Big East Conference Tournament Preview

            Year in and year out, the Big East is always the most wide open conference tournaments.  This due to the strength of the league as the Big East boasts eight teams with at least 20+ wins.  Syracuse won the regular season title posting a 15-3 conference record, finishing 2 games ahead of Pittsburgh and West Virginia.  Syracuse, however, took a step backward as the number one team in the country on Saturday as they got stomped by a Louisville team who is the true dark horse in this tournament.

            Pittsburgh and West Virginia have both been playing extremely well and either one could give Syracuse a run for their money.  Pitt has won eight of their last nine, their only slip up coming on the road against a streaky Notre Dame club who is peaking at the right time even with out their best player, Luke Harrengoty.  Villanova is another team with a 13-5 record in Big East action, however they have struggled mightily down the stretch here in late February and early March.  They do have experience and great guard play which seems to be recipe for post-season success in college basketball so you can’t count them completely out.

            After the four teams mentioned earlier, there are some dangerous teams who could burst some bubbles by pulling off upsets.  Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame are all capable of beating any team at any given point.  However, there seems to be a small drop off in the talent level of these second tier teams.  You never though as we just witnessed Louisville romp all over Syracuse, the number one seed in the tournament.  As stated earlier, this is probably the toughest tournament to predict year and year out because the conference is so strong.  It seems like anyone could beat anyone on any given night.

            The Big East will be won by the team that plays up to their full potential.  This is most definitely the strongest conference in college basketball and should be interesting to see who takes home the hardwood.  Syracuse is the favorite but they better bring their A game or they could certainly be upset by a less talented team.  Whoever comes to play, takes care of the basketball, and plays great defense will ultimately decide the outcome of the tournament.  Don’t be surprised though if the Big East gets 8 teams into the field of 64 unless a team like Georgetown or South Florida could burst someone sitting on the bubble.