Sat 2/1 BE (5 Gs, SH-XU, MU-SJ, PC-DeP, GU-MSU, VU-Temple)

[cu blujs]

Way to represent Gtown and Nova. Damn its fun to have a horse in the race in these games. Love the Big East.

[TheHall]

Terrific effort being given by the Hoyas today! Now let's close the deal in the second half.

Definitely --- they've been playing good ball in the past two games, so I thought they really had a shot today. Great defense and good plan on O

Big East Hooooooooooeeee!

[SecureDaBall]

I know it's kind of garbage time at this point, but I wish Nova would just bump the lead over 20 points so that they could say they won the Big 5 with the closest margin being 20.

I believe its the largest accumulative margin of victory for the big 5

[ChelseaFriar]

No offense to PC but they are clearly the other end of the pole…in other words they have an inflated record squeaking out some games the opponent threw away (2 OT to SJ), caught Creighton in an ice cold shooting spell, and now gets other teams with their key player missing. PC is worse than their record indicates. At some point the lack of depth is going to haunt them and they won't get gifts. They would be a great team if they had Dunn, Austin, Ledo, etc. but they lost too much.

PC lost @ Top 20 UMASS on a buzzer beater in OT. They also had the Seton Hall game in the bag in double OT and threw an inbound pass into the stands and it cost them the game.

You are not going to get much sympathy from PC as far as teams missing key players (please see Dunn, Austin, Bullock).

And yes, we caught Creighon in an ice cold shooting spell, just like Marquette caught PC in one of their worst halves of shooting in years the other night.

[Lavinwood]

Watching the Cuse/Duke game, Duke is getting absolutely demolished by the zebras. Jefferson with 4 fouls with 11 minutes left still. I wonder if he ever had 4 that early at Cameron? I'd bet not. The ACC fans must be really pissed they let Cuse in, because they are now dominating the conference. I hate both these teams…too bad both can't lose somehow.

OMG Parker and Jefferson have 4 fouls with 10:45 left…this is ridiculous. I can't wait for the day Boeheim retires and Cuse's reign ends or at least is greatly diminished. A team closer to Canada than NYC claims NYC and their team/fans are the least classy I've experienced. Cuse is going to win this easily with Duke's 2 studs harassed by refs all game.

By the way a St. John's ad just came on during the Cuse game. Is that a mistake? Lol...

[gosports1]

No offense to PC but they are clearly the other end of the pole…in other words they have an inflated record squeaking out some games the opponent threw away (2 OT to SJ), caught Creighton in an ice cold shooting spell, and now gets other teams with their key player missing. PC is worse than their record indicates. At some point the lack of depth is going to haunt them and they won't get gifts. They would be a great team if they had Dunn, Austin, Ledo, etc. but they lost too much.

I dont think PC is a lock by any means. They have much to prove still but they do show promise. They have exceeded expectations based on what they have to work with. Just about every school has squeaked out wins. PC was also on the short end of some close games as well. (as were other programs). It will be interesting to see if they can continue

[mel ott]

No offense to PC but they are clearly the other end of the pole…in other words they have an inflated record squeaking out some games the opponent threw away (2 OT to SJ), caught Creighton in an ice cold shooting spell, and now gets other teams with their key player missing. PC is worse than their record indicates. At some point the lack of depth is going to haunt them and they won't get gifts. They would be a great team if they had Dunn, Austin, Ledo, etc. but they lost too much.

I dont think PC is a lock by any means. They have much to prove still but they do show promise. They have exceeded expectations based on what they have to work with. Just about every school has squeaked out wins. PC was also on the short end of some close games as well. (as were other programs). It will be interesting to see if they can continue

I like PC's team. I was at the Providence game on the road for CU. Yes, a couple of guys weren't well for the game for CU, but the atmosphere and arena at Providence was great. They killed us on the boards and they have a tough top 5-6 guys. Amazing that they have held up so well with all the play. More power to them. I do look forward to our last home game against them; however, those of traveling had a great atmosphere and experience at the Dunk.

[Lavinwood]

SJ definitely owes Creighton and PC some losses after giving 1 away to PC missing 4 chances to win and losing our last 3 against them (I believe) after we blew them out a few years back, and after not covering McDermott to allow a last second 3 that was the difference in the game. If we can get those 2 wins which I believe is absolutely doable, we just might be on the verge of being in business again. The key will be SJ beating teams we should i.e. Butler, SH, PC, DePaul, Marquette while also beating a few teams we are not expected to according to rankings i.e. Creighton, Nova. If the team you saw last night played the entire season we'd have 17 wins and be in the top 25 and top 3 in the Big East. Let's see if we can keep this going. I'm not holding my breath because we have had terrible luck for the better part of 2 decades, but if Lavin's remarks that this team will really takeoff in Feb. and go on a run actually happen, then he will earn a lot of respect from fans.

[Bill Marsh]

The Georgetown win had a major impact on the tournament status of the conference, as reflected in RPI Forecast now showing 4 teams in the tournament with Villanova a one seed and Creighton a two seed. The St. John's win also shook things up.

4. Villanova
7. Creighton
39. Xavier
47. Providence
66. Georgetown
78. St. John's
86. Marquette
108. Butler
120. Seton Hall
142. DePaul

[stever20]

The Georgetown win had a major impact on the tournament status of the conference, as reflected in RPI Forecast now showing 4 teams in the tournament with Villanova a one seed and Creighton a two seed. The St. John's win also shook things up.

4. Villanova
7. Creighton
39. Xavier
47. Providence
66. Georgetown
78. St. John's
86. Marquette
108. Butler
120. Seton Hall
142. DePaul

Providence at 47 would be one of the last 2-3 teams in at that number. in ESPN's latest bracetology for instance, the bottom 19 teams were all auto selections. So 68-19=49. PC at 47 would be 3rd to last team in, playing in a PIG.

Also, PC would likely at that number have to win the QF game in the BET to make the tourney.

Looking deeper at the RPI forecast- Xavier and Providence pretty much have no wiggle room. If they lose another game they're not supposed to(a game like Tuesday PC playing St John's for example)- they are in trouble. Xavier has to go 5-5 rest of the way and PC has to go 4-5 the rest of the way. On the other side of things, Georgetown needs 6-3 to have a real shot. It's possible all 3 get in, but it's also a scary thought that all 3 don't, and we could get stuck with only 2 teams getting in. If St John's, Butler, Marquette, Seton Hall, and DePaul steal some games, we could be in some real trouble.