Wednesday’s Predictions

Record: 105-49. ATS: 66-85-3.

Kentucky (+2) at South Carolina- Kentucky, 74-68
Syracuse (-2.5) at Seton Hall- Syracuse, 80-77
Mississippi State (+3.5) at Vanderbilt- Vanderbilt, 83-75
Oklahoma (+4) at Oklahoma State- Oklahoma State, 68-62
Tennessee (-3) at Florida- Tennessee, 86-73
Texas A&M (+1.5) at Baylor- Baylor, 78-68

Sorry I don’t have time for a Syracuse preview, but I’ll offer this: Syracuse, despite a very mediocre overall profile, is still in the picture for the NCAA Tournament. After a crushing defeat on Saturday against Pittsburgh, I expect Jim Boeheim to have his team ready to go. There will be a good deal of Syracuse fans in the house, but SHU should have a good home advantage with the sold out crowd. I also expect Coach Gonzalez to have the Pirates ready to play after suffering a similar defeat on Saturday as well. It will be a close, high scoring game, but I think Syracuse has just enough talent to get past their depth issues and pick up a big road win in their quest to get into the NCAA Tournament.

Syracuse 80, Seton Hall 77

Tuesday’s Predictions

Record: 102-48. ATS: 64-83-3.

Wake Forest (+5.5) at Virginia Tech- Virginia Tech, 73-65
Purdue (+2) at Ohio State- Purdue, 68-64
Arkansas (+2) at Mississippi- Mississippi, 76-65
UNLV (+6) at New Mexico- New Mexico, 72-70

March 4 Bracketology

Through games of March 3.
Next update: March 11.

Last four IN: New Mexico, Florida, UAB, Virginia Tech.
Last four OUT: St. Joe’s, Syracuse, Houston, Dayton.
Next four OUT: Rhode Island, Villanova, Kentucky, Ohio State.

Conference Breakdown: Big East (7), Pac 10 (6), ACC (6), Big 12 (6), SEC (5), Big Ten (4), Mountain West (3), Atlantic 10 (2), West Coast (2), Conference USA (2), Missouri Valley (2).

All other leagues (20): one bid.

* indicates automatic bid.

East Region (Charlotte, NC):

(1) North Carolina* vs. (16) Alabama State*/Morgan State* (play-in winner)
(8) West Virginia vs. (9) Arizona State
(5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) New Mexico
(4) Purdue vs. (13) Davidson*
(6) Washington State vs. (11) Maryland
(3) Louisville* vs. (14) Siena*
(7) St. Mary’s vs. (10) Kansas State
(2) Xavier* vs. (15) Austin Peay*

South Region (Houston, TX):

(1) Tennessee* vs. (16) Maryland-Baltimore County*
(8) South Alabama* vs. (9) Baylor
(5) Michigan State vs. (12) UAB
(4) Connecticut vs. (13) Stephen F. Austin*
(6) Clemson vs. (11) Illinois State
(3) Stanford vs. (14) American*
(7) Mississippi State vs. (10) Massachusetts
(2) Texas vs. (15) Belmont*

Midwest Region (Detroit, MI):

(1) Memphis* vs. (16) UNC-Asheville*
(8) UNLV vs. (9) Oklahoma
(5) Drake* vs. (12) Virginia Tech
(4) Notre Dame vs. (13) Kent State*
(6) Marquette vs. (11) Virginia Commonwealth*
(3) Wisconsin* vs. (14) Cornell*
(7) USC vs. (10) Arkansas
(2) Kansas* vs. (15) Cal State Northridge*

West Region (Phoenix, AZ):

(1) UCLA* vs. (16) Robert Morris*
(8) Pittsburgh vs. (9) Miami
(5) Indiana vs. (12) Florida
(4) Butler* vs. (13) Oral Roberts*
(6) BYU* vs. (11) Arizona
(3) Georgetown vs. (14) Boise State*
(7) Gonzaga* vs. (10) Texas A&M
(2) Duke vs. (15) Portland State*

Monday’s Predictions

Record: 100-48. ATS: 64-81-3.

Pittsburgh (+6) at West Virginia- West Virginia, 62-60
Texas Tech (+19.5) at Kansas- Kansas, 78-63

Look for a projected bracket later tonight.

Top 25 through games of March 2

1. North Carolina (2)
2. UCLA (5)
3. Memphis (3)
4. Kansas (8)
5. Tennessee (1)
6. Stanford (6)
7. Louisville (7)
8. Texas (4)
9. Wisconsin (10)
10. Duke (9)
11. Purdue (13)
12. Connecticut (12)
13. Xavier (14)
14. Georgetown (16)
15. Michigan State (15)
16. Notre Dame (17)
17. Marquette (18)
18. Indiana (11)
19. Butler (22)
20. Washington State (19)
21. Vanderbilt (21)
22. Clemson (24)
23. Drake (20)
24. South Alabama (25)
25. Davidson (NR)

New additions: Davidson.
Dropped from rankings: #23 Kansas State.
Also considered: BYU, Gonzaga, Mississippi State.

Big East Rankings

Through games of March 2.

1. Louisville (1)
2. Connecticut (2)
3. Georgetown (3)
4. Notre Dame (4)
5. Marquette (5)
6. Pittsburgh (8)
7. West Virginia (7)
8. Villanova (6)
9. Syracuse (9)
10. Seton Hall (10)
11. Cincinnati (11)
12. Providence (13)
13. DePaul (12)
14. St. John’s (15)
15. South Florida (14)
16. Rutgers (16)

This week’s Big East games:

Mon. Mar. 3: Pittsburgh @ West Virginia.
Tues. Mar. 4: Florida Gulf Coast @ Marquette.
Wed. Mar. 5: Syracuse @ Seton Hall, St. John’s @ Notre Dame, South Florida @ Villanova.
Thurs. Mar. 6: Connecticut @ Providence, DePaul @ Cincinnati.
Sat. Mar. 8: Louisville @ Georgetown, West Virginia @ St. John’s, Cincinnati @ Connecticut, Marquette @ Syracuse, Notre Dame @ South Florida, Villanova @ Providence.
Sun. Mar. 9: DePaul @ Pittsburgh, Rutgers @ Seton Hall.

St. John’s Game Recap

Any chance (slim) Seton Hall had of making the NCAA Tournament vanished yesterday with an embarrassing 65-62 loss to a St. John’s team that entered the game with a 10-17 record. The Pirates, up by 13 points at one point in the second half, could not play effectively with the lead and let St. John’s creep back into the game. Still, the Hall had a 55-45 lead with 4:51 to play. St. John’s started making shots, mostly due to poor defense by Seton Hall. For some reason Bobby Gonzalez decided to press over the last five minutes even though St. John’s had no trouble with it all day long. Even on the final play, Gonzalez decided to press which led to a wide open, game winning three pointer by Anthony Mason Jr. Mason led all scorers with 24 points, 15 of those coming on 5-7 shooting from downtown.

On the message boards, I’ve read a variety of reasons why the fans think the Pirates lost this game. They range from bench coaching to clock management to the venue in which the game was played. There is, however, one reason that I haven’t seen mentioned and that is defense. The Pirates, certainly not known for their defensive ability, allowed St. John’s to shoot 48.1% from the floor and 52.6% from the three point line. Against a team that struggles to shoot and score, that is completely unacceptable.

On offense, Seton Hall had some bright spots but generally wasn’t very effective. Brian Laing had an off night, the bench only provided 8 points, and Jeremy Hazell only had 9. However, Eugene Harvey was atrocious. In 37 minutes of play, Harvey turned the ball over nine times! That is almost unheard of. It’s unfortunate because Seton Hall doesn’t have a point guard to come off the bench without Paul Gause. If Gause was healthy, Harvey would have seen a lot of time on the bench yesterday. The one bright spot on offense was John Garcia. Big John has had three good games in a row ever since Seton Hall had a week off after the West Virginia game.

All in all it was a terrible loss and doesn’t merit any more discussion. They have two winnable games coming up which provides them with a great opportunity to get to 9-9 in the conference. Move on and get a couple wins in front of two sold out home crowds.

Sunday’s Predictions

Record: 94-47. ATS: 61-77-3.

Providence (+4.5) at Cincinnati- Cincinnati, 67-60
Kentucky (+15) at Tennessee- Tennessee, 86-68
Notre Dame (-5.5) at DePaul- Notre Dame, 84-73
Indiana (+5.5) at Michigan State- Michigan State, 67-64
UCLA (-5) at Arizona- UCLA, 78-65
Villanova (+11.5) at Louisville- Louisville, 81-64
Clemson (+1.5) at Maryland- Clemson, 77-75

Saturday’s Predictions

Record: 86-40. ATS: 57-67-2.

Pittsburgh (+2.5) at Syracuse- Syracuse, 75-69
West Virginia (+4.5) at Connecticut- Connecticut, 71-60
Nebraska (+5) at Oklahoma State- Oklahoma State, 68-65
Texas A&M (+2) at Oklahoma- Oklahoma, 74-68
Georgetown (+3) at Marquette- Marquette, 67-62
Washington State (+4.5) at Stanford- Stanford, 63-61
Texas (-5.5) at Texas Tech- Texas, 78-67
Mississippi State (+4) at Florida- Florida, 78-68
Seton Hall (+1.5) at St. John’s- Seton Hall, 72-63
Ohio State (+3) at Minnesota- Minnesota, 67-60
Vanderbilt (+5) at Arkansas- Arkansas, 84-82
USC (+1.5) at Arizona State- USC, 61-55
St. Mary’s (+6.5) at Gonzaga- Gonzaga, 79-70
Illinois State (+5.5) at Southern Illinois- Southern Illinois, 65-57
Kansas State (+13) at Kansas- Kansas, 83-74

Seton Hall at St. John’s

March 1, 2008

Carnesecca Arena, Queens, NY 4:00pm

TV: MSG, Kenny Albert (play-by-play), John Celestand (color).

All statistics noted include Big East games only.

The Pirates look to make it three straight (two on the road) wins as they take the bus ride over to Queens on Saturday to face the St. John’s Red Storm. The Johnnies (10-17, 4-11) are coming off a 64-52 loss at Georgetown on Wednesday. Just today, coach Norm Roberts was assured he will be the coach of the Storm next season.

St. John’s is led by Anthony Mason Jr and Justin Burrell, their only two double digit scorers. Mason has had a terrific Big East season, putting up 15.2 ppg while pulling down 5.6 rpg. He’s also a good three point shooter (35.2%). Burrell has turned out to be a great signing for Norm Roberts. The freshman is averaging almost 12 ppg in conference play while grabbing the same amount of rebounds as Mason (5.6). Seton Hall will need to key on these two players and keep them in check if they hope to win. D.J. Kennedy, Sean Evans, and possibly Tomas Jasiulionis will also see time in the frontcourt for Coach Roberts.

The Johnnies have a thin but somewhat talented backcourt. Larry Wright is their best shooter (connecting on 37.7% of his three point shots), Eugene Lawrence and Malik Boothe dish out almost three assists a game each, and Paris Horne can come off the bench and provide good three point shooting.

St. John’s is a team that will play a tough, grind it out style. Often difficult to watch on offense, the Red Storm will miss a ton of shots but they do play tough physical defense. Seton Hall has to be careful if they get caught in a slow physical game because that means a lot of halfcourt sets, something the Pirates are not very effective in. I expect Coach Gonzalez to press early and often, trying to speed up the tempo of the game and get some easy baskets. If Seton Hall scores 70 points, they should win this game fairly easily as St. John’s simply can’t get to that point very often. In fact, St. John’s has broken 70 points only three times in conference play, and two of those were the first two games of the season. As long as Seton Hall plays an efficient game on offense and an average game on defense, they will win.

Seton Hall 72, St. John’s 63