With all conference games wrapped up for the season, the Big East Tournament field has been set. We play in the best slot possible, 7 pm, as the #7 seed against #10 Cincinnati. The full bracket (via Card Chronicle):
| Wed., Mar. 12 | Thurs., Mar 13 | Fri., Mar 14 | Sat.,Mar 15 |
| Noon 8) Villanova 9) Syracuse |
Noon 1) Georgetown |
Semifinals, 7pm | Finals, 8pm |
| 2 pm 5) West Virginia 12) Providence |
2 pm 4) Connecticut |
||
| 7 pm 7) Pittsburgh 10) Cincinnati |
7 pm 2) Louisville |
Semifinals, 9pm | |
| 9 pm 6) Marquette 11) Seton Hall |
9 pm 3) Notre Dame |
||
| Out: Depaul, South Florida, Rutgers, St. John’s | |||
Cinci couldn’t be coming off a worse game; they were pummeled 96-51 at Connecticut earlier today. It is very possible that for Pitt to win the tournament we would have to go through the top 3 seeds. Let’s at least win the first one though.
But hey, it’s Madison Square Garden, our home away from home.
See you in the garden, I am leaving tomorrow!
IN any case, go Seton Hall!
they are a team you really have to grind and frustrate. which means a lot of activity on the defensive end and really crashing the boards. two things we haven’t done much of lately.
i think we take care of cincy wednesday and the rematch with UL is interesting. our team with a little bit of confidence and energy can beat anyone. lets hope they show it at msg.
People nowadays are always bringing “facts” into arguments, and since I’m a sucker for fads (anyone wanna compare pogs later?), I’ll go ahead and share a few for you all to wrap your heads around (literally).
Three of the four national semifinalists a year ago were conference tournament champions. UCLA – which lost to California in the Pac-10 quarterfinals – was the lone exception.
There were 12 conferences that sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Of those 12, only three (WAC, A-10, Pac-10) had a team that didn’t advance to its conference tournament championship game advance further in the NCAA Tournament than a team that did. Of those three teams, only UCLA won more than one game.
All six BCS conference tournament champions advanced to the Elite Eight last season. The other two quarterfinalists were Memphis – which won the Conference USA Tournament – and UCLA.
The combined NCAA Tournament record of the six BCS conference tournament champions in 2007 was 24-5. Of those five losses, only one (Kansas’ Elite Eight loss to UCLA) came against a non-fellow BCS conference tournament champion.
Seven of the last ten national champions have won their conference tournament. North Carolina in ’05, Syracuse in ’03 and Maryland in ’02 are the exceptions.
Ten of the last 16 Final Four teams have been conference tournament champions, and three of those six teams that didn’t win their league title played in the same conference as the fellow semifinalist which did.
I second Drew– where are we hanging at? My brother is coming into town for this and I wanna show him a good time.. isn’t it Stouts on 33rd usually?
Antonio Graves is tearing up the French “Pro-A” league. Playing on a team that includes former New Castle HS star David Young, Shaun Fein of Georgia Tech, Terence Dials who was Big Ten POY a few years back, Jeff Trapagnier who had a cup of coffee with the Cleveland Cavs a few years ago, and Curtis Withers of UNC-Charlotte, Graves has played 9 games since having his contract purchased from the Pittsburgh Xplosion. He’s played 291 minutes, scoring 193 points (21.4 a game) while hitting on 56.667% from the field, 18-34 (52%) from 3 point land, and 84% from FT land. Yeah, you read that right, 84% from the charity stripe. Most of those numbers lead the team, and his points are the most scored by anyone on the team, despite the fact that most other players have played 15-20 games. He’s been named the Eurobasket.com France Pro-A league player of the week twice, including on a 40 point performance against the league’s 1st place team in which he scored 7 of the last 9 points of the game, icing it with a FT with 5 seconds left that “put Pau back in playoff contention.” (Pau being his team.) In that game he went 12-19, 3-5 from 3, and 13-15 from FT. Antonio Graves getting to the line 15 times…that’s just awesome.
Antonio Graves was always a class act, I got to talk to his mother a few times at the Pete, and nobody worked harder than AG at improving himself. I must say I’m surprised at how well he’s doing, but also proud of him as a Pitt alum and wish him nothing but the best.
There is something about Pitt at the Garden, it’s truly been a second home during these past 7yrs. Even though it’s been a shaky season I wouldn’t be suprised if Pitt makes another deep run in the BET
As far as bars are concerned, the Pitt Alumni Association usally has an event going at Stoudt. Which is basically across the street from the Garden. If you Google Stoudt you’ll find the exact location. Always a strong Pitt turnout.
link to basketballprospectus.com
Big East
Qtrs Semis Final Champ
1 Georgetown 100 77.7 49.1 27.3
2 Louisville 100 75.5 45.2 26.2
6 Marquette 90.4 55.8 28.7 15.4
4 UConn 100 55.2 24.3 10.5
3 Notre Dame 100 42.8 17.1 7.2
5 West Virginia 81.6 41.3 18.4 8.1
7 Pitt 81.2 23.0 8.6 3.1
9 Syracuse 60.9 15.3 5.7 1.7
8 Villanova 39.1 6.9 1.9 0.4
12 Providence 18.4 3.4 0.6 0.09
10 Cincinnati 18.8 1.6 0.2 0.02
11 Seton Hall 9.6 1.4 0.2 0.02
Format: All games at Madison Square Garden, March 12-15.
Most likely championship matchup: Georgetown vs. Louisville (22%)
The Big East won’t be a cakewalk for any team, which is what happens when you have five solid teams that are similar in strength. I believe Marquette would be the first team to go 4-0 in two different conference tourneys if they were to pull this off. Back in ’97, they won the CUSA Tourney by winning four games in four days.
“Numen Flumenque” is latin for “one and done.”
