Big East Babble

The Big East tournament started with a bang today what with Gerry McNamara's game-winning three and Jim Boeheim's tirade in the postgame press conference. We then saw Georgetown squeak one out against an unlucky Notre Dame team that was widely considered a tournament team at the outset of the season. Rutgers and Seton Hall had a nice little fiesty game even though it wasn't really close for most of the second half. And Pitt, oh, Pitt, storming out to a lead and then quitting with about three minutes left in the first half. Just some quick thoughts:

-Cincinnati is probably still in. They'd done enough before the game and everyone assumed they were in. They have some quality wins over West Virginia and Marquette paired with an SOS of 4. Doug Gottlieb couldn't stop talking about the Bearcats' record since Armein Kirkland went down, but I think he's missing the point: It's a credit to Cincinnati that they're still competitive and winning without their third best player. I think the Selection Committee will also consider all the turmoil around the program and the fact that Andy Kennedy still won 19 games with them. Cincinnati is in and dangerous.

-Gerry McNamara just reinforced everything I wrote about March Madness on the 6th. He hit a running three after splitting two defenders? Are you kidding me? What a shot. I love March.

-Jim Boeheim was hilarious in the postgame press conference. I thought he would understand that kids writing for a student newspaper are trying to make a name for themselves, you know, separate their writing from the crowd. Apparently he doesn't. Thirty years in the business and he's reacting to the Syracuse University student newspaper?

-Georgetown seems doomed for an upset. I just have this vision of them as a 5 seed, losing to Wisconsin-Milwaukee or UNC-Wilimington. Imagine if they advanced to the Sweet 16 as a 4 or 5 to play Duke. How big would that be? Duke would DESTROY them in a rematch, especially if it were in Atlanta.

-Notre Dame had a season that just went everywhere but up. It seems like they climbed on a plateau in January and never dropped off or improved. They're like that kid in high school who tries so hard in school but never quite gets the A's he wants, settling for B+'s and B's, and then during finals week, he gets a 39 on the final exam and finishes with a C. Gotta love that guy.

-Is Quincy Douby the ugliest player in college basketball? I think we should have a running tab of the ugliest players around. The biggest competition, at least off the top of my head, would be Donald Copeland from Seton Hall (two ugly guys in the same game today!), Shelden Williams at Duke, Jared Dudley at Boston College and Eric Devendorf at Syracuse. Speaking of Syracuse, Terence Roberts and Daryl Watkins are hideous, too.

-Seton Hall is still in as well. I think they've done enough in terms of big wins to get in. They had some embarrassing losses down the stretch, but the shades of quality basketball we saw when they beat Pitt, NC State, West Virginia and Cincinnati is enough to intrigue the Selection Committee. They will pose a decent threat as a seed somewhere between 8 and 12.

-The night cap offered a tale of two halves. Pitt stormed out to a 35-7 lead, but faltered in the waning minutes of the first half, scoring just 4 points in three minutes. Louisville torched Pitt for 22 minutes with a torrid comeback, cutting the lead to 57-54 with about a minute to play. But for the first time all season, Pitt's free throw shooting guided them to victory.

-Carl Krauser was huge for Pitt. They still need to beat West Virginia if they want a 3 seed and a legitimate shot at making the Sweet 16 and beyond. They cannot be in the top of a bracket because they cannot beat Duke, UConn, 'Nova or Memphis/Texas/Gonzaga.

-Was that interview with Carl Krauser's mom as awkward for you as it was for me? The ESPN sideline reporter kept trying to get her to explain the "X" sign that Carl shows after doing something big for his team. She told him once but he didn't understand her. She told him the first time that it was because Carl was from the Bronx. He asked her why he did it. She said because he is from the Bronx. He wondered where it came from. "He's from the Bronx," she said. "That's where he was born. That's where he grew up. That's why he does it." So awkward.

-Is there anything funnier than the sideline moms? See: Mrs. Bettis during the Steelers playoff run. They always seem to have either 18 or 19 other people in their clan or a husband that defers to them in every interview. When the reporter finds them, the questions asked are so blatantly awful that even I feel awkward when I'm watching through a TV screen thousands of miles away.

That's it for tonight. Predictions for the Big East quarterfinals:

-UConn will smother 'Cuse and win by 12.

-Marquette will beat Georgetown in a close game by three.

-'Nova will smoke Rutgers. I have a feeling it will be a decent game for 30 minutes but 'Nova will pull away. 'Nova by 14.

-Pitt will beat West Virginia. Yeah, I said it. Call it a 2-point win for Pitt.

Goodnight folks.