Game 1 – #9 South Florida (20-11) vs. #8 Georgetown (20-9)
South Florida had a fairly easy go of it to kick off of the tournament, beating DePaul, 58-49. USF led by 19 points late in the first half before the Blue Demons got a 9-0 run to make a game of it, but they never got within five points. DePaul lived up to their poor offensive reputation, making just under 30 percent of their field goal attempts in the game and posting an entire 15 points before halftime. Dominique Jones did a little bit of everything for the Bulls, finishing the game with 20 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the game is that it took 26 minutes for anyone to make a three-pointer.
Georgetown is the first of the four teams with a one-day bye to enter tournament action. Possibly the most talented team in the conference, the Hoyas have been rather erratic. Along with wins over Duke, Villanova, and Pitt, they also lost to Rutgers. The Hoyas run their Princeton offense efficiently, finishing second in the conference with a 49.8 percent field goal mark, including a third-best 38.8 percent mark from three. Their weakness is a lack of depth, as they rarely go more than seven deep and the seventh man usually sees very limited minutes. Georgetown’s leading scorer is Austin Freeman, who averaged 17.3 points on the season and had 24 in his return after being diagnosed with diabetes. Freeman is not even the Hoyas’ top player, as multi-talented center Greg Monroe averaged 16.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Chris Wright (14.2 points/game) and Jason Clark (10.3 points/game) complete a well-balanced offense.
South Florida won the regular season tilt between the two squads in early February, 72-64. Jones, as expected, had a big game, finishing with 29 points and eight rebounds as USF roared back from a 13-point first half deficit and used a 15-2 run to take the lead for good. Monroe and Freeman paced the Hoyas with 21 apiece. With Freeman back in the lineup and clicking, the Hoyas should exact revenge against the Bulls and advance to the quarterfinals.
Game 2 – #13 St. John’s (17-14) vs. #5 Marquette (20-10)
St. John’s had a surprisingly easy time of it in the first round against Connecticut, running away with a 73-51 blowout in which they led wire-to-wire. The Red Storm led by nine points less than seven minutes into the game and pushed that margin up to 17 before intermission. The Huskies, who made 37.5 percent of their shots and turned it over 19 times to throw an anvil through their NCAA Tournament bubble, got within eight points a couple times, but ten straight points by St. John’s late blew the lid off the game. The Red Storm got good efforts from a variety of players, most notably a 19-point, 10-rebound game from Sean Evans.
Marquette closed the season 9-2, including going 3-1 in overtime games and pulling out another pair of tight victories. The Golden Eagles play at the second-slowest pace in league action, which is reflected by their second place finish in points allowed in the conference at 63.6 points per game. That high ranking is a little deceptive, as they finished 15th in field goal percentage allowed at 44.1 percent. To continue Marquette’s quirky ways, they finished first in three-point percentage allowed at 30.8 percent. The result? Opponents made 49.7 percent of their two-point tries. The Golden Eagles are okay with that, though, as they led the conference in three-point percentage at a 39.9 clip and finished fourth in threes per contest. Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler finished 1-2 on the team in points and rebounds, combining for over 33 points and 14 boards per game.
The Golden Eagles won (what else) an overtime game against the Red Storm less than three weeks ago, 63-61. Butler capped his 18-point effort with a jumper that provided the winning points and Hayward led the Golden Eagles with 22 points. The Red Storm forced only eight turnovers in the game, but held Marquette to 34.4 percent shooting in the game. D.J. Kennedy was the top scorer for St. John’s with 20 points. This rematch will likely be a walk-it-up affair. Marquette, who will be wary of a St. John’s team brimming with confidence after their first-round rout, should pull it out.
Game 3 – #10 Seton Hall (19-11) vs. #7 Notre Dame (21-10)
Seton Hall escaped their first round track meet with Providence after squandering almost all of a 29-point second half lead, 109-106. The Friars, who play at the pace of a blender on puree and offer next to no resistance on defense, allowed the Pirates to make 53.7 percent of their field goal attempts, including a 16-of-19 stretch to close the first half. The Hall, who gave up 67(!) points in the second half, had four players score at least 15 points, led by Herb Pope’s career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds. Jamine Peterson paced Providence with 38 points, tying for second-most in a Big East Tournament game, and 16 rebounds.
Notre Dame, who rose to the seven-seed by winning their last four games, looks stingy on defense compared to what Seton Hall just saw, ranking 12th in the conference at 70.6 points allowed per game and 14th in field goal defense at 43.8 percent. The Irish are proficient at filling it up, however, sporting the highest points-per-possession rate in the Big East. Their marksmanship is key to their success, as they have connected on 47.4 percent of their field goal attempts on the season, including the second-best mark from deep at 39.8 percent, and hitting the third-highest number of threes in the conference. Luke Harangody, who averaged 23.3 points and 9.7 rebounds a night, returned from an injury in the season finale, but is still slated to come off the bench. Tim Abromaitis averaged 17.2 points per game and the starting backcourt of transfer Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson combined for almost 22 points and ten assists per outing.
The Hall pulled out a 90-87 home win over the Irish four weeks ago in an episode of “The Jeremy Hazell Show,” as the Pirate guard racked up 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including banging home 8-of-11 from downtown. As might be expected in a game where 177 points were scored in regulation, both teams shot over 54 percent from the field and 52 percent from deep in the game. Notre Dame, who got a personal-best 25 points from Tory Jackson in the loss, trailed by a dozen early in the first half and climbed within a single point on three occasions, but could not get over the hump. The two teams should be able to exploit each other’s questionable defense, but look for the Irish to continue to play well on their quest to sew up an NCAA bid.
Game 4 – #11 Cincinnati (17-14) vs. #6 Louisville (20-11)
Cincinnati had a 15-2 second half run and a +16 advantage on the glass, but needed Lance Stephenson to draw a foul and make a tiebreaking free throw with 1.8 seconds on the clock to pull out a 69-68 win over Rutgers in the opening day’s nightcap. The Bearcats shot only 38.2 percent from the floor, which probably is not a big surprise, but took advantage of all those misses, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds and turning them into 20 second chance points. Five Cincy players scored at least seven points, led by Stephenson and surprise starter Jaquon Parker with 13 points apiece. The latter replaced Rashad Bishop, who is suspended for the tournament for breaking an undisclosed team rule. The Scarlet Knights were led by Mike Rosario’s 26 points and Jonathan Mitchell’s 15-point, 12-rebound effort.
Louisville took a lot of pressure off themselves by rolling top-ranked Syracuse at home in their season finale and “locking up” a bid for the big dance. Aside from sweeping the Orange, the Cardinals have not shown the ability to beat upper echelon teams (0-4 against the other teams in front of them in the Big East and a loss to Kentucky). The Cards are statistically average almost all the way across the board, excelling in only threes made on the season and offensive rebounding percentage. There are two top-notch players on the squad, however, in Samardo Samuels, who topped the squad in points per game at 15.4 and boards per night at 7.1, and Edgar Sosa, who adds 12.8 points and 4.6 assists per contest to their attack.
Louisville employed a 21-10 start to the second half to grab a 12-point lead en route to a home win over Cincinnati, 68-60. The Bearcats had an 11-point lead six minutes into the game, but watched it evaporate in part due to the Cardinals’ pressure defense that forced 11 steals. Samuels and Sosa each had 14 points, but Reginald Delk’s surprise double-double of 13 points and 11 boards powered the Cards to the win while four different Cincy players had a dozen points. Both teams play at a normal pace for the conference, but the Cardinals average about a tenth of a point more per possession than the Bearcats in Big East play. That and Cincinnati’s offensive difficulties point to the Louisville moving on to the quarters.