BETology 2-19

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

YESTERDAY:
Georgetown Hoyas 65
South Florida Bulls 40
This game did not mean much for either team as they both look like they will be stuck in that Tuesday game slot. Georgetown however played well in this game. They played good defense and dominated a game from start to finish. They have not done that since beating UCONN to open Big East play. The Hoyas have a very slight chance of working their way into the NCAA’s and if they continue to play the way they did against USF the rest of the way, they just might do it. The Hoyas are sitting at 5-8 in the conference now and have three tough games in a row coming up with Marquette and Louisville at home, and Villanova on the road. Georgetown has the talent to play with these teams and need to win at least one of them before closing with 2 must win games against St. John’s and DePaul. Doing that plus 2 wins or so in the BET may just be enough to get the Hoyas dancing in March.

West Virginia Mountaineers 79
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 68
Notre Dame held a 10-point lead five minutes into this game. They also held multiple nine point leads throughout the first half and did not trail until giving up a lay-up with :06 before halftime. Then in the 2nd half both the game and the season got away from them. The Irish needed this game badly to prove they could win on the road and to prove that the Louisville win was not a fluke and they were back to their winning ways. Well, there goes that. Notre Dame is 5-8 in conference with 3, maybe 4 winnable games remaining. Their problem is that they cannot win on the road. The Irish have one win in conference play away from South Bend, and that is against a winless DePaul team. Another problem the Irish have come Selection Sunday is their strength of schedule. Their RPI (according to RealTimeRPI.com) is 75, and their best non-conference win is against Texas, who has an RPI of 47. As for WVU, this was a huge win for the Mountaineers. West Virginia jumped into a 1st day bye with that win and into 7th place in the current conference standings. I would have to think that at this point WVU is just about where they expected to be and wanted to be this far into conference play. They have a chance at moving into the 6th spot, maybe even the 5th spot for the BET and are almost certainly a lock in the NCAA’s the rest of the way is just playing with house money for Huggy Bear and Co.

Louisville Cardinals 94
Providence Friars 76
Providence played with Louisville and actually led this game by one at halftime, and then they saw the big divide in the conference standings and realized that they had no business playing with Louisville. The Friars continue to impress under first year coach Keno Davis. They still don’t have an wins to brag about, but they have been able to play with the elite teams in the conference (for one half at least) and have no bad losses. The Friars finish with Notre Dame and Pitt at home before closing out the season on the road at Rutgers and Villanova. If they take care of business and split those four games they will be in good shape with a Tuesday bye in the BET. Louisville kept pace with the rest of the pack atop the conference standings with the home win. The Cardinals have five games left, and oddly enough I could see them finishing that stretch 5-0 and the #1 seed in the BET or 1-4 and missing out on the coveted two day bye. They do not have any real tough games, but some tough venues against teams that will be desperate. Road games with Cincy, G’town and WVU all will be tough ones and a home game vs Marquette will be a battle as well. Luckily, Seton Hall is in there to break up that stretch.

GAMES TODAY:
Duke Blue Devils @ St. John’s Red Storm
7:30pm ESPN
Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ Villanova Wildcats
9:00pm ESPN2

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
Saturday:
Marquette @ Georgetown ESPN
Sunday:
Villanova @ Syracuse CBS
Monday:
Louisville @ Georgetown ESPN
Wednesday:
UCONN @ Marquette ESPN
Rutgers @ Notre Dame ESPNU

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

WEDNESDAY
March 11th:
NOON
8 – Syracuse
Vs
Tuesday NOON winner
2:00
5 – Villanova
Vs
Tuesday 2:00 winner
7:00
7 – West Virginia
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!