 vs Pitt
#- Clinched Opening Round Bye
*- Clinched Bye into Quarterfinal Round
 

YESTERDAYS RECAP:

Notre Dame- 66
St. John’s- 40
The Johnnies had a 30-28 lead in the 2^nd half of this game only to be outscored 38-10 by the Irish to close out the game.  The only fight from St. John’s in the 2^nd half of this game came in the final 2 minutes when a brawl broke out on the court after Sir’Dominic Porter of St. John’s punched Notre Dame’s Cameron Biedscheid.  Both players were ejected from the game and will have to serve a one game suspension in their team’s final game of the season.  Amir Garrett also was ejected for leaving the bench during the fight, but since he did not throw a punch in the brawl, his availability for St. John’s game Saturday will be decided after further review by the Big East and NCAA.

Notre Dame kept their hopes alive for the final double bye in next week’s conference tournament.  With 1 last game left on the schedule Notre Dame needs to beat Louisville on Saturday or have Syracuse lose to both DePaul and Georgetown to get the 4 seed. 

St. John’s closes the season at home against Marquette.  The Red Storm will either be the 9 or 10 seed in New York depending on Saturday’s results.  St. John’s has losses to Providence, and Villanova, so the only team that they win a tiebreaker with is Cincinnati, who they beat early in the season.

Marquette- 60

Rutgers- 54
The Golden Eagles scored the 1^st basket of the game to get a 2-0 lead and didn’t have another lead until they went ahead 55-52 with 3 minutes to go in the game.  Rutgers was up by 10 at halftime, but could not hold on to the lead, as Marquette finished the game on a 17-4 run.  Marquette is still in play for the Big East regular season title, but they would need some help for that to happen.

Rutgers could have clinched the 11 seed in the conference tournament had they held on for the victory, but now they will have to defeat state rival Seton Hall on Friday to get that.

Providence- 76

Seton Hall- 66
The Friars got a double-double from Kadeem Batts as they slowly but steadily continue their climb up the standings.  Providence has moved up to 7^th in the standings after the win, and can do no worse than 8^th.  The Friars could have the 7^th seed clinched without playing tomorrow.  If Villanova loses to Georgetown, the Friars will be the 7^th seed.  If Villanova wins the game, Providence will have the chance to clinch it themselves when they play their season finale against UCONN Saturday afternoon.

Seton Hall already knows that they will be playing on the opening day of the Big East Tournament, they just don’t know who and when they will be playing.  If the Pirates beat Rutgers on Friday, they will clinch the 11^th seed and play the last place team at 9pm on Tuesday.  If they lose to their rival Friday, they will be playing at 7pm.

TODAY’S GAMES:

DePaul @ Syracuse,
6:00pm ESPN Regional TV

Georgetown @ Villanova

7:00pm ESPN2

UCONN @ South Florida

9:00pm ESPNU

UPCOMING GAMES:

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 – South Florida

9:00pm

11 – Rutgers
Vs
14 – DePaul

WEDNESDAY March 13th:

NOON
8 – Villanova
Vs
9 - St. John’s

2:00

5 – Pitt
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner

7:00

7 – Providence
Vs
10 - Cincinnati

9:00

6 – Syracuse
Vs
Tuesday 9:00 winner

THURSDAY March 14th:

NOON
1 – Georgetown
Vs
Wednesday NOON winner

2:00

4 – Notre Dame
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!