BETology 2-19

BETology 2-19
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 9th.
STANDINGS:
Big East Official Tie-Breaking formula
Syracuse Orange 12-2
Villanova Wildcats 11-2
Pittsburgh Panthers 9-4
West Virginia Mountaineers 9-4
Louisville Cardinals 8-5
Georgetown Hoyas 8-6
Marquette Golden Eagles 7-6
South Florida Bulls 6-7
Seton Hall Pirates 6-7
Cincinnati Bearcats 6-7
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 6-8
Connecticut Huskies 5-8
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 4-9
St. John’s Red Storm 4-9
Providence Friars 4-10
DePaul Blue Demons 1-12

LAST NIGHT:
SYRACUSE ORANGE 75
Georgetown Hoyas 71

Syracuse clinched a Tuesday off in NYC and with one more win or a Louisville loss will clinch a double bye in New York. They also keep themselves 2 games ahead of the pack with Villanova by beating Georgetown. These 2 have seperated themselves from the rest of the Big East, but both teams may need that 2 game cushion with a tough stretch to finish the season. Syracuse still has a home game vs Villanova and a road trip to Louisville in their last four games. Villanova has five games remaining, which include Pitt and Syracuse on the road and WVU at home. This game really impacted Georgetown, who entered the game just 1 game behind Pitt and WVU and in a good spot to get a two day bye in the Big East Tournament. Now they are in 6th place. The good news for Georgetown is that in their final 4 games they play Louisville and WVU who are directly ahead of them in the standings. The bad news is that if they slip up against those two they could find themselves playing on Tuesday of the tournament.

PITT PANTHERS 58
Marquette Golden Eagles 51

This was a seperation game for the Panthers. By winning they put themselves 1 1/2 games up in the battle for the double bye. Had the lost they would have dropped to 7th place and found themselves in the middle of a pack all looking to finish in the top 8 to get at least a one day bye. Now Pitt finds themselves in 3rd place and with 4 of their final 5 games against teams under .500 in conference play they look to be in good shape for getting that much coveted double bye. Marquette on the other hand would have been tied for 4th with a win against Pitt, now they find themself all alone in 7th place just 1 game ahead of three different teams. Marquette plays their next 3 games on the road and 2 of them are against teams in that pack right behind them. This next stretch will be make or break for the Eagles.

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
SATURDAY:
Seton Hall @ West Virginia, NOON, ESPN
Louisville @ DePaul, 2:00 pm, ESPNU
SUNDAY:
Villanova @ Pitt, NOON, CBS
MONDAY:
West Virginia @ UCONN, 7:00 pm, ESPN
TUESDAY:
Syracuse @ Providence, 7:00 pm, ESPNU
Georgetown @ Louisville, 7:00 pm, ESPN2
WEDNESDAY:
Pitt @ Notre Dame, 7:00 pm, ESPN2

BETology:
TUESDAY
March 9th:
NOON
9 – Seton Hall
Vs
16 – DePaul
2:00
12 – UCONN
Vs
13 –Rutgers
7:00
10 – Cincinnati
Vs
15 – Providence
9:00
11 – Notre Dame
Vs
14 – St. John's

WEDNESDAY
March 10th:
NOON
8 – South Florida
Vs
Tuesday NOON winner
2:00
5 – Louisville
Vs
Tuesday 2:00 winner
7:00
7 – Marquette
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner
9:00
6 – Georgetown
Vs
Tuesday 9:00 winner

THURSDAY
March 11th:
NOON
1 – Syracuse
Vs
Wednesday NOON winner
2:00
4 –West Virginia
Vs
Wednesday 2:00 winner
7:00
2 – Villanova
Vs
Wednesday 7:00 winner
9:00
3 – Pitt
Vs
Wednesday 9:00 winner

Check back tomorrow for another update!