BETology 2-23

This is The Rant’s 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 13-2
*-Louisville Cardinals 12-2
*-Pittsburgh Panthers 12-2
*-Marquette Golden Eagles 12-2
Villanova Wildcats 10-4
West Virginia Mountaineers 8-6
Providence Friars 8-7
Syracuse Orange 7-7
Cincinnati Bearcats 7-7
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 6-8
Seton Hall Pirates 5-9
Georgetown Hoyas 5-9
St. John’s Red Storm 4-10
T-South Florida Bulls 3-11
T-Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1-13
T-DePaul Blue Demons 0-14
*-clinched a 1st day bye
T-clinched a Tuesday game

THIS WEEKEND:
SATURDAY
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 103
Providence Friars 84
This was a very telling game for both teams. Providence started Big East play as well as anyone in the conference, winning six of their first eight, but not beating any of the leagues of the elite in the process. The Friars were padding their win total against the weaker teams in the conference. Now that Providence is facing some of the better teams, they are starting to drop games and fall back in the standings. With games against Pitt, Rutgers and Villanova remaining, the Friars should be able to end the season at .500 in the conference. Notre Dame played this game the way that many people expected them to play all season. They were very balanced in their scoring and really took it to the undermanned Friar team. What is most impressive is that this win was on the road, a place the Irish have really struggled this season. The Irish are sitting at 6-8 right now and need to finish strong to go dancing. The Irish have must wins against Rutgers and St. John’s as well as tough games with UCONN and Villanova. If Notre Dame can steal one of those two games, they should be in good shape heading to NYC.

UCONN Huskies 64
South Florida Bulls 50
This was pretty much a cakewalk for the Huskies who got back on their winning ways after the defeat against Pitt earlier in the week. UCONN still holds a ½ game lead over the rest of the lead pack for the regular season crown a d the 1-seed in the BET. However, the Huskies have three tough games remaining on their schedule. They travel to Marquette on Wednesday before their home finale against Notre Dame on Saturday. The Huskies then have a week of to prepare for their re-match with Pitt to end the season. South Florida has clinched their first trip to the BET this season, then again, everyone goes this year. The Bulls do know they will play on Tuesday, the first every Tuesday in BET history.

Marquette Golden Eagles 78
Georgetown Hoyas 72
The Hoyas really needed this game. Georgetown is now sitting at 5-9 in the conference leaving themselves in a desperate situation. The Hoyas not only will probably find themselves playing on day one of the BET this year, but if they do not beat either Louisville tomorrow, or Villanova Saturday they will be in the NIT instead of the NCAA’s. Marquette kept pace with the top pack of the Big East and clinched at least a one-day bye in the BET with the win in D.C. That was the first test of the 5-part season ending challenge for the Golden Eagles and their schedule. Marquette has UCONN at home this week and travels to Louisville this weekend.

Louisville Cardinals 72
Cincinnati Bearcats 63
Cincinnati finds themselves literally right in the middle of everything in the Big East standings. The Bearcats are currently 7-7 and tied for eighth in the standings. However due to the tiebreaker, they would miss out on the 8th place bye and be forced to play Tuesday. The good thing about that situation is that Cincinnati could use that Tuesday win as resume builder for the NCAA Tournament. The last four games will be vital to the Bearcats postseason plans. This week they have West Virginia, who one game ahead of them in the standings, and Syracuse, whom they are currently tied with. The final week of the season is against USF and Seton Hall; two must win games if they want to make the Big Dance. Louisville kept pace with Marquette and Pitt by defeating rival Cincinnati. Louisville still is in the best position of the top four to win the regular season. They have four games remaining, and the easiest schedule remaining.

Pitt Panthers 80
DePaul Blue Demons 61
The Panthers took care of business with relative ease and kept their Big East regular season title hopes alive. Pitt has two road games this week against Providence and Seton Hall before finishing at home against fellow top tier opponents Marquette and UCONN. Pitt will probably fins themselves in a rather odd situation when the new polls come out later today. In all likelihood, the Panthers will be ranked #1 in the country, but are actually not even in first place in their own conference. Welcome to life in the Big East. DePaul lost once again in Big East play. It is hard to believe that a school that is located in the middle of Chicago and plays in the Big East cannot find better athletes and put together a better team than we saw on the court Saturday. They are a long way away from being relevant at all in the Big East, and actually, you wonder if they may have second thoughts about joining in the first place.

SUNDAY
Villanova Wildcats 89
Syracuse Orange 86
If you like fast paced games, with lots of offense, this was the game for you. If you like defense of any sorts, this game would have been painful for you to watch. Villanova continues to hold a tight hold on that 5-seed and looks to be ready to jump if any of the top four stumble down the stretch. Nova is as athletic as any team in the conference, but they lack a quality inside presences. That has not hurt Jay Wright coached teams in the past, we will see if it does this season or not. The amount of shooters that the Wildcats suit up is amazing, I also love how, even though they play a smaller line up they really go after the glass hard. Syracuse has an interesting situation looking at them with four games remaining. The Orange SHOULD be in good shape for the NCAA Tournament, but finishing at .500 the past two seasons in Big East play hurt them and kept them out of the tournament. This year they do have much better non-conference wins (Florida, Kansas and Memphis), but I do not think that Boeheim and Co. want to leave any question in the committee’s mind this season. With four winnable games remaining, the Cuse may go for broke and try to make a statement before they even arrive in NYC.

West Virginia Mountaineers 74
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 56
WVU moved ahead of Providence with this win and currently sit in the six spot. With just four games remaining, the Mountaineers will be hard pressed to move up any further, but if they are not careful, they could certainly fall back. West Virginia is two games behind Villanova for the 5-seed and four backs out of getting one of the two-day byes. However, there are four teams behind West Virginia, all within two games. The Mountaineers next game is against one of those teams. WVU goes to Cincinnati on Thursday. Rutgers remains at the one win mark, thank goodness for DePaul. The Knights will be playing on Tuesday in NYC.

St. John’s Red Storm 70
Seton Hall Pirates 65
Although this is a bit of an upset, it does not do much in way of seeding as of now. Both of these teams look to be a shoe-in for playing on Tuesday and based on how the standings could end up it they could be playing each other. This game may have been for the rights to be considered the “home” team for that game.

GAMES TONIGHT:
Louisville Cardinals @ Georgetown Hoyas
7:00 ESPN

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
Monday:
Louisville @ Georgetown ESPN
Wednesday:
UCONN @ Marquette ESPN
Rutgers @ Notre Dame ESPNU
Thursday:
West Virginia @ Cincinnati ESPN/ESPN2 (check your local listings)
Saturday:
Georgetown @ Villanova ESPN
Notre Dame @ UCONN CBS
Sunday:
Marquette @ Louisville CBS
Providence @ Rutgers 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 – Providence
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner
9:00
6 – West Virginia
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!