Orange to bounce back and claim Big East tourney title

Syracuse and Villanova will look to make amends for losing their regular season finales with a strong showing in the Big East tournament.

The Orange and Wildcats have double-byes to the quarter finals along with Pittsburgh and West Virginia. It’s hard to see any other school causing an upset and making a deep run in this year’s tournament.

Based on form Louisville and Notre Dame, who have byes to the second round, are best primed to challenge the league’s elite. The Cardinals closed Freedom Hall in style by beating regular season champion Louisville while the Irish ended the season on a four game winning streak. Neither will have much motivation to make a deep run however as both look certain to have punched their tickets to the dance already.

Any real chance of an upset will require a leap of faith as only the bottom-feeders of the Big East have any motivation to take on the big boys. Round one gets underway Tuesday and the four favorites, UConn, South Florida, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati, will have no trouble making it through to the second phase. South Florida has the strongest case for an at-large bid of the Big East sides on the outside looking in but the Bulls won’t be able to match a well-rested Georgetown in the second round. Hall and Cincinnati offer the best value for an upset, taking on the Louisville and the Irish.

While conference tournaments rarely go to script, don’t expect any deviations or ad-libs in the quarter-final round. Once contenders arrive the pretenders will fall at MSG. In some respects the loss to Louisville at Freedom Hall was the best thing that could have happened to Syracuse, at least in the short-term. Jim Boeheim will not be in the mood to let his charges take their foot off the gas and the Orange will be primed to add the conference tournament title to their regular season crown.

It won’t come easy as Villanova will likely await in the semi finals. The Wildcats will need to avenge their February loss at the Carrier Dome to give the selection committee reason to consider them for a #1 seed. If this match-up does happen it will be tight but Syracuse has the firepower to outscore Nova, or anyone else on that side of the bracket for that matter, and march on to Saturday’s final. West Virginia looks best placed to meet them in that game.

With the #1 overall seed still on the line for Syracuse and a potential #1 seed for WVU should they win, the potential Big East final could be epic but I don’t expect it to be as close as the stakes suggest. For one the Orange have shown that their best way of dealing with a defeat is to ramp up their game for the next three or four outings. Syracuse’s stronger rotation, bringing more points from the bench, will prove crucial in tournament play. Against a tired West Virginia team the Orange could well record a blowout in the final.

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