Big East Tournament Preview Edition

First things first, let's get Saturday's game out of the way.  Pitt lost to UConn and the stupid noon start caused me to miss the entire game for work.  From what I can gather, Pitt sucked in the first half, was down a lot, made a comeback, took a lead late, then imploded the last few minutes and lost by 9.  JJ Moore with another big night day.

Big East Tournament Bracket

A quick glance at the first round games.

16.  Depaul vs 9. UConn
Depaul has no chance.  Coincidentally this same seeding and matchup happened last year with UConn winning easily.  Should be more of the same here.  UConn Winner gets WVU in round 2.
Winner - UConn by at least 15.

13. Pitt vs 12. St. John's
If Pitt wants to go dancing, they'll need five wins in five days.  It starts at 2 pm Tuesday against a team they just beat by 20 at home.  Pitt isn't as good as the game they played on Wednesday night, so expect this one to be close.  I don't put much value into the fact that the BET is a home game for the Johnnies essentially. They haven't performed well here in 10 years.  Winner gets Georgetown on Wednesday.
Winner - Pitt by 5

15. Providence vs 10. Seton Hall - The Hall had their most talented team in at least 6 years and it still was only good enough for 10th in the Big East.  They were on the bubble before, then they went and lost to Depaul.  They'll need at least a win here and over 7. Louisville in the second round to get in the conversation.  If they get that far, a win over 2 seed Marquette in the quarters should clinch an invitation to the madness.  In other news, Herb Pope's selection on the all big east third team is a joke.  One of only two people to average a double double this year and the other was a first teamer (Kevin Jones)
Winner - Seton Hall

14. Villanova vs  11. Rutgers - I don't think Villanova is the 14th best team in the Big East and I don't think Rutgers is the 11th best team.  Villanova won their matchup last week and I think they'll repeat the feat.  Winner gets South Florida.
Winner - Nova

Pitt's path -
Provided seeds hold, Pitt's run to the title will be
St. John's --> Georgetown --> Cincinnati --> Syracuse --> Marquette or ND
Now there's an argument among Pitt fans of who'd they rather see Pitt face:  Teams Pitt beat or Teams that beat Pitt.  One side says that if Pitt beat those teams once they can beat them again.  The other side would rather not have that pressure.  Normally I would be in the first group, Pitt obviously matches up well with the teams they beat, and I'd rather not see a team like South Florida in the second round because clearly they own Pitt.  But the Big East Tournament is an entirely different animal.  Looking back, the past three years Pitt had a double-bye and played a team they beat at least once already in the regular season.  Each time Pitt lost.  In 2008, Pitt won it all by beating three teams that had beaten them in the regular season (Cincy, Louisville, Marquette) and then Gtown in the final.

Realistically, I think Pitt wins 2 games and falls to Cincy in the quarters, but I'm hoping for the best.  Each day I'll be writing recaps for Pitt as well as the rest of the day's action and offering thoughts and predictions for the rest of the tournament.
My own bracket.
1st round
Uconn over Depaul, Pitt over St. John's, Seton Hall over Providence, Villanova over Rutgers
2nd round
Uconn over wvu, Pitt over georgetown, louisville over seton hall, south florida over villanova
quarterfinals
syracuse over uconn, cincy over pitt, marquette over louisville, nd over south florida
semis
cuse over cincy, marquette over nd
finals
cuse over marquette

I know I went with chalk for most of these picks, but I just have a feeling that the Big East is a little top heavy this year.  Since the double bye started, the top 4 seeds have never all advanced, but hey first time for everything.  Pitt might beat Cincy, but they'll probably lose to St. John's.