The best and the brightest snippets across the Big East ’sphere:

• The FanHouse: “It’s going to be a big question about just how much Pitt has left. The Championship game will be their 4th in 4 days. Pitt rarely goes much deeper than 7. Georgetown had a first round bye and goes about 9 deep. They have looked very strong and only Jonathan Wallace has played 30 minutes or more in their first 2 games.”
• Big East Basketball Report: “Here is the crazy thing, Pitt has moved all the way to #17 in the latest RPI rankings following this win. The played 12 games without starting poit guard Levance Fields and then lost their first three games that he returned as he was assimilated back into the mix. Take away those 15 games and Pitt is 16-2 with neutral floor victories against Duke, Louisville and Marquette along with road wins against Syracuse and Washington.”
• The Mountain Top: “Again, like I said it’s not a game you should expect to win against the #1 seed team, and WVU didn’t play anywhere close to well enough to pull off the upset. But three games in three nights does that to a team, and I honestly don’t see Marquette or Pitt (looks like it will be Pitt) with much of a chance at all against the Hoyas tomorrow night.”
• The Van Buren Boys: “With a nearly 2 to 1 rebound advantage of the ‘Neers, the paint, as well as the entire garden floor, belonged to the Hoyas. The big guy looked pumped up out there from tip-off.”
• The FanHouse: “Georgetown Suddenly Looks Scary Good. Against Villanova it was bombing them into oblivion from the 3-point line. Tonight with the Mountaineers, it was going inside, attacking the basket, and letting Roy Hibbert wreak havoc inside. The defense in both games was outstanding. I don’t think they just turned it on in the Big East Tournament, but they have seemed to regrouped and rediscovered something. Their attitude and mannerisms are much more aggressive and attacking.”
• Black and Green Irish Men’s Basketball Report: “Regarding Notre Dame’s seeding, the Irish got some help from St. Joseph’s, Illinois, and Arkansas today. Hopping over Xavier in the bracket is probably a little farfetched, but both Purdue and Vanderbilt could have taken a 4 seed away from ND with wins in their tournaments.”
• Pitt Blather: “Marquette and their fans can take, um, solace in the moral victory. That their team didn’t quit. That they rallied and fought and clawed back into the game. All good things. I’ll take the real thing. Plus the fact that even as Marquette made a comeback, Pitt never lost it. They did what was needed. They regained their composure.”
• The Quad: “In the signature moment (so far, anyway) of this year’s Big East tournament — Joe Alexander’s dunk in the waning moments of West Virginia’s victory over Connecticut — Raftery appears to have added another hallmark call to a highlight that will surely appear on Big East tournament highlight reels for years to come. “Send it in Joe,” he said, bellowing in the familiar pitch that he used in his oft-repeated Jerome call. The difference is that he added on the replay, “With alacrity.” (Now if that doesn’t send you scrambling to the thesaurus, I don’t know what will.) He also called the dunk a “Taiwan special,” referencing the fact that Alexander was born in Taiwan.”
• The FanHouse: “So there you have it: Luke Harangody, the clear choice for Big East Player of the Year, likes to relax by watching people get run over by mules.”
  
  
  

Categories: BlogWatch, donald