Big East Tournament Set!

[Who Dey Time]

Here you go....Providence's win a moment ago makes the USF-St. John's game irrelevant.

Tuesday, March 8
(16) DePaul vs. (9) Connecticut 12:00
(13) Rutgers vs. (12) Seton Hall 2:30
(15) South Florida vs. (10) Villanova 7:00
(14) Providence vs. (11) Marquette 9:30

Wednesday, March 9
DEP/UCONN vs. (8) Georgetown 12:00
RUTG/SH vs. (5) St. John's 2:30
USF/NOVA vs. (7) Cincinnati 7:00
PROV/MARQ vs. (6) West Virginia 9:30

Thursday, March 10
DEP/MARQ/UCONN/GTOWN vs. (1) Pittsburgh 12:00
RUTG/SH/STJ vs. (4) Syracuse 2:30
USF/NOVA/UC vs. (2) Notre Dame 7:00
PROV/MARQ/WVU vs. (3) Louisville 9:30

Go Bearcats!

 

[JeromyM]

I want a rematch with Villanova....they gave us our first loss...it's time for revenge!!!

 

[psax889906]

UCONN/Georgetown at Noon on Wednesday. Sheesh.


And a Seton Hall/St. John's rematch on Wednesday?

With their loss tonight I think Marquette needs to beat Providence AND WVU to get in. Lunardi thinks they are more safely in but I'm not convinced.

 

[bearcat jeff]

UCONN/Georgetown at Noon on Wednesday. Sheesh.


And a Seton Hall/St. John's rematch on Wednesday?

With their loss tonight I think Marquette needs to beat Providence AND WVU to get in. Lunardi thinks they are more safely in but I'm not convinced.

I'm not convinced about Marquette either. Matter of fact, I think they'll get left out if they lose their first round game.

 

[BearcatAlum1]

Nova has been struggling down the stretch (and has really limped to a bunch of BE victories this year...), so don't think they'll just give USF a beatdown. USF is big and athletic, which could cause some problems for Nova.

Either way, we'll be favored no matter who we play in the 2nd Round. I would love to get a crack at ND on a neutral floor, without all the bull$hit homecooking they receive at the Joyce Center...

 

[UCalum08]

Nova has been struggling down the stretch (and has really limped to a bunch of BE victories this year...), so don't think they'll just give USF a beatdown. USF is big and athletic, which could cause some problems for Nova.

Either way, we'll be favored no matter who we play in the 2nd Round. I would love to get a crack at ND on a neutral floor, without all the bull$hit homecooking they receive at the Joyce Center...

Amen! Exactly what I was thinking. I can't stand the attitude of ND players. They act like like they never foul and its a sin if they get a foul called on them. Watching Hansbrough throwing a hissy fit on court and throwing himself into the UConn player sums up everything I despise of ND.

 

[ohioubearcat]

I'll be rooting for USF because even though Nova is playing poorly right now, they are the type of team that scares me. There is no arguement that our team is GREAT defensively, but our weakness are teams that can shoot the 3.

We play hard and have great intensity on defense, but with teams that shoot it well its to a fault. We "help" too much on defense sometimes with dribble penetration which leaves open threes from the wings.....something Nova and ND have the ability to excel at.

I am interested to see how we play these teams defensively in the BET....we are no doubt a better team now than the start of the BE reg season, and playing Nova/ND should be a good measuring stick.

GO CATS

 

[bearcat jeff]

I'll be rooting for USF because even though Nova is playing poorly right now, they are the type of team that scares me. There is no arguement that our team is GREAT defensively, but our weakness are teams that can shoot the 3.

We play hard and have great intensity on defense, but with teams that shoot it well its to a fault. We "help" too much on defense sometimes with dribble penetration which leaves open threes from the wings.....something Nova and ND have the ability to excel at.

I am interested to see how we play these teams defensively in the BET....we are no doubt a better team now than the start of the BE reg season, and playing Nova/ND should be a good measuring stick.

GO CATS

I am just hoping they win a couple games for seeding. My gut is the team would say it doesn't matter who they play, but I bet in their hearts they'd love another crack at Nova and ND. I think they have finally learned to worry about themselves and the rest takes care of itself.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I feel Marquette has something still to prove also. They have 13 losses, will get to 14 during the BEast tourney (if not it will be a moot point). They have non-conference losses vs. Duke, Vandy, Gonzaga and Wisconsin, their best non-conference win is probably Bucknell. They kind of are the other side of the coin of UC's dilemna with non-conference schedule this year. They scheduled some tough games and lost all of them. Doesn't really prove much and we've been in that boat the last few years when we were in bubble talks. Being the 11th team in for the Big East when no more than eight in one conference has ever made it doesn't help them either. And the selection committee does consider those things. I feel they need 2 wins. They draw Providence and West VirGINA.

p.s. glad it's them and not us in that situation

 

[psax889906]

Being the 11th team in for the Big East when no more than eight in one conference has ever made it doesn't help them either. And the selection committee does consider those things.

The committee has hammered home this point time and time again this year because of this exact point. They do NOT look at the # of teams from each conference that they select. Now- that doesn't mean they won't look at where Marquette finished in the Big East and take something from that. There is also an inherit amount of subconscious thought that will likely go into selecting an 11th team from one conference as well.

So I agree and disagree with you at the same time.

 

[JeromyM]

I feel Marquette will be left out, they remind me of Michigan State a little. You can schedule a lot of ranked and top notch teams, but if you don't beat any of them...would it really matter??

I would have rather had Cincinnati play our same schedule and go undefeated rather than schedule 5 top teams and lose them all. If we did that we'd be looking at a 19-12 record and probably an NIT bid. Our record of 24-7 is a damn good record, better than Louisville, West Virginina, Villanova, Connecticut, Georgetown, St. Johns....all teams supposedly better than us.

Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut, St. Johns, and Louisville all are ranked....we have a better record than all , and beat Gtown, Louisville, and St. Johns. We finished better in conference play than Nova, Gtown, and UConn. Can we please get some love shown to the Bearcats of Cincinnati......this week, I think we'll be back at #25. I know it doesn't matter if we are ranked.....I just thinks it gets us better exposure for recruits and fanwise.

 

[psax889906]

I personally hope they stay unranked. Keep flying under that radar as long as you can. Like Mick said during the postgame yesterday, luckily in College basketball- unlike College Football- rankings don't matter in the end. You get to decide your fate on the court.

 

[JasonS]

I feel Marquette will be left out, they remind me of Michigan State a little. You can schedule a lot of ranked and top notch teams, but if you don't beat any of them...would it really matter??

I would have rather had Cincinnati play our same schedule and go undefeated rather than schedule 5 top teams and lose them all. If we did that we'd be looking at a 19-12 record and probably an NIT bid. Our record of 24-7 is a damn good record, better than Louisville, West Virginina, Villanova, Connecticut, Georgetown, St. Johns....all teams supposedly better than us.

Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut, St. Johns, and Louisville all are ranked....we have a better record than all , and beat Gtown, Louisville, and St. Johns. We finished better in conference play than Nova, Gtown, and UConn. Can we please get some love shown to the Bearcats of Cincinnati......this week, I think we'll be back at #25. I know it doesn't matter if we are ranked.....I just thinks it gets us better exposure for recruits and fanwise.

Rankings matter for exposure purposes so I hope UC is ranked this week. ESPN shows highlights of ranked teams. If you're not ranked, you're not relevant to ESPN.

 

[dp3113]

I feel Marquette will be left out, they remind me of Michigan State a little. You can schedule a lot of ranked and top notch teams, but if you don't beat any of them...would it really matter??

I would have rather had Cincinnati play our same schedule and go undefeated rather than schedule 5 top teams and lose them all. If we did that we'd be looking at a 19-12 record and probably an NIT bid. Our record of 24-7 is a damn good record, better than Louisville, West Virginina, Villanova, Connecticut, Georgetown, St. Johns....all teams supposedly better than us.

Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut, St. Johns, and Louisville all are ranked....we have a better record than all , and beat Gtown, Louisville, and St. Johns. We finished better in conference play than Nova, Gtown, and UConn. Can we please get some love shown to the Bearcats of Cincinnati......this week, I think we'll be back at #25. I know it doesn't matter if we are ranked.....I just thinks it gets us better exposure for recruits and fanwise.

you are right. everyone ripped our non-conference schedule, but going into the Marquette game both of us were 9-7 in the coneference, but we were 22-7 and thy were 18-11. according to experts- we were in, and they were on the bubble. they had better coneference wins than us- ND, Cuse, UConn, but we were the ones in and they were on the bubble. The difference is they played and lost to Duke, Gonzaga, Vandy, and Wisco (granted this is a rivalry game played annually). The only advantage we had was in overall wins. thus, i'd say our pre-conf schedule worked out quite well for us.

 

[psax889906]

Rankings matter for exposure purposes so I hope UC is ranked this week. ESPN shows highlights of ranked teams. If you're not ranked, you're not relevant to ESPN.

It doesn't matter at this point in the year- imo. They are going to show highlights of every Big East Conference Tournament game on ESPN. Ever game of the Big East Tournament is showcased on ESPN. Then you have the NCAA's. Now if it was still the regular season I might agree with.

At this point all the games will be showcased as the number of teams left playing gets smaller and smaller. There's a national championship contender counter on the ESPN College Basketball Nation Blog right now that's pretty cool to follow. As teams lose in their conference tournaments that will not get at-large selections they take them off the list. I believe we were down to 217 or so coming into today. That number will be in the area of 100 in a matter of days.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

The committee has hammered home this point time and time again this year because of this exact point. They do NOT look at the # of teams from each conference that they select. Now- that doesn't mean they won't look at where Marquette finished in the Big East and take something from that. There is also an inherit amount of subconscious thought that will likely go into selecting an 11th team from one conference as well.

So I agree and disagree with you at the same time.

They say they don't but at the same time they're aware of how many teams they include from each conference. I remember when we were 8 and Syracuse was 9 and we lost to them and they ran the table to earn their bid we were the odd man out. I seem to remember afterwards the committee chairman coming out and saying something about the Big East was good and warranted 8 teams being in. As you said, they are as human as we are and make conscious decisions in the process. When they get to the bottom of the list and have to choose between Marquette and Richmond and Georgia, Marquette being #11 won't help their cause (especially over a mighty A-10 team and the gauntlet their schedule presents them).