Big East Hoops

4-0

Dan'l B — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:36:53 +0000

Halfway to a clean first round for the Beast, and the best — G-town and Louisville — were reserved for today. No complaints whatsoever so far. Only 20 more wins to an all-Big East round of eight!

Needless to say, if Villanova sneaks past a very good Clemson team, we should all be very happy. I certainly hope it happens. I’m also a little worried about UConn, who we can recognize is a bit of a paper tiger as a 4-seed. If the defense shows up though, as it generally has most of the year, they should be ok.

Big East Tournament dunk of the year

donald — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:16:41 +0000

Some advice to BeastWofVtheUEast: get a capture card. I do like the guerilla-style feel of this clip, though:

Other highlights from Thursday’s action:

Weekend bullets

donald — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:49:46 +0000

The Marquette-Georgetown game this weekend was one of the best Big East games all season long (we’ve had a ton this year). Much sympathy to Big Willie who was forced over to the Florida game. Big play after big play from both teams. If you have a few minutes in your day, watch the clips below — it’s a condensed version of the end of regulation.
Georgetown down 57-59 with 1:27 left. This happens:

On the next play…

Burke misses the free-throw, so its Marquette 61, Georgetown 59, when Hibbert makes a great pass to a cutting Ewing…

Ewing makes 1 of 2 free throws, and Georgetown fouls Wes Matthews of Marquette, who makes both free throws. At this point, the score is Marquette 63, Georgetown 60. Then this:

My take: he did get fouled, Jonathan Wallace sold the foul really well…but that was like the fourth straight call that Georgetown got in a row.

More links from the blogosphere: Cracked Sidewalks, Hoya Saxa, and AOL FanHouse, where Charles Rich breaks out the truth:

You know, some people will say that Georgetown has something magical happening very quietly. Others will say that they are just getting some incredible luck/breaks/calls by the refs that have to go the other way at some point.

I can understand both views, but I’m leaning towards luck issue. Not that it can’t carry them pretty far. Not that they the Hoyas didn’t put themselves in the position to win those games. Not that Georgetown is a bad team or isn’t capable of winning a lot of games in March without getting things to fall their way. It’s just that the Big East play has been exceptional in the bounces going Georgetown’s way.

Whether it was the block/goaltend call at West Virginia; a last second “foul” that 9 times out of 10 would be a no-call; and now getting a 3-point foul called in the final seconds Georgetown has had the late calls go in their favor.

Not to give myself credit here, but my Duke-Georgetown theory is really holding up.
This weekend, Syracuse was the anti-Georgetown, and Georgetown the anti-Syracuse. Georgetown somehow won a game they totally didn’t deserve to win (see Jonathan Wallace getting “fouled” at the end of regulation above, as well as . Syracuse, on the other hand, found a way to lose a game to Pittsburgh in which they were up by 11 with less than 4 minutes to go.
One thing that has always amazed me about Georgetown is their ability to use the last 10 seconds of the shot clock as effectively as the first 10 seconds (or any other 10 seconds, on the other hand). Coach Thompson must run some sort of drill to ensure that they don’t freak out with the shot clock expiring. More often than not, they get a backdoor pass or an open three in the last few seconds, something that is utterly devastating to the defense.
West Virginia still has no quality win. They could have gotten one this weekend against UConn, but fell behind early. Monday’s WVU-Pitt game will be an absolute must for both teams. The winner of that game makes the NCAAs. The Big East may be the biggest, baddest conference out there, but they aren’t sending 7 teams to the big dance. Monday’s matchup will be something to watch. Mark my words: Joe Alexander will disappear. Why? I’ll be watching the game. He is one of those players that suck so hard when I’m watching, but put up big games when I’m not (such as his 32 point outburst against UConn this weekend).

Marquette Win Puts Pressure On Leaders

Coach O — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:32:26 +0000

Marquette’s victory over Nova last night put pressure on the four teams ahead of them working for a bye in New York in two weeks. The Eagles can now finish 13-5 with wins in their last two games against Georgetown and at Syracuse. With the Hoyas looking more and more vulnerable, this is entirely possible with Marquette on a 5 game roll, winning handily in each. Let’s take a look at the leaders and their prospects for a bye.

Georgetown - The Hoyas are 12-3 and finish with St. John’s, at Marquette and Louisville. If the Hoyas were to lose to Marquette and Louisville they would end up 13-5 and lose a tiebreaker to both teams. Two wins would assure the Hoyas of a bye. Even though GTown is in a good position, they have to be careful of a letdown and must defeat either Marquette or Louisville to enter the BET with some momentum.

Louisville - The Cards are 12-3 and finish with home games against Notre Dame and Villanova along with a final game at Georgetown. Although the Cards should win both home games, ND is capable of an upset. If the Cards lose to ND and GTown they will end up with a record of 13-5 and lose tiebreakers to the Irish and UConn. Louisville has two wins over Marquette and a win over Georgetown. If the Cardinals win two of the last three they will secure a bye.

Notre Dame - The Irish are 11-3 and have three of the final four games on the road. Although they have been unbeatable at home, they have shown some vulnerability away. With splits against UConn and Marquette, the Irish lose tiebreaker vs. Georgetown and still have to travel to Louisville this Thursday. The game at DePaul is not a gimme, seeing that it is a rivalry game. ND should beat St. John’s at home and USF away. If the Irish split their remaining four games they will end up 13-5. A Marquette victory over Georgetown might force the Irish to play a Wednesday game.

UConn - The Huskies are 10-4 and suffered a crucial loss at Nova on Saturday. Remaining games are at Rutgers tonight, West Virginia Saturday and at Providence and home to Cincinnati next week. The Huskies must win 3 of the last 4 to put themselves in a good position at 13-5. UConn has trouble with Providence and West Virginia is still a mystery team. Two losses will probably push UConn to a Wednesday game. The Huskies lose a tiebreaker to Georgetown and win tiebreakers vs. Louisville and Marquette. The UConn-ND tiebreaker will be determined by the Irish game vs. Louisville this Thursday.

****UPDATE***** In checking all possibilities, if Marquette were to lose one of their final two league games, UConn and ND would have to win 2 of their remaining four games to receive a bye.

Complicated???? Not really…… Typical???? You bet….. WELCOME TO THE BIG EAST!

Slippery slope

Dan'l B — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:33:23 +0000

The bubble analogy is at best acceptable. I wouldn’t miss it when something else takes its place. If soap has to be involved, I’d rather picture cagers trying to climb a slope doused in soap than see them as either (1) a bubble itself, (2) sitting “on a bubble,” or (3) trying to keep a bubble from floating into something sharp. The slope evokes how difficult it can be to climb up and how easily one can fall back or out of it.

I’m nervous about the Big East.

Pittsburgh might have the right kind of profile to be snubbed. There’s nothing EVER wrong with beating Duke (Thank you again and again Mr. Maynor, too) - should Wake and Miami dance? - but that can’t be the only bullet point for Pitt to lean on. There’s other good wins, but they’re at home. The road/neutral record is reasonable at 5-6. I’d give them credit for “tough” losses at Marquette and Notre Dame if they’d kept those close. The real danger is if Pitt drops one of their remaining home games. I don’t particularly like their chances at Syracuse or WVU, so a flat performance against Cincinnati or DePaul could easily spell doom in the form of an 8-10 conference record and a 1-6 record to close the season. Even at 9-9, Pitt needs to show something in New York.

West Virginia should have an easier time of it - the stacked schedule is all but gone, leaving three games where they should be favored and a 4th in which close-game karma ought to swing back their way (against UConn). They should come out 11-7, with the superficially impressive 6-2 closing mark. I like their chances a lot better than Pitt’s.

Syracuse has lots of climbing to do (or, if you prefer bubbles, a Kentucky-borne breeze pushed their gossamer sphere awfully close to the dreaded thorn bush today). Their last chance to post a solid road win has come and gone. I think they can defend the dome against Pitt, but it’ll be close. Ditto for Seton Hall on the road and certainly Marquette. Even if they claw back to 9-9, the profile looks suspiciously similar to (and perhaps even worse given the disparity in conference records) last year - nothing good to speak of outside the Carrier Dome. One win against likely tournament teams. It’s just about necessary to run the table.

Villanova has exactly what it needs to have a chance - some momentum already building and a couple marquee matchups coming up. The Big East’s hottest teams are on deck and in the hole. Both Marquette and Louisville have been rolling for some time. Should Nova take one or especially both games, they look completely different. I like their chances to sneak up on one of the big boys in the next week. If they can carry that into a 10-8 finish, it’ll complete their own 6-2 finish to the season.

And that’s about it. I predict seven for the Big East - Syracuse will be left out this year (rightfully this time), West Virginia will cruise in and make me proud by upsetting somebody big, and Villanova will take Pitt’s place (they split a home-and-home this year in case you’re wondering). Cincinnati and Seton Hall, better luck next year.