The Big East Tournament continues to surprise and proves the parity of the best league in the country (regardless of what Kal says about the Big Ten).
First, defending tournament champion Louisville lost on Wednesday night to Cincinnati.
Second, all top three seeds (Syracuse, Villanova, and Pitt) lost in Thursday's quarterfinals. Syracuse was trying to beating Georgetown three times in a season which is always difficult. Syracuse's 91-84 loss to Georgetown was tougher as they had leads. What's worse is that Onuku left the Garden on crutches. Darn it!
While Syracuse lost two in a row, Nova lost 5 of 7 and may drop to a #4 seed in the Big Dance.
Syracuse's shot at the overall #1 seed was dim anyway as the Selection Committee will award it to Kansas or Kentucky. It will be hard for anyone else to overtake Syracuse's overall body of work. Duke will probably get the fourth #1 seed. Syracuse needs to rest, get healthy, and heed the wake up call.
In the final game on Thursday, West Virginia's entire starting lineup was from NYC or the surrounding area.
No team had a ten point lead in any of the quarterfinal games until West Virginia did with 12:31 left in the first half. They increased the lead to 18 with six minutes left. Cincinnati rallied to tie it with about a minute left. Jerry West's son John hit a three pointer to give West Virginia a three point lead at halftime.
West Virginia had a seven point lead in the second half but Cincinnati closed it to 49-48 with about a minute in the second half.
The game was tied at 51 with 6.4 seconds left. Cincinnati turned it over with 3.1 seconds left. Can West do it again for West Virginia?
No, the ball went to Butler and he hit a three point bank shot to win it 54-51. #4 seed West Virginia barely survived a scare.
Posted by The Tank in the Middle of the March Madness.