Tonight's action created further separation between the NCAA have's and have not's in the league.

Pitt 82 - Providence 63
Marquette 89 - Seton Hall 64
Louisville 88 - DePaul 68

Lunardi updated Bracketology yesterday, so we've had 4 conference games since then. All 4 teams currently projected in won their games this week so far. Here are the seeds.

2- Georgetown
3- Notre Dame
4- UConn
5- Louisville
7- Marquette, Pitt
12- WVU, Syracuse

Syracuse was the 4th to last team in.

Standings
1 Georgetown 10-2 20-3 (7)
2 Notre Dame 8-2 18-4 (27)
3 Louisville 9-3 19-6 (16)
4 Connecticut 7-3 18-5 (10)
5 Pittsburgh 7-4 19-5 (15)
6 Marquette 7-5 17-6 (22)
7 Cincinnati 6-5 11-12
8 Syracuse 6-5 16-8 (46)
9 West Virginia 5-5 16-7 (41)
10 Seton Hall 5-7 15-10
11 DePaul 5-7 10-14
12 St. John's 4-7 10-12
13 Villanova 4-7 14-9
14 Providence 4-8 13-11
15 Rutgers 2-10 10-15
16 South Florida 1-10 10-14

I included RPI numbers for the 8 teams with a shot at making it. While it is no shock, despite there being a lot of time left, we have 6 teams in that would really have to play their way out, 8 teams with no shot, and Syracuse and WVU on the bubble.

The Big East will get 6-8 bids, and 7 might be likely, with the Orange or Eers on the wrong side of the bubble unless they win some key games down the stretch.

Look for the Orange to make a statement against Georgetown on Sat.

I'm betting we don't get 8 teams in this year. Our league RPI isn't high enough to justify it. I believe this will be the reason there is an eventual split between the all-ins and the basketball onlys of the Big East.
CJ

Orange Eagles Wrote:Look for the Orange to make a statement against Georgetown on Sat.

I hope you are right. We certainly played GT tough at their place. Hopefully, the Dome crowd will be a huge advantage. We need to beat a couple of ranked teams.

I think WV will get into the NCAAs. Their schedule is relatively easy the rest of the way. 6-2 is very doable. 11-7 in the conference will be good enough.

SU has a much tougher road. I assume USF and SH are wins, but they still play GT, ND, UL, Pitt and MU. They need to win 2 of these to get in. Otherwise, they are going to have to make a run in the BEC tourney.

Pitt also has a tough schedule. But, with a win over Duke, I think they are the only team that can go .500 in the conference and get into the NCAAs.

MU is no lock either. A win against Pitt on Friday would probably put them over the top. However, they still have road games at SU and VU, along with a home game against GT. Assuming wins against Rutgers and SJU, MU needs to win one of the other 4 and I don't think they can beat a zone team like SU in a hostile environment.

I think UC still has a remote shot. Win the next two ( at home against St Johns and South Florida) and you are 8-5 in the league. Then you finish up with Providence and Depaul at home and GTown, Pitt and Uconn on the road. Win for of those and 2 in the BE tournament and you have 17 wins and an RPI around 50. Yes it is extremely optimistic but we already beat Pitt, should have beaten Uconn and I think we can beat GTown.

With 12 losses, UC's best chance may be a long run in The BEast tourney.

JFlight21 Wrote:I think UC still has a remote shot. Win the next two ( at home against St Johns and South Florida) and you are 8-5 in the league. Then you finish up with Providence and Depaul at home and GTown, Pitt and Uconn on the road. Win for of those and 2 in the BE tournament and you have 17 wins and an RPI around 50. Yes it is extremely optimistic but we already beat Pitt, should have beaten Uconn and I think we can beat GTown.

JFlight, you are right that UC would have a shot at that point if they finished up 6-1. Maybe I went to the extreme by saying 8 have no shot, but by that I meant short of winning out or nearly doing so. Something you just don't expect from teams near .500 currently. I can see UC winning those final 4 home games, where they will be decent favorites in all. That's 10 wins right there, and an above .500 finish is impressive in its own after the play prior to New Year's.

On the other side, as MU pointed out, we don't have 6 locks quite yet. Just 6 teams that are in short of falling apart. After checking out the remaining schedules for Syracuse and WVU, it is clear that the Orange have the chance to play themselves in with big time wins, but at this point that schedule very well may keep them out.

UConn 84 - Notre Dame 78
South Florida 89 - Syracuse 78
Cincinnati 60 - St John's 43

Standings
1 Georgetown 10-2 20-3 (7)
2 Louisville 9-3 19-6 (18)
3 Connecticut 8-3 19-5 (9)
4 Notre Dame 8-3 18-5 (26)
5 Pittsburgh 7-4 19-5 (16)
6 Marquette 7-5 17-6 (21)
7 Cincinnati 7-5 12-12
8 Syracuse 6-6 16-9 (53)
9 West Virginia 5-5 16-7 (42)
10 Seton Hall 5-7 15-10
11 DePaul 5-7 10-14
12 Villanova 4-7 14-9
13 St. John's 4-8 10-13
14 Providence 4-8 13-11
15 South Florida 2-10 11-14
16 Rutgers 2-10 10-15

WVU should be favored in around 6 of their final 8 games. If they can take care of business they can give the league 7 teams this season. Syracuse would need some big time upsets now.

I'm predicting right now UL will be the 4 or 5 seed in Memphis' region.

UC has a couple other factors...the most difficult schedule in The Big East, it was up to #3 last week, Nationally. It may have fallen some with games with Rutgers and St John's etc. They also have the bad losses all when Warren was out injured the first month of the season. They also played several Non-Conference road games against very good teams. If they can take a seed away when Kenyon got hurt they should give it back when warren was hurt...kinda tongue in cheek, but watch out for the Cats!

3601 Wrote:I'm predicting right now UL will be the 4 or 5 seed in Memphis' region.

Yes, I think that's also what some mock sports writers ( ), oops, should I say some sports writers doing a mock selection came up with. It looked like if both UM and UL won their first 2 rounds they would meet in the Sweet 16. Coulda happened last year, but we have to win our games. I think it was Andy Katz @ ESPN, don't have the link though.