With only 2 weeks until the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden and three weeks until Selection Sunday, Big East basketball is heating up. After a BIG day yesterday, the B.East is headed for another fantastic finish.
For those who haven’t been following closely, the Big East appears to be down this year, but a closer look reveals that the league may be the youngest it has been in years. Teams like Connecticut, Marquette, Providence, St. Johns, Syracuse, and Seton Hall are primarily led by sophomores and freshmen.
Yesterday, surging Georgetown (20-5) rode Player-of-the-Year candidate Jeff Green and won their 9th straight in a big road victory in Philadelphia over Villanova (18-8) 58-55. After Georgetown, the hottest team in the league is Rick Pitino’s Lousville team (19-8) who got a big win at suddenly struggling Marquette (21-7) who appear to finally be enterring the meat of their schedule. Syracuse (19-8), led by scoring machine Demetrius Nichols, kept NCAA hopes alive with a victory over a UConn team (16-10) that had been surging over the last two weeks.
Providence (16-9) secured a bid in the conference tournament by holding on in a sloppy win over the scrappy young St. John’s Red Storm (15-12). The Friars, with wins over Marquette and BC, still have a very slim hope of securing an NCAA bid with 4 games left which they will be favored in, before the conference tourney in the World’s Most Famous Arena. Providence hosts West Virginia (20-6) on Tuesday night before Syracuse comes visiting next Saturday for a nationally-televised showdown on ESPN. The Friars then hit the road for winable games in Tampa Bay against 12-15 South Florida and St. Johns. The Friars will likely have to win all 4 games to sneak into the NCAAs.
Conference-leader Pitt (23-4) defended conference honor by downing the Washington Huskies. Tournament bids are secure for Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, West Virginia, and Louisville, while Villanova and Syracuse still have work to do and Providence has the slimest of chances. Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnatti, and South Florida will most likely miss the conference tournament.
Elsewere in college hoops:
-The BC Superfans were disappointed once again when the Eagles completed their predictable homestand sweep at the hands of top-ranked North Carolina. The absence of dismissed Sean Williams was obviously visible evey time Tyler Hansbrough laid in an easy layup or grabbed a rebound. BC is still in very good shape for the tournament, but hopes of a 2-seed or an ACC title are now long gone. By the way, am I the only one who thinks future-Celtic Hansbrough looks like a stretched-out Harry Potter?
-The Nation’s longest winning streak (17) came crashing to a halt in Tennessee when unranked Vanderbilt (18-8) upset #1-ranked Florida (24-3) by a score of 83-70.
-#3 Wisconsin (26-2) kept up their blistering pace by thumping Penn State (10-15) 75-49. With the success and notoriety of Greg Oden and Ohio State, Wisconsin has been overlooked nationally, but they are cruising toward a #1-seed in the tournament.
-Could perenial power Arizona be on the bubble? With a loss at home to #7 UCLA, the Wildcats fell to 17-9. While the Cats have big wins against Louisville, Memphis, and Oregon in Eugene, the Cats have lost 2 in a row and have only 3 more games to reach the magical 20-win plateau.
-#8 Kansas secured their 4th consecutive double-digit win with a 53-point beatdown of unranked Nebraska. Since losing at home for the first time EVER to Texas A&M, the Jayhawks have been on a tear.
-#9 Memphis finaly got a big non-conference win by downing Gonzaga in Spokane. Absolutely BRILLIANT scheduling by these two schools.
-#17 Oregon continues to struggle as they’ve now lost 5 in a row and 6 of their last 8.
-Unranked Alabama got a badly-needed win over #17 Kentucky, most likely securing an NCAA berth.
-Virginia (18-7) may have dealt the knockout blow to Florida State (17-10) with a 73-70 win in Charlottesville to secure 1st place in the ACC. Amazingly, the Hoos remain unranked but that will most likely end tomorrow.
February 18th, 2007
Well, UNC picked up its first-ever win against the Eagles, and while BC blew lots of opportunities to win this one, in a two point game, having a star player down with three fouls is huge.
I continue to find basketball frustrating and subjective. A major game-turner was the third foul called on BC’s ACC all-star Jared Dudley with 6 minutes left in the first half. Accordingly, he was benched for the remainder of the first half and played conservatively in the second half. But it was obvious on the tape that NO FOUL was committed, but, as Dick Vitale observed, TYLER HANSBROUGH DID A MASTERFUL JOB OF LOOKING LIKE HE WAS FOULED. So since everyone watching could see that the call was bull, why was this calls not reversed? Do we not have instant replay technology? I have searched the net, the NCAA site and the ACC site and can’t find anything outlining the official review policy for college basketball review or conference policy. So if any of you roundball geniuses can help me understand why that call couldn’t be reversed please fill me in.
(Please spare me any analysis that involves looking at the stats and declaring the officiating “balanced”. I think that is a giant rationalization by bball fans to get them past the subjective officiating that seems to be an accepted part of the game.)
February 18th, 2007
Well Bob, I agree that a LOT of officiating in college basketball is uneven and subjective…just ask anyone who has ever lost to Duke in college ball or the Jordan-led Bulls in the NBA. The Friars lost a heartbreaker in South Bend on Thursday when the Irish shot 21 free throws to just ONE for Providence. It felt like we were playing Duke.
BUT, penalties and fouls are not reviewed in ANY sport. In football, they don’t review holding or pass interference, even though they are subject to same subjectivity and lobbying. For example, you simply can’t BREATHE on Peyton Manning without a penalty, and a WR can “sell” pass interference just as a DE can “sell” holding. Still…these game-changing penalties are non-reviewable.
In baseball, infielders pull their glove up from a tag quickly to make it seem as if they slapped the baserunner and firstbasemen pull their foot off the bag quickly to make it seem lke the throw beat the runner. Again, non-reviewable, and subject to the same biases and human foibles…
February 18th, 2007
Having a star player pick up fouls early on is tough, but it’s not a game ender. Witness Georgetown yesterday who got 4 minutes out of big man Roy Hibbert in the first half and who didn’t even register a point until the 2nd half. He picked up his 3rd foul in the 2nd half and sat for a good 10 minutes then too. But Georgetown still found a way to win on the road.
There’s no review of fouls in basketball just like there’s no review of pass interference calls or holding penalties in college (or pro) football. They are referee judgement calls in both sports – what you are looking for in basketball doesn’t exist in football either.
For what it’s worth, griping about officials after a loss is about as weak as it gets. Almost every fan of a team has been hosed by the referees at times. Noting it is one thing, but making it the crux of the reason why your team lost is pathetic.
February 18th, 2007
As for Syracuse, still on the bubble for sure. But that was a much-needed win yesterday. They still make horrible decisions with the basketball, but Rautins can stroke the three and Paul Harris is really tough around the basket. Just need to reign in that maddening Eric Devendorf who still thinks a 6′4″ guard can throw up layups amidst the trees and not get them swatted.
Tough last 3 games for the Cuse too – a week from yesterday at Providence, then they host the aforementioned (YOUR MOTHER’S A) Hoyas and then close out with a trip to Philly and the Nova Wildcats. Take 2 out of three there and that would land the Orange at 21-9, 10-6 in the Big East. I think that might do enough to get them in, but I’d like to see at least one win in Madison Square Garden to make it more of a done deal.
February 18th, 2007
I wasn’t really making an argument Scott. I just never really took basketball all that seriously until BC joined the ACC, and so I never noticed how much officiating subjectivity seems to be part of the game. I agree with both of your comments on football and baseball, but it seems as though the refs in bball have a lot more to do with outcomes, especially when you have two teams in a close match. And for the record, I think I did say that I thougth BC had ample opportunity to tie or win but they missed those chances.
February 18th, 2007
I don’t disagree that officials make subjective calls and I’ve been known to want to throw a foot through the television as well.
Either way, even though BC lost these two games, there’s really no question that the Eagles are one of the better teams in the nation, even if the current poll drops them from the Top 25. They’ll be a tough out in the conference and NCAA tourney I wager.
March 12th, 2007
[...] With SEVEN teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference got the most teams into the NCAA Tournament. The Big East, Pac-10 and Big Ten each got six bids. By just about any measure, 7 of 12 teams (58%) is fairly dominant. The Pac-10 at 60% (6 of 10 teams) leads the way percentage-wise, but that’s somewhat diminished when one considers that Stanford’s (18-12, 10-8, RPI 65!) dubious inclusion has most pundits – and bloggers on this site – scratching their heads. For all the BE apologists (particularly one on this blog) who’d predicted 8 or 9 BE teams vs. 6 or fewer for the ACC, the Big LEast was just that this year in the Tournament Selection Committee’s minds: The BE got 6 of it’s 437 teams into the Dance (38%), with 4 receiving seeds of 6 or lower (6 ND, 6 Lville, 8 Marquette and 9 Villanova). Perhaps it was the BE’s #5 Conference RPI rating, but whatever the reason, the Committee slighted the Big East. [...]