BETology 3/7

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.

With just 1 weekend remaining in the regular season, very little has been decided in way of seeding for the conference tournament.  We are currently looking at a 3-way tie for 1^st place, a 3-way tie for 4^th place and now a chance for a 3-way tie at the bottom of the standing.  What a wild Wednesday it was in the Big East.  Home court proved to be supreme.  We had our 1^st team clinch their exact spot in the Big East Tournament bracket.  It is set up to be a crazy Saturday afternoon for the Big East.

STANDINGS:

*#Georgetown Hoyas 13-4
3-9 vs Syracuse

*#Louisville Cardinal 13-4

3-9 vs Notre Dame

*#Marquette Golden Eagles 13-4

3-9 @ St. John’s

#Pittsburgh Panthers 11-6

3-9 @ DePaul

#Syracuse Orange 11-6

3-9 @ Georgetown

#Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11-6

3-9 @ Louisville

#Villanova Wildcats 10-8

REGULAR SEASON COMPLETE

UCONN Huskies 9-8 (ineligible for BET)

3-9 vs Providence

#Providence Friars 9-8

3-9 @ UCONN

#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 3-14

3-9 @ Cincinnati

14) DePaul Blue Demons 2-15

3-9 vs Pitt
#- Clinched Opening Round Bye
*- Clinched Bye into Quarterfinal Round
Clinched Seeds Represented by number next to name.

YESTERDAYS RECAP:

Syracuse- 78
DePaul- 57
Syracuse snapped a 3 game losing streak and dominated DePaul after struggling early with the Blue Demons.  Syracuse now moves into a 3-way tie for 4^th place in the conference with Notre Dame and Pitt.  1 of those teams will claim the double bye in New York, while the other 2 will start the conference tournament on Wednesday.  Syracuse can still get that final double bye if they beat Georgetown on Saturday and Pitt loses to DePaul.  Despite Notre Dame also being tied with the Orange, they play a non-factor in Syracuse’s final position since Syracuse beat the Fighting Irish in early February.  Syracuse can finish anywhere from 4^th to 6^th in the final Big East standings, but we won’t know which of those spots it will be until Saturday afternoon.

DePaul stakes claim to the last place position for the 5^th straight season.  The Blue Demons are the only team at this point to know exactly when they will be playing in New York.  DePaul has one game left, against Pitt on Saturday, but cannot catch South Florida in the standings, because the Bulls just beat DePaul this past Sunday.

Villanova- 67
Georgetown- 57
Georgetown has never won 12 straight games against Big East opponents.  The Hoyas entered Wednesday night’s game with an 11 game win streak, and they exited the game still having never won 12 straight.  Villanova throws a wrench into the standings and all the tiebreaker procedures by knocking off the 1^st place Hoyas. 

Georgetown is still in position to win the Big East regular season title, as they hold all the tiebreakers with Marquette and Louisville, but now they have to beat Syracuse in the season finale on Saturday to lock up the title and #1 seed in New York.  The interesting things about the Big East tiebreaker system is that the 2^nd tiebreaker is “best win,” so all the other tiebreakers in the conference will have to wait and see how the top of the standings pan out before their ties are figured out.

Villanova now assures themselves of either the 7 or 8 seed in New York.  Villanova is done their regular season schedule and will have to watch the Providence-UCONN game on Saturday to figure out where they will land in New York.  If Providence wins, the Friars will be the #7 seed and Villanova will drop to #8.  If UCONN wins, Villanova claims the #7 spot.

South Florida- 65

UCONN- 51
South Florida had lost 10 in a row before beating DePaul on Sunday, now they have won 2 in a row.  The Bulls win assures them of not finishing in last place, as DePaul is now locked into that spot.  USF now knows that they will be playing in the opening game of the Big East Tournament, as either the 12 or 13 seed, but they won’t know their seed or opponent until after their game with Cincinnati of Saturday afternoon.

TODAY’S GAMES:

NO GAMES SCHEDULED

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 – 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!