Big East Tournament, Ray Floriani

SIGHTS & SOUNDS FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Ray Floriani was in Madison Square Garden checking out the action from Day One of the Big East Tournament. Before heading off to Atlantic City for the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Ray filed a brief report on the action from Wednesday:

By Ray Floriani

NEW YORK CITY – After almost twelve hours of basketball we found out the higher seeds ‘held serve’ for the first time this century. You have to go to 1997 to find the last time there wasn’t at least one upset in the Big East Tournament’s opening round. The scores:

Villanova 82 Syracuse 63
West Virginia 58 Providence 53
Pitt 70 Cincinnati 64
Marquette 67 Seton Hall 64

The first game at Madison Square Garden saw Syracuse’s ‘bubble’ burst. The Orange needed to advance and were unable. Credit an excellent performance by Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds who turned in a 22 point (game high) 6 assist 0 turnover day in 35 minutes. In capturing the contest Villanova became the conference’s eighth 20-win team this season.

Providence had a late first half nine point lead but couldn’t capitalize on opportunities to significantly pull away. Providence zoned West Virginia, something they didn’t do the prior two meetings with the Mountaineers. The zone insured a slower pace and was effective for a stretch but overall, Bob Huggins club had too many weapons, most notably, Joe Alexander (22 points) and Da’Sean Butler (17), who combined for 39 of WVU’s 58 points.

Cincinnati and Pitt split two hard fought regular season contests. This one was another physical one with Pitt building leads that Cincy answered. Down the stretch Pitt never surrendered the lead and made the plays to close it out and advance for a meeting with Louisville.

Three days after a controversy laced last second home court loss to Rutgers, Seton Hall was able to regroup and battle Marquette in a game where the score doesn’t indicate the competitiveness. Inside play was a key as Marquette had 25 offensive boards and three SHU big men fouled out.

Best offensive efficiency of the day – Villanova 116
Poorest offensive efficiency – Seton Hall 77
Slowest paced contest – PC- West Virginia a 64 possession game.
Fastest pace – ‘Nova-Syracuse 71 possessions

They missed getting to New York last year so Cincinnati fans were excited. Their game tipped off at 7 p.m. but by 5:30 the band and cheerleaders were warming up in the hall outside MSG as they awaited the doors to open.

Bob Huggins is sure West Virginia is an NCAA team. “I don’t know how a team that has 11 wins in this league doesn’t go,” Huggins said. “This league is as tough as any in the country and there are 16 teams which means you must be ready for 16 different styles of play.”

Cincinnati’s Deonta Vaughn had a game high 30 points and made a succession of big shots in the stretch to keep the Bearcats in it. DeJuan Blair of Pitt had 2 points and 6 boards.

Pitt mentor Jamie Dixon was not totally disappointed . “they double teamed him (Blair) and he had foul trouble,” Dixon said. “But I thought we did some good things to adjust.”

Like find Sam Young with 21 points. Senior Keith Benjamin had another solid 15 point outing.

”Keith has had extra minutes this year due to injuries,” Dixon said. “But his other years he contributed a great deal to our program as well.”

Marquette and Notre Dame have met 110 times but never in New York. They will have that initial get together in the Big East quarterfinals.

Among those in the house was former Cincinnati and NBA great Oscar Robertson. Want to guess how much the Big O could command in today’s NBA market ?

Tom Crean noted offensive rebounding and a healthy Jerel McNeal as keys to Marquette’s victory. Last season McNeal was on the sidelines with an injury. Against the Hall he had a 21 point, 9 rebound, 4 assist night. His 9 boards were more than any Seton Hall rebounded.

Bobby Gonzalez was asked about his thoughts regarding Commissioner Mike Tranghese saying, on Tuesday, that the Big East would investigate his behavior this past Sunday. Gonzalez said, “no comment. I’m just here to talk about the fine effort these kids had tonight and we have conducted ourselves with class all year.”

Hoping a trip to the Big Apple saved his job but the word around the media center was Tim Welsh could be gone at Providence. Here’s hoping that’s not the case.

The quarterfinals…
Georgetown-Villanova
UCONN-West Virginia
Louisville-Pitt
Notre Dame-Marquette

Georgetown-’Nova is a rematch of last year won by the Hoyas.

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