Cincinnati News, Connecticut News, DePaul News, Georgetown News, Louisville News, Marquette News, Notre Dame News, Pittsburgh News, Providence News, Rutgers News, Seton Hall News, St. John's News, Syracuse News, USF News, Villanova News, West Virginia News

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT AT A GLANCE (PART II)

Just nine regular season games remain on the BIG EAST schedule for the 2010-2011 campaign with one tonight and the final eight set for Saturday. Still much is to be determined for seeding in regards to next week’s 2011 BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

First, let’s take a look at the few things we DO know in regards to seeds and match-ups…

The 32nd edition of the BIG EAST Tournament will tip off at noon next Tuesday (March 8th) at Madison Square Garden. This is the 29th straight year that the “World’s Most Famous Arena” has hosted the tournament, making it the longest-running Division I men’s basketball championship at one venue.

Three of the four teams taking the floor for Tuesday afternoon’s first session have been determined, and here is that opening schedule:

ROUND ONE: TUESDAY, MARCH 8th:
– (16) DePaul vs. No. 9, 12 Noon.
– Seton Hall vs. Rutgers, 2 PM.

While it is still to be determined who will be the #12 seed and who will be the #13 seed between the New Jersey hoop rivals, the Pirates and Scarlet Knights are locked in for the second game of the Session One double header. It will mark the BIG EAST tournament debuts of Mike Rice and Kevin Willard on the sidelines for their respective teams.

As for who the Blue Demons will play? The possibilities are virtually endless, well, not really endless, but there are three teams currently tied for 9th place at 9-8 in the conference: Connecticut, Villanova and Marquette. Muddying the picture even more is that three teams are currently tied for 6th place, just one game ahead of the trio at 10-7: Georgetown, Cincinnati and West Virginia. This could be the hottest opening session in terms of tickets since the new format was introduced. Hard to believe, following the click below, you can still get tickets for LESS than $5 to this opening session as of this afternoon!!

What does that mean for the late session on the opening day? Well, two more teams from the current 6th - 11th place log jam will fall here and South Florida and Providence being the opponents. Final seeds and times are still to be determined depending on Saturday’s regular season finales.

-No. 15 vs. No. 11, 7 PM.
-No. 14 vs. No. 10, 9 PM.


—————————-

That is all that is really settled. With their win over PC last night, Louisville joined Pittsburgh and Notre Dame by clinching a double-bye into Thursday’s quarterfinal round.

St. John’s and Syracuse have clinched at-least a first round bye in The BIG EAST Championship and are now competing for the last double-bye. Wins by Steve Lavin’s Red Storm tonight over Seton Hall tonight and over South Florida on Saturday gives the SJU a bye for the first two rounds of the tournament. One loss by the Johnnies and an Orange win over DePaul on Saturday puts SU automatically into the quarterfinals.

The double-bye has not been the advantage many thought it would be when introduced for the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament. Since that time the team playing their first game after on Thursday is just 3-5 with the ‘advantage’ of a double-bye. Pitt, for example, following a run of seven BIG EAST Tournament championship game appearances in eight years, is 0-2 with a double-bye. The Panthers lost to WVU in 2009 on Thursday night and fell last season to ND, each time as the two-seed.

With a win over Villanova at the Peterson Events Center, or Notre Dame loss at UConn, on Saturday afternoon the Panthers would clinch the #1 seed in this year’s tournament. A loss and ND would would put the Irish in the No. 1 seed position and the Panthers No. 2 by virtue of Mike Brey’s club winning at ‘The Pete’ in January, 56-51.

Why is winning with the double-bye so hard? Just take a look at the possible match-ups for Thursday that could be the equivalent to Sweet 16 match-ups in the NCAA Tournament with the number of 3, 4 and 5 seed possibilities for the BIG EAST. That is just the league’s quarterfinals! It is why Jamie Dixon called a ticket to the BIG EAST tournament it the “best ticket in town” following last night’s win.

For the sixth consecutive year, all tickets to the BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship have been sold in advance. All ticket packages for the 2011 Championship have been purchased by the 16 member institutions, negating the need for a public sale at Madison Square Garden, also possibly making it the toughest ticket in town.

Still need your BIG EAST Tournament tickets? We have YOUR seat below! Follow the links below to the individual sessions you desire or buy for the entire event. It is not too late and still GREAT prices and GREAT seats available!

Need a place to stay in NYC for the tournament, click here to Book Air and/or hotel for NYC and the 2011 BIG EAST Tournament

For travel deals and arrangements, click here: Book Air and/or hotel for NYC and 2011 BIG EAST Tournament