BETology 3/4

The Rant will be your daily site to find out exactly how your team stacks up against the rest of the conference as we creep closer to the Big East Tournament in New York City, which begins March 12th. 

One week left in the Big East regular season and nobody has nailed down their definitive spot yet in the conference tournament.  Georgetown and Marquette have both clinched 2-day byes and Louisville has a line on one as well.  That leaves 1 double bye remaining and that one won’t be decided until the final day of the regular season.

STANDINGS:

*#Georgetown Hoyas 13-3
3-6 @ Villanova
3-9 vs Syracuse

#Louisville Cardinal 12-4

3-4 vs Cincinnati
3-9 vs Notre Dame

*#Marquette Golden Eagles 12-4

3-5 @ Rutgers
3-9 @ St. John’s

#Pittsburgh Panthers 11-6

3-9 @ DePaul

#Syracuse Orange 10-6

3-6 vs DePaul
3-9 @ Georgetown

#Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10-6

3-5 vs St. John’s
3-9 @ Louisville

UCONN Huskies 9-7

3-6 @ South Florida
3-9 vs Providence

#Villanova Wildcats 9-8

3-6 vs Georgetown

#Providence Friars 8-8
3-5 vs Seton Hall
3-9 @ UCONN

#St. John’s Red Storm 8-8

3-5 @ Notre Dame
3-9 vs Marquette

#Cincinnati Bearcats 8-8

3-4 @ Louisville
3-9 vs South Florida

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 4-12

3-5 vs Marquette
3-8 @ Seton Hall

Seton Hall Pirates 3-13

3-5 @ Providence
3-8 vs Rutgers

South Florida Bulls 2-14

3-6 vs UCONN
3-9 @ Cincinnati

DePaul Blue Demons 2-14

3-6 @ Syracuse
3-9 vs Pitt

#- Clinched Opening Round Bye
*- Clinched Bye into Quarterfinal Round

YESTERDAYS RECAP:

Pitt- 73
Villanova- 64
Pitt used a late surge to force overtime and get a win in the Panthers last ever Big East home game.  The Panthers now have a half-game lead over Notre Dame and Syracuse in the fight for 4^th place in the Big East.  Due to the odd tiebreaker rules within the Big East, none of the 3 teams actually control their own destiny to get that final 2-day bye.  That being the case, Pitt is in the driver’s seat because they currently hold the 3-way tiebreaker with those teams.  Pitt holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with Syracuse, but not with Notre Dame.  The Panthers need to either finish in a 3 way tie for 4^th place and have Georgetown finish in 1^st place (2^nd tiebreaker is best win, ND and Syracuse each lost to Georgetown) or they need Notre Dame to lose on of their final two games to St. John’s or Louisville.

Villanova blew an 8 point 2^nd half lead to the Panthers and any hopes, as slim as they may have been, of a double bye in the conference tournament.  With just 1 game left, Villanova can still finish anywhere from 5^th in the final regular season standings all the way down to 11^th.  Despite the Wildcats playing their final game of the regular season Wednesday against Georgetown, they will not know their tournament seed until Saturday afternoon.

South Florida- 83

DePaul- 73
South Florida grabs their 2^nd win of conference play with a win over now last place DePaul.  Both teams are 2-14, but with USF winning the only match-up of the year the Bulls move into place to claim the 13 seed in NYC.  DePaul has finished in last place the past 4 seasons and unless they upset Syracuse or Pitt this week that is where they will finish for a 5^th straight year.

TODAY’S GAMES:

Cincinnati @ Louisville
7:00pm ESPN

UPCOMING GAMES:

Tuesday:
St. John’s @ Notre Dame, 7:00pm ESPN2
Marquette @ Rutgers, 7:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Seton Hall @ Providence, 9:00pm ESPN Regional TV

Wednesday:

DePaul @ Syracuse, 6:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Georgetown @ Villanova, 7:00pm ESPN2
UCONN @ South Florida, 9:00pm ESPNU

Friday:

Rutgers @ Seton Hall, 7:00pm ESPN Regional TV

Saturday:

Providence @ UCONN, NOON ESPNU
Syracuse @ Georgetown, NOON ESPN
Pitt @ DePaul, 2:00pm, ESPN Regional TV
Marquette @ St. John’s, 2:00pm ESPN
South Florida @ Cincinnati, 4:00pm ESPN Regional TV
Notre Dame @ Louisville, 4:00pm CBS

BETology:

TUESDAY March 12th:
7:00pm
12 – Seton Hall
Vs
13 – South Florida

9:00pm

11 – Rutgers
Vs
14 – DePaul

WEDNESDAY March 13th:

NOON
8 – Providence
Vs
9 - St. John's

2:00

5 – Syracuse
Vs
Tuesday 7:00 winner

7:00

7 – Villanova
Vs
10 - Cincinnati

9:00

6 – Notre Dame
Vs
Tuesday 9:00 winner

THURSDAY March 14th:

NOON
1 – Georgetown
Vs
Wednesday NOON winner

2:00

4 – Pitt
Vs
Wednesday 2:00 winner

7:00

2 – Louisville
Vs
Wednesday 7:00 winner

9:00

3 – Marquette
Vs
Wednesday 9:00 winner

Check back tomorrow for another update!