Monday’s heroes are Joe Alexander and Tom Crean.

Joe Alexander tied a career high with 32 points. I was totally wrong (as usual). He showed up big time and West Virginia dominated Pittsburgh 76-62. A few of the pundits have Pittsburgh in no matter what, but I don’t buy that. If that’s really the case and if WVU wins two more games, it would be wrong for the Big East to get any less than seven teams into the tournament: Louisville, G’town, UConn, ND, Marquette, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. That would be awesome.

Highlights of the WVU-Pitt game, courtesy of ESPN.

And a few links from the blogosphere: The Mountain Top, and Pitt Blather.

Why is Tom Crean a hero? Look who Marquette is playing Tuesday: Florida Gulf Coast, currently 10-20 (and 6-10 in the Atlantic Sun conference). Why schedule a gimme game so late? Charles Rich breaks it down for us: Tom Crean scheduled a game in March against Florida Gulf Coast to game the system on the “last 10 games.”. And for that, Tom Crean is our hero.

Categories: Commentary, donald, Pittsburgh, West Virginia
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• 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).

Categories: Commentary, BlogWatch, Georgetown, donald, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia, Marquette, Postseason
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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.

Categories: Dan'l B, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Postseason
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If bracketologists were marine biologists, poll voters would have their assistants report on goldfish in bowls, RPI enthusiasts would hang out at Sea World, and Sagarin and Pomeroy would only be found by the Coast Guard. I’ve wasted time looking at the polls, and I guess I’ll continue to do so here and there. The RPI is definitely better, but it does a very good job at telling us nothing special. There are two animals that the RPI simply can’t handle: the ridiculously good record against moderate or worse competition and the moderate or worse record against ridiculously good competition.

Naturally, the great records and mediocre schedules come out of the secondary conferences. Drake, Butler, and St. Mary’s, I’m talking about you. Not only is your RPI inflated, you’re shooting up the polls too. “Wait a minute! Give those guys a break, they’re screwed by the BCS bullies!” Well, I think the RPI and polls actually do these schools the bigger injustice. Name the non-BCS schools that have gotten a 5th seed or better in the last decade and done something with it. That list is awfully short. These teams are good, but they don’t belong in the top 25. There’s nothing wrong with being one of the top 40.

And of course there’s the “Izzo-Chaney-Olsen Plan,” in which you schedule half a dozen elite non-conference games before conference play starts. No surprise, it’s Olsen this year with the #8 RPI and #1 schedule. UConn, yes UConn! is a bit overrated by the same method.

What the RPI fails to do is recognize quality basketball and pick out would-be sleepers (if they get to dance at all). Kansas State will obviously dance, and I expect to see them in the Elite Eight. Wisconsin’s very quietly 19-4 and a lot better than their #20 RPI. But the one I’ll be watching will be West Virginia. They’ve got a #48 RPI, a 12-seed from Joe Lunardi, and a resume full of quality play all year. Barring a disaster the rest of the way, they’re going to slip into the tournament in the #8 to #12 range and will have a great shot at the Sweet Sixteen as “underdogs.”

Categories: Rankings, Dan'l B, Connecticut, West Virginia
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• Say hello to The Mountain Top, which covers West Virginia basketball (It’s the first blog I know about that covers West Virginia — have there been others?). The guys (or gals) over there do a good job in summarizing the WVU-Georgetown game last night. What a game it was — it came down to Da’Sean Butler driving the baseline and putting up a shot which Patrick Ewing Jr. blocked/goaltended, thus securing the Georgetown win. Check out the highlights and judge the call for yourself:

  (I have to give major props to ESPN for realizing that they could never fight sports bloggers recording their content and putting it up. Their new web video player, and the ability to embed it in any page is dope. They in turn get way more control than before– they control what content gets showed, maintain their branding, and know exactly which bloggers are doing this. Brilliant move, guys.)

• UConn!!!!!! Calhoun sums up the gigantic win:
  

  “To do what we did is certainly the greatest I’ve had and it’s going to get up there since the national championship team beat Georgia Tech,” he said. “Quite frankly, they deserve more than a hug from me. They deserve one from the state of Connecticut, from the university, from our fans.”

• Check this out. Apparently some prank callers got a handle of the weekly Big East media conference call number/passcode. Normally, journalists ask questions to the coaches in the league. This past week, the prank callers asked questions about the sexual relations between the students and players. The link has the audio of the call, which is slightly amusing.

Categories: Commentary, BlogWatch, Georgetown, donald, Connecticut, West Virginia, Game Banter
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