First off, congratulations to Pittsburgh. You’ve been in seven of the last eight Big East Championships, and now you have two wins. You’re a lot better than most people think you are. A healthy Levance Fields changes everything, and DeJuan Blair is a monster.

Here are my main questions after tonight:

1. Now that Pittsburgh overachieved in the Big East Tourney, can they get over the hump in NCAA tournament play? Can they get past the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1974, and into the Final Four for the first time since 1941? They’ve been a mainstay in the Big East and national picture for the last 10 years or so. Is this their year to get over the hump?
2. If DeJuan Blair was white, would he get the same love that Kevin Love gets? Honestly, the media adores Kevin Love just as much as they do good ole boys like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. But I think DeJuan Blair is just as good.
3. Will Patrick Ewing, Jr. be a second round draft pick? I think yes. He has a lot of potential.
4. Why does Patrick Ewing Jr. have a “Ewing, Jr.” on the back of his jersey (this was what I was getting at last year). His last name is Ewing, not “Ewing, Jr.”, and there are no other Ewings on the team. Bizarre.

   Categories: Commentary, Georgetown, donald, Pittsburgh
   1 Comment »

There was a lot of excitement coming into this year’s tournament. Could Notre Dame finally crack through and make it to a final? After all, they had the league’s best player. Could up and coming UConn take down Georgetown in a rematch of one of the best games of the regular season? UConn had a great, great February, and was ready to be a Final Four sleeper pick. Could Louisville or Marquette be the first former C-USA team to reach the final? Louisville looked like the most talented team coming into the tournament. Could Scottie Reynolds or Joe Alexander pull off a Gerry Mac performance, and lead their team all the way to the finals?

For every question, the answer is a resounding no.

The status quo has been preserved, and here we sit, with Georgetown and Pitt in the finals, again. Don’t get me wrong, both of these teams certainly deserve to be here. They have been by far the best teams this week, and both take credit for answering nearly every question from above. Georgetown is trying to become the first team in nearly a decade to repeat as both season champs, and tournament champs, which is pretty impressive considering the year-to-year strength of this conference. And Pittsburgh has now made their seventh final in eight years. That is an absolutely ridiculous number, and Jamie Dixon and his staff receive a ton of credit every year. If I were a betting man, I would have lost a lot of money betting against Pitt’s chances in the finals this season. Just as I would have in 2001 and 2006 as well. But here they stand, in the finals again.

If you are a fan of the Panthers or the Hoyas you certainly have to be excited. But if you are just a fan of the conference, or another team in the conference, this is not the final you were looking for. If either West Virginia or Marquette had won last night, it would have produced some serious intrigue. Either team would have been trying to become the first expansion team to win the title. Yes, for those of you new to the league, the Big East first expanded back in ‘96 with WVU, Notre Dame and Rutgers, and then most recently with 5 more teams in 2006. And none of those teams have ever won, and only West Virginia’s 2005 run put any expansion team in the finals. But here we are. Georgetown and Pitt. The status quo.

The Big East is a year away from completely dominating the college basketball landscape, and this game does remind me of a couple other finals. In 2000, UConn and St. John’s met in a rematch of the 1999 title game. UConn was not as strong in 2000 and most probably weren’t thrilled about seeing them back in the finals. And in 2003, Pitt and UConn rematched their 2002 tie. In 2002, both Pitt and UConn were up and coming teams, similar to Georgetown last year, and most would have probably rather seen freshman Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara in the 2003 final. (keep in mind, in both 2000 & 2003, the team that lost the previous year, won that year) Coincidently, Pitt and UConn rematched again in ‘04, but the feel was different because they were two national contenders and the build up to that game was viewed as the rubber match between teams. Is this game less exciting than 2000 or 2003? Perhaps, but for a fan of any other team, you would be more likely to tune in tonight if any other team were involved.

Categories: Commentary
4 Comments »

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
No Comments »

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:

Categories: Commentary, donald, Postseason
No Comments »

Interesting post game comments by Huggins after trashing UConn. He said he knew that UConn couldn’t guard Joe Alexander. But when asked the difference in the game he said that WVU hadn’t played a 2-3 zone once this year. Then he said that WVU NEVER practiced a 2-3 zone at any time this year. But last night he got his team together in the ballroom of their hotel and learned how to play a 2-3 zone. The BALLROOM???? Imagine hotel guests not knowing that they were a basketball team.

“Probably a dance class for tall people, Margaret” I can just see the 80 year old guy saying to his 77 year old wife. Funny thing is…… Providence beat UConn twice this year. Betcha can’t guess what defense they played.  

Categories: Commentary
No Comments »