Sunday, March 12, 2006

NCAA and the Big East, Perfect Together

UConn, Villanova, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marquette, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Syracuse

Remember, only Syracuse got an “automatic” invite to the big dance by reason of winning the Big East Tournament.

Two, count them—two, No. 1 Seeds in the brackets. And neither is the Big East Champion. UConn and Villanova were both awarded No. 1 Seeds despite being knocked off by Syracuse and Pittsburgh in the Big East Tournament this past week. At the time of their demise, they were nationally ranked as No. 1 and No. 2 in the land.

The NCAA selection committee chose eight teams from the Big East Conference. That’s the most from any one conference—ever. And Cincinnati could easily be there too.

It will be interesting to see which Big East teams make it into the NIT. Could be Cincinnati, Rutgers, Louisville and Notre Dame. (Even though ND had a 15-13 record, something like 8 or 9 of their losses were by 3 points.) Twelve of the 16 members of the Big East in post season play. That’s pretty good.

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