March 8, 2007
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
While there are 16 schools in the Big East Conference, the bottom four finishers are not invited to its annual conference tournament held at Madison Square Garden in March [see GARDEN PARTY, 3/4/07]. This makes for some heated regular season games down the stretch, as the teams with the four best regular season records are granted byes in the first round. Yesterday was that first round and it passed with relatively little excitement. Higher seed beat lower seed in three out of four games (#9 seed Villanova defeated #8 seed Depaul) and nine and 13 were popular numbers, acting as the margins of victory in two games apiece. Capsule results for each game can be found here.
The quarterfinals start today at noon. Follow along with the brackets above as I give some quick thoughts on today's games.
Game 1, noon: #9 Villanova vs. #1 Georgetown
Villanova has succeded in bedeviling Georgetown on the court for approximately the last decade. Then again, so have most decent teams in the conference. Game time should be a factor. Does the early hour and a day off yesterday leave the Hoyas with creaky or fresh legs? Number of times 1985 upset of G'town by 'Nova in NCAA Championship will be referenced by ESPN commentators: 34
Game 2, 2 p.m.: #4 Notre Dame vs. #5 Syracuse
Irish vs. Orange. A relative newcomer to the conference, ND has a reputation as an underperformer once it enters The Garden in March. Syracuse is almost the exact opposite. It's won the tournament the last two years, last year overcoming a low seed to win four straight games including the final. In their last meeting, ND manhandled the Orange. Number of times "luck" of Irish will be mentioned in reference to upcoming St. Patrick's Day: 9
Game 3, 7 p.m.:#7 West Virginia vs. #2 Louisville
Few coaches in the conference are as experienced in tournament play as Louisville's Rick Pitino and his team came on strong in the second half of the season. I've always liked the Mountaineers though, a good team with the ability to upset anyone.
Game 4, 9 p.m.:#3 Pittsburgh vs. #6 Marquette
After standing dominant atop the Big East throughout the regular season, Pitt stumbled at the finish line, losing two out of its last three games. Will the team hit the floor lacking confidence or eager for redemption?
All games will be broadcast on ESPN.
Posted by Lexiphane at March 8, 2007 6:55 AM
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