Big East Tournament 2010 Nearly Set in Stone

The Big East tournament 2010 is the most anticipated event of championship week. Once the Big East tournament 2010 concludes, the top NCAA seeds and the bubble line will be drastically altered. This year, there aren't so many teams assured of an NCAA bid yet, but they can finish off a tournament resume. For others already in, they can drastically improve their seeding, or make their NCAA road tougher. After today's games, the Big East tournament 2010 bracket is now all but formed, setting things up for another big show.

The regular season champion was already determined, as Syracuse will get the top seed, despite their loss to Louisville. But the order directly below Syracuse had to be settled today with a big game. Villanova could have locked up the second seed, but a loss to West Virginia made the 2-4 order quite different.

The three top threats to Syracuse in the Big East tournament 2010 are Villanova, West Virginia and Pittsburgh. But the Wildcats are starting to fade, and now they have gone down to fourth in the standings. After Pittsburgh beat Rutgers, the surging Panthers got the second seed in a tiebreaker with West Virginia and Villanova. But the Mountaineers are now seeded third thanks to beating the Wildcats

No matter what, these top four teams were assured of 'double byes' in the Big East tournament 2010. The fifth-eighth teams will get single byes from Tuesday's opening round, and those teams are Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown. Despite winning over Syracuse, Louisville is only the sixth seed, after losing earlier in the week to fifth seed Marquette.

Notre Dame got seventh place in a tiebreaker with Georgetown, even though the Hoyas are an NCAA team and the Irish are still on the bubble. Their opening matchups will be determined after the first Big East tournament 2010 games on Tuesday.

The first round matchups will be settled after Seton Hall faces Providence tonight. South Florida is ninth, and will face last place DePaul first. Seton Hall is 10'th, and would face Providence again if they win, although Rutgers would drop to 15'th if Providence wins. Sliding Connecticut is 11'th, and will take on either Rutgers or Providence, while Cincinnati faces hometown St. Johns.

Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown face the winners on Wednesday, while the elite four face Wednesday's winners the next day. With that, the Big East tournament 2010 will settle the bubbles of Notre Dame, South Florida, Connecticut and Seton Hall, determine the seeds of Pitt, West Virginia, Villanova, Marquette and Louisvile, and likely solidify Syracuse's top NCAA seed. But anything can happen - even a six overtime epic, as fans found out last year.

Once Seton Hall and Providence are done tonight, everything in the Big East tournament 2010 bracket will be set. It is perhaps the biggest tournament of all before the Big Dance, and the one that most fans - and bubble teams - will be watching.

Sources

CBS Sports- "NCAA Basketball Standings"

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review- "Pitt stomps Rutgers in regular-season finale"

Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia- "Villanova Falls in OT, Drops to 4'th in Big East"