Blogger has been acting up all morning, so I will keep this quick.

In New Jersey, one question is, “Where was this effort all season long?” For at least one night, Rutgers showed something.

The other question in Jersey, “Haven’t we seen this before?” With regards to Seton Hall’s collapse, it seems to be appropriate for the season.

Speaking of flopping,

That was quick. And ugly. Most of all, though, embarrassing.

That, in short, is how a very strange Providence College men’s basketball season ended yesterday on the country’s biggest basketball stage — Madison Square Garden — and in front of a national TV audience. The Friars opened the Big East Tournament thinking they could fit into the tourney’s Cinderella slipper. Instead, they were unceremoniously kicked all the way back to River Avenue by the West Virginia Mountaineers, 82-59.

It was PC’s worst Big East tourney loss in 20 years and the sixth first-round defeat in Tim Welsh’s seven seasons as head coach. The way the Mountaineers took it to the Friars rated as the biggest surprise. WVU, whose 19-9 record rates close to an NCAA Tournament berth, jumped on PC early. The Friars opened the game with seven sloppy turnovers, Kevin Pittsnogle fired in 11 quick points and PC was down, 15-4. The lead grew to 28-9 after 11 minutes, but the ugliness had only begun.

“We got stunned. We got knocked around and then got knocked down,” said Welsh. “Then it took us a few minutes to get back up and we’re down 16. Then we’re chasing and getting a little tighter looking up at the scoreboard.”

Instead of displaying the grit and dangerous offense that pushed them to the brink with many of the country’s elite teams, the Friars chose yesterday to fold up their tents. Any time PC showed any semblance of a spark, West Virginia stole a lazy pass or sank one of its 12 3-point shots.

Facing a defense that is hardly known as fierce, the Friars turned the ball over 20 times and shot 37 percent from the field. All in all, it was a long day at the office.
…
The Friars end their season with a 14-17 record. Instead of recalling a late-season stretch of three wins in four chances, or all the close losses, the lingering stench of yesterday’s effort could linger.

“I’d never say we didn’t show up. I know it looked like they were playing at a different speed. They went by us,” said Welsh. “But we just went to Georgetown and won and this game means a lot more than that one. We played, but sometimes it looks that way when another team blitzes you and is running their stuff better than you. They were playing at a high level today and we didn’t.”

I think everyone else knows Providence didn’t show up. Now, WVU just needs to look good against BC (I don’t think they necessarily need to win) to get their NCAA Tournament bid.

Sticking with teams that didn’t show up, ND is looking at the NIT.

All Notre Dame likely needed to reach the NCAA tournament was another win over the worst team in the Big East Conference. The Irish couldn’t deliver it Wednesday night, however.

Rutgers’ 72-65 victory on opening night of the conference tournament likely will relegate the Irish (17-11) to the National Invitation Tournament for the second straight year. Coach Mike Brey, however, wouldn’t think that far ahead.

“I don’t want to talk about tournaments,” Brey said. “We’ll await our fate on Sunday [when NCAA and NIT bids are announced], and we’ll be happy to play wherever they send us.”

Mike Brey is starting to really lose the luster, and I suspect the former revisionism regarding Matt Doherty (that he didn’t get along with people and ND was happy when he left) will be coming in for review. Espeically considering Brey hasn’t won with his players, only Doherty’s.

And you have to love Chris Thomas’ emotional outburst.

“It’s tough to swallow,” said senior Chris Thomas. “I regret being in this situation again.”

It’s no wonder ND went down without any passion.

Of course, then there is Georgetown pulling one out. You have to figure they will get whacked by UConn, but this should be a better team next year — more mature and seasoned. Of course, a good recruiting class wouldn’t hurt either.

And for anyone who thinks BC doesn’t want to rub it in the rest of the Big East’s collective face.

Jared Dudley would love nothing more than to blow the ultimate goodbye kiss to the Big East on his team’s way out the door.

“There wouldn’t be anything sweeter (than) on Saturday to cut down the nets and leave the Big East with the Big East trophy,” says Dudley, whose Boston College Eagles face West Virginia today in the opener of the Big East Tournament’s second round. “That would just be the whipped cream up top.

“We definitely want to do that. It’s been our mindset, our goal, and, slowly but surely, outsiders have seen that, that’s very possible. Before, it was just us – even family members wouldn’t even probably wouldn’t even (think it’s) conceivable, what we’ve done this year.

“We’re going to try to do it our way — and hopefully we’ll get started (today).”

BC even got its wish to play WVU rather than Providence. Why? Match-ups.

So how was it that the Mountaineers, in defeating Pittsburgh twice this season, managed to accomplish something BC couldn’t (the Eagles lost to the Panthers by 22)?

“Because they’ve got perimeter scoring,” Skinner said. “Pittsburgh’s weakness is [West Virginia’s] strength. Pittsburgh is very vulnerable in the perimeter and their interior play is what carries them. But when you have your 4-5 man step away for 3s, I think that’s tough. It’s all about matchups. I think that’s what [West Virginia’s] advantage is over Pittsburgh; their perimeter people step away from the basket.”

In their two meetings against West Virginia, senior center Nate Doornekamp, junior forward Craig Smith, and freshman forward Sean Williams combined to hold Pittsnogle to 11 points on 7-for-18 shooting, including 1 of 6 from the 3-point arc.

Game time in just a few minutes.

A thumb-sucker of a piece bemoaning the friendly end to the Big East as we knew it. Not the present incarnation. The one that existed for maybe 3 years.

The weather is still brutal, but the Big East Conference, as we knew it, is vanishing. Boston College, one of the original foul-weather seven, is making its last appearance in the tournament this week, with some bad vibrations going around.

Next season the Big East becomes a mega-conference, 16 teams stretching all the way to DePaul, Marquette, Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida, wherever that is.

The Big East is becoming a made-for-power-ratings conference, full of implication for the screamers on the sports channels, an unholy alliance only as good as its automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series in football, but losing its identity, gambling its soul.

“Becoming?” Please. The Big East was formed for TV in the first place. This is the conference that first jumped in with ESPN.

There was a certain unity when Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John’s, Connecticut, Boston College, Seton Hall and Providence played a six-game schedule in 1979-80. They were Northeastern colleges, all reachable by a team bus or a car packed with students, who might even feel the dedication to rush back along Interstate 95 for an 8 a.m. class.

It was nothing like today’s bloated 12-team conference, which had Notre Dame, West Virginia and Pittsburgh all stacked up Tuesday night, unable to land in New York, a symbol of a conference perhaps grown too big. The West Virginia players told tales of malfunctioning de-icers causing them to land in Scranton, Pa., and hazardous spills causing delays on their subsequent bus ride to New York.

You want to know another reason why Pitt fans don’t kow-tow to the past of Big East greatness — provincial pieces like this that all but admit that they feel the purity of the conference was lost the day Pitt joined. And that was 20 years ago.

For a better read on the future of the Big East, with an eye on the past, you have to go to Chicago.

The Big East was formed May 30, 1979, when a group of like-minded men formalized talks that had begun in a hotel room in Queens, N.Y.

League founder Dave Gavitt, then athletic director at Providence, had called old friends Jack Kaiser and Frank Rienzo, the athletic directors at St. John’s and Georgetown, and proposed they organize a conference. In short order, Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel, who had been Gavitt’s college fraternity brother, was in on the talks.

“My goal was to have representation in all of the major markets of the East, tying them together from Washington north and not leaving out any hotbeds–Providence, Syracuse and Connecticut being three,” Gavitt said in a telephone interview last week.

Initially, Gavitt said, the inner circle resisted inviting Connecticut. But Gavitt was adamant the Huskies needed to be part of the nascent league.

“They were a middle-of-the-road [program], but it was a state school and it had the support of the whole state of Connecticut,” Kaiser said. “We just felt there was tremendous potential there.”

“Providence,” “basketball” and “hotbed” are not words commonly used together — unless you happend to be the former head coach and AD at a school there. Still, there is not nearly as much of the gauzy, things were so much better. There is also a very clear view of what will be happening in the next few years:

“If you took an all-star team of Cincinnati, of DePaul, of Louisville and of the teams in this league, with Marquette, that kid who’s hurt,” said Calhoun, referring to Golden Eagles senior guard Travis Diener, “and then added them to the guys in this league, how could you even have a five-player [all-conference team]? You can’t. It would be absolutely ridiculous.”

Ridiculously talented, that is.

“You say top-heavy or bottom-heavy,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “Our league will just be heavy.”
…
Clearly, the new league will be brutally competitive.

“A lot of coaches are going to be getting fired,” Diener said.

“Travis is a very smart young man,” Thompson III said.

The point? That in a conference this deep, a program could be one of the best in the country but barely among the best in the conference.

“You could be 7-9 [in Big East play] and be a very good team,” Boeheim said.

“This is going to be a great league for fans and a great league for players, because players want to play the best players,” Tranghese said. “I think it’s going to be a very, very hard league for coaches.”

While the league will grow by four teams, it still will have only 12 teams competing in the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Tranghese felt strongly that bringing more teams would hurt the top four teams in the league, which would have to give up their first-round byes, and ultimately harm the Big East’s chances of winning the national championship.

Think about that. Can you imagine the pressure to fire a coach when a team sinks for a couple of years and doesn’t even get to the Big East Tournament? If you are taking bets on some of the first coaches to go, look to New Jersey.

Once, the Big East basketball tournament announced itself across the marquee on Seventh Avenue boldly and brightly, a glimmering proclamation worthy of the stars descended on Madison Square Garden. Those days are promising to return again next season, when the conference’s best recruiting class in years includes Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Cincinnati’s Bob Huggins, with Marquette and DePaul bringing hot young coaches and dazzling prospects.

Everything is getting bigger, better and bolder in the Big East, except the two programs across the Hudson River. As Seton Hall left the floor Wednesday night, blowing a big, late lead to lose, 56-51, to Georgetown, the Pirates would’ve been wise to take a good, long look around the Garden, because it could be a long time before they make it back for a Big East tournament. Rutgers is an even longer shot to qualify in the new Big East, where the bottom four teams each year will be left out of the tournament bracket.
…
As one Big East assistant coach said: “Those two teams are in a lot of trouble, because I don’t think those staffs can keep up the recruiting pace they’re going to need moving forward right now. As it is, they’re treading water.”

And that sort of thing will add to the pressure to split the conference. Programs suffer as some teams remain on the bottom — costing the athletic departments money in lost tickets, merchandise, etcetera. Then the pressure to fire the coach — and the inevitable buy outs. More money lost, and the lack of national exposure — unless you are one of the top teams when expected — all will drive the split.

Like I’ve said, the BE will last about 5 years in the format. Here are the coaches that will be fired in that time: Gary Waters, Rutgers; Louis Orr, Seton Hall; Tim Welsh, Providence; whoever is the coach of South Florida; and Mike Brey, Notre Dame. The majority will find the pressure to win significantly increased. The only safe coaches are: Jim Calhoun, UConn; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Bob Huggins, Cinci; Rick Pitino, Louisville; Tom Crean, Marquette. Everyone else is somewhere in the middle.

Sure Philly is only a few hours away, but with a 2 pm (give or take) start, I don’t expect the crowd at MSG to be too large or too partisan.

I know, I want this match-up, if for no other reason than to see if Pitt really has learned anything about defending an inside-out forward like Curtis Sumpter. Whether Pitt really is playing better, or was it just on a little streak fueled by some desperation. It doesn’t mean I’m not worried. It kind of makes me nervous that Pitt is talking about revenge and externalities, while the Wildcats are just talking about it being a tough game.

It appears, Troutman will be matched up on Sumpter once more.

Villanova is the archetypal team that has given Pitt loads of trouble this season. The Wildcats have a stable of outside shooters who can rain 3-pointers down on opponents. Allan Ray made five in the first meeting against Pitt, Mike Nardi and Curtis Sumpter had three apiece. Villanova was one of six Big East opponents to make 10 or more 3-pointers in a game against Pitt. The Wildcats were 12 for 23 from behind the 3-point arc.

“They’re going to shoot 3s and make some,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They made some tough shots against us. They’re going to shoot them from 25 feet. They have really good range. They had four guys who were shooting well that game. They’re very hard to guard when they have four guys who are shooting well from the perimeter.”

Sumpter, a 6-foot-7, 223-pound junior who can play inside and outside, poses some matchup problems for the Panthers. Troutman guarded him the last time without much success and got in foul trouble.

Troutman, Pitt’s best defender, said he is confident he will have more success this time.

“I just have to guard him better than I did the last game,” Troutman said. “I didn’t see too much tape on him before the first game. I feel like I’ll be better this game. I never really thought he was a hard person to guard until last time. I just feel like I was overplaying possessions and trying to make something happen.”

I’m not wild about Troutman trying to guard him. Troutman is better when he doesn’t have to run all over the floor. When he can stay on one side, or even better, just inside. I’d rather see DeGroat try and shadow him and let Troutman be waiting inside. Kind of how they shut down Dudley with BC.

For this Villanova team, the success is to some degree, simply living up to the expectations. The team is hot. Riding a 7 game winning streak. Last year at the Big East Tournament, Villanova came in as a team that couldn’t finish. Streaky, talented, but self-destructive. Then they upset Seton Hall and things changed and carried over.

Yet it’s not overstating it to say that’s what happened for Villanova 365 days ago at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats went from a group that couldn’t buy a break, couldn’t win a close game, couldn’t steal a victory to a team that figured out how to win and make its own luck.

The Villanova team that heads back to the Garden for a 2 p.m. quarterfinal date with Pittsburgh today is completely revamped from the 2004 edition. Whereas those Wildcats limped to the tournament, having lost seven of eight, these Wildcats storm New York with a run of seven consecutive victories.

Whereas those Wildcats needed two wins to secure a spot in the NIT, these ‘Cats are assured a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

And whereas those Wildcats, as a No. 11 seed, were a longshot at best to make the conference finals, these Wildcats, a No. 4 seed and the No. 19 team in the country, are a bona fide contender for the tournament crown.

“That Seton Hall game, yeah, I think that was the one where we really turned the corner,” guard Randy Foye said. “We knew we could play with anybody and handle anything that people threw at us.”

What changed? Just about everything in those 22 seconds.

Pitt had “the run” in 2001. That carried over and helped change Pitt’s program from a confidence standpoint. Villanova seemed to figure out how to win games. The Big East Tournament can change a team.

Now this Villanova team thinks they can win the Big East.

A couple other articles to note.

Ron Cook now decides to start worrying about the Pitt team for next year — whether Krauser is leaving. The timing is odd. You’d think he’d save this kind of column for later. Maybe break it out in the time period between the end of the BE and the NCAA Tournaments. Running it now just indicates you don’t really care about the games — just storylines. That’s the kind of piece that is speculation and you run as filler.

Speaking of filler, John DeGroat gets his background fleshed out a little more. Not exactly an easy life.

Seton Hall-Georgetown
Is it just me, or did Georgetown just look tired. I mean, just worn out. Could that be part of it. G-town is a young team, with a short bench. Did their guys just hit the wall early this season. They run a style of Princeton offense that takes a toll mentally and physically. Seton Hall, just imploded with the game in hand.

Rutgers-ND
Digger Phelps can make all the claims he wants about how ND has done enough, but nobody is listening now. It’s funny, Rutgers had the lead for the entire first half, and I didn’t believe they would win. RU kept it up in the second and I still figured they would find a way to lose. ND just has no heart. Francis could beat up the lesser players inside, but give RU credit for playing great perimeter defense. Fair or not, Chris Thomas leaves a legacy of underachieving at ND. That entire ND team was the complete anti-clutch. Finding new and exciting ways to blow games.

Wow. Talk about playing without heart. That had to be more than just painful for any Providence fan. You could see just from the body language of the Providence players from start to finish. They didn’t want to be there. A hollow, shell team.

That’s the kind of performance that gets coaches fired, or at least causes the fans to really turn.

WVU just had their way with them. I will say Herber, for WVU, is the biggest flopper I’ve ever seen in the Big East. And I don’t know why he does it. In this conference, that is counter-productive. He doesn’t get many calls and then gets calls going against him, when he actually does take a real charge.

[Originally posted on College Basketball, Diary. Italics, indicate additional items added.]

First the notes regarding some teams in the BET.

UConn’s Rashad Anderson has been cleared to practice and play in the BET by doctors. Despite losing their leading scorer for 7 games, UConn went 6-1 (losing to UNC). Anderson has lost 15 pounds and was in the hospital for 2 weeks. The article says Calhoun will slowly work him back into the rotation. I imagine, very slowly right now.

Pitt, ND and WVU all were late getting to NYC — missing the Big East Banquet — because of bad weather in NYC. Pitt actually got there first, but doesn’t play until tomorrow. WVU got as far as Scranton, before taking a bus on I-81. ND got in sometime this morning. Turns out Seton Hall missed the banquet as well — traffic. It will be interesting to see what happens this afternoon and evening for WVU and ND.

For the Domers, it appears that the feeling is that the guards will lead them — Falls and Quinn. Looks like Chris Thomas’ game against Pitt has the media and fans already moving on from him. Then another columnist wonders why the Irish under Brey fade down the stretch.

Up in Massachusetts, you hope they appreciate the work done by Al Skinner. Instead, they seem to be wondering if he might look to go somewhere else. No, that’s not entirely fair. They just seem to assume that he will not leave. There are the advantages that he is a New England native and starred at UMass, still you would think that some other programs would take a run at a guy who just wins the way he does. Recruits anywhere, and really, really develops the kids. Why Virginia doesn’t take a run at him, I’ll never know.

So is the Big East Tournament important? This is part old-school — detracts from the importance of the regular season. Part greed — lots of money raked in by the Big East. Part caution — risk of injury to players on NCAA-bound teams. Part

I go with the approach of Jim Calhoun about its importance and wanting to have them.

“What would you rather do, practice or play against some of the best in Madison Square Garden?” Calhoun said. “Those are the best practices you can have for the NCAA tournament. … You go to the tournament, and maybe (the teams you face) in the first two rounds aren’t as good as that.”

And then for the teams that are on the “bubble,” it is one more chance to take matters into their own hands about getting to the NCAA.

Everyone has predictions. The NY Daily News sees a repeat of last year. So does Frank Burlison of Scout/FoxSports.com. Bob Snyder at the Syracuse Post-Standard seems to be leaning that way (he does his in odds, UConn and Pitt are #1 and #2). In the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, they hedge by just listing 4 candidates: UConn, Syracuse, Villanova and Pitt. Lenn Robbins of the NY Post just sees a wide open tournament. Even the NY Sun offers an opinion — UConn over Villanova. Now I don’t bet, but I recognize that gamblers (at least the good ones) know what is going on.

UConn has re-emerged as the team to beat and the team to bet. The Huskies have covered in 10 straight games and their only straight up loss during that span came at the hands of UNC.

The good news for co-conference champion Boston College is that means they are still considered somewhat of an underdog despite dominating the conference for most of the season.

Best bet: UConn +120. I’ve watched them a lot lately and they look as strong as the odds suggest. They have a tendency to start a little sluggish, however, and might be a good first-half fade.

DonÂ’t waste your money on: Syracuse +550. The status of guard Billy Edelin could leave the Orange with a short and unhappy bench. Coach Jim Boheim has sat him for the last three games and won’t say why. Villanova +500. Team leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, Curtis Sumpter, has a knee that swells up like a basketball from overuse since injuring it a couple months ago. Nova needs him, but his knee might not hold up in back-to-back-to-back games.

What the BET is for NYC, is an annual chance to bask in the glow of a collegiate sport. There is no real college football. Other than producing talent, NYC is not the center of college basketball, except for one Saturday night a year. It also, to a significant extent, exposes a lot of the NYC writers for a lack of familiarity of present college game; preferring, instead, to reflect on the past. It’s understandable, considering most of the focus on sports in the area is at the pro level.

Now, I think the game between WVU and Providence, today at 2, will be an open, exciting game. But everyone is already focusing on tomorrow’s game between Pitt and Villanova.

Remarkably, the quarterfinal round of the tournament matching the fourth and fifth seeds tomorrow will pit two of the more dangerous teams in the country, No. 19 Villanova and No. 22 Pittsburgh. The last time they were seeded in that order at the Garden was 1985. Villanova not only beat the Panthers but went on to win the NCAA championship in Lexington with a performance for the ages.

The Wildcats have been back to the big tournament eight times but not since 1999. It would be a first for coach Jay Wright at the school and a first for a recruiting class from the metropolitan area judged among the best in the country when it entered in 2002. Not only did Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter and Jason Fraser carry the burden of great expectations but they were embroiled in a telephone credit card controversy last season that cost each several games of eligibility. And the injuries, particularly to the 6-9 Fraser, have been too numerous to catalogue.

“I feel so good for these kids who have been though so much,” Wright said. “I liked the way they handled the expectations. Then there was the phone issue and the injuries. I think they’ve learned a lesson about life and resiliency.”

Calhoun spoke of the tremendous matchup problems Villanova presents with its dynamic three-guard lineup, an emerging star in Sumpter and the resurgent Fraser. But as good as the Wildcats have been in defeating their last seven opponents, including top-seeded Boston College on campus two weeks ago, they have nothing on Pitt, which snapped out of a late-season slump with resounding road victories at BC and Notre Dame. In both instances, its frontcourt of senior Chevon Troutman and sophomore Chris Taft was overwhelming.

“They represent what the Big East is all about,” Wright said. “They have great toughness overall and base their program on defense. I also think they’ve been very unselfish teams over the years.”

Even while trying to pump all the games, Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese is talking this one up specifically.

“Those are nervous games,” he said. “And when Pitt plays Villanova in the quarters the next day, it will be one of the best first games ever in the history of the tournament. Those are two teams that could win the tournament. It reminds me of Patrick Ewing’s sophomore year when Georgetown was a 5 seed and they had to play Syracuse. I think we’re as strong as we’ve ever been top to bottom right now.”

Lots of fun expected.

A puff piece, I missed earlier on Coach Jamie Dixon.

A major contributor to the Panthers’ recent success has been the so-called New York pipeline that supplies a number of players from the city.

“I think it becomes an easy story for people to write about,” said Dixon. “Anything that involves New York will pick up some steam. “We’re a city school and generally recruit kids from big cities.”

Current player Carl Krauser says of Dixon, “I think he has the best player- coach relationship of any coach in the country.”

Assistant coach, Barry Rohrssen, who is credited with keeping that New York connection together said, “Jamie was born to coach, he knows the game as well as anybody you’re going to meet. We got a great guy here leading the program.”

Yesterday, both ‘Burgh papers gave the attention to Troutman. Today, the love is shifted to Antonio Graves.

Graves, a 6-foot-3 sophomore whose up-and-down season has mirrored Pitt’s in many ways, scored six of his 11 points in the final 6:37 to help salt away Pitt’s 85-77 victory at the Joyce Center. He had a team-high 13 points and three 3-pointers in Pitt’s 72-50 victory at Boston College five days earlier and has scored in double figures in three of the past four games.

“I’m in the moment and playing,” Graves said. “The coaches have been telling me to go out there and do what I do. There’s not a whole lot of thought process now. I’m just out there playing.”

It’s no coincidence that the emergence of Graves and Taft late in the season has translated into the Panthers playing their best basketball heading into a Big East Conference quarterfinal game against Villanova at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Graves, the replacement for Julius Page at shooting guard, knows his play will go a long way in determining how far Pitt goes this postseason.

“I’m ready for that,” said Graves, from Mansfield, Ohio. “The last two games against Boston College and Notre Dame really showed what I can do. It’s given me a lot of confidence. I just can’t sit there and watch. I can’t let Carl, Chevy and Chris do everything. We need strong contributions from everybody.”
…
Graves’ play is usually a pretty good indicator for the way Pitt plays. When he struggles, Pitt usually does, too. In Pitt’s seven losses this season, Graves was 17 for 50 (34 percent) from the field with 14 turnovers. In Pitt’s 20 victories, he is 48 for 107 from the field (45 percent) with 25 turnovers.

Coach Dixon suggests part of his improved play is increasing maturity, but Graves leans more towards having his ankle fully healthy. I tend to lean towards the latter. Graves is looking forward to Thursday’s game.

One game that remains stuck in Graves’ craw is the eight-point loss to Villanova on Feb. 20, when the Wildcats struck for 12 3-pointers and Graves committed several late-game turnovers. Graves, Krauser and Co. could not keep up with the Villanova guards.

“I have revenge on my mind,” Graves said. “I feel like it’s the beginning of the season again for me. My confidence is good. I’m ready to take the next step.”

I was kind of surprised both papers did a story on Graves, but then I realized he’s the only other starter, aside from Troutman, not from the 5 boroughs. There were plenty of “homecoming” stories last year, and more to be expected. Might as well give the others their moment.

As for Villanova, I’ve made no secret that to me, the biggest match-up issue will be forward Curtis Sumpter. Sumpter and several of his teammates are getting their own “homecoming” storylines. A big issue for ‘Nova and Sumpter in the BET will be Sumpter’s knee. It’s been giving him problems since January. It probably won’t be much of an issue in the Pitt game, but is more a concern for the Wildcats if they hope to go beyond in the BET. How can it handle back-to-back games?

In the BET, Pitt has not had much luck against Villanova. Pitt has only beaten them once in 6 tries.

Bad weather, delayed Pitt getting to NYC by 9 hours. They literally flew to NYC, then after circling for a while, had to fly back to Pittsburgh. They ended up flying to Philly and busing it the rest of the way.

Boston College can’t claim to have been snubbed by the BE coaches, tonight. Al Skinner, deservedly won for Coach of the Year and Jared Dudley got co-Most Improved Player.

As predicted, last week, Hakim Warrick was Player of the Year.

2004-05 BIG EAST Awards

Player of the Year
Hakim Warrick, Syracuse

Coach of the Year
Al Skinner, Boston College

Rookie of the Year
Rudy Gay, Connecticut
Jeff Green, Georgetown

Defensive Player of the Year
Josh Boone, Connecticut

Most Improved Player
Jared Dudley, Boston College
Marcus Williams, Connecticut

Sportsmanship Award
Josh Pace, Syracuse

Kind of surprised about Boone getting the Defensive Player of the Year. I thought it would go to Troutman.

[Originally posted to College Basketball Blog.]

I did pretty well last year, in what to expect in the Big East Tournament (except for the outcome), so I’ll try again.

As tough as the Big East has been this year, there is not one team I see that plays on Wednesday that appears capable of making a deep run in the BET. The first round games should all be very good. Every game has deep meaning as WVU, Georgetown and ND are all playing to get in to the NCAA Tournament. Each team is a varying degree of close to making it. All need the win to get in. A loss means they have to wait for other conference tournaments to see if other bubble teams win or lose.

First Round, Wednesday

#8 WVU – #9 Providence, Noon. WVU won twice against Providence by a total of 6 points. Providence has been the hard-luck team all season. It only had 2 real blow out losses — to Pitt and Syracuse. They were 4-3 in their last 7 games including a win over Georgetown, a 1 point loss to ND and a double-OT loss to UConn. WVU was seemingly rolling into March after a 6-2 February. Then, with the chance to ice their NCAA Tourney bid against a severely undermanned Seton Hall team (suspensions and injuries) they gakked. Must win for WVU, but 3rd time is a charm for the Friars. Gomes takes out his frustrations of the season and not winning BE PoY on the Mountaineers. Providence with the minor upset wins, and WVU goes to the NIT.

#7 Georgetown – #10 Seton Hall, 7pm. Riding a 5 game losing streak. A bit deceptive, though, since they lost at ND and UConn and to Villanova. The losses to St. John’s and Providence are less easily explained. They needed to win one of those. Seton Hall gets a semi-home game, but I like Georgetown to win this one. Figure Jeff Green has something more to show with Gay getting Rookie of the Year (I’m betting) over him.

#6 ND – #11 Rutgers, 9 pm. Another semi-home game for the lower seed. The worst team in the Big East against the softest. ND needs this win. These 2 teams played last Wednesday with ND finally pulling away at the end. RU’s last conference win was a month ago. How bad is this RU team? They lost at home to Penn State. ND has far superior talent, and a loss definitely knocks them off the bubble — Rutgers’ RPI is 175. Can you imagine what a loss would do to ND’s RPI? ND wins this game.

Quarterfinals, Thursday

Providence – BC, Noon. Providence has battled well against BC. You give the advantage to BC, but this smells like an upset game. One team always makes at least a little run in the BET. Providence is the only team and match-up that seems likely to pull the second round upset. I’m hedging, though, because I don’t know how much of that is me talking myself into it with some anti-BC bias. Right now I have to pick BC, but I could flip-flop on this.

Pitt – Villanova, 2pm. I’m going with Pitt (big shock). I just think Pitt, in the game against BC, really showed some new wrinkles in dealing with a forward that can go inside and out. I think Taft and Troutman will be able to really be too much inside for Sheridan, Sumpter and Fraser. Of course if ‘Nova’s perimeter shooting gets hot, or Pitt’s perimeter defense sags — rather than step out on them, then Pitt will be in trouble.

Georgetown – UConn, 7pm. UConn will just overpower them. Shouldn’t be close.

ND – Syracuse, 9 pm. Syracuse has won 2 from ND already this season. The only way ND wins is if Falls, Quinn and Thomas go at least 50% from 3-point land. Warrick inside will be too much. ND has no will to play in the paint.

Semifinals, Friday

Pitt – BC, 7pm. It will not be the same game as last Monday. The ultimate outcome, though, will. Pitt is BC’s worst match-up. Pitt can match BC’s toughness, offense and defense inside. On the perimeter, Pitt has better guards who shoot the 3 better and can penetrate. BC is disturbingly too much like Pitt last year. Pitt wins a brutal game.

UConn – Syracuse, 9pm. UConn is the hot team right now. Syracuse hasn’t beaten the tough inside teams all season — Pitt, BC, UConn and Oklahoma St. ESPN can’t ask for a better game at this time slot. Both teams should have the Garden just about evenly divided. UConn just outmuscles Syracuse.

Championship, Saturday, 8 pm

Pitt – UConn. How could it not. Fourth time in four years. UConn will have the home court advantage, but the teams each won on the other’s court. An absolute dogfight. Talent clearly favors UConn. Toughness and experience to Pitt. Taft and Ramon will be Pitt’s X-factor. Big games from both will be needed (you know Troutman and Krauser will do their thing). For UConn it will be how Rudy Gay and point guard Marcus Williams react to the situation. Useless factoid that favors Pitt, in the previous 6 games the teams are 3-3 exchanging wins and losses — Pitt lost the last time they played. I’m following my heart and saying Pitt wins the Big East Tournament.

The BET starts tomorrow, so today is the day for stories waxing nostalgic for past BETs and the excitement for the future of the BET. And of course, what to expect starting tomorrow..

The Associated Press headline on their story, suggests that the BET title game could be something of a familiar story.

Meanwhile, NYC seems ready for the BET even without St. John’s being anywhere close to being involved. This piece is dripping with nostalgia.

The Big East Tournament begins again tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden.

Once again, New York City is a college basketball town.

In the final countdown hours, you can feel it building. Listen closely and you can almost hear its very heartbeat beyond the traffic … beyond the daily sounds of Midtown … it rides into town on the wings of the winds of March along cement canyons.

And it brings with it the Ghosts of Roundball Past … the ones that lit up this city with a passion in a world where passion used to call the shots. The NCAA reached out with dollar signs in its eyeballs to kill the NIT’s premier status as a tournament that spoke volumes of America’s recognition of what the old Madison Square Garden up the block between 49th and 50th on Eighth Avenue meant to the game.
…
The Big East is the last viable link between the way this city once was and what it becomes for a week each March, when the Big East Circus comes to town.

Back before the point-shaving scandals of 1950, college basketball owned this city. Doubleheaders were held at the Garden on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Hours before game time, you couldn’t walk in the middle of Eighth Avenue there was so much pedestrian traffic. They came from up out of the subways, filling the streets.

Irish saloons like Gilhooley’s and Downey’s were so packed before games, you almost had to butter your pants legs to squeeze in through all that humanity to claim a seat at the bar.

Sounds loverly — if you live in NYC. For the rest of us, I’ll take the present where the power teams are more diffused and more teams have a chance to become a good program. Where we have the cable, satellite and of course broadband internet.

For real nostalgia for the Big East Tournament you will find it, in the most surprising place. How about the Boston Globe?

For the Big East, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and has produced the last two men’s national champions in Syracuse and Connecticut, this week’s conference tournament will be a last hurrah of sorts. The tournament began in Gavitt’s backyard, Providence, in 1980 as an intimate party of seven: Georgetown, Seton Hall, UConn, BC, St. John’s, Providence, and Syracuse. The conference is up to 12 teams, but next year it will explode into a mega-conference of 16, with the addition of DePaul, Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, and South Florida — and the subtraction of BC, which like its Big East brethren of the last few years, Miami and Virginia Tech, will jump to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The competition actually could be better than ever. But it will be different. Four of the 16 teams will not even receive invitations to the Garden party, which is still one of the shining moments of the college basketball season. And the sense of intimacy, of an annual family gathering, will be missing.

Actually it kind of makes sense for the BC beat writer to be more wistful about the change. His travel time is about to increase significantly. He has to learn new places to eat, the right hotels, find his way around new places.

I’ve said it before, given Pitt’s history in the Big East up until the last 5 years, I tend not to be too caught up in the nostalgia and wonderment over the Big East in the 80’s. For Pitt fans, that was a time of underachieving teams in the best of moments and doormat status for the rest. Still read the whole piece, especially for the issue of too many mascots.

The Big East individual awards are tonight. In advance read this story.

In The Syracuse Post-Standard’s annual poll of Big East assistant coaches, there are more than a few surprises.

Forget the all-league team. We wanted to know who is the league’s worst (or is it best?) trash-talker? Who has been the most disappointing player? What team is the most overrated? Which player is going to make the best pro? Which official is the worst?

The poll offered anonymity to assistant coaches from around the league to get the unvarnished truth to these questions and more. Eight assistant coaches responded to the poll.

Only 8?

Best garbage player:Chevon Troutman, Pittsburgh. Troutman out-garbaged Syracuse’s Josh Pace.

Biggest trash talker:Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh. The Pitt guard had some competition from BC’s Jared Dudley and his Eagle teammates.

“Dudley’s the worst,” an assistant said. “We almost got in a fight with those guys because they all talk (bleep).”
…
Biggest whiner – coach: Jim Calhoun, Connecticut. Two other coaches received one vote each.

“There’s only two choices, and they both have national championships and they both have 700 wins,” one assistant said, “but I’ll take Calhoun.”

Biggest whiner – player:A four-way tie between Hakim Warrick, Carl Krauser, Kelly Whitney and Chris Thomas.

“He cries for fouls instead of playing through it,” one assistant said of Warrick.

They also tabbed Troutman as best defender.

With Troutman earning 1st Team All-Big East honors, Coach Dixon had plenty of praise for him.

Troutman, a 6-foot-7 power forward from Williamsport, Pa., is the fifth Pitt player to earn Big East first-team honors and the first since Brandin Knight in 2002. The others are Jerome Lane, Charles Smith and Brian Shorter.
…
“It’s a great reward for Chevy,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s been a great player for four years, great for our program. This is the first time he’s gotten the recognition he deserves. It’s been a long time coming for him. He’s been so valuable for us the past four years.”
…
“Chevy kept getting better and better as the year went on,” Dixon said. “It seems like he’s always been under-appreciated. It’s nice to see him get the accolades. He’s always been valuable. His numbers went up this year, but his value has always been a constant.”

Of course, Troutman downplays it.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Troutman said. “I feel like I worked hard for it. It’s well-deserved, I guess. That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”

Now, 5 of the 6 1st-teamers were forwards, and 3 of the 5 on the second team were forwards. So, can someone explain this?

Despite their omission from the first team, it was a strong year for guards in the Big East. Villanova’s Allan Ray joined Krauser on the second team. Chris Thomas of Notre Dame, Marcus Williams of Connecticut and Daryll Hill of St. John’s made the third team.

“I don’t know if there has been guard play as good as it has been this year in the 19 years I’ve been in the league,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. “For a guy like Carl Krauser or Marcus Williams not to make first team. … For Chris Thomas to be on the third team, that’s all you really need to know. He scored 2,000 points. It just seems like every team is loaded with guards.”

I’m not saying guard play was bad this year. The fact is, though, that the talent at the forward position in the BE this year has been outstanding. Far better than the guard play.

Other coaches in the Big East have plenty of praise for Troutman.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a player in our league like him,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “I just think he’s a great story. He wasn’t heavily recruited, but he has such a polished game. It’s a pleasure to see a kid play the game the way he does.”

Added Calhoun, who watched Troutman scorch his team for 29 points, including 25 in the second half, in January: “I think officials give him calls sometimes because he plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. They admire that in him. I admire it in him, too. I complain a lot about Troutman when we play against them, but I’d take him in a minute.”

Troutman was shunned by the Big East coaches in the preseason, failing to make their first or second teams in October, but he was not offended by the slight.

“It honestly didn’t bother me,” said Troutman. “I just figured I was going to work hard and do what I could to help us out. The first time I ever thought about any of this stuff is when Jim Calhoun (Connecticut coach) made a statement in the paper about me.”

Troutman said he read in a Williamsport paper that Calhoun suggested he has a shot at being the Big East’s Player of the Year, which will be announced today.

“Hey, if he said it, man, I’ll back it,” Troutman said, smiling.

Warrick is going to win the award, but I figure Troutman will get a bunch of 2nd and 3rd place votes.

As for Krauser going to the 2nd team and McNamara being on the 1st team, even Syracuse partisans were a little surprised. Krauser isn’t saying anything publicly about it.

For Pitt in the Big East Tournament, they are looking to be only the second team in Big East history to make it to the championship game 5 straight years. They are going to have to get past a very good Villanova team that has set its goals very high for the post season.

That’s why Wright took a deep breath Monday after a practice at the Pavilion but before his keynote postseason address to his Wildcats. He knew what he wanted to say, but he wanted to make say it right. He wanted to tell his team that this — this postseason, the one that will begin in full fury with a Big East playoff game Thursday in New York against Pitt — is their time. It is their time to take this postseason to — uh-huh — the Final Four.

Not later. Now.

“That is something to talk about,” Wright said. “But there are so many firsts for us right now. I think they are really enjoying that. I think they are focusing on, ‘We have accomplished a lot of firsts, now let’s win our first Big East Tournament.’ I think that’s what they are looking at. Because of our frustration of our last two years, they are focused right now on this Big East Tournament.”

If that were to be Wright’s charge to his players, it would come with logic. A quick dismissal from the conference tournament would negatively affect the WildcatsÂ’ seeding for the NCAA Tournament and necessarily make their path to the Final Four more crooked.

In the meaningless debate department. There is the question of whether the Big East or ACC is the better conference. I honestly don’t care. At best, it’s an issue of quantity over quality. The ACC has 2-3 elite teams, and then everyone else. Those teams get the ink and the attention. The Big East has depth, making the conference schedule a gauntlet. It also makes it hard to stay focused on just a couple teams. Just like in single games, it seemed everyone made runs in the standings.

Mike Celizic at MSNBCsports.com, sides with the Big East.

Year in and year out, you won’t find a better, more competitive conference. If you don’t believe that, turn on your television during the next few days and check out the Big East tournament.

The setting is decent enough — Madison Square Garden. Although St. John’s plays its conference schedule there, it’s nobody’s home court; half the teams in the conference can drive there in four hours or less, and big chunks of the campus populations do just that. And why not? It’s a great tournament in one of the greatest cities on earth.

If you watch, you’ll understand why the Big East is so good at basketball. It’s not because of the number of first-round draft picks it produces or the spectacular end-to-end play. ItÂ’s because the Big East plays basketball the way the college game should be played.

It’s man-to-man defense, setting hard picks, moving without the ball, making the extra pass, blocking out under the boards. ItÂ’s sweat and blood and sometimes torture to watch.

It’s all in the kind of game you like.

Completely meaningless, but let’s see how I did versus the Coaches in predicting the Big East this year.

This was what the coaches predicted the order of the BE to be this year:

1. Syracuse (9) 119
2. Connecticut (2) 106
3. Pittsburgh (1) 100
4. Notre Dame 88
5. Boston College 78
6. Providence 69
7. Villanova 59
8. Seton Hall 56
9. West Virginia 43
10. Rutgers 42
11. Georgetown 21
12. St. John’s 11

The number in parenthesis are first place votes and the other numbers were the number of votes they got.

This was my predicted order for the Big East:

1. UConn
2. Syracuse
3. Pitt
4. BC
5. ND
6. Villanova
7. Providence
8. WVU
9. Seton Hall
10. Rutgers
11. St. John’s
12. Georgetown

This was the actual finish

1. BC
2. UConn (actually tied for 1st)
3. Syracuse
4. Villanova
5. Pitt
6. ND
7. Georgetown
8. WVU
9. Providence
10. Seton Hall
11. St. John’s
12. Rutgers

I actually put 3 teams in the right spot (UConn, WVU and St. John’s). The pre-season coaches had 0. I was off by one spot on 3 teams (Syracuse, ND and Seton Hall). The coaches had 3 there (UConn, WVU and St. John’s). For being 2 spots off, I had 4 teams (Pitt, ‘Nova, Providence and Rutgers). The coaches had 5 (Syracuse, Pitt, ND, Seton Hall and Rutgers). I had 1 team 3 places off (BC, but I did say they were my “dark horse” pick to win the BE). The coaches had 2 (Providence and ‘Nova). My big whopper was picking Georgetown for last in the BE, for 5 places off their finish. The Coaches had no 5 spot gaffes, but 2 teams where they were off by 4 (BC and Georgetown.

That adds up to 19 spots missed for me and 25 for the coaches.

Advantage — Me.

Has been announced. Apparently I think much higher of Marcus Williams than the Big East Coaches, who put him on the third team. Chris Taft was put on the “Honorable Mention” squad. Ronald Ramon made the All-Rookie team. Here’s how the list looks:

2004-05 All-BIG EAST First Team

Jared Dudley, Boston College, So., 6-7, 220, San Diego, Calif.
Craig Smith, Boston College, Jr., 6-7, 250, Los Angeles, Calif.
Chevon Troutman, Pittsburgh, Sr., 6-7, 240, Williamsport, Pa.
Ryan Gomes, Providence, Sr., 6-7, 240, Waterbury, Conn.
Gerry McNamara, Syracuse, Jr., 6-2, 182, Scranton, Pa.
*Hakim Warrick, Syracuse, Sr., 6-8, 219, Philadelphia, Pa.

2004-05 All-BIG EAST Second Team

Josh Boone, Connecticut, So., 6-10, 237, Mt. Airy, Md.
Charlie Villanueva, Connecticut, So., 6-11, 240, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, Jr., 6-2, 200, Bronx, N.Y.
Allan Ray, Villanova, Jr., 6-2, 200, Bronx, N.Y.
Curtis Sumpter, Villanova, Jr., 6-7, 223, Brooklyn, N.Y.

2004-05 All-BIG EAST Third Team

Marcus Williams, Connecticut, So., 6-3, 205, Los Angeles, Calif.
Brandon Bowman, Georgetown, Jr., 6-8, 219, Santa Monica, Calif.
Chris Thomas, Notre Dame, Sr., 6-1, 190, Indianapolis, Ind.
Daryll Hill, St. John’s, Jr., 6-0, 167, Queens, N.Y.
Randy Foye, Villanova, Jr., 6-3, 205, Newark, N.J.

Five forwards on the six-man 1st team. Well, that’s one way to get very deserving Dudley and Gomes on the squad. I still can’t believe Marcus Williams was dropped so far. I don’t really have much of a problem with Foye getting in over Quinn. I realized late that I left him off my just missing list. Not real sure about Brandon Bowman. He had a solid year, but there were several players I thought were better.

UPDATE: Here’s the press release announcing the squad from the Big East.

[Originally posted in College Basketball Diary]

I gave my player of the year pick last week. Now it’s time for my All-Big East Teams. I debated about wussing out and making all 3 squads, 6 deep (as the Big East often does), but I’m going to limit it to 5.

1st Team

Hakim Warrick, Syracuse, Forward
Craig Smith, BC, Forward
Chevon Troutman, Pitt, Forward
Marcus Williams, UConn, Guard
Carl Krauser, Pitt, Guard

Leaving Ryan Gomes and Jared Dudley off the squad was tough. If it was purely the best players in the Big East they’d be on, but I’m trying to make an actual squad. Warrick is the best player in the Big East this year. Craig Smith barely gets the nod over his teammate Jared Dudley. Chevon Troutman is the best inside presence in the Big East on both sides of the ball. Marcus Williams was the best point guard in the Big East this year. Maybe it’s a bit of bias on my part, but Krauser has become one of the better one-on-one defenders to raise him to first team guard over Allan Ray. McNamara misses because he has struggled in the last 2-3 weeks due to being overworked.

2nd Team

Jared Dudley, BC, Forward
Ryan Gomes, Providence, Forward
Chris Sumpter, Villanova, Forward
Gerry McNamara, Syracuse, Guard
Allan Ray, Villanova, Guard

Hell of a second team on offense. Gomes is the leading scorer in the Big East. Ray, Sumpter, Dudley and McNamara are #5-8. The forward position in the Big East was so strong this year. Dudley is the best defender of the bunch. Chris Thomas has struggled shooting, and matching the numbers and efficiency as freshman.

3rd Team

Charlie Villanueva, UConn, Forward
Josh Boone, UConn, Forward
Daryll Hill, St. John’s, Guard
Chris Thomas, Notre Dame, Guard
Chris Quinn, Notre Dame, Guard

Just missing the cut Rashard Anderson, UConn, Guard (his injury took him out of the last 2 weeks of the season) and Don McGrath, Providence, Guard. Anyone else notice that Hill is the 3rd leading scorer in the Big East this year? If he actually comes back like he says, that will help St. John’s immeasurably. Thomas may be disappointing from the perspective of his potential and expectations. But he is still one of the best point guards in the Big East. Chris Quinn is the best 3-point shooter in the Big East (more than 100 attempts). He also has a 2.8/1 assists to turnover ratio. Boone and Villanueva are both horribly talented, but also horribly inconsistent this year. Villanueva seemed disinterested and disengaged in the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the season. He scored and rebounded on just being so much better than most players. Boone had a lot of trouble through most of the Big East Conference schedule scoring. He still rebounded, but suddenly could not buy a basket.

Noticeable by their omissions — Chris Taft, Pittsburgh, Forward/Center; Ricky Shields, Rutgers, Guard; and Kelly Whitney, Seton Hall, Center/Forward. All were pre-season 1st or 2nd team Preseason All-Big East.

Of course, making picks will be even worse next season with 16 rosters. Will we have a 4th team All-Big East?