Big East Tournament, Day 1

The basketball gods were unkind to me, as I was unable to watch the early games, (Syracuse over Cincy, Georgetown over Notre Dame), but I was able to watch the night games (Rutgers over Seton Hall, Pittsburgh over Louisville). My overall thoughts:

- As Mike Patrick would say, "HOLY COW!" What a shot by Gerry McNamara! The 3-point runner over a taller defender is incredibly tough, especially when if you miss it, in all likelihood your chance at making the NCAA Tournament in your senior season is over. And then Muhammad follows that up with just missing a half-courter. All I saw was the hightlights, but wow. This is why I love college basketball!

- Much to the chagrin of Digger Phelps, Notre Dame's NCAA chances are gone. Almost every time I have seen Digger on TV for the past week, he always was talking about how dangerous the Irish were, and how they could be this year's West Virginia. I realize they lost an inordinate number of close games, and that they had a talented squad, but the talk was getting a little out of hand. They haven't won a close, meaningful game all year. Now all of a sudden they're going to string 4 in a row to win the toughest conference in the NCAA? Well, maybe they wouldn't have had to win it, but they would have had to at least get to the finals, which would have meant beating Georgetown, Marquette, and then probably Connecticut. That's not so easy.

- Coming into the day, there were basically three teams that were on the bubble: Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and Syracuse. If you had asked me to rank them before the day, I would have gone with this:

1) Seton Hall
2) Cincinnati
3) Syracuse

So what happens? Syracuse beats Cincinnati, and Seton Hall (especially Kelly Whitney) lays an egg against Rutgers. What does this mean as far as the bubble is concerned? I have no idea. I have a feeling that Seton Hall will get in, and one of Syracuse/Cincy will get in. If Syracuse beats Connecticut, obviously they're in. If not, things will get very interesting.

- The nightcap game was awful in all respects. Coming in, I thought Louisville would have a solid chance for the upset. Then I blinked, and all of a sudden the score was 22-2 Pittsburgh. So midway through the 2nd half, with the game well in hand (or so I thought), and Pittsburgh up 19 with like 10 minutes left, I leave because I had something else I have to do. I came back later to find it was a 5 point game at the end. Just terrible.

Thursday afternoon, top-seeded Connecticut takes on a Syracuse team still fighting for its life at 11 CDT, followed by Georgetown vs. Marquette. Thursday night, Villanova takes on Rutgers in the early game, and West Virgnia takes on Pittsburgh in the late game. For the record, I like Connecticut, Georgetown, Villanova, and West Virginia to advance.

All of the other major conference tournies start Thursday as well, which should make for a great day of basketball. Enjoy!