Big East Tournament Preview

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It's being projected that the Big East is going to get eleven teams in the NCAA Tournament. The eleven teams are Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse, St. Johns, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Connecticut, Villanova, and Marquette. If someone other than those teams wins the Big East Tournament they will get twelve in. Either way it's going to be a record for most teams from one conference in the NCAA Tournament. That shows how loaded the Big East is and the fact that UC went 11-7 in the conference is a huge accomplishment. They were a couple of plays away from going 13-5 which would have earned them a double bye. It doesn't matter though they have earned a 1st round bye.

The tournament is held in New York city at Madison Square Garden every year and it's the best conference tournament of any conference in the country. Villanova is the 10th seed and it's ranked in the top 20 in the country, that tells you how deep this conference is. The games start tomorrow, Tuesday the 8th at noon and ends with the championship Saturday the 12th at 9 pm. There are a number of different teams that could win it all including the Bearcats who are playing about as well as any team in the conference right now. Over the past five years teams rated 6th or lower have made the Finals every year. Teams want to win here to improve seeding, but a lot of the top teams that have a high seed locked up may not play their best players as many minutes to keep them fresh for the NCAA Tournament, that's my theory of why teams from the middle of the pack and lower make it to the championship game every year. That being said West Virginia won it last year and they made the Final Four so winning this tournament will not burn your team out for the NCAA's.

Here is my reasoning why UC has a decent chance to win the toughest tournament in the nation. This tournament starts Tuesday and ends Saturday. If you win you play again the next day and so on. There are no off days. Teams that have to play the first day are at a disadvantage because some teams don't play their first game until Thursday so if you advance from the first round you will play two games before one of the top four teams plays a single game. UC doesn't play until Wednesday so they aren't at that big of a disadvantage. The reason I say Cincy has a good shot to win the whole thing is they average playing nine players 10 minutes or more per game. So if they can just win two games they will have a big advantage over the competition. In fact I think if they win their first two games they will atleast make the Finals and unless they play Pitt who also plays a deep rotation they will win the whole thing. Why two games? Well if they beat Villanova/South Florida they will play a Notre Dame team that has a double bye and will have fresh legs. If they can get by that game they will be in the semis and playing a team that played the night before. However that team will not be as fresh because other than Pitt no other team in the conference plays that many players so this tourney is set up for them to win if they can make it past Notre Dame.

So the action starts tomorrow at noon, here's a look at the first round games.

#9 Connecticut vs. #16 Depaul at 12 pm
#12 Seton Hall vs. #13 Rutgers at 2 pm
#10 Villanova vs. #15 South Florida at 7 pm
#11 Marquette vs. #14 Providence at 9 pm

Here's the schedule for the 2nd Round on Wednesday

Connecticut/Depaul vs. #8 Georgetown at 12 pm
Seton Hall/Rutgers vs. #5 St. Johns at 2 pm
Villanova/South Florida vs. #7 Cincinnati at 7 pm
Marquette/Providence vs. #6 West Virginia at 9 pm

Quarterfinals Schedule for Thursday

Winner of 12 pm game on Wednesday vs. #1 Pittsburgh at 12 pm
Winner of 2 pm game on Wednesday vs. #4 Syracuse at 2 pm
Winner of 7 pm game on Wednesday vs. #2 Notre Dame at 7 pm
Winner of 9 pm game on Wednesday vs. #3 Louisville at 9 pm

Semifinals Schedule for Friday

1st Semifinal Game winner of Thursday's 12 pm game vs. winner of Thursday's 2 pm game,7pm
2nd Semifinal Game winner of Thursday's 7 pm game vs. winner of Thursday's 9 pm game,9pm

Finals Schedule for Saturday

Winner of Semifinal number 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal number 2, at 9pm