BETology 2-16

This is The Rants daily look in at the Big East conference as we creep closer to the BET in New York City, which begins March 10th.

STANDINGS:
Big East Official Tie-Breaking formula
Connecticut Huskies 12-1
Louisville Cardinals 10-2
Pittsburgh Panthers 10-2
Marquette Golden Eagles 10-2
Villanova Wildcats 8-4
Providence Friars 8-5
Syracuse Orange 7-6
Cincinnati Bearcats 7-6
West Virginia Mountaineers 6-6
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 5-7
Seton Hall Pirates 5-7
Georgetown Hoyas 4-8
South Florida Bulls 3-9
St. John’s Red Storm 3-10
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1-11
DePaul Blue Demons 0-13

THIS WEEKEND:
SATURDAY
Syracuse Orange 98
Georgetown Hoyas 94
This game ends up being an important win for Syracuse, putting them back over .500 in conference play with Villanova next up at home. However, this game could be the game the Hoyas look back on as the on that got away and knocked them out of the NCAA’s. Georgetown was down as many as 16 late in the second half, and battled back to tie and have a chance to win in regulation, but a 3-pointer at the buzzer just didn’t fall. Now the Hoyas see themselves at 4-8 in the conference and in 12th place. Georgetown will need to win at least 4 of their last 6 and maybe one or two in New York.

UCONN Huskies 62
Seton Hall Pirates 54
UCONN passed their final test before this weeks match-up with Pitt. The Huskies seemed to have control from the start in this one. Seton Hall made a little run to start the second half and get within 5, but UCONN quickly showed its dominance by rattling off 3 quick baskets to get the lead back into double figures. It stayed there pretty much the rest of the way. UCONN now has a 1½ game lead over the clump in 2nd place in conference play. The Huskies still have Pitt twice, Marquette and Notre Dame on the schedule. Seton Hall continued its pretty predictable run thus far in the Big East. The Pirates have beaten everyone below them in the standings and nobody above them.

Pitt Panthers 85
Cincinnati Bearcats 69
Pitt also took care of business before they travel to Storrs, CT for their showdown with #1 UCONN. Pitt jumped out to a big first half lead and seemed to sleep walk the rest of the way to a victory. A win against UCONN would give Pitt a nice start to a very winnable 3 game stretch against Seton Hall, Providence and DePaul. Cincinnati is now on the verge of missing out from the Wednesday bye in New York sitting at the 8 spot in the standings. After Pitt the Bearcats have Louisville, WVU and Syracuse coming up. The WVU and Syracuse games will go a long way in seeding for the BET as they are all currently within ½ game of each other.

Providence Friars 78
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 68
Providence continues its surprising run in the Big East this season. The same Providence team that went 8-4 in non-conference play including a loss to Northeastern to kick off the season finds itself in the 6 spot right now in the Big East standings. The Friars will be tested as the season ends with three of their last five coming against teams ahead of them in the standings (Louisville, Pitt, and Villanova). Rutgers also continues its way as it has most of the season, losing. Rutgers has a young team that just is not on par with the rest of this very talented and experienced Big East conference. Things do look positive for Rutgers in the future though, of their last five losses, all have been by 10 points or fewer. This team is competing and getting better. These beating will help as this grows in the future.

Marquette Golden Eagles 73
St. John’s Red Storm 59
Marquette had the perfect prescription for a two game losing streak, St. John’s. The win allows Marquette to keep pace with Louisville and Pitt in a 3-team tie for 2nd place. The loss for St. John’s drops them to 14th in the standings, ½ game behind South Florida. Marquette has a must win game on Tuesday when Seton Hall travels to Wisconsin, before the Eagles start their brutal five game, season ending stretch. As for St. John’s the schedule lightens up a little as they get a non-conference game this week. The struggling Duke Blue Devils come to MSG on Thursday.

SUNDAY
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 67
South Florida Bulls 57
Notre Dame followed up its rout of Louisville on Thursday with another win, possibly righting the ship a little, as they head down the home stretch. The Irish cannot sit back and celebrate though, they need to keep winning to get a good spot in NYC and work their way back into NCAA Tournament talk, as of now, they are heading to the NIT. South Florida has followed up its upset win over Marquette with two bad losses against teams that they can certainly compete. The Bulls are guaranteed a spot in NYC for the first time only since the Big East is inviting all 16 teams this season, it doesn’t look like USF is in a position to make it a long stay in the Big Apple though.

Louisville Cardinals 99
DePaul Blue Demons 54
DePaul is just terrible, enough said about them. As for Louisville, you think that 33 point beat down by Notre Dame lit a fire under them today? The Cardinals are in a very good position at this point. They are sitting at 10-2 in the conference and have six winnable games remaining. They do play Marquette still, but that is at home. And they play at Georgetown and WVU, but Louisville is a good enough team to win both of those game on the road.

TODAY:
Pitt Panthers @ UCONN Huskies
7:00 pm ESPN

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
Wednesday:
Providence @ Louisville ESPN2
Thursday:
Duke Blue Devils @ St. John’s Red Storm ESPN
Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ Villanova Wildcats ESPN2
Saturday:
Marquette @ Georgetown ESPN
Sunday:
Villanova @ Syracuse CBS

BETology:
TUESDAY March 10th:
NOON
9 - West Virginia
Vs
16 – DePaul
2:00
12 – Georgetown
Vs
13 – South Florida
7:00
10 – Notre Dame
Vs
15 – Rutgers
9:00
11 – Seton Hall
Vs
14 – St. John’s

WEDNESDAY March 11th:
NOON
8 – Cincinnati
Vs
Tuesday NOON winner
2:00
5 – Villanova
Vs
Tuesday 2:00 winner
7:00
7 – Syracuse
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner
9:00
6 – Providence
Vs
Tuesday 9:00 winner

THURSDAY March 12th:
NOON
1 – UCONN
Vs
Wednesday NOON winner
2:00
4 – Marquette
Vs
Wednesday 2:00 winner
7:00
2 – Louisville
Vs
Wednesday 7:00 winner
9:00
3 – Pitt
Vs
Wednesday 9:00 winner
Check back tomorrow for another update!