Big East looking for 11 bids, two No. 1s
Some experts are projecting two Big East teams -- No. 3 Pittsburgh and No. 4 Notre Dame -- to receive No. 1 regional seeds when the NCAA Tournament's 68-team bracket is revealed this evening on Selection Sunday. The funny thing is that neither made it to the final of the Big East Tournament Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Panthers (27-5) were beaten in their opening quarterfinal game by Connecticut (25-9) on Kemba Walker's buzzer jump shot, a moment that will live in Big East Tournament lore as part of the Huskies' unprecedented run of four wins that made them the first team to play five games in five days in a conference tournament.
Notre Dame (26-6) at least made it to the semifinals, where it blew a 14-point lead to Louisville (25-8), which went into the Big East final against UConn off a double-bye. No matter what the outcome of the title game, the Cardinals and Huskies figure to go into the NCAA Tournament as No. 3 seeds off their impressive finishes.
Selection Sunday figures to be a red-letter day for the Big East, which could land a record-smashing 11 teams in the field, including St. John's (21-11) for the first time since 2002. The conference tied the record last year with eight entrants.
Because the quality of play in the Big East has been so high all season, an argument could be made that this week's tournament at MSG was more competitive than the NCAA Tournament. Even so, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said it's a mistake to assume the Big East will dominate the NCAA just because it will have so many entrants.
"Our league has the most good teams this year, but all the teams you're going to play are good teams," Boeheim said. "College basketball is equal. Everybody's got good players. They're not mediocre teams. They're good teams, and if you don't play on a high level in the first game, you can get beat. And I mean any team. I don't care what seed you are."
Injuries might affect the seeding of two Big East teams, St. John's and Georgetown (21-10). The Red Storm announced that forward D.J. Kennedy, who was injured in a quarterfinal loss to Syracuse, will have reconstructive surgery on his right knee. Yet they played well enough without him for the final 34 minutes against the Orange to minimize the damage.
ESPN "bracketologist" Joe Lunardi projected St. John's as a No. 5 seed Saturday, dropping only one rung from his previous projection. Georgetown might be a different story. Guard Chris Wright broke his non-shooting wrist, and the Hoyas lost that game and the three he missed since then and haven't looked good. Lunardi dropped them to a No. 7 seed.
Cincinnati (25-8) suffered a 38-point loss to Notre Dame in the Big East quarterfinals, but all the Bearcats' losses have come against ranked teams and they might go as high as a sixth seed. West Virginia (20-11), which made the Final Four last season, projects in that same vicinity despite being upset in the second round of the Big East by Marquette (20-14), which won two tournament games to nail down an NCAA bid.
If there's a question about any Big East contender, it's Villanova (21-11), which had a 16-1 start but finished 5-10 down the stretch, including five straight losses at the end.
