I Bleed Blue and White

With the season finales taking place in the Big East yesterday, the seeding is finally set for the Big East Tournament, which begins play on Tuesday. Below is the schedule of games.

Tuesday March 10

• 12:00 p.m. – #9 Cincinnati vs. #16 DePaul
• 2:00 p.m. – #12 Georgetown vs. #13 St. John’s
• 7:00 p.m. – #10 Notre Dame vs. #15 Rutgers
• 9:00 p.m. – #11 Seton Hall vs. #14 South Florida

Wednesday March 11

• 12:00 p.m. on ESPN – #8 Providence vs. Cincinnati/DePaul
• 2:00 p.m. on  ESPN – #5 Marquette vs. Georgetown/St. John’s
• 7:00 p.m. on ESPN – #7 West Virginia vs. Notre Dame/Rutgers
• 9:00 p.m. on ESPN – #6 Syracuse vs. Seton Hall/South Florida

Thursday March 12

• 12:00 p.m. on ESPN – #1 Louisville vs. Providence/Cincinnati/DePaul
• 2:00 p.m. on ESPN – #4 Villanova vs. Marquette/Georgetown/St. John’s
• 7:00 p.m. on ESPN – #2 Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia/ND/Rutgers
• 9:00 p.m. on ESPN – #3 UConn vs. Syracuse/Seton Hall/USF

Friday March 13

• 7:00 p.m. on ESPN – Semifinal #1
• 9:00 p.m. on ESPN – Semifinal #2

Saturday March 14

• 9:00 p.m. on ESPN – Big East Championship Game

You can also go to VUHoops if you want to see the bracket.

…It’s just amazing that this is now a 5 day tournament…and I can’t help but laugh when I see Notre Dame and Georgetown seeded that low…who would have thought?…

…Anyways, I like our draw…I’d bank on Georgetown beating St. John’s after they just lost to them…that won’t happen twice…Georgetown-Marquette should be a pretty good game…and then I like our matchup with either a wounded and reeling Marquette or a revenge matchup with the Hoyas…

…Also like a potential revenge game with Louisville, gosh we should have won that game!…

When Villanova walks onto the court for their game with USF on Saturday, they’re going to need to be wary. On paper, this game looks like a sure thing for Villanova. USF is 7-11, is allowing more points per game than they score, and both of their Big East wins have come against lowly DePaul.

But as you take a closer look at the Bulls, you realize that they’ve competed well, especially at home. They took Syracuse down to the wire in a 5 point loss in the Big East opener and played a solid game against Louisville (a team that is looking more and more like a conference champion). Road losses to Pitt (13 points) and West Virginia (3 points) show that this team has some fight.

And after a the game against UConn, it would be easy for the team to be emotionally and physically exhausted. That was a war of a game, and Villanova may have played it’s best game of the season in a loss. But the Big East (especially this year) is not forgiving, and now they’ll have to re-group and take care of business in Southern Florida.

The Bulls have some talent, led by guard Dominque Jones who is averaging nearly 19 points per game. Jesus Verdejo and Augustus Gilchrist both pour in it at over 10 per game. They aren’t a pushover, and they can’t be treated as such, or Villanova could be on a flight home with another loss.

More importantly, which we’ve said before, is just getting the win. This is the type of game where it really doesn’t matter come tournament time how good you looked. All that matters is the win. The tournament committee will notice competitive losses (i.e. UConn) and they’ll definitely notice bad losses, but they won’t care about a sloppy win.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, there aren’t many “gimme” games. A road bout at DePaul and a home and home with Providence present the easiest contests. Don’t take Rutgers for granted (they blew ‘Nova out last year) and Cinncinatti is always a team with some fight. That’s what makes these games so important.

Villanova will need to beat a couple of the big boys (a home game with Pitt next Wednesday is a good opportunity) but they cannot lose the games vs. the bottom feeders (like they were prone to do last year) if they want to make the tourney.

Tomorrow, I think most of us expect a win vs. USF. But after the UConn loss, and with Pitt looming ahead, it’s important not to overlook this game. Go in there, take care of business, and get the win.