2010 Big East Tournament Preview

As the final buzzer sounded on Seton Hall's victory over Providence Saturday night, the Big East Tournament field was finally set. The sixteen team playoff which starts on Tuesday night is one of the most anticipated conference tournaments of the year. At least eight Big East teams are expected to make the NCAA tournament, with a few more attempting to bolster their resumes in Madison Square Garden next week. The tournament format awards the top four seeds a double-bye, while teams 5-8 earn a single-bye. Tuesday will feature the opening round of the tournament with matchups between teams 9-16.

Syracuse earned the number one overall seed in the Big East tournament with a 15-3 conference record. The first round of the Syracuse bracket will feature #9 South Florida against #16 DePaul. The first game will be played at noon on Tuesday and will air on ESPN2. The winner will earn the right to play #8 Georgetown on Wednesday for a chance to advance to the quarterfinals against Syracuse on Thursday. Despite earning the top seed, Syracuse may have wound up with the most difficult potential matchup of teams receiving a double bye, as Georgetown spent the majority of the season ranked in the AP Top 25 poll, and climbed as high as #7 in the nation back in January and February.

Should Syracuse advance to the semi-finals, they will play the winner of the Villanova bracket. The Wildcats dropped from the #2 Big East team to #4 on Saturday with an overtime loss to West Virginia. The first round matchup in the Villanova bracket features #12 Connecticut against #13 St. John's. Connecticut fizzled late in the season, but was ranked as high as #10 in the country back in December. The winner of Connecticut and St. John's will earn a second-round matchup against the #5 seed Marquette. For Marquette to advance deep into the tournament, they'll have to upset a couple of top teams in the tournament. The Golden Eagles beat everyone they were supposed to beat in the regular season, but struggled against the Big East's top teams. One of those top teams is Villanova, who will be waiting top play the winner of the Marquette game against either Connecticut or St. John's on Thursday.

The #2 seed in the tournament belongs to Pittsburgh. The first round game of the Pittsburgh bracket is between potential sleeper team #10 Seton Hall and #15 Providence. On Tuesday, the winner will advance to play #7 Notre Dame, who is currently the hottest team in Big East play. Notre Dame is in the midst of a four game conference win streak to close out the regular season against Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Connecticut and Marquette. If Seton Hall advances, the Irish may have their hands full as they lost a nail biter to the Pirates back in February. Of course, #2 Pittsburgh may also be looking for revenge if Notre Dame advances to the quarterfinals. The Irish embarrassed the Panthers by 15 points only two weeks ago, in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the score indicated.

The final bracket in the Big East tournament is headed by #3 West Virginia. The mountaineers knocked off Villanova to move up a seed in the Big East tournament, and avoided a potential matchup with Syracuse until the championship game. The first round of the West Virginia brackets pits #11 Cincinnati against #15 Rutgers. Cincinnati has proven to be dangerous at times. Should they advance, they hope to put a scare into #6 Louisville, who knocked of Syracuse for the second time this season with a historic victory that marked the final game played in Freedom Hall. The Cardinals have been an up and down team this season, showing tremendous potential but an inability to be consistent in big games.

The winners of the four brackets will meet on Friday night in a pair of semi-final games broadcasted on ESPN. Advancers from the Syracuse and Villanova brackets will play the 7pm game, while the winners of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia brackets will meet at 9pm. Saturday night will feature the tournament championship game which will be aired at 9pm on ESPN. All games will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Sources: Big EastBracket,Big East Tournament

ESPNRankings,Men's Basketball Rankings