Big East tournament has new setup in ’09

Enlightenment is the word. The Big East tournament changed its format for 2009. Well, now that… Enlightenment is the word. The Big East tournament changed its format for 2009. Well, now that it is getting close to tournament time, let’s go over what changes were made and what they mean for some of this year’s potential Big East tournament field. The conference announced on Nov. 7, 2007, that the presidents of the conference voted for expanding the tournament field to 16 teams to take effect starting in 2009. That means each team in the Big East ‘mdash; yes, even winless in-conference DePaul ‘mdash;’ will participate in the tournament at Madison Square Garden in early March. Before, the top 12 teams in the final regular-season standings advanced to the tournament. The new format will have the teams seeded nine through 16 meet on the first day of competition. The matchups will be No. 9 vs. No. 16, No. 10 vs. No. 15, No. 11 vs. No. 14 and No. 12 vs. No. 13. The winners of those four games will meet seeds five through eight on the second day of play. The No. 9-16 winner will advance to play the No. 8 seed. The No. 10-15 winner will play the No. 7 seed. The No. 11-14 winner faces the No. 6 seed. The No. 12-13 winner will meet the No. 5 seed. Those four winners will advance to play the top four seeds in the quarterfinal round. This means that the top four seeds get a first- and second-round bye in the tournament, a valuable commodity during the dog-days of March. The locks for these top four spots, and the subsequent bye to the quarterfinals, looked to be Connecticut, Pitt, Louisville and Marquette. But not so fast my friend. The Tuesday before last, Villanova told Marquette, ‘Sweet sassy molassey, you are gonna pay a lot for this muffler!’ and swept the floor with its golden wings in a 102-84 drubbing at The Pavilion. The Wildcats took a seven-game winning streak into Morgantown last Friday and left with sore necks after watching West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler chuck up 43 points to give the Mountaineers a 93-72 win. It was the second-highest individual scoring effort in a Big East contest since 2003. Butler paced the Mountaineers’ perimeter game, going 6 for 13 from beyond the arc. Somewhere, Kevin Pittsnogle cracked a smile. So the Wildcats are out of it, right? Wrong. Just look at their schedule down the stretch: at Syracuse, at DePaul, Georgetown, at Notre Dame and Providence. The Wildcats lucked out by having a soft schedule, thanks to collapses from Georgetown and Notre Dame. Now, Marquette on the other hand, its schedule is of the sort we’re used to seeing in Big East play. The Golden Eagles finish off the year at Georgetown, home against Connecticut, at Louisville, at Pitt and home against Syracuse. It’s a good thing for Wildcats coach Jay Wright that his team is playing well at the right time. ‘We’ve been playing good basketball,’ said Wright. ‘We’ve been very fortunate to be getting great play off the bench and great leadership from our seniors.’ Leading the Wildcats’ push are senior forward Dante Cunningham and junior guard Scottie Reynolds. Cunningham and Reynolds are averaging 18 and 16 points, respectively, in their last seven games, about a point above their season averages. On to the awards: Big East Hammer on the Hardwood: If this award can’t go to Pitt’s DeJuan Blair, then it has to go to West Virginia’s Butler. Come on, 43 points? He followed that up with a relatively pedestrian 19-point, four-rebound and four-assist game in a 79-68 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday. Big East Cupcake: This is a shared award between Syracuse forwards Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. Both disappeared beneath the towering stature of Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet last Wednesday. Onuaku and Jackson combined for just six points and 10 rebounds and allowed Thabeet to score eight points, grab 16 rebounds and block seven shots. Big East Game of the (Two) Week(s): The Bulls’ Dominique Jones went coast-to-coast and sunk a layup with 15 seconds left to give South Florida a 57-56 lead over Marquette Feb. 6. But the Bulls couldn’t relax until two Marquette shots from under the basket fell short, giving South Florida the victory. The win was South Florida’s first against a top-10 team in school history. Big East Matchups of the Week Ahead: A great matchup on Sunday tips off at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome when Syracuse hosts Villanova. But on Wednesday, Marquette gets a crack at the soon to be dethroned No. 1 Connecticut. This game could go a long way in determining the final Big East standings. Big East Upset Special: Many out there are picking Georgetown over Marquette. Yes, the Hoyas are desperate, but they’re still Georgetown. After you watch the Golden Eagles triumph, catch the Sunday game. Syracuse knows how to bottle up dribble-driving guards, which perfectly describes Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds. Watch for the Orange to pull the upset in this one.