Big East still a jumble

If you thought the Big East was just a jumble of teams with no clear-cut favorite before the season started, things got even a little more mixed up last night.

With primetime games on ESPN (West Virginia at Syracuse) and ESPN2 (Rutgers at Louisville) it represented a chance for the cream to rise to the top. Longtime conference power West Virginia was expected to handle an improving Syracuse program, while Rutgers was expected to win at Louisville and keep a hold on first place.

Well, so much for that theory. West Virginia got drilled, 49-23, by Syracuse and Rutgers was sloppy in a 16-14 loss to the Cardinals.

Instead of Rutgers (5-2, 2-1) moving to 3-0 in the conference with a half-game lead over Cincinnati (6-1, 2-0), the Scarlet Knights are now a half-game behind Cincy. The same can be said of the Mountaineers. A win and a Syracuse loss would’ve put West Virginia in sole possession of the first place.

Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? It gets worse. West Virginia, Syracuse, Connecticut, Louisville and Pittsburgh are all 1-1 in the conference. South Florida is 0-3 in conference play.

What this means is the entire Big East, except for South Florida, is still in contention for the conference title.

Remaining Schedules:
Cincinnati (6-1, 2-0): @ Pittsburgh, vs. West Virginia, @ Rutgers, @ Syracuse, vs. Connecticut