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Big East Tournament

Should be incredibly exciting this year. Villanova and Syracuse play in the first round in what might be a de facto play-in game for both bubble teams. Top 4 finishers get byes. The conference is deep enough that ND, the 3 seed will likely be playing a ranked team in their first game.

1. Georgetown
2. Louisville
3. Notre Dame
4. Connecticut
5. West Virginia
6. Marquette
7. Pittsburgh
8. Villanova
9. Syracuse
10. Cincinnati
11. Seton Hall
12. Providence

Tournament starts Wednesday at noon with the best first round game, Villanova/Syracuse.

Big East Awards

With such a big league, the all-conference teams are big too.

2007-08 All-BIG EAST First Team
Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, So., 6-1, 195, Indianapolis, Ind.
Jeff Adrien, Connecticut, Jr., 6-7, 243, Brookline, Mass.
*A.J. Price, Connecticut, Jr., 6-2, 187, Amityville, N.Y.
*Roy Hibbert, Georgetown, Sr., 7-2, 278, Adelphi, Md.
*David Padgett, Louisville, Sr., 6-11, 245, Reno, Nev.
*Luke Harangody, Notre Dame, So., 6-8, 251, Schererville, Ind.
Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame, Jr., 6-0, 196, Staten Island, N.Y.
Sam Young, Pittsburgh, Jr., 6-6, 215, Clinton, Md.
Brian Laing, Seton Hall, Sr., 6-5, 215, Bronx, N.Y.
Kentrell Gransberry, USF, Sr., 6-9, 270, Baton Rouge, La.
Joe Alexander, West Virginia, Jr., 6-8, 230, Mt. Airy, Md.

2007-08 All-BIG EAST Second Team
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut, So., 7-3, 263, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Jonathan Wallace, Georgetown, Sr., 6-1, 188, Harvest, Ala.
Draelon Burns, DePaul, Sr., 6-4, 220, Milwaukee, Wisc.
Terrence Williams, Louisville, Jr., 6-6, 210, Seattle, Wash.
Lazar Hayward, Marquette, So., 6-6, 225, Buffalo, N.Y.
Dominic James, Marquette, Jr., 5-11, 185, Richmond, Ind.
Jerel McNeal, Marquette, Jr., 6-3, 200, Chicago, Ill.
Donte

DeJuan Blair and Jonny Flynn share the Rookie of the Year award.

Thabeet wins Defensive Player of the Year.

Sam Young wins the Most Improved Player.

Patrick Ewing Jr. wins the Sixth Man award.

As mentioned, Luke Harangody wins Player of the Year and Mike Brey takes Coach of the Year.

So 11 guys made the All Big East first team? How ridiculous is that? Especially when Thabeet isn't even among that group. I know it's an extra large conference but come on, pick 5 guys.

Villanova is just beating down Syracuse in the second half.

Boeheim's about to miss the tournament for the second year in a row. I love it.

This West Virginia vs Providence game should be good

Providence gave that game away.

Today's games:

Villanova vs. Georgetown

West Virginia vs. Connecticut

Pittsburgh vs. Louisville

Marquette vs. Notre Dame

GYBE wrote:Providence gave that game away.

Today's games:

Villanova vs. Georgetown

West Virginia vs. Connecticut

Pittsburgh vs. Louisville

Marquette vs. Notre Dame

so many quality games.

uconn down 10 vs WV at the moment..........................................

Not saying the outcome would have changed, but the refs were horrible in the second half.

second half was disgusting. would have changed many things because everyone was in foul trouble, but yea i'm not saying it definitely would have changed the end result.

Pitt beat Louisville.

I think today is a good illustration how tough this conference is. Pitts knock off the heavy favorite in Louisville, West Virginia knocks off the heavy favorite in UConn and Marquette is on the verge of taking down Notre Dame. The depth in this league and quality of depth is awesome and on any night teams ranked #1/#2/#3 in the conference can lose to a 6th/7th place team. With a healthy Pitt and Marquette pulling it together lately this conference has become scary good.

I think playing the night before actually helps for the second game, they're not as rusty. It's only in the semis and finals that fatigue really becomes a factor. It seems like this happens every year, in the BET at least. Terrible second half by ND today, really dissapointed. ND will probably drop to a 5 seed.

from what Ive seen ND really struggles against teams with athleticism and quick guards?

They lack the speed and lateral quickness on defense. A team with athleticism that can move the ball will get a ton of open looks against ND. Brey likes to play zone and they simply don't have the guys to rotate quickly enough and contest perimeter shots.

Usually they can score enough to offset their defense, but Harangody didn't have his best stuff tonight.

Georgetown/WVU and Pitt/Marquette today.

Not the most marquee matchups after three upsets, but should still be some good games. Ticket prices among scalpers have really fallen after the Louisville/UConn/ND eliminations.

I'm so mad about the loss last night. First, I and every ND fan freaking hate Marquette. Secondly, Pitt's win left a pretty simple path to the BET Final and a 3 seed. Now we'll probably have a 5/6 seed and get Davidson in Charlotte or something.

Pittsburgh is just so good in the Big East tourny. At least until they get to the championship game. Still, Howland and Dixon's teams have always gotten it done at MSG. They're due for another tourny title. They've lost some real tough ones the past few years. But the Hoyas are playing their best ball of the year.