Tues 2/18, BE 2 Games (VU-PC, BU-SJU).

[billyjack]

Big East doubleheader on FS1 tonight.

#9 Villanova at Providence, 7pm, FS1.
Butler at St John's at MSG, 9pm, FS1.

Huge opportunity for the Friars tonight at home. Last month Villanova won by 30...(!) However, the Wildcats are coming off a rough game at Creighton only 2 days ago, while PC has played only 1 game in the last 8 days, plus the game is at the Dunk. So the schedule makers have helped the Friars here. But how often does a team lose by 30, then come back later that year to beat that same team? On a side note, yet another 4 to 6 inches of snow is supposed to hit Providence today.

Villanova's game at Creighton was more of a showcase of how good CU is, and shows that both Villanova and Creighton are Final Four contenders. Look at some of the teams these schools have beaten, and the margins of victory (or how much their leads were before they took their foot off the gas)... St Joe's by 30, La Salle by 20, Kansas, Iowa, Cal by 28, Nebraska by 30, Arizona State by 30, St Joe's again...

St John's has won 8 of their last 9, including by 20 points Sunday night vs Georgetown where they got off to a 15-0 lead...! And they play their best ball at MSG, where tonight they host Butler. Actually, 3 of their last 5 games will be at MSG. St John's has become a must see team of TV... don't walk out of the room until a commercial break cuz you don't want to miss anything...

In any other conference, Butler would be at least mid-pack. The talent is there, but they lost of bunch of OT or close games. BU would be at least in 6th place in the ACC... seriously, if Virginia can be 12-1 in the ACC, and NC State can actually play themselves onto the bubble by beating up on the bottom of the ACC (which has 6 teams with RPI's of 100 or worse), then Butler would completely be in the hunt there.

A quick look at Virginia:
c'mon, tell me Butler isn't at least as good as these guys:
- their last game OOC was at Tennessee, where they lost by 35 points.
- their best ooc win was vs 48 SMU (not played on SMU's home court).
- their next 3 best OOC wins were vs 107 Northern Iowa, 111 Missouri State and 150 Davidson... two 500 teams in the MVC, and 1 Southern Conference team that is 15-11 with 10 of their wins vs 291 RPI's or worse.
- they have 5 OOC wins vs teams with RPI's of 227 or worse, including 2 that are over 300.
- they've played 4 other OOC games (along with SMU) vs Top-100 teams, and lost them all (including 63 Green Bay).
- their next 3 games are: at 232 Va Tech, vs 106 Notre Dame, and vs 118 Miami (Fla).
- then they're at home to Syracuse, where ESPN will hype the sh!t out of it all week, and then the Orangemen will win by 30 and Virginia will score 34 points.
- I mean, c'mon...

[stever20]

according to ESPN's numbers...

Virginia- played the #32 OOC SOS..
Butler- played the #292 OOC SOS..

Butler played NO ONE OOC. You have to work hard to have a schedule that bad. 3 opponents 298 or worse(plus a D2 school). Half of their opponents RPI 176 or worse. And nothing that compares to UVA beating SMU. Butler had 3 games OOC vs top 100 teams. UVA had 3 top 50 games OOC(also playing VCU and Wisconsin).

I'm sorry, but Butler was plain and simple doing it with smoke and mirrors earlier. That's a bad OOC schedule(one of the 5 worst OOC schedules a Big East team has had in the last 4 years)- right up there with some of Cincy's OOC schedules a few years ago.

[Dawgsfolife]

Thanks for the support, the Dawgs sure need it this year. Our biggest fans have been in near meltdown mode all year for a variety of reasons, but I have been saying that this team is not really as bad as their record indicates. Moving forward, they will need more size and depth to compete for Big East titles, which is likely at least two years away given recruiting. As for the game, SJU is more athletic and skilled then Butler this year. In all likelihood it could get ugly, but something makes me think Dawgs stay around and make it interesting. Who knows, maybe SJU will be looking ahead to Saturday...

[Bill Marsh]

Thanks for the support, the Dawgs sure need it this year. Our biggest fans have been in near meltdown mode all year for a variety of reasons, but I have been saying that this team is not really as bad as their record indicates. Moving forward, they will need more size and depth to compete for Big East titles, which is likely at least two years away given recruiting. As for the game, SJU is more athletic and skilled then Butler this year. In all likelihood it could get ugly, but something makes me think Dawgs stay around and make it interesting. Who knows, maybe SJU will be looking ahead to Saturday...

Love watching Butler, Dawg. They play the game the way it's supped to be played. Their passing game is a thing of beauty. Marshall battles inside. I think it's going to be an up hill battle against St. John's, but every game is up for grabs in the league. Maybe this time a few breaks go your way. Lord knows that hasn't been the case with all the close/OT losses.

[FriarJ]

PC vs. Nova is the biggest game of PC's year. I expect it to be a classic BE battle tonight.

[GumbyDamnit!]

VA did beat Pitt at Pitt. That's a validating win of sorts. You can't just dismiss Conf Games entirely. SJU beat no one OOC, much like VA but it doesn't mean that they are not the 3rd or 4th best team in the BE.

[Jet915]

GO PC AND SJU!

[NJRedman]

GO PC AND SJU!

Well if PC wins then that means that your wins over Nova aren't as impressive.

Also if my Johnnies are going to beat them they need to win tonight. No way Nova goes on a three game skid.

[whiteandblue77]

Dennis Hopper's Calling the game!!! Awesome... "It's all FRACTIONS! Just fractions man..."

[gosports1]

GO PC AND SJU!

Well if PC wins then that means that your wins over Nova aren't as impressive.

Also if my Johnnies are going to beat them they need to win tonight. No way Nova goes on a three game skid.

if pc beats nova they will have beaten everyone in the BE except seton hall and marquette(they still face them again) has anyone beaten both villanova and creighton?