Tasser: Top teams falling in tough Big East

There has been a heavenly theme to the Big East’s upsets lately. Get it? Providence and Saint… There has been a heavenly theme to the Big East’s upsets lately. Get it? Providence and Saint John’s. But a bad joke aside, the conference is giving experts fits. Syracuse bounced back from an 0-4 stretch and beat Connecticut 66-58 Wednesday night in a matchup of coaches with a combined 1,687 wins. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim came in with 847 and Huskies coach Jim Calhoun with 840. On Saturday the Huskies fell to Louisville, which was promptly dispatched by a suddenly streaking Georgetown. Villanova lost three of four before defeating Marquette 75-70 on Wednesday.

And who can forget the epic beatdown that St. Johns put on Duke? The level of competitiveness in the Big East is insane. The conference’s 11th-ranked team just blew out the ACC’s best, and the Big East’s constant bottom dwellers and mid-level squads are giving the conference’s top teams conniptions.

All seven of the conference’s ranked teams play over the weekend: Cincinnati is at No. 4 Pitt, No. 7 UConn is at Seton Hall, West Virginia is at No. 12 Villanova, DePaul is at No. 13 Louisville, Providence is at No. 14 Georgetown and No. 17 Syracuse is at South Florida tomorrow. On Sunday Rutgers travels to No. 8 Notre Dame. Monday is the big one – the Backyard Brawl at WVU. On Wednesday Louisville goes to No. 8 Notre Dame, and No. 14 Georgetown heads north to Syracuse.

Power Rankings

1. Pittsburgh — Rutgers gave the Panthers a scare Saturday, but the Panthers were able to pull it out. Pitt faces a difficult test against the Mountaineers on Monday in the ever-brutal environment in Morgantown, W.Va. The Panthers are the only team in the conference that hasn’t gone into a slump at some point this season.

2. Notre Dame — The Irish beat Pitt on the road and then had a nice long break until they played DePaul last night. The Irish have a rather easy path the rest of the way — as easy as the Big East gets anyway — and if they can hold out, they will be sitting pretty come tournament time.

3. Villanova — Nova just ended its slump with a win over Marquette. The Wildcats play WVU tomorrow, and the remaining schedule still holds two games against Pitt and one against Notre Dame.

4. Georgetown — Since losing four of five, the Hoyas have rattled off five straight victories, the last two against the likes of Villanova and Louisville. Austin Freeman and company look to jump back into the top 10.

5. Syracuse — Syracuse was painfully bad on defense during its losing streak, but the Orange were able to hold UConn to just 58 points and standout Kemba Walker to a season-low eight points.

6. Connecticut — You would think that the Huskies would easily stop their current two-game slide with Seton Hall, St. John’s and Providence next on their schedule. But given the recent events, can you be sure?

7. Louisville — The Cardinals were not supposed to have a great year, but there they are in the top 15. If only they didn’t play in the Big East, they could be a lot higher than seventh in the conference standings.

8. West Virginia — WVU has a big next couple of days, traveling to Villanova tomorrow and hosting Pitt on Monday. The Mountaineers cannot afford to lose both games as five of their last seven games are against ranked teams.