Big East: Bubble pops for Cincinnati, UConn favorites

South Florida 70, Cincinnati 59. The Bearcats were a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, losing… South Florida 70, Cincinnati 59. The Bearcats were a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, losing to a team that owns a 9-20 overall record. Such is life in the Big East. The Bearcats’ loss Tuesday night shot their chances of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament this year. They are done, unless Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks every other Big East team at the Madison Square Garden into oblivion, crowning the Bearcats champions by default. The loss also killed the Big East’s chances of securing nine teams in the tournament. The Big East could’ve been alone at the apex of college basketball. Now, it’ll likely send eight teams to the tournament to merely tie the amount of teams coming from the ACC. The Big East would’ve sent a clear message to the nation with its ninth team, but for now, Big East lovers will have to settle for a tie for conference supremacy. It’s spring-break time, which means watching hours of small miracles happen on the Madison Square Garden hardwood next week during the Big East tournament. Again, all 16 teams trek to New York City this year, with some (cough, DePaul) considering not even bothering to book a hotel. Anyway, let’s take a look at how this year’s tournament might shake out. Let’s assume Louisville wins the tiebreaker with Pitt for the No. 1 seed in the tournament. This first tier should finish with Louisville, Connecticut, Pitt and Villanova all receiving two byes. Villanova has the upper hand over Marquette, having beaten the Golden Eagles earlier this year and hosting Providence in its final game. The Golden Eagles have to end a three-game skid against Syracuse in their finale. Marquette joins the second tier of Big East supremacy, which isn’t a bad collection of teams. They should finish in their exact order currently in the standings: Marquette, Syracuse, West Virginia then Providence. The third and fourth tiers will pack the first day’s action at the Big East tournament. For prediction’s sake, let’s say they finish like this: Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John’s, South Florida, Rutgers then DePaul. Cincinnati and Notre Dame are almost guaranteed to advance past the first day. Georgetown might have a bit of trouble with South Florida, but should advance. St. John’s will dispatch Seton Hall, because the Red Storm are playing on its home court. Here’s where it gets interesting. With both teams’ NCAA Tournament lives on the line, Cincinnati upsets Providence thanks to a spirited performance from guard Deonta Vaughn. Marquette dispatches St. John’s ‘mdash; too much firepower from the Golden Eagles to exit early. Syracuse takes care of slumping Georgetown, but Notre Dame, behind Luke Harangody and ridiculous shooting from Kyle McAlarney, upsets West Virginia to advance. Here comes the big, bad top seeds. All four advance, setting up an epic semi-final round between Pitt and Connecticut, for the third time, and Louisville and Villanova. The winners are Connecticut, behind a motivated Hasheem Thabeet, and Louisville, which knows how to lock down against guards like Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds. In the end, the Huskies will cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden with a 78-68 victory over the Cardinals. On to the awards, which are brought to you by hits songs of the ’80s: Big East ‘Rock the Casbah’ Player of the Week: Louisville’s Earl Clark notched back-to-back double-doubles against Marquette and Seton Hall last week. Clark scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against Marquette, but supplanted that with a 27-and-14 effort against Seton Hall Wednesday night. Big East ‘Working for the Weekend’ Cupcake of the Week: That’s what Georgetown’s defense was doing, too bad it was Tuesday. The Hoyas held a 15-point lead with 10 minutes to go in the game to St. John’s. The Hoyas blew the lead and lost in overtime. Big East ‘Too Much Time on My Hands’ Game of the Week: Apparently four seconds was plenty of time for Georgetown to execute two key plays against Villanova on Saturday. At the end of the first half, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe tipped in an alley-oop, scoring just before the buzzer. Then, up 56-54 with four seconds remaining, guard Chris Wright took an inbounds pass and streaked down the sideline to run out the clock for the win. Big East ‘Just the Two of Us’ Game of the Week Ahead: Two familiar foes, Pitt vs. Connecticut, tussle at the Petersen Events Center Saturday. Other than that, check out Marquette hosting Syracuse the same day. Big East ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ Upset Special:’ ‘ ‘ Not making any guarantees here, but the Mountaineers will certainly be ready to rock on Saturday when they host Louisville. West Virginia could give itself a big-ticket win and improve its NCAA Tournament seed.