Big East Weekend Update

All 16 teams played Saturday and most of the eight games went according to plan.

(16-7, 6-4) Syracuse 87, (13-7, 3-6) Villanova 73. Syracuse went to Villanova and really took it the Wildcats after a slow start.

(18-2, 8-1) 6 Georgetown 73, (15-7, 5-4) Seton Hall 61. Georgetown rolls again at home against a surprisingly good SHU squad. Georgetown stands first in the conference and Seton Hall falls to a tie for 7th.

(16-4, 6-3) 16 Marquette 75, (10-12, 5-5) Cincinnati 60. The Golden Eagles get a road win in a game a lot of people thought they could lose with how well the Bearcats have played at home in the Big East.

(16-5, 6-3) UCONN 60, (17-5, 5-4) 21 Pitt 53. UCONN continues to upset teams, this one at home. UCONN has won five straight games and enters the Dome Wednesday for an old rivalry game where anything can happen.

(16-6, 6-3) Louisville 87, (10-13, 2-8) Rutgers 50. RU is back to blowing badly. 'Nuff said on this one.

(16-4, 6-2) Notre Dame 89, (9-12, 4-5) DePaul 80. DePaul is starting to head into free fall mode after starting out very strong in the Big East. On the flip side, Notre Dame is coming into their own and is in second place in the Big East with a 6-2 conference record.

(8-12, 2-7) St. John's 72, (10-12, 1-8) South Florida 58. I repeat: I was dead wrong about South Florida. I thought they could win a few games and upset some good teams. I was terribly wrong there so far. Let's hope the Orange don't let their guards down in South Florida this weekend.

(16-6, 5-4) West Virginia 77, (12-9, 3-6) Providence 65. PC is also in free fall mode. The Friars are now just 3-6 in the conference and could be looking on the outside in for the Big East tournament. Their NCAA bubble is bursting as fast as Villanova's. For West Virginia, this is a solid win that help their resume come selection Sunday.

Nightly Recap and Morning Preview

I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith today, so in tribute, today's Cole Hamels Fact of the Day:

Fact 1041. Brad Pitt keeps sending Angelina Jolie to Third World countries because he's afraid she'll meet Cole Hamels.

Daily Recap:

• The Orange win in Chicago.
• The Flyers are in first place.
• Interesting interview with Larry Fitzgerald. He talks about playing with Brian Westbrook.
• The 76ers need to get rid of Andre Miller.
• This season is going to be awesome now that the Mets have Santana.
• I know I've linked to this story about T.O. already, but I finally get to link to the ladies.
• Syracuse wanted to play some half court 3 on 3 action tonight.
• Usually the UCONvicts give Syracuse some ammo, but Scoop is giving the convicts ammo this time.

Games of Interest:
Cincinnati 62, WVU 39. West Virginia shoots 20% from the floor and they lose. Pretty much came down to that.

Pitt 69, Villanova 57. 'Nova took a lead midway through the second half, but then Pitt went off and put the Wildcats to bed. Villanova has lost three straight and if things don't change quickly they are NIT bound.

Georgetown 74, St. John's 42. This game was never close. At one point it was 56-18. That's the biggets blowout in the Big East this year.

Morning Preview:
Flyers host the Rangers in an Atlantic Division battle. The Flyers couldn't be any hotter right now. They've jumped up to seventh in this week's power rankings on ESPN. Though somehow they are still behind both the Penguins and Devils.

Nightly Recap and Morning Preview

Cole Hamels Fact of the Day:

Fact #199: Pat’s and Geno’s have changed their names to Cole's and Hamels's respectively, as a gesture of respect.

Nightly Recap:

• Syracuse-Depaul Men's Preview.
• Syracuse-Depaul Women's Recap.
  
• Another look at the Flyers season so far.
• State of the Phillies Address. It's a good one.
• Mike Lieberthal has retired.
• Troy Nunes obviously has WAY too much time on his hands at work.
• No more Hall of Fame game.
• 'Cuse Scoops is now the Sport Hump.

Morning Preview:

• Milwaukee travels to Philadelphia, game starts at 7:00 is on Comcast in the Philly area.
• Syracuse travels to Depaul at 8:30. The game will be on ESPN Full Court.
  

Games of Interest brought to you by the longest game in Big 12 History

Okay Baylor and Texas A&M have absolutely nothing to do with Syracuse other than Syracuse almost played the Aggies this year in the Coaches vs. Cancer and the Orange beat the living daylights out of the Bears.

With that said, they played arguably the best game ever. Like ever. The numbers are astounding in this. 116-110 Baylor. Five overtimes. Eight players fouled out. 106 free throws. 191 field goal attempts. Only 30 turnovers. 53 three point attempts and 120 rebounds.

The Aggies led by 13 early, but Baylor came storming back to the tie quickly at 27. Baylor then took over going up nine with four and a half minutes to play. Texas A&M wouldn't go away. They tie the game at 64 to the send it to overtime.

In the last minute of the first overtime they seesawed with the lead. Texas A&M extended the game to a third overtime with a late field goal to tie at 80 after both teams score just four points in the second OT.

The third OT continued with A&M taking control, but Baylor fought back to tie the game at 90.

The fourth OT the Bears took over, but A&M got a layup late to make it 99 all.

The final overtime, the Bears were too strong from the free throw line. Texas A&M kept getting baskets after they fell behind, but the Bears kept hitting their free throws. They finished 39-47 for the game and Curtis Jerrells sank free throw after free throw in overtime, 20-24 overall in the game.

Amazingly this isn't the longest game ever! Cincinnati beat Bradley in seven overtimes in 1981. The worst part: ESPN had no rights to the game at all, no full court coverage, nothing, so the game wasn't allowed to be put on any of their outlets or on ESPN360.


Big East games:
Louisville 80, South Florida 60. You know when I said South Florida was a sleeper and is starting to turn things around. Well I was wrong, I'll admit it, I was very wrong. South Florida drops to 1-6 in the conference.

Rutgers 80, Villanova 68. Ha, I was right about something. I've been saying for awhile the Wildcats were overated and they proved it tonight. I know the RAC is a tough place to play, but they got housed by the Scarlet Knights. Villanova went around nine minutes without even scoring a point in the second half. Very good teams don't go on that kind of a drought. 'Nova obviously is a very good team.

Pitt 81, St. John's 57. St. John's, like Syracuse is too young. They will get better during the next few years and will turn into a contender in a few years. Key word: years.

UCONN 84, Cincinnati 83. The Bearcats blew their chance to win another shocker at home. UCONN came back from 12 down with less than six minutes to play. Jerome Dyson blocked 2007 Orange killer Marcus Sikes at the end of the game to seal the victory. Deonta Vaughn is a great player for Cincinnat as he scored 34 points.

West Virginia 66, Marshall 64. Marshall is a decent Conference USA team, but shouldn't be much of a match for a solid WVU, but the Mountaineers need a De'sean Butler jumper with six seconds left to win.

Nightly Games of Interest and RPI report brought to you by Hartnell Hatricks

RPI Report: Syracuse stands firm at 21st.
Team surprisingly ahead of them: Arizona at 13th. They have five losses but statistically they have played the toughest schedule. They have also started 1-2 in conference play after an overtime lost to the surging Jeff Pendergraph Arizona St. Sun Devils.
Team surprisingly way behind them: Oregon St. at 242nd. The worst BCS conference team in the nation is really really bad. They lost to Alaska Anchorage who's not even Division I. That loss isn't counted in their RPI. Think of how bad it would be if that was included.

Women's Team Report:
Syracuse stands at 15th, still very strong despite the loss to Pitt.

Tonight's games of interest:
Louisville 63, West Virginia 54. I only caught the last fives minutes of this one, but it looked pretty ugly from the WVU side. The lead was more towards 15, but WVU hit two threes in the last minute to get it to single digits. Syracuse's next game is at West Virginia, WVU was on the road against the Cardinals. This might be the start of Louisville's turn around.

East Tennesse State 74, Campbell 69. ETSU is 2-0 in the Atlantic Sun. It will look good for Syracuse beating this team by 50 if they can dominate the pitiful Atlantic Sun.

George Washington 49, St. Louis 20. I know this has nothing to do with Syracuse in any way, but how far has St. Louis fallen? They set the record for lowest point total in a game since the shot clock was implemented. There was a little snippet in my hometown newspaper about the lowest point totals ever total, what are the odds that record would be broken that same night?

Tonight's games of interest and RPI report brought to you tonight by Disappointing Losses Inc.

Big East games: 

Pitt 79, South Florida 66. Pitt rebounds after losing to Villanova to pick up their first Big East win on the road.

Providence 76, Rutgers 50. Rutgers is pretty much a doormat. Providence struggled early but took over the second half to run away in this one. Providence moves to 1-2 in the conference. 

Games of Syracuse's key opponents. 

St. Joe's 98, UMASS 92. An up tempo game UMASS surprisingly lost. St. Joe's typically doesn't like to get out and run but was able to take down UMASS. Since Syracuse played both these teams, so the UMASS losing probably cost S.U. more since that loss won't look as high quality as before.

Dayton 92, Rhode Island 83. Rhode Island needed this game on the road to stand out as the number one team in the A-14, but couldn't pull it out. The Rams loss again hurts Syracuse in the RPI.

Ohio State 79, Iowa 48. See below for more details. 

RPI Report:

Syracuse Drops to 21st in the RPI after being as high as 8th as a result of their loss to Cincinnati. 

Team that's surprisingly ahead of them: Ohio St. at 18th. Ohio State has come out of nowhere to win eight in a row and win their first three Big 11 games. They also have eight games against RPI 100 teams. S.U.'s loss to the Buckeyes doesn't look too bad right now.

Team that's surprisingly way behind them: NC A&T at 121. This is more they are 1-8 and still 121 in the RPI. They have yet to play a home game against a Division I school. Their only win has come against Depaul.

Tonight's CuseAdelphia Games of Interest and nightly RPI update

Every night I'll give you the heads up of whats going on in NCAA basketball for the games that relate to Syracuse the most.

South Florida 68, Rutgers 45. I've been saying it for awhile, pay attention to the Bulls. That can and probably will shock some few people in the Big East. They've got a very solid team led by freshman guard Dominique Jones who had 24 points tonight and center Kentrell Gransberry. Nine or ten wins in the Big East for this team wouldn't shock me.

UMASS 95, Houston 89. Those up tempo Minutemen pull off another big win against the mid-major phenoms from Conference USA. The Cougars are considered the only team in that conference that can beat Memphis which means this is a great win for UMASS. This will only continue to help Syracuse's great RPI.

Pittsburgh 96, Lafayette 75. Despite the Panthers being down two of their top four scorers, my hometown Leopards didn't stand a chance in this one. Lafayette is one of the better teams in the Patriot league, but are no match for a Big East team like Pitt.

Rhode Island 94, Fairleigh Dickson 63. Nine in a row now for the Rams. They continue to bid their impressive resume that is helping boost Syracuse's RPI like UMASS is.

RPI Update for the night.
Every night I'll give you S.U.'s current RPI and a team that is surprisingly way below and one ahead of Syracuse.

Orange RPI: 10th in the country. They have the second highest RPI in the Big East Conference. Nine games against top 100 RPI schools helps them a bunch.

Team that's really ahead them:
Pitt at 5th. I know they are 11-1, but they only have four games against top 100 RPI schools. I'm surprised their strength of schedule is as high as it is at 37th. It shouldn't seem too surprising that they are ahead of Syracuse because I'm running out of schools to profile since S.U. so high.

Team that's so far behind them you should stick a fork in them:
Kentucky at 235. I'm not afraid to admit, I'm somewhat of a closet Kentucky fan. I'll always root for the Orange before the Big Blue, but if the Orange are done and the Wildcats are still in it, go Tubby Smith's former squad. Coach Gillespie has some 'splaining to do because their 6-6 record with home losses to UAB, San Diego, and Gardner Webb is pathetic. Their best win RPI wise is against 229th Texas Southern. Ouch. Up next for the Wildcats? Their former great coach Rick Pitino and the rival Louisville Cardinals.

Saturday's CuseAdelphia Game of Interests and Daily RPI report

I discovered there is a real time site that does both men's and women's college basketball. So from now on you'll get a nightly an RPI report for both Jimmy B's and Coach Q's teams.

Jimmy B's squad's RPI: 12th
Surprise team ahead of them: Mississippi at 11th. People knew Mississippi would be good, but undefeated good heading into conference play? All they have is one game against win less Alabama A&M between an undefeated non conference schedule. Wins against Clemson and South Alabama highlight their schedule.
Surprise team way behind them: Florida at 123rd. The two time reigning champs have only played two games against a team with some meat and they lost both to Florida State and Ohio State. There best win? Home against Temple. That's a great resume there they are building in Gainsville.

Coach Q's squad's RPI: 24th. That's right. I said 24th. Impressive eh?
Surprise team ahead of them: North Carolina at 21. It's not that the Tar Hells are ahead of them, its the fact that this top five team is only 21st.
Surprise team way behind them: Arkansas at 89. The Razorbacks are undefeated but only 89th in the RPI. Why? No games yet against RPI top 100 teams. Yikes. They are the lowest rated undefeated team.

Games of Interest:
NCAAB:
Ohio State 92, UMBC 83. Ohio State continues to win, making Syracuse's loss not look to bad.

Georgetown 78, American 51. Georgetown continues its joke of a schedule against American.

Marquette 77, Savannah State 37. See Georgetown with a slightly tougher schedule.

Washington 73, LSU 65. Syracuse's win against Washington looks better every time the Huskies score another win.

Louisville 67, Iona 36. Louisville finally starting to get things going after a slow start.

Virginia Tech 54, St. John's 48. Yuck. St. John's losing to probably the ACC's worst team and scoring only 48 points while doing it.

Depaul 70, Detroit 64. Depaul wins! Depaul wins! They are bad, you might here that once, maybe twice in Big East play.

Oklahoma 88, West Virginia 82. (Double OT) The Mountaineers fall at home. They were the number one team rating wise team using Ken Pomeroy's statistics. Sometimes his stats do lie (not often though), they didn't take in the fact that they've also played nobody this year.

(25) Rhode Island 85, Georgia Southern 80. Nice win for the Rams, again helps Syracuse. Georgia Southern is a pretty decent team from the Southern Conference.

South Florida 87, Winston-Salem 48. The Bulls are looking half decent behind Kentrell Gransberry. In an 18 game Big East Schedule 8 or 9 wins for this team wouldn't surprise me.

Notre Dame 87, Brown 54. Fighting Irish 9-2, again they haven't really played anyone. Two of their three truly losable games, they've lost.

Villanova 71, La Salle 58. See almost every other Big East team under strength of schedule.

Pitt is losing by 20 right now to Dayton. Cincy in progress against Miami OH.

NBA:
Toronto, New Jersey, and Boston in progress. Their scores up later.

NHL:
Islanders 5, Devils 2. Flyers move to within five points of Devils.

Rangers 6, Maple Leafs 1. Rangers are now two points ahead of the Flyers in the division.

Tonight's CuseAdelphia Games of Interest and nightly RPI update

Every night I'll provide the NBA, NHL, and college basketball scores that a CuseAdelphian should be aware of. They'll be the scores of division foes, conference foes, or non conference opponents of Syracuse basketball. I'll also give a SyracuseRPI update to the minute.

Syracuse's RPI: 12
Team you would be surprised to see ahead of Syracuse: St. Mary's at number 3. The Gaels are good and have showed it with wins over Seton Hall, Drake (the Missouri Valley leader), and Oregon.
Team you should be surprised is way below Syracuse: Georgetown at 69. The Hoyas haven't played anyone outside Memphis who they lost too. They have just one other game against an RPI top 150 team.

College Basketball scores of importance:
(25) Rhode Island 92, Eastern Michigan 75. The Rams continue to win as they played their first game as a ranked team in this millennium.

St. Joesph's 74, Siena 68. I guess it's better that St. Joe's won this game from the Syracuse standpoint because St. Joe's will probably be considered the better quality win come March.

Tulane 69, Alabama St. 60. Tulane has a top 75 RPI so Syracuse's pretty convincing win against the Green Wave actually looks half decent.

UCONN 85 Central Florida 82. If you think Syracuse schedules poorly. UCONN has played two games this year they could remotely lose. A game in Boston against Gonzaga and a game in MSG against Memphis. Of course they lost both. They finally went on the road tonight to UCF and won a squeaker.

Syracuse's first conference opponent is battling with Louie McCroskey's Marist Red Foxes right. St. John's 62 Marist 59. St. John's comes back and wins it.

NHL:
Devils 2, Sabres 1. Devils take it in a shootout. Jersey moves seven points out in front of the Flyers.

NBA:
Nets 109, Wizards 106. Jason Kidd nearly records another triple-double with 20 points, 8 boards, and 12 assists. The Nets move a half a game ahead of the Sixers with the Sixers game in progress.