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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (11/21/2008)

Good night in the Big East on Thursday, highlighted by Seton Hall’s upset win over nationally ranked USC in the Puerto Rico Tip-off Tournament. It was not such a good night for the Pac 10 as both USC and UCLA were beaten last night by unranked foes. West Virginia, although not pleasing their head coach, won by 32 at home and Providence gave viewers a glimpse of the Keno Davis system in gear as they rang up 111 points on Sacred Heart.

Seton Hall is back in action as their band of seven takes on the Memphis Tigers tonight. Five other games on tonight’s schedule with Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Rutgers with home dates (in games related to the CBE Challenge, Legends Classic and Garden State Challenge respectively), UConn playing in the Virgin Islands and Notre Dame is off to California as a stop over before heading to Maui to meet Loyala Marymount.

Elsewhere around the league, Louisville opens on Saturday, but Rick Pitino is still trying to guage his team. A nice article on AJ Price by Jeff Goodman is available. Georgetown losses a big commitment and an article on Jerel McNeal is available as the Marquette senior is on the NBA draft radar. Also, the National Prep School Invitational has tipped off at Bryant College and the NBE Basketball Report will be there for coverage today and tomorrow.

Also, stay tuned…there is a 2010 commitment to report on out of Marquette…

LAST NIGHT’S ACTION:

Seton Hall 63
USC 61

It was a tough night for the top two college teams in Los Angeles as both were upset by unranked foes on neutral courts. While Michigan’s upset of UCLA at Madison Square Garden is getting much of the attention, Seton Hall Flips the Script in Pulling Shocker over USC (ESPN), 63-61.

Puerto Rico is No Vacation for USC (LA Times) as Seton Hall, despite dressing just seven scholarship players, rallied from a 43-28 deficit, outscoring USC 35-18 in the second half. Even with the short bench, the Pirates were able to put defensive pressure on the Trojans and take advantage of their #1 weakness, ball-handling, and force 19 turnovers.

Eugene Harvey led the Pirates with 18 points, Jeremy Hazell hit a big second-half three-pointer among his 15 points and John Garcia played strong inside and carried the Pirates on the boards with an 11-point, 18-rebound performance.

The Pirates, still dressing just seven players tonight as Robert Mitchell finishes his two-game suspension, will take on Memphis.
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Providence 111
Sacred Heart 87

This is more of what a Keno Davis attack should look like as the Friars’ Rain of Three-Pointers Puts Pioneers Down and Out (Providence Journal). PC connected on 13 of 30 from beyond the arc, putting six players in double figures and Marshon Brooks continues to be an early season story in the Big East as the sophomore from Georgia scored 30 points in 23 minutes last night.

After making just five of 19 three’s as a freshman, Brooks is Now a Long-Range Threat (Providence Journal) as he hit five of eight last night, including four in his 24-point first half. For good measure, Brooks also added five steals as he helped the Friars turn Sacred Heart over 22 times.

Sharaud Curry added 15 points and 8 assists in the win and Geoff McDermott produces a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, also adding 5 assists and 4 blocked shots to his impressive stat line.
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West Virginia 86
Longwood 54

Only basketball coaches can be dis-satisfied with a 32 point win. Well, in this case, maybe Bob Huggins has a right to be after a Sloppy WVU Routs Longwood (Daily Mail), 86-54, overcoming 23 turnovers, a stat that would make any head coach cringe.

Freshman Darryl Bryant had another strong performance with a team-high 16 points in a game that was No Sweat for WVU (Charleston Gazette), which still left a bad feeling with coach Huggins who was Disappointed with the Effort, as Mountaineers Roll (MetroNews).

Last night’s game was part of the preliminary action of the Las Vegas Invitational. With a couple home games in the exempt tournament and then a couple neutral floor contests in Vegas, it is no wonder the WVU Men Like Tournaments (Charleston Gazette).

TONIGHT IN THE BIG EAST:
Five games on tap tonight involving Big East teams in addition to the Seton Hall/Memphis match-up in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic which is set for a 7 PM start.

Currently the Big East stands at 28-3 in non-conference match-ups early on, losing two road games to ACC foes (BC over St. John’s and Virginia over USF) and Providence’s opening loss to Northeastern.

Connecticut vs. LaSalle, 6 PM in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands
UConn/LaSalle Scouting Report (Hartford Courant)
LaSalle to Face Tough Task in No. 2 UConn (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Weekend in Paradise Will Test UConn (TheDay.com)
Huskies Stand Tall vs. LaSalle (Norwich Bulletin)

Others teams in the Paradise Jam Field include nationally ranked Miami and Wisconsin.

Oakland at Syracuse, 7 PM
Orange Scouting Report (Syracuse Post-Standard)

Akron at Pittsburgh, 7 PM.
Playing No. 6 Pitt a Tough Task for Akron’s Basketball Team (Ohio.com)
Fields is Less than 100%, But Play is Healthy (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

Robert Morris at Rutgers, 8 PM as part of the Garden State Challenge.
Knights Chandler Providing a Spark (MyCentralJersey.com)
RMU Colonials Welcome Robinsons’ Impact (Post-Gazette)

Notre Dame at Loyola Marymount, 10 PM.
Mac’s Shots Harder to Find (South Bend Tribune)
No. 8 Fighting Irish Enter Hank’s Hourse (Journal Gazette)
McAlarney Has Irish Eyes Smilin’ (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE BIG EAST:

We are still a day away before Louisville opens their season. Most of the Big East will already have three, and in some cases four, games already under their belt when UL meets Morehead State on Saturday.

So, without any games, the highly regarded Cards are Difficult to Judge (Louisville Courier Journal) for their own head coach, who has a couple closer than expected exhibitions and a few inter-squad scrimmages to judge their game readiness.
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Here is an excellent article by FoxSports.com national college basketball writer Jeff Goodman on Connecticut senior guard AJ Price: Adversity Keeps Coming, Price Stays Positive.

Price, who sat out UConn’s win over Hartford on Monday with a sprained ankle and foot, will play tonight in the Virgin Islands when UConn begins play in the Paradise Jam.
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DraftExpress.com takes a close look at Marquette senior guard Jerel McNeal, who continues to entrench himself on the NBA radar for the 2009 draft. According to McNeal, ‘You have to Put Winning at the Forefront’, and the do-everything guard certainly backs up that talk with his play.
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As we reported over a week ago, the Georgetown recruiting class has shrunk by one, a rather ‘large’ one as 6-foot-11 C DaShonte Riley of Detroit’s Country Day School decided not to sign with the Hoyas in the early signing period which concluded on Wednesday. Riley Has Retracted his Commitment to Georgetown (Washington Post), leaving the Hoya recruiting class at just one at this point: Hollis Thompson.
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Providence fans can get a look at the newest Friar, Johnnie Lacy, as the PC Signee Lacy is Among the Prep Stars at Bryant College this Weekend (Providence Journal) participating in the NPSI. NBE will be on hand Friday and Saturday to cover the first two days of action and ND Prep, with four committed Big East players, (Lacy, Antoine Allen (PC), Sean Kilpatrick (UC) and James Southerland (SU)) on the roster.

See our ‘Donate to NBE’ page for more details on our site donation drive!

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