BETology 3-4

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 15-2
**-Louisville Cardinals 14-2
*-Pittsburgh Panthers 13-3
*-Marquette Golden Eagles 12-4
*-Villanova Wildcats 12-5
*-Providence Friars 10-7
*-Syracuse Orange 10-7
West Virginia Mountaineers 9-7
Cincinnati Bearcats 8-9
T-Notre Dame Fighting Irish 7-10
T-Seton Hall Pirates 6-10
T-St. John’s Red Storm 6-11
T-Georgetown Hoyas 6-11
T-South Florida Bulls 4-13
T-Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1-16
T-DePaul Blue Demons 0-16
**-clinched a 2-day bye
*-clinched a 1st day bye
T-clinched a Tuesday game

LAST NIGHT:
Syracuse Orange 70
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 40
While I know that they beat only St. John’s, Cincinnati and Rutgers during this current streak, but Syracuse is playing some quality basketball. This is their third straight win by at least 24 points. Syracuse assured itself of not play Tuesday in the process. Syracuse right now is in the 7th spot, which they can fall no further than, but with a win Saturday at Marquette and a Providence loss at Villanova the Orange, who was once 5-6 in conference play after losing 6 of 8 would have 6th place locked up for the BET. Rutgers is in 15th and will stay there unless DePaul suddenly gets hot and beat WVU and Georgetown.

South Florida Bulls 70
Cincinnati Bearcats 59
So much for that big win against WVU last week for Cincinnati. The Bearcats followed that up with two pathetic efforts and are almost certainly out of consideration for the NCAA Tournament. There is no excuse for laying an egg like that in March, none! South Florida is the first team to lock up its spot in the BET. With the victoru tonight, the Bulls clinched the 14th seed. That puts them in the 9:00 game on Tuesday against the 11-seed.

St. John’s Red Storm 59
Georgetown Hoyas 56
So much for that big win over Villanova for Georgetown. The Hoyas followed the Bearcats lead and let whatever slim hopes they had at making the NCAA’s slip away and they let a 15 point second half lead slip away too. The Hoyas were up 45-30 with 10:20 remaining and proceeded to score six more points and only make one FG the rest of the way. In that time, they made on layup and missed the other six attempts from the field. St. John’s, who has been playing better, took advantage of Georgetown’s bad play. Despite scoring just one point in the first 10 minutes of the second half St. John’s still managed a win. The Red Storm are now in 12th place in the standings, one spot ahead of the Hoyas.

TONIGHT:
DePaul Blue Demons @ West Virginia Mountaineers
7:00 Regional TV

Seton Hall Pirates @ Louisville Cardinals
7:00 Regional TV

Marquette Golden Eagles @ Pitt Panthers
7:30 ESPN2

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
Thursday:
Providence @ Villanova ESPN/ESPN2
Saturday:
UCONN @ Pitt CBS
DePaul @ Georgetown ESPNU
Louisville @ West Virginia ESPN

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

WEDNESDAY
March 11th:
NOON
8 – West Virginia
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!