The Big East started off with a bang this week with a marquee Top 10 matchup between Pitt and UConn. With this conference being the best in college, many more matchups will occur in the next two months.
#6 Pittsburgh Panthers (13-1)
Pitt’s team defense was put to the test against UConn on Monday night at home. However, the Panthers passed that test with an astounding 78-63 victory over the Huskies. Ashton Gibbs led the way with 21 points and seven assists. Gibbs had more assists than the entire UConn team as the Panther defense clamped down on the Huskies. Although Kemba Walker still got his 31 points, no other UConn player scored in double-digits and UConn was held to 31% shooting for the entire game. Pitt will now rest because they do not play again until January 4th at Providence.
#5 Syracuse Orangemen (14-0)
Syracuse remained unbeaten by defeating Providence last night 81-74 at the Carrier Dome. Kris Joseph led the way with a career high 27 points. Scoop Jardine added 21 points along with seven assists, while Rick Jackson controlled the glass with 17 rebounds. Syracuse also shot 9 for 22 (.409) from 3-point range, which shows that this team continues to improve as 3-point shooting in previous games was quite atrocious. Syracuse will play Notre Dame at home on New Year’s Day.
Cincinnati Bearcats (13-0)
Although Cincy is still unranked at this time, it has not stopped the team from playing well. The Bearcats defeated DePaul 76-60 last night at home. Cincinnati’s defense continues to be stifling as they forced 17 turnovers, while only committing eight of their own. Cincy will look to remain undefeated at home on New Year’s Eve against Seton Hall.
#22 Louisville Cardinals (11-1)
Louisville is playing their best basketball of the season after throttling Western Kentucky 114-82 last Wednesday and Morgan State 104-74 on Monday. However, Louisville fans want the Cardinals to win their next game: home against their biggest rival Kentucky on New Year’s Eve.
#15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-1)
Notre Dame will have to play their toughest three-game stretch for their entire season this week. Tonight, the Irish play Georgetown at home. On New Year’s Day, they play at Syracuse. Finally on Tuesday, Notre Dame will play UConn at home. How they fare in these three games will determine how well the Fighting Irish plays within conference. If they win at least one of those three games, then Notre Dame will definitely be in the hunt for the conference regular season title.
#8 Villanova Wildcats (10-1)
Villanova has already defeated St. Joe’s, LaSalle, and Penn earlier in the season. Now, the Wildcats can secure Philadelphia bragging rights when they play #25 Temple on Thursday. The key to victory will be controlling the tempo because Temple forces teams to play half-court basketball for the entire game.
#9 Georgetown Hoyas (11-1)
Georgetown played marvellously in their 86-69 victory at Memphis last Thursday. The Hoyas went bonkers in the second half, outscoring Memphis 46-33 in the second half. As mentioned earlier, Georgetown will play at Notre Dame tonight in what will be a good matchup.
#4 Connecticut Huskies (10-1)
UConn fell from the ranks of the unbeaten when they lost 78-63 to Pitt on Monday despite of the remarkable effort displayed by Kemba Walker. Walker led the Huskies with 31 points. Please give this man the Player of the Year Award now because everybody knows that he is the only person on UConn’s team that the opposition prepares for, but he still has scored over 20 points in every game this season. However, he cannot do it all by himself. It’s pretty sad that in the second half nobody else on the Huskies team hit a shot except for Walker until there was about five minutes left to play. Coach Calhoun, I thought that you recruited better than this.
West Virginia Mountaineers (8-2)
West Virginia was off last week. They now begin Big East play tonight at home against St. John’s. Then, it’s off to the road as the Mountaineers will play at Marquette on New Year’s Day and at DePaul on Tuesday. Jumping out to 3-0 would definitely put West Virginia in the driver’s seat of the conference.
Providence Friars (11-3)
Providence stayed with Syracuse for the entire game, but were unable to secure the victory as they lost last night 81-74. It’s imperative that the team learns how to play better in the first half because the Friars were down 42-32 in the first half. If they play with the same urgency for the entire game instead of only a half, then they can be an NCAA Tournament team instead of an NIT team.
Marquette Golden Eagles (9-3)
Tonight is the last chance that Marquette will have to pick up a solid non-conference win. The three times the Golden Eagles were tested so far, they lost to Duke, Gonzaga, and Wisconsin by close margins. To get over the hump on Hump Day, they will have to win tonight at Vanderbilt, one of the toughest places to play college basketball on the road. If Marquette wins, then their NCAA Tournament hopes will remain alive. If not, the NIT will beckon.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-3)
Yesterday was a bad sign for Rutgers. It looked like the Scarlet Knights played like they had scarlet fever in a 78-55 loss to North Carolina. The Tar Heels are the skinniest team in college basketball, yet Rutgers was outrebounded 43-30. CBI Tournament, here we come.
St. John’s Red Storm (7-3)
St. John’s did not play this past week. However, they begin Big East play tonight at West Virginia. If they continue to build on their last win over previously unbeaten Northwestern, then the Johnnies will be able to bring a deluge to Morgantown. If not, then the biggest storm that St. John’s will make in Big East play will be drizzle.
Seton Hall Pirates (7-6)
Seton Hall played their best game of the season thus far by defeating South Florida last night 64-55. It appears that the team was inspired by injured teammate Jeremy Hazell. Hazell was already out for about a month with a broken wrist when four men attempted to rob him in New York on Christmas. One of the men shot Hazell in the right side below his arm. Fortunately, Hazell is OK.
As of now, the four men have not been caught by the police. Black-on-Black crime seriously needs to stop. The #1 cause of death of Black men ages 18-35 is by another Black man. I decree a curse on those four men that attempted to rob Jeremy Hazell on Christmas. May their existences be crappy for the rest of their lives.
The Pirates will look to build on the momentum of this win when they play unbeaten Cincinnati on Friday.
DePaul Blue Demons (6-7)
DePaul’s three game winning streak ended last night when the Blue Demons lost to Cincinnati 76-60. The only bright spot last night for DePaul was Cleveland Melvin, who had 24 points and 8 rebounds. Scoring 40% of the team’s points means that the rest of the team didn’t show up. Well, they will need to show up on New Year’s Day when they play at Georgetown.
South Florida Bulls (6-8)
Coach Stan Heath needs to be fired. Last Wednesday, South Florida lost 69-62 to Cleveland State. Then, last night, the Bulls lost 64-55 to Seton Hall. The team appears to be in freefall since they now have the worst record in the Big East. It’s also rather sketchy that the most points South Florida has scored in a game this season is 76. The schedule doesn’t get any easier since they play at UConn on New Year’s Eve.
