BETology 3-3

BETology 3-3
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
X**Syracuse Orange 15-2
**Villanova Wildcats 13-4
**West Virginia Mountaineers 12-5
*Pittsburgh Panthers 11-5
*Marquette Golden Eagles 11-6
*Louisville Cardinals 10-7
Georgetown Hoyas 9-8
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 8-8
South Florida Bulls 8-9
Connecticut Huskies 7-9
Seton Hall Pirates 7-9
Cincinnati Bearcats 7-10
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 5-11
St. John’s Red Storm 5-12
Providence Friars 4-12
X-DePaul Blue Demons 1-16

**Clinched Double-bye
*Clinched opening round bye
X-Clinched Current Seeding

LAST NIGHT:
SYRACUSE ORANGE 85
St. John's Red Storm 66

Syracuse won their first game as the nations #1 team since 1990. As we already knew, Syracsue has clinched the #1 overall seed in the BET and with the win tonight they clinched the out-right league title as well. St. John's remains in 14th place after the loss. The Red Storm are now one half game ahead of Providence and one half game behind Rutgers. St. John's finishes their regular season on Friday night at DePaul.

VILLANOVA WILDCATS 77
Cincinnati Bearcats 73

Cincinnati hurt themselves badly with this loss. They drop all the way to 12th in the current standings and assured themselves of playing on Tuesday in the New York. Cincinnati has not won a Big East Tournament game since joining the conference. A win Saturday against Georgetown will help draw and easier team for the Bearcats, but they will now certainly play on the opening day. Villanova remains in second place, but their final position won't be determined until the hours after the final whistle blows in their game on Saturday against WVU. With a win, Villanova clinches 2nd place. If they lose they finish in 3rd (if Pitt loses once this week) or 4th if Pitt wins both games this week. WVU and Villanova play at NOON, Pitt plays at 4:30 Saturday.

SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS 63
DePaul Blue Demons 59

South Florida stays alive for that opening round bye. They own a tiebreaker over Georgetown, so Hoyas loss on Saturday and a USF win and the Bulls could get a day off in NYC this year. They can also get in without a Georgetown loss, but that way gets more complicated. First things first though, the Bulls need to be UCONN on Saturday to have any chance. As for DePaul, well...yeah there isn't much more to say about them.

MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES 69
Louisville Cardinals 48

In the double bye elimination game Marquette is the victor. The win allows Marquette to stay alive for the double bye, however they will need help from the bottom-feeders of the Big East. The Golden Eagles need Providence AND Rutgers to beat Pitt this week, and both games are in Pittsburgh. Even if that happens Marquette would still have to beat Notre Dame on Saturday as well. This win does secure a finish no worse than 5th place in the final Big East standings. As for Louisville, this win locks them in at either the 6th or 7th spot in the BET. A win Saturday to close out Freedom Hall against the #1 team in the nation and the finish 6th, a loss and a Georgetown win (vs Cincinnati) and Louisville drops to 7th.

TONIGHT:
UCONN @ Notre Dame, 7:00 pm, ESPN
WHAT IS AT STAKE:
* A win for the Irish puts them in great shape to get and opening round bye, a loss drops them right back into the mix with about 4 other teams.
* UCONN needs a win to have any chance at the opening round bye, a loss and they cannot get it, no matter what they do on Saturday.

UP COMING GAMES ON NATIONAL TV:
THURSDAY:
Seton Hall @ Rutgers, 7:00 pm, ESPN2
Providence @ Pitt, 9:00 pm, ESPN2
SATURDAY:
West Virginia @ Villanova, NOON, CBS
Syracuse @ Louisville, 2:00 pm, ESPN

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

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

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

Check back tomorrow for another update!