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Thursday was a crazy day in the Big East tournament. It was almost like we had an “Opposite day today with 3 of the top 4 seeds in the tournament losing and a “blessed” bank shot going in at the buzzer for West Virginia being the only thing to keep it from being all 4 tops seeds. #1 Syracuse, #2 Pittsburgh, and #3 Villanova all lost in their opening round games. The following are the results from today’s Big East games and short previews for Friday’s games.

2010 Big East Tournament Quarterfinal Results

#8 Georgetown (22-9) 91 #1 Syracuse (28-4) 84

Syracuse big-man Arinze Onauaku had to leave the game with a knee sprain and status is now under question for the NCAA tournament. Georgetown was able to win the third matchup between the two teams led by Chris Wright who scored 27 points and Greg Monroe who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Austin Freeman added 18 and Justin Clark 17 for the Hoyas who will play Marquette in the Big East semifinals on Friday night. The loss was the first 2 game losing streak for Syracuse this season. Wes Johnson led his team with 24 points and 7 rebounds after being named the 2010 Big East player of the year. The loss was the 6^th time that a Big East Tourney #1 seed has lost their first game of the tourney but is not necessary equated to losing the number one seed for Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.

#5 Marquette (22-10) 80 #4 Villanova (24-7) 76

Villanova was the 2^nd team of the day in the Big East Tournament to go home early after getting the double-bye. Marquette would take the lead for good in the third matchup between the two teams this season with 1:51 to go. Villanova won the previous two games between the schools by 2 points in each contest. Marquette previously beat St. John’s 57-55 to make it to the quarterfinal matchup against the Wildcats. Darius Johnson-Odom hit 5 of 7 3 point shots and had a career high 24 points for Marquette. Villanova was led by Corey Stokes who had 22 points. Scottie Reynolds who was recently named to the All Big East first team, had 10 points on 5 of 16 shooting from the field.

#7 Notre Dame (23-10) 50vs. #2 Pittsburgh (24-8) 45

Notre Dame may be boring us to death with their slowed down play, but it has been proving to be an effective tactic in the 2010 Big East tournament as they pulled the upset of #2 seed Pitt tonight. Luke Harangody scored 12 points coming off of the bench as he works his way back into shape after his injury, and helped give the Irish their first back-to-back wins in the Big East tourney since joining the conference in the mid-90’s. Brad Wanamaker led Pitt with 16 points. Notre Dame will play West Virginia in the Big East semifinals and is not considered to be a lock for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

9 PM #11 Cincinnati (18-15) 51 vs. #3 West Virginia (25-6) 54

It was closer than Bob Huggins would like, but the Mountaineers finally put an end to “Opposite Day” in the Big East and prevailed in the quarterfinals on a last second 3 point shot by Da’Sean Butler made on the bank. Cincy had the ball with 6 seconds left to go, but Dion Dixon lost the ball out of bounds with 3.1 seconds to go in regulation that set up Butler’s game winning shot. Lance Stephenson led the Bearcats with 19 points and Butler led the Mountaineers with 15 points. Cincinnati’s wins over Rutgers and Louisville are probably not going to be enough to get them off of the bubble and into the NCAA tournament, but they are definitely in a stronger position than they were prior to the Big East Tourney.

2010 Big East Tournament Semifinals Preview

7:00 PM #5 Marquette (22-10) vs #8 Georgetown (22-9)

Marquette won the previous matchup against the Hoyas this season by 3 points 62-59 just after the New Year at home. The Hoyas have a slight edge with a 3 game winning streak compared to a 2 game streak for Marquette. Will Georgetown healthy, look for us to see the Hoya Team that was a Top Ten team earlier in the season with Georgetown winning by more than 5 points.

9:30 PM #3 West Virginia (25-6) vs #7 Notre Dame (23-10)

Unfortunately for West Virginia, Notre Dame has become one of the hottest teams in the Big East with having won their last 6 games. West Virginia has won their last 4, but also dropped their game on the road at Notre Dame earlier in the season, 70-68. Look for the Irish to stay hot, try to control the clock, and work a low scoring game in their favor. Notre Dame should win by less than 5 points.

New Orleans will be host to opening and second round games in the 2010 NCAA Tournament on Thursday March 18^th and Saturday March 20^th, 2010. The games will be played at New Orleans Arena and will be hosted by Tulane University. If you plan on traveling to the Big Easy for the NCAA Tourney games this year, or just want to travel to the city, staying at a downtown New Orleans hotel will put you walking distance from the city’s nightlife, sightseeing, and restaurants.

Downtown New Orleans Hotels

Courtyard Marriott New Orleans

The Courtyard Marriott is located on Bourbon Street in downtown New Orleans. The rooms have a desk, clock radio, iron and ironing board, hairdryer, high speed Internet access, bottled water, and some rooms have living area and balcony with the city view. The hotel has a business center, babysitting, ATM, laundry on site, safe at front desk and valet dry cleaning. The Courtyard Café is open for breakfast buffet in the hotel with many restaurants close by. The French Quarter Festival, Jazz Fest and Mardi Fest are some of the festivals are on Bourbon Street.

Courtyard by Marriott
24 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-581-9005

La Quinta Inn & Suites

The La Quinta Inn & Suites are located in downtown New Orleans. The hotel provides free high speed Internet, an LG 32” flat screen TV with premium cable channels, hair dryer, iron & ironing board, and alarm clock. The Hotel has a fitness center, outdoor swimming pool, guest laundry facilities and pets are welcome. The breakfast area has free waffles, bread and muffins, fresh fruit, hot and cold cereal, bagels, cereals, milk, coffee and juice. The Aquarium of Americas, French Quarter and the Port of New Orleans are close to the hotel.

La Quinta Inn & Suites
301 Camp St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-598-9977

Hampton Inn New Orleans

The Hampton Inn is in the heart of the Big Easy. Guest room amenities include a hairdryer, iron and ironing board, refrigerator, microwave, alarm radio, sofa bed, premium cable TV, work desk and high speed Internet access. The hotel has a clothing store, ATM, valet, multi lingual staff, fitness room and sight seeing tours. Complimentary breakfast is hot and if you don’t have time in the morning, you can grab the breakfast bag with a free bottle of water. Close to the hotel is D-Day Museum, Bourbon street and the Superdome.

Hampton Inn
226 Carondelet Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-529-9990

March Madness is well underway. 14 of the 31 automatic bids to the 2010 NCAA Tournament have been determined. The Ivy League does not host a postseason tournament, instead awarding their automatic bid to the NCAA Tourney to the regular season champion who was Cornell this year. Already some exciting games with Montana winning one of the tightest championships so far with a 1 point victory to take the Big South Conference title. The 14 conference champions and schedule(s) for the remaining NCAA conference tournaments are listed below with a link to more comprehensive schedules for the remaining games in the post season conference basketball schedule.

Conference Tournament Champions

Atlantic Sun – East Tennessee State

Big Sky – Montana

Big South – Winthrop

Colonial – ODU

Horizon – Butler

IVY – Cornell (Regular season champion, no post-season tournament)

Southern – Wofford

Summit – Oakland

Sun Belt – North Texas

MAAC – Siena

MVC – Northern Iowa

NEC – Robert Morris

OVC – Murray State

WCC – St. Mary’s

2010 Conference Tournaments Remaining

America East March 4,6-7, 13th

ACC – March 11-14

A-10 – March 9, 12-14

Big East – March 9-13

Big Ten – March 11-14

Big 12 – March 10-13

Big West – March 10-13

Conference USA – March 10-13

MAC – March 7, 11-13

MEAC – March 9-13

MWC – March 9-13

PAC 10 – March 10-13

Patriot – March 3, 7, 12

SEC – March 11-14

Southland – March 10-11, 13

SWAC – March 10-13

WAC – March 11-13

Complete NCAA Conference Tournament Schedules