While South Florida, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Seton Hall tip off Tuesday in hopes of avoiding a devastating opening-round loss, half the conference will sit back and watch. Of those eight teams waiting until later in the week to play, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marquette, Georgetown and Louisville will be playing only to improve their NCAA Tournament seeds. Notre Dame also has a bye in the opening round and will want to avoid a loss to Seton Hall or Providence Wednesday to feel better about its at-large prospects. However, a late-season resurgence probably has the Fighting Irish in the Big Dance.

Connecticut and Cincinnati have 14 losses apiece entering the Big East tournament. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, no at-large team has had more than 14 losses. Unless the selection committee makes history this season, the Huskies and Bearcats will need to win five games in five days to reach the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut seems better poised to make a miraculous run because they are 2-1 against their first three opponents, with the only loss being a two-point game against Marquette. If the Huskies were to reach the Big East semifinals, they could find themselves in a Big East tournament rematch with top-seeded Syracuse. Last season, the two teams played one of the best conference tournament games of all time in a six-overtime epic won by the Orange.

South Florida and Seton Hall are in slightly better position entering the tournament because they probably can claim an at-large bid with three wins. That’s not an easy task for either team. However, the Bulls draw the Big East’s worst team, DePaul, which has won only one conference game this season. In the second round, South Florida would get Georgetown, whom the Bulls have already beaten once this season. A run to the quarterfinals would give South Florida three wins against the RPI top 25 and 21 wins.

The Pirates enter the Big East tournament with one of the most explosive players in the nation, Jeremy Hazell. The Harlem native averages 21.2 points per game and will be looking to light up the scoreboard in his hometown. Seton Hall will enter the tournament with a lot of confidence because the Pirates have wins against each of the first three teams they would play. Seton Hall won at Providence by a dozen Saturday and will look to repeat that performance Tuesday. If the Pirates win, they will look for a second win against Notre Dame en route to a critical quarterfinal match up against Pittsburgh. If Seton Hall can find a way into the semifinals by beating Pitt for the second time this season, the Pirates would have four wins against the RPI top 50 and 21 wins.

Although Seton Hall and South Florida have the talent to make a run, their NCAA Tournament hopes remain dicey. Most likely, those teams need to reach the Big East championship game to leapfrog bubble teams like Illinois, Florida and Mississippi. And they must hope that teams like Butler and Utah State can make their respective conferences one-bid leagues.

With so many teams playing for their NCAA Tournament lives, the Big East tournament will feature nonstop drama. And with several elite teams likely to meet, the match ups could resemble Sweet 16 pairings as early as the Big East tournament quarterfinals. Because Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia and Pittsburgh are all legitimate Final Four contenders, we could easily see a national championship or national semifinal preview at some point in the Big East tournament.

For the second consecutive weekend, big losses were rampant throughout the basketball nation. Connecticut’s loss to South Florida gives the Huskies 14 losses, meaning that they would need to become the first at-large team with 15 losses to make the NCAA Tournament unless they find a way to win the Big East tournament this week. Cincinnati finds itself in the same boat after losing its third straight game and fifth in six tries.

In the Big Ten, Illinois paralleled the Bearcats’ poor finish with its third straight defeat Sunday, a 72-57 loss in Champaign to Wisconsin. Illinois has a more compelling case for an at-large bid than Cincinnati does thanks to three wins against the RPI top 25. However, the Illini have 13 losses and an RPI of 73. Illinois will get another crack at the Badgers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, and the Illini might need to win that game to avoid getting bounced off the bubble.

Besides the bubble teams, several others lost big games that affect their seeding in the latest version of the Mock Tournament.

• Kansas State drops to a No. 3 seed after inexplicably losing at home in overtime to Iowa State, ranked No. 113 in the RPI.
• Villanova also drops to the No. 3 line after losing at home in overtime. However, these Wildcats shouldn’t be as ashamed to lose because West Virginia is finishing the season strongly.
• Vanderbilt also suffered a home loss — to South Carolina — and falls to the No. 6 line.

Here are the latest brackets and links to previous projections.

• Mock Tournament 5.0
• Mock Tournament 4.0
• Mock Tournament 3.0
• Mock Tournament 2.0
• Mock Tournament 1.0

Teams in bold have won an automatic bid.

However, the percentage of conference teams invited to the NCAA Tournament is a good indicator of a conference’s strength.  Another barometer of conference strength should be the number of teams with losing records that receive at-large bids.

That metric would go hand-in-hand with the percentage of teams in the tournament. Logically, if a 12-team conference gets seven teams in the tournament, at least one team is likely to have a losing record in conference play. If seven teams in the conference had at least a .500 conference record, it would mean the bottom of the conference is weak, and the top teams simply had beaten up on those cellar dwellers and split games among the rest. This season, the Big Ten exemplifies that profile. Iowa, Indiana and Penn State are abysmal and have combined for 10 conference wins. Meanwhile, six of the 11 teams in the misnamed Big Ten have at least a .500 conference record.

However, a conference like the Big East is a different beast. All but two of the conference’s 16 teams have at least five wins in Big East play entering the final week of the regular season. Eight teams have .500 or better Big East records and eight teams are worse than .500. And one of those teams with a .500 or better record is Notre Dame, which likely sits on the wrong side of the bubble.

Come Selection Sunday, at least two Big East teams could make the NCAA Tournament as at-large teams with a losing conference record. That’s a big deal because it has happened only 29 times since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985. Eight teams in the past decade have reached the tournament with losing conference records, including Arizona and Maryland last season. According to the latest Mock Tournament, there are eight teams flirting with records that generally don’t deliver at-large bids:

• Connecticut (17-12, 7-9)
• Louisville (19-10, 10-6)
• Illinois (18-11, 10-6)
• Cincinnati (16-12, 7-9)
• Notre Dame (19-10, 8-8)
• South Florida (17-11, 7-9)
• Seton Hall (16-11, 7-9)
• Minnesota (17-11, 8-8)

Besides the six Big East teams, two Big Ten teams, Illinois and Minnesota, appear on the list because they have a lot of overall losses. Since 1985, only 18 teams have earned an at-large bid with 13 losses or more, and no team has ever reached the tournament as an at-large team with 15 losses. Of those eight teams, the latest Mock Tournament has the top four in the field. Based on averages since 1985, only one of those eight teams should reach the field if they can’t avoid the 13-loss/sub-.500 threshold.

With two games remaining in the regular season, several of these teams figure to enter the danger zone. And that doesn’t count their conference tournaments, in which none of these teams is expected to cut down the nets and earn an automatic bid. So that will add another loss to most of these teams’ overall records.

It’s a logical conclusion that any team that reaches the NCAA Tournament with a losing conference record or 13 or more losses overall represents a powerful conference. Their inclusion would signify that the selection committee respects the conference highly. Indeed, those six Big East teams have 12 wins against the RPI top 25, mostly against the Big East elite. They have proven they can beat the best teams in the country, many of which come from their conference.

The ACC is the only conference to field two teams with losing conference records in the NCAA Tournament in the same season. If the Big East can match that feat, which seems likely, the conference will be poised to proclaim that it has had one of the best seasons in history.

Of course, when the dust settles and there are four teams heading to Indianapolis, the Big East’s season will only be considered one of the best ever if the conference has at least one representative in the Final Four.

This season, the Big East is once again poised to have a fantastic NCAA Tournament and will likely put more teams in the tournament than any other conference. Entering the final weekend of February, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown and Pittsburgh are locks to make the tournament. In addition to those five powerhouses, eight other Big East teams have a legitimate shot at reaching the NCAA Tournament. But the bubble will invariably burst for some of those teams.

The eight teams competing NCAA Tournament bids are:

• Cincinnati
• Connecticut
• Louisville
• Marquette
• Notre Dame
• Seton Hall
• South Florida
• St. John’s

Check out their profiles below, and pick four teams to reach the NCAA Tournament. Then check out the latest Mock Tournament to see which teams we project to reach the field as of Feb. 26. The answer key for the team profiles is below.

Team A (Overall: 17-11, Big East: 7-8)

RPI: 40
Strength of schedule:  2, non-conference SOS: 5, conference SOS: 32
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-6
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 3-8
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 5, at 8, vs. 22, vs. 52, vs. 57
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 148, at 109, twice vs. and at 59, vs. 55

Team B (Overall: 18-9, Big East: 9-6)

RPI: 55
Strength of schedule:  65, non-conference SOS: 203, conference SOS: 44
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-7
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 6-6
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 9, vs. 14 (neutral), at 40, at 59, vs. 66
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 185, vs. 122

Team C (Overall: 18-10, Big East: 7-8)

RPI: 72
Strength of schedule: 61, non-conference SOS: 196, conference SOS: 37
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-4
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 2-7
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 10, vs. 59, twice vs. and at 66
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 127, vs. 93 (neutral) vs. 75, at 59, at 52

Team D (Overall: 16-11, Big East: 6-9)

RPI: 66
Strength of schedule: 43, non-conference SOS: 246, conference SOS: 20
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-4
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 1
Record in neutral/road games: 6-7
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): at 9, vs. 10, vs. 49, vs. 52, vs. 59
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): vs. 209, at 75, twice vs. and at 72, at 59

Team E (Overall: 16-11, Big East: 7-8)

RPI: 59
Strength of schedule: 29, non-conference SOS: 53, conference SOS: 72
Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-6
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 0
Record in neutral/road games: 4-8
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 15 (neutral), vs. 28 (neutral), twice vs. and at 40,
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 75, at 72, at 66, vs. 55

Team F (Overall: 15-12, Big East: 5-10)

RPI: 75
Strength of schedule: 33, non-conference SOS: 73, conference SOS: 46
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-8
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 6-6
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 13 (neutral), vs. 36 (neutral), vs. 41, vs. 59, at 66
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 127, vs. 109, vs. 55, vs. 52

Team G (Overall: 18-10, Big East: 9-6)

RPI: 41
Strength of schedule:  6, non-conference SOS: 21, conference SOS: 34
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-6
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 1
Record in neutral/road games: 4-6
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): at 4, vs. 40, vs. 59, vs. 66
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): vs. 119, at 75, vs. 56, at 52

Team H (Overall: 16-10, Big East: 7-8)

RPI: 52
Strength of schedule: 18, non-conference SOS: 162, conference SOS: 17
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-9
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 0
Record in neutral/road games: 3-7
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 10, vs. 41, at 48, vs. 59
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 66

Team A: Connecticut

Team B: Marquette

Team C: Notre Dame

Team D: South Florida

Team E: Cincinnati

Team F: St. John’s

Team G: Louisville

Team H: Seton Hall

Almost two weeks later, Connecticut has wins against Villanova and West Virginia — two marquee wins to brag about, in addition to the No. 2 toughest schedule. As a result of the Huskies’ recent hot streak, Connecticut makes its debut in the tournament as a No. 8 seed. Yes, teams can go from the wrong side of the bubble to a solid middle-of-the-road seed in less than two weeks. With remaining games against Louisville, Notre Dame and South Florida, Connecticut has an opportunity to build a six-game winning streak heading into the Big East Tournament and move up the seed chart.

While Connecticut rises, William & Mary continues to falter. After dropping a must-win BracketBusters game at Iona, the Tribe returned home to lose to Towson, ranked No. 273 in the RPI. That loss gives William & Mary three losses to teams in the bottom 150 of the RPI. That’s just too many losses to bad teams, which neutralizes the strength of quality wins against Wake Forest, Richmond and Maryland. Unless the Tribe make a run to capture the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic bid, the Tribe will once again fail to reach the NCAA Tournament. The team has never gone to the Big Dance since it started in 1939.

Here are some of the other highlights of Mock Tournament 3.0.

• The No. 1 seeds remain the same, but watch Purdue’s performance without Robbie Hummel.
• Baylor and Missouri inch higher in seeding, which reflects the strength of the Big 12 Conference this season.
• Florida State and Virginia Tech are entering bubble trouble, while Louisville can start to feel a little more secure.
• Florida is coming on strong at the right time of year, and Utah State and UTEP are getting closer to earning an at-large bid if they don’t win their conferences’ automatic bids.

Without further ado, here are the Mock Tournament 3.0 seeds. UAB and Cincinnati in the tournament? Florida and Charlotte out? Am I crazy or right on point? Submit a comment to share your thoughts and opinions.

For comparison, also check out Mock Tournament 1.0 and Mock Tournament 2.0. Also, check out a map of NCAA Tournament sites and the schedule for all rounds of the tournament.

The answer a senior gave isn’t surprising.

“I think it shows us that we have a lot of work to do, mentally, physically, preparation, with everything,” said Sharaud Curry.  “We just got to get a lot better to compete with these teams night in and night out.”

No question, the Friars aren’t there yet.  They weren’t blown out in any of the games, and in fact they were very much in all of them save perhaps for West Virginia.  But just like there’s a difference between contending for a title and winning it, there’s a difference between being in the game and winning.

There’s also a bright side to each game with the fact that they were right there, and that’s not all.  Providence out-rebounded a bigger Georgetown team in the first game, stayed right with a very good Villanova team for much of the second game, didn’t adapt to a bad matchup against West Virginia and then hung 86 points on Syracuse, the most the Orange have allowed all season.  The Friars led twice at halftime.

One thing that’s abundantly clear from this stretch as much as at any other time this season is that the Friars’ biggest area for improvement is on the defensive end.  The lowest field goal percentage by an opponent in this stretch was Villanova’s 47.1 percent showing.  And while Syracuse played well, that wasn’t the only reason the Orange shot 55.6 percent from the field on Tuesday night, including 10-21 from long range.  There’s just not enough offense that can make up for that, and in the second half on Tuesday, the Friars weren’t making shots like they were in the first half.

“If we’re making shots, we’re a really good team,” said Curry.  “When we’re not making them, we’ve got to bunker down and get stops.”

In particular, post defense is a big issue.  Syracuse had a 56-34 edge in points in the paint as Rick Jackson (career-high 28 points on 13-17 shooting and nine boards) and Arinze Onuaku (12 points in 19 minutes) had a field night inside.  That wasn’t an isolated case, either: all four teams in this stretch had an edge of 18 points or better in that category.  West Virginia had a 50-20 edge.

Still, the young Friars haven’t mailed it in.  Head coach Keno Davis felt his team played hard and hasn’t complained about their effort in any of these games.  He’s taking the long view with this team, seeing the potential they have if they take the lessons these four games offered them.  And while it won’t be clear if they’ve learned the lesson until a little ways down the road, they have had the opportunity to see what a top 10 team looks like up close and personal.

“They showed why they’re among the top teams in the country,” said freshman guard Vincent Council.  “They keep their composure – even when they’re up, they’re still running their plays.”

The Friars have the potential to one day grow into one of the Big East’s better teams, but more improvement is needed.  If they learn the lessons this stretch offered, they will be another step closer to that goal.

I was probably one of the few analysts to leave the Wildcats from Kentucky out of the No. 1 seed club in Mock Tournament 1.0. However, until Kentucky won at Vanderbilt Saturday night, the Wildcats had only two wins against the RPI top 50. Villanova only matched that total but had better marquee wins against West Virginia and Georgetown. Plus Villanova had six wins against the RPI top 50 compared to Kentucky’s four.

But since the last mock brackets arrived three days ago, Kentucky proved that it is one of the toughest teams in basketball by winning a war with the Commodores. Meanwhile, Villanova continued to show its weaknesses in a tight loss at Pittsburgh. Both sets of Wildcats went on the road to face a talented conference opponent that was ranked about No. 10 in the RPI, but only Kentucky’s ‘Cats emerged victorious. That moves them ahead of Villanova for a No. 1 spot.

The other noteworthy change among top seeds is Wake Forest’s departure from the top four seeds. The Demon Deacons suffered a blowout loss at North Carolina State, a team outside the RPI top 100. The Demon Deacons still have a solid RPI at No. 21 and have played the 24th toughest schedule. But they have only win against the RPI top 25, against No. 19 Xavier.

Ohio State steps into the No. 4 seed vacated by the Demon Deacons on the strength of Sunday’s win at Michigan State, the team’s fourth win against the RPI top 25. The Buckeyes now possess road wins against three of the Big Ten’s best: Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois. Wisconsin got past the Buckeyes while Evan Turner was hurt, but Ohio State got revenge in Columbus with a 60-51 win. Ohio State’s resurgence in Big Ten play compensates for a non-conference run devoid of big wins, with the best victories coming against Florida State and California.

At the other end of the brackets, here are the noteworthy changes on the bubble:

• Charlotte drops out of the field and is the first team out.
• Saint Mary’s move into the field.
• Connecticut and Florida are much closer to the field than they were three days ago.
• Cincinnati and William & Mary are one bad loss away from being on the wrong side of the bubble.

Take a look at the Mock Tournament 2.0 brackets. Any better than the first attempt? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Hazell, who needed eight stitches to close the cut on his shooting hand, was a miserable 2-for-10 from the field and scored only nine points in 33 minutes as the Pirates (15-10) lost a game they had to have on Saturday, 75-63 at West Virginia (21-5).

Numbers like that are almost unheard of from the Big East Conference’s second-leading scorer. Coming into Saturday, Hazell, who averages 21.9 points per game, had been held to less than 10 points in only three occasions.

“It’s a lot different,” center Herb Pope, Hazell’s teammate, said following the loss. “Guys have to come in and play unfamiliar roles. Different players have to step up and take Jeremy’s shots and try to win the game.”

Hazell’s injury couldn’t have been more untimely for a team hoping to get recognition in what’s arguably the toughest conference in college basketball. The Big East features five top 25 teams — tied with the Big 12 for the most in a single conference — and a second win against one of those squads was indispensable for fading Seton Hall.

The Pirates, whose best win of the season was a 64-61 downing of No. 21 Pittsburgh (20-6) Jan. 24, will now have to win their four remaining Big East games and hope inconsistent Louisville (18-9) and the rest of the monster-conference bubble teams, including the Cardinals, Cincinnati, Marquette and Connecticut, don’t strengthen their own cases too emphatically.

But with Hazell ‘s play clearly affected by the hand injury and Seton Hall still missing starting point guard Eugene Harvey with a bruised wrist, it’s questionable that the Pirates can even finish the regular season without anymore setbacks. And even with that, Seton Hall will need a deep run in the Big East Tournament to be offered an at-large bid. It’s either that or the NIT.

Seton Hall better hope it has some fast healers in Hazell and Harvey. They’re essential to make the cut.

Butler wasn’t the pick of many to play in the Big East.  He got plenty of notice from playing at Bloomfield Tech a little north of his hometown, at that time a burgeoning powerhouse that was dormant for many years before Courtney Nelson, DaShawn Dwight and Jason Wilson brought them into prominence that included trips to some major in-season tournaments.  Still, Butler was at best an Atlantic 10-level prospect, a nice player with some good skills but not all that athletic and not with one thing in particular that he hangs his hat on.  He was, in many respects, a typical John Beilein recruit: he’s talented, but doesn’t look like a Big East player at first glance.

Nearly four years and 30 pounds of muscle later, he’s more than just a Big East player.  He’s arguably the best player in the conference.  What’s not up for debate is that he’s underrated.

“I think Da’Sean is probably as underappreciated as anybody in America for just the things he can do,” said head coach Bob Huggins.  “I don’t know if there’s a more complete player anywhere in the country.”

All Butler has done is be a model of consistency and improvement.  He’s scored in double figures 98 times in 133 career games, and has started every game since the start of his sophomore year after being a solid reserve as a freshman.  When Huggins took over as head coach, Butler thrived, and has looked like the perfect bridge between coaches.  He should surpass 2,000 career points before his career is over and will leave in third place on the school’s all-time scoring list.

And this is a player who barely topped 1,000 career points in high school.  What hasn’t changed is the winning: he helped Bloomfield Tech win 97 games in four years, and in his nearly four years at West Virginia the Mountaineers have won 96 games.

Huggins was quick to note how versatile Butler is, and that was probably a big reason Beilein recruited him.  The Mountaineers have played him at every position except center, and that gives them a lot of options since they can go big in the backcourt with him at one of those positions.  He’s been adept at filling the stat sheet, and in Wednesday night’s win over Providence, he had another day at the office: 16 points, five rebounds, three assists with just one turnover.

Following a season where his teammates selected him as their MVP, Butler played for USA Basketball at the World University Games last summer, averaging 8.6 points per contest.  Just being selected was proof of how far he had come, but he’s followed that up with an excellent senior year that has had some big moments.  It started with being named the 76 Classic MVP as the Mountaineers won the title, as he scored 26 points in the title game and averaged 18.7 points per game while shooting nearly 56 percent from the field in the three games.  But that was just the beginning.

As the season has gone along, Butler has been Mr. Clutch for his team.  At Cleveland State, he scored a driving layup with 1.2 seconds left for the winning basket.  Against Marquette, a long jumper with 2.3 seconds left gave the Mountaineers a one-point win.  He also hit a game-winner against Louisville with 16 seconds left.

The Mountaineers have the personnel to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, although they haven’t been able to pull out some games against other elite teams.  Close losses at Purdue and at home to Syracuse stand out in that respect, while they also lost at home to Villanova and more recently lost a tough triple over time game at Pittsburgh.  If they are going to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, the person most likely to lead them is Butler, the versatile senior who has come a long way and is still underrated.

It’s easy to look at the current stretch and think the Friars are sure to come away not only 0-4, but perhaps a demoralized bunch as well.  This team hasn’t exactly proven it can beat the best of the best, although they have had some more than favorable showings thus far.  What this stretch can be, however, is educational.

“I think it’s good for us, as a young team, to be able to see these types of teams back-to-back-to-back-to-back,” said head coach Keno Davis.  “Our players aren’t here at Providence to be able to compete against the best teams in the country, we’re here to try to become one of the best teams.  To be able to see these teams in quick succession will, I think, leave a lasting impression on our guys – hopefully not too lasting – on how they have to improve in the off-season.”

The Friars lost the first game in this tough stretch to Georgetown, a 79-70 decision that was settled in the second half.  The Hoyas shut down the Providence offense, and that made a big difference as they were slow to get going offensively before a second half that looked like many of their games this season.  But the Friars weren’t without their bright spots.  Effort wasn’t an issue, especially in the ultimate effort statistic – rebounding.  Providence out-rebounded a taller Georgetown team 42-31, and while they aren’t big on moral victories, it’s a sign that they didn’t lose the game from lack of effort.

Looking at individuals, one can get a similar sense.  Bilal Dixon, who has had his ups and downs in part from foul trouble, had 16 rebounds.  Jamine Peterson had 23 points and three blocked shots.  Davis singled both out as examples of players who have shown the kind of improvement from year to year and over the course of an off-season that players need to show.

“Bilal Dixon is just learning how to play and doesn’t know how to play yet, and yet he can come against Georgetown and get 16 rebounds, and that’s because he’s working so hard,” Davis said of the redshirt freshman.

Where a stretch like this can be difficult is that the Friars can continue playing well, but still lose.  When wins are hard to come by, as they have been lately for this team, that can hurt a team’s effort as they can begin to question the methods used.  It can also toughen a team up, and that’s what Friar fans are surely hoping for

In fact, Davis doesn’t have to look far for what he’d like to see his team become.

“As I watch Villanova’s team,” said Davis, referring to their next opponent, “that’s kind of who I’d like to be in a couple of years.  I’d like to be Villanova.  Obviously, with the up-tempo style, but they put five guys on the court that can all play, and they’re not just positional players.  They can all play, they can all drive, they can all shoot, they can all defend, and they all play very hard.  That’s not just their personnel, it’s their coaching as well.”

Certainly, there are some similarities, although the talent level is different.  The Wildcats are a guard-oriented team and have a lot of options there, as do the Friars.  With Villanova reaching the Final Four last season, they’re certainly not a bad choice for a program to want to emulate.  And when Jay Wright got to Villanova, he didn’t take over a program that was in the NCAA Tournament every year.  The Wildcats were just a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big East, and didn’t get to the level they’re at overnight.

When he was asked about who the Friars play next, Davis admitted he had briefly forgotten, saying, “I had to actually ask who we have next.  I had forgotten that in the locker room, or tried to forget.”  It’s understandable since one can be forgiven if they feel like all four teams look alike, even if it’s not true.  The next three games along with Tuesday’s might seem like a blur when the stretch if over.  It’s also possible that it becomes a defining point in the careers of Davis’ young team, something we won’t know for a little while.

Georgetown isn’t without its flaws, and they’ve had a few games in the Big East where they didn’t play well.  Notably, Syracuse beat them convincingly at the Carrier Dome and the loss to South Florida was a surprise to many.  But take away the South Florida game, and over the last week and a half this team has looked stronger than at any time this season.  Convincing wins over Duke and Villanova will do that for you.

A strong defensive team, the Hoyas allowed Syracuse to shoot 53.3 percent from the field and South Florida to shoot 49 percent.  That means the defense can have an off day, but it’s been very rare, and when it goes south so does the team’s hopes of a victory.  An opponent has shot 45 percent or better just seven times in 23 games against them, and their 18-5 record (8-4 Big East) is further proof of it.

The defense was certainly there on Tuesday night against a Providence team capable of putting points on the board.  Providence is second in the Big East in scoring, averaging 82 points per game, and the Friars have scored less than 70 points just twice in Big East play.

“That is a very good offensive team,” head coach John Thompson III said of the Friars.  “They can put four and five guys on the court that not only can make shots but also take you off the dribble, and the do a very good job of spacing and moving it around.”

That offense met its match, though, as the Friars shot just 34.4 percent from the field and committed 14 turnovers.  In the second half, Georgetown held them to 31.3 percent, and that went a long way toward winning despite being out-rebounded 42-31.

Meanwhile, the other reason this team looks like a contender was in full effect.  The Hoyas shoot better than 50 percent from the field on the season, and on Tuesday they shot 51.7 percent to keep that going.  The offense appeared to be clicking on all cylinders in the second half, as they shot 60.7 percent and turned the ball over just four times.

Greg Monroe was the big reason.  The sophomore big man’s talent is hardly a secret, but it’s still worth noting that getting the ball to him can make a big difference.  After foul trouble and a lack of touches even while in the game limited him in the first half, he came alive in the second half en route to 12 points and a career-high 12 assists, with eight and nine, respectively, coming in the latter frame.

“(Greg) was in the game a lot more in the second half,” said Thompson.  “We wanted to get the ball into the paint, and we wanted to throw it down and let Greg and Julian (Vaughn) made decisions after that.”

Monroe and Vaughn had quite a two-man game going in the second half, and Vaughn rode that and a few transition baskets to a career-high 19 points on 9-13 shooting.  Monroe got him several easy shots in the offense, as well as some others, from reading the defense and finding cutters.

“Playing with him, it’s a lot of fun, and when he gets the ball, your eyes kind of light up, he always makes good passes and decisions,” Vaughn said of Monroe.

Monroe’s main complements at the offensive end have been Austin Freeman and Chris Wright.  Freeman is averaging nearly 20 points per game in the Big East, while Wright had 21 on Tuesday night and can be more of a scorer with Monroe’s passing ability.  Recently, Jason Clark looks to be emerging as a fourth main scoring option along with Vaughn, although he had just six points on 2-9 shooting against Providence and was hampered by foul trouble.  Clark, who had 24 points on 6-7 shooting from long range against Villanova, is shooting just under 50 percent on three-pointers in Big East play.

Last season, Georgetown started Big East play with a surprising win over Connecticut that gave the impression that they would be a contender.  But they fell apart not long after that and finished 7-11 in the Big East en route to the NIT.  This time around, the Hoyas already surpassed their Big East win total of last season.  More than that, as the season goes along they look more and more like a Big East contender and a team capable of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.  They are getting stronger and asserting themselves once again.

Buzz Williams is up front about his team’s identity.  He admits his team is “just okay” talent-wise, and that’s true.  The Golden Eagles aren’t full of McDonald’s All-Americans, instead possessing a team of solid, underrated players that don’t stop competing.  They’re not as talented or experienced as last season, when they had a core group of seniors who won a lot of games together.  It’s a roster the vast majority of teams in Division I would love to have, but compared to some of their Big East brethren it’s nothing to write home about solely from a talent standpoint.

“We’re just okay, but we’ll fight you tooth and nail for every inch,” Williams said.

Marquette lost three games, including their first two in Big East play, by less than five points before they finally pulled out such a game – their third game in Big East play, a 62-59 win over Georgetown.  Sure enough, the next time out, they were in another game like it, a 78-76 loss to a Villanova team that just a week earlier beat them by two.  Later, they lost by one at DePaul and five at Syracuse.

That’s five losses in Big East play by a combined 11 points.  They were a few plays away from having a few more wins, and a play or two away from having another loss.  But now the tide may be turning.  With an 82-79 win at Providence on Saturday, the Golden Eagles have now won four straight, two of them by three points or less as they pulled out a 70-68 win at Connecticut just a week earlier.

Williams isn’t quick to say that they are better from experience, but he doesn’t discount that it might be a key contributor, either.

“I definitely think over the last four games that we’ve made more plays down the stretch,” said the second-year head coach.  “I don’t know if that’s because we have grown from the previous five losses by a combined 11 points, four against top-eight opponents.  I don’t think that hurts – the results hurt – but I think that it grows you if you’re trying to learn and trying to be better.”

Marquette certainly did well to be in the games that they lost along the way.  Williams notes that all of the Big East losses except the one at DePaul came against a highly-ranked opponent, so just being in the game said something about the team.  Naturally, they want to win, and he doesn’t leave that out in noting that “it’s just not the result that we wanted.”

Ironically, although they pulled out Saturday’s game, they almost gave it away.  A three-pointer by Jimmy Butler put them up 78-70 with 2:06 left, before they traded a three for two free throws to have an 80-73 lead with 1:19 left.  Vincent Council missed the second free throw, but Providence turned that into a four-point trip as Sharaud Curry buried a three-pointer from right in front of his bench.  Council then stole a bad inbound pass and found a streaking Jamine Peterson for two more, and all of a sudden it was a one-point game with 55 seconds left.

After a timeout, Lazar Hayward, who had a big second half, grabbed a big offensive rebound and made two free throws to give them some breathing room.  But they still had to defend the Friars one more time, and managed to keep the Friars from getting it to their primary options, which forced Council to take the potential game-tying three-pointer that was no good.

“Obviously, that’s not good basketball, and you don’t want to finish the game or start the game like that,” Williams said of the final couple of minutes.

With their near-implosion in the final minutes, it’s almost easy to forget that the Golden Eagles had to rally just to be in that position.  Providence led by as many as 10 in the first half and took a 40-36 lead into the locker room.  A few minutes into the second half, they led by eight.  Last year, the Golden Eagles came from behind to win at Providence, but that was different as that team had a core group that was not only very talented but also knew how to win.  You had a feeling that team was going to rally and then put the game away, which they did.  It’s not quite the same with this year’s team.  But this year’s team has gained quite a bit of experience, especially in close games, and by now that undoubtedly makes a difference.

“They don’t get rattled when you make a run and a comeback,” said Providence head coach Keno Davis.  “The more experienced team you have, the more it helps.”

The Golden Eagles aren’t loaded with experience, but they have gained quite a bit.  That, along with their identity, goes a long way.  After all, they are just all right, but sometimes that’s enough when combined with an intangible or two, because some teams won’t do enough to earn every ounce of a victory.

At this point, Syracuse and Kansas are in excellent position to grab two of the four No. 1 seeds in the tournament. Both teams have only one loss — to an RPI top 25 team — and have combined for 12 wins against the RPI top 50. They rank among the top 15 in overall strength of schedule and top 50 for non-conference strength of schedule. There’s little debate that the Orange and Jayhawks are top seeds right now. The only question is which team would be the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament.

However, filling out the other two No. 1 seeds is more challenging. Among other teams, the list of contestants for those spots includes a bunch of Wildcats — from Villanova, Kentucky and Kansas State. If you rely on the polls and win/loss records, Villanova and Kentucky look like locks for those top seeds. They rank No. 2 and No. 4 in the AP poll, respectively, and No. 2 and No. 3 in the coaches’ poll. Both teams have only one loss entering this weekend.

Although they own impressive records, Villanova and Kentucky reside near the top of the polls because they benefit from national press coverage. With stars like Scottie Reynolds, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins — plus high-profile coaches in Jay Wright and John Calipari — the Wildcats from Pennsylvania and Kentucky are basking in the media spotlight and reaping the rewards. However, if you focus on results, the Wildcats from Kansas have an equally compelling — if not better — case for a No. 1 seed.

Although Kansas State sports four losses, the team has twice as many wins against the RPI top 50  than Kentucky. Kansas State also has more wins against the RPI top 25 than Kentucky and Villanova combined. Kansas State’s victims include Baylor, UNLV and Dayton — all on the road or at neutral sites. At home, Kansas State also can crow about wins against Xavier and Texas.

In contrast, Kentucky’s only win against the RPI top 25 came last weekend in Lexington against Vanderbilt. Other solid wins for Calipari’s club include Connecticut, Louisville and Mississippi. However, the sum of Kentucky’s parts is a schedule ranked No. 68 overall. Its non-conference schedule strength is less impressive at No. 123. Calipari kept his team close to home until SEC play, venturing out to play only one true road game, a 90-73 win at rebuilding Indiana.

In Kentucky’s defense, it’s not the team’s fault that North Carolina and Connecticut have been inconsistent this season. In most years, wins against the Tar Heels and Huskies would easily be part of the profile of a No. 1 seed. But those teams’ struggles are Kansas State’s gain. Coach Frank Martin had his team ready for the second toughest conference, according to the RPI, after playing the No. 30 most challenging non-conerence schedule. Thanks to the Big 12’s strength, Kansas State has now played the second toughest schedule in the country.

Villanova presents a tougher challenge to Kansas State’s bid for a No. 1 seed. Wright’s Wildcats have a better marquis win at this point — at home against Georgetown — thanks to Texas’ recent slump. If the Longhorns finish strong and the Hoyas fade in Big East play, that could change by Selection Sunday. But right now, Villanova’s win against the Hoyas is great, and the Wildcats will go for the regular-season sweep in Washington, D.C., today.

Besides the win against Georgetown, Villanova also can tout its wins against Dayton, Mississippi, Maryland and Louisville, all of which are in the RPI top 50. Perhaps equally important, the Wildcats have four wins against Marquette, Notre Dame and Seton Hall, all of whom are hovering right outside the top 50. Right now, it’s hard to imagine the Wildcats from Kansas State outdueling the Wildcats from Villanova for a No. 1 seed.

However, in the next few weeks, Kansas State could have an opportunity to displace Villanova. Villanova has benefited from a comparatively easy start to its Big East schedule. Overall, Villanova has the No. 71 ranked schedule, but the team ranks only No. 174 for its non-conference schedule. The overall strength of schedule will increase significantly when the Wildcats play at Georgetown, West Virginia (home and away), vs. Connecticut, at Pittsburgh, at Syracuse and at Cincinnati by the end of the season. If Villanova drops only one or two of those games, the Wildcats will sew up a No. 1 seed. However, if the team struggles and drops four or five of those games, the door will be open for a team like Kansas State to move to one of the top lines in the NCAA Tournament.

In comparison to Villanova, Kansas State’s final few weeks present only one major challenge: a rematch at Kansas. The Jayhawks escaped Manhattan with an 81-79 overtime win, and Martin will have his Wildcats ready to exact revenge in Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Besides that road trip, Kansas State’s only games away from Manhattan are at Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech — all of which are winnable. If the Wildcats finish strong and pick up a road win at Kansas, they can enter the Big 12 Conference Tournament feeling confident that they are on pace for a No. 1 seed.

So it goes for the Connecticut Huskies this season.

Look at their roster, or watch them before the game, and they look impressive.  They pass the look test, with a lot of length and athleticism.  But once the game begins, it’s not long before the feeling changes.  And on Wednesday night, when the Huskies lost 81-66 at Providence, it was right there for many to see.

Like many of Jim Calhoun’s teams at Connecticut, this one is excellent defensively.  The Huskies entered the game tops in the Big East in field goal percentage defense, with Syracuse not far behind.  On Wednesday, they held Providence to 40 percent shooting, which on many nights would be good enough to win.  The Huskies have been remarkably consistent defensively, as there is basically no difference in the opponent’s field goal percentage in their wins or losses.  It’s the offense that wins or loses games, and for too much of this season it has been losing games.

Another thing this team shares with many of Calhoun’s teams is that there is a lot of athleticism.  This team is dangerous in a fast-paced game with a lot of running, as they are at their best when they get transition baskets.  When it’s a slow, half court game, the opponent has this team right where they want them.  Past Connecticut teams could win these games, often quite convincingly, but not this one.

It starts with the lack of shooters.  Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson are capable shooters, but neither strikes fear in opposing perimeter players and neither seems fond of taking jumpers.  Stanley Robinson is shooting well, but he, too, strikes more fear in opposing players with his ability to score closer to the basket.  He isn’t a sniper.

The lack of a shooter might not be so bad if not for the fact that this team has a lot of the same player.  The Huskies are loaded with athletes who can score but not shoot, and that has hurt this team.  In their seven losses, the Huskies have shot below 22 percent from long range, a major difference from their 38.5 percent shooting from deep in their 13 wins.  Knowing that the Huskies like to score off the bounce, teams can play a zone against them or just sag back and force them to prove they can make shots.  Even when given those openings, they don’t always opt for the jumpers because the mindset is to go to the basket.

Get past that, and this team doesn’t have the post scorers they have had in the past.  When you’re in the Big East and your best post scorer is Gavin Edwards – a nice player and slight over-achiever who is at best a complementary player in the Big East – you could be in for some difficult times.  Freshman Alex Oriakhi has rebounded well and had his moments, but has always been a bit soft and tries too hard to out-finesse opponents inside, evidenced by his average of 2.5 free throw attempts per game in over 28 minutes per contest.  Ater Majok is long and has some athleticism, but is also clearly over-hyped.  Jonathan Mandeldove was over-recruited, and Charles Okwandu is a role player at best.

With all of this, it’s not a surprise that offense lost Wednesday night’s game first.  Mind you, this came against a Providence team that has had its struggles on the defensive end and had a meltdown there in their last game, a 109-105 overtime loss to South Florida.  While the Friars were able to get good penetration against the Husky guards and turn them into a number of dunks and layups, that’s not where the Huskies lost this game.

“We get ahead, we got right where we wanted to be, then we stopped playing offense,” said associate head coach George Blaney, coaching the team in Calhoun’s absence for medical reasons.

As a result, the Huskies are 13-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big East.  That puts them likely on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble at the moment, especially since they lacked a resume win before knocking off Texas on Saturday.  They have plenty of opportunities left to get quality wins while improving their record, but it’s not going to come easily with the offense being what it is.

“We have the talent to do it,” said Dyson.  “We’re playing tentative at times, giving up way too many points by taking a break.  If we keep giving teams 10-0 runs, 12-0 runs, it’s difficult to win games.”

The way this team plays offense, that might be an understatement.

Connecticut has a team with plenty of physical gifts, as they have certainly recruited athletes.  They are translating into some success defensively, but you have to score to win, and right now the Huskies are having trouble scoring.  As a result, they are also having trouble winning.

It’s hard to fathom this one.  Providence led by as many as 15 points in the game, a lead they held with 10:44 left.  They led by 13 with just over two minutes to go, and still led by nine with 49 seconds left.  Yet they found a way to lose the game in overtime, giving up 109 points along the way.

How they lost the game is actually not that difficult to figure out.  The Friars allowed South Florida to shoot nearly 53 percent from the field for the game, including 60 percent in the second half.  A lot of it was just simply letting them get to the basket with little resistance, as it wasn’t like the Bulls were taking and making open jump shots or having one of those nights where every three-point shot fell.  South Florida made just four three-pointers all night and outscored the Friars 36-22 in the paint in the second half.  And while the Friars have been able to force turnovers much of the season, the Bulls gave the ball up just 11 times all night.

It led Keno Davis to have one main focus in his post-game press conference.

“What we don’t have is we don’t have players that are able to stop one-on-one penetration,” said the second-year head coach.  “We’re not sound enough defensively.  We have some guys that are very good scorers that are big weak spots for us defensively.”

Davis has threatened lineup changes before because of players not doing things besides scoring, but little changed.  This time, one wonders if something will change.

He talked a lot about defense and an increased focus on it.  He knows the team he currently has isn’t exceedingly talented, especially when one adds in the experience factor as this freshman-laden team is lacking in that area.  With that being the case, intangibles have to come into play, and that’s not quite happening right now.  It certainly didn’t on Saturday night.

“It points out that the team we have right now isn’t good enough,” said Davis.  “It’s not good enough to be able to fight through some miscues offensively or missed free throws or missed defensive assignments.  We’re just not as talented as we need to be in this league to be able to fight through some of these situations.”

Davis said that defense and toughness are going to be bigger factors in who plays going forward.  There’s no question this team can score; that’s been shown time and time again this season.  They average 83 points per game and have topped 100 on three occasions.  But Saturday night wasn’t the first time this team has struggled defensively, as they give up over 78 points per game (84 in Big East games) and opponents are shooting over 44 percent from the field.

A loss like this can take a toll on a young team.  The Friars will certainly get a test in the next game to see how they respond, as their neighbors to the west visit the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Wednesday.  The Huskies will certainly test this team’s resolve, especially since they’re a good defensive team and could force the Friars to have to come up with a big defensive effort to have any shot at winning.

“I’ve got to watch the tape myself to figure out how we got the game into overtime, but we did, and once we got a second chance, we did a great job of taking advantage of it,” South Florida’s head coach said after his team’s 109-105 win at Providence.

The final stretch couldn’t have started and ended more differently.  With 49 seconds left, the Bulls were down by nine after a layup by Providence guard Vincent Council.  A three-pointer by Chris Howard brought the lead down to six.  Council made one of two free throws, then a dunk by Jarrid Famous brought it down to five.  Council missed two more free throws, then a layup by Dominique Jones made it a one-possession game.

After Sharaud Curry made two free throws, Jones made a short jumper just five seconds later to get it back to three.  Curry then turned it over shortly after he got the inbound pass, and Jones found Toarlyn Fitzpatrick for a three-pointer from the left wing that swished home with one second left to tie the game.

Keep in mind, the Bulls are hardly a Big East juggernaut.  They have struggled since they first joined the conference, came into the game 2-35 all-time in Big East road games and were 1-5 overall in the Big East this season.  So just winning would have been big, no matter what the fashion.

“Our road history hasn’t been very good, and this may be the biggest road win our program has had in a Big East game,” Heath said.

Once overtime started, the Bulls took over.  Certainly, the psychological aspect of blowing a lead was a major disadvantage for Providence, and the Bulls took advantage as they never trailed in the extra session.

Although the Bulls have struggled in the Big East, this isn’t a team lacking in talent, although depth is questionable.  Jones, who scored 46 points on Saturday, has been on a tear ever since he scored just five points in the conference-opening loss at Louisville.  Howard is passable at the point and Georgia transfer Mike Mercer can score, while Famous has some upside and Fitzpatrick has a chance to be very good as he grows up.  Ohio State transfer Anthony Crater has talent but hasn’t found his footing yet.

Heath said Fitzpatrick, whose game-tying three-pointer capped a 12-point, eight-rebound outing where he made all four shots from the floor, has made steady progress.  Fitzpatrick was fourth on the depth chart among post players when practice started, but moved into the starting lineup when Augustus Gilchrist went out with a severe ankle sprain.  He won’t be moving out of there anytime soon.

“His confidence is really growing,” Heath said.  “He’s really maturing.”

Speaking of Gilchrist, the Bulls could get him back soon.  He has missed the last 11 games and is almost certain to miss Thursday night’s game against Seton Hall.  Heath said Gilchrist is walking, and next Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh is a possibility.  If he doesn’t return then, the February 3 game at Georgetown is one Heath is confident he will be ready for.

“Within two or three games, I think we’ll see him,” Heath said.

If he comes back and is the player he was before the injury, the Bulls suddenly become a dangerous team.  This won’t make them a contender, but they could play spoiler late in the season if they come together the way they appear capable of.  Right now, they only go six deep, but being able to bring another good player off the bench will also help the team’s depth.

Saturday night’s win could be the first boost for this team.  Heath won’t figure out right away how his team did it, but he’s more than happy with it.  Once they get Gilchrist back, future wins might be easier to figure out.

It seems coach Quentin Hillman, in his fourth year at the Big East school, was observing men’s practice his first year at Syracuse. “I looked up saw that (national championship) banner and thought about (Boeheim’s) years of winning and felt this was the way to go,” Hillman said. “I decided the 2-3 would be our main defense.” Hillman found early on that he has a friend and confidant in Boeheim. “Coach Boeheim has been great helping me with it. He has watched our practices, made suggestions and we both discuss it regularly.”

The women employ the zone in the same manner as then men. The guards and wings contest three-pointers and other perimeter shots. Seton Hall’s fine junior guard Ebonie Williams struggled through a two-point night on one for eight shooting. Williams was frustrated trying to get a decent look anywhere on the perimeter. Inside players like 6-2 Nicole Micheal and 6-4 Kayla Alexander clog the lane and use their length to break up passes in the paint.

The victory at the Hall left Syracuse at 13-1, the lone loss an OT setback at the hands of Georgetown. Life in the Big East conference for the women, as the men, is a succession of challenges and tough teams. Syracuse, with that patented 2-3, is certainly one of them.

Other Notes

• A little confidence goes a long way. Last week Fairleigh Dickinson rallied from 22 down with 12 minutes to play to earn an 88-85 victory over Sacred Heart. A few nights later Bryant got out to a 10-1 lead over the Knights. FDU interim coach Greg Vetrone called time out and saw a team unsure of what lie ahead. The Knights regrouped en route to a 66-50 victory over the Bulldogs.
  Three nights later FDU defeated Central Connecticut State 83-74 , behind Sean Baptiste’s 26 points, to run their conference record to 3-1. FDU ended 2009 with a 1-12 record. The Knights took advantage of a three-game conference swing at home and are very much in the thick of the NEC race.

  “We have a new coach, a new system and new point guard,” Vetrone said. “Some of the teams we played early we were not ready to face. I said it would take time but (the momentum) is definitely coming.”

  Mike Scott scored 16 against Bryant. The junior point guard has been on fire for FDU. In the Sacred Heart and Bryant games, Scott had a combined 18 assists and zero (no misprint) turnovers in 70 minutes.

• Bryant, in their second year of Division I, is in the Northeast Conference but not eligible for post season play. Tim O’Shea’s group has had a murderous schedule. Included were Boston College, Providence, St.John’s, Indiana and an improved Army club. There were two Ivies as well which happened to be Harvard and Cornell. Following the FDU game Bryant was 0-15. To make matters worse, leading scorer (14.5 PPG) Cecil Gresham, a senior swingman, was lost for the year with an injury in late December.
• There is an interesting doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Cincinnati visits St. John’s and Fordham meets Dayton at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”  Cincinnati faces another team in dire need of a conference win. The Bearcats faced Seton Hall at the Prudential Center and the Pirates took an 83-76 decision. Seton Hall earned their first win after losses in conference to West Virginia (overtime), Syracuse and at UConn.

  St. John’s is also 0-3 and in a must-win situation after having lost a tough one at Georgetown, a home collapse down the stretch to Providence and another road game to Louisville. Highly-touted freshman Lance Stephenson will make his MSG debut in a Bearcat uniform.

  Dayton survived a tough OT victory over Duquesne on Saturday and faces Fordham under interim coach Jared Grasso. The Flyers are the Atlantic 10 Conference favorites in the view of many experts. A pair of forwards, junior Chris Wright and senior Marcus Johnson, have been key players for Brian Gregory’s club.

• Seton Hall sharpshooter Jeremy Hazell had 33 points against Cincinnati, his fifth 30-point scoring game this season.
• The difference, from a tempo-free approach for St. John’s thus far:

              W-L	   OFF EFF	DEF EFF
  Overall	   10-5	     100	  93
  Big East    0-3	      90	  106

  The efficiency is the points per possession multiplied by 100. Offensively, the Red Storm overall average 1.00 points per possession on offense. The defense, at .93 is sound. In the Big East those numbers are reversed. The Storm is struggling overall on offense and a bit generous on defense.

  A reason for the defensive slip, beside better talent in the Big east, is the turnover rate. Overall the Storm are forcing opponents into a 20 percent TO rate – that is, one-fifth of the opposition possessions are turnovers. In the Big East that rate on the defensive end is 16 percent. In conference, St. John’s has found it more difficult to force opponents to turn the ball over.

No one expected Friar guard Jeff Xavier to play on Monday night.  Less than 48 hours earlier, his eye was swelled shut after a freak play when he drove to the basket and caught part of Marquette forward Joseph Fulce.  Xavier was on the ground face-down and kicking, which is never a good sign.  How bad was it?

“I thought my eyeball came out for a second.  I thought I was holding my eyeball,” the senior guard said.  “It hurt really bad, and I didn’t know what really happened.  I was kind of in a dazed mode.”

Although it looked like incidental contact, which is how Xavier felt when he got to see the play later, one person didn’t agree.  Xavier’s older brother, Jonathan, walked down from the stands, jumped in between two Friars on the bench and walked onto the court to talk to an official about the play.  Thankfully, the incident didn’t turn into anything remotely serious.

Xavier said he still felt a lot of pain on Sunday, but when he woke up on Monday morning, he knew he would play.  He was cleared later in the day and started the game, and received a huge ovation from the Friar faithful when announced as a starter.  Again, no one expected this.

“I never would have guessed that he would have been able to play tonight for one minute,” said head coach Keno Davis.  “From everything that we had heard yesterday, it was going to be Thursday was doubtful.”

Xavier didn’t have a big game, but there’s no question his presence alone lifted the team.  More importantly, for the second straight game, the Friar offense had a different look and better results.  This time, it led to a victory, as the Friars knocked off Cincinnati 72-50.

For a lot of non-conference play, Providence lived and died by the three-point shot.  They settled for those shots all too often early in a possession, not even working the ball to get a shot in the flow of the offense.  The ball almost never went inside-out.  On occasion, a few players would slash and make things happen, but there was never any consistency to it.

On Saturday, there was clearly an emphasis on getting the ball inside.  That should be just about any team’s plan against Marquette, a team with three terrific perimeter starters but a question mark inside.  The Friars would drive and even make entry passes inside, and they scored 32 of 45 first-half points in the paint for a five-point lead, and kept that going in the second half to build a 13-point lead.  They lost the game largely because of key turnovers down the stretch and an inability to keep their momentum.

Against Cincinnati, the same emphasis on going inside was there.  More often, it came from dribble penetration, and they made several excellent interior passes.  They kept attacking, and when it was all said and done they scored 50 of their 72 points in the paint.  Cincinnati had just 24 in the paint.

In fact, there was a point in the second half where the Friars seemed to be reverting to their old form of settling for three-pointers.  Not surprisingly, it didn’t work for them, and Cincinnati was able to stay within striking distance.  Then Randall Hanke came into the game and became a force inside.

Hanke scored 15 points on 7-7 shooting, as the Friars kept finding him inside and on the break a couple of times.  The senior big man knows how to finish, as he’s converted nearly 68 percent of his shots over his career, so it’s clear that getting the ball to him might be a good idea.

He wasn’t alone.  Jonathan Kale scored 14 points on 5-6 shooting, all but one coming right near the basket.  The emotional leader of the Friars, he’s not a guy they count on for scoring, but if he gets the ball in close, he’s capable of scoring.

Notice a pattern here?  Get the ball inside, and good things can happen.

“I think what we’ve found is that we’ve got an ability to score in different ways and win a ballgame in different ways,” said Davis.  “We can shoot the three, we can rebound, we can go inside, we can drive, we can penetrate.”

Going inside can work for their athletic wings as well.  It’s been well-established that Weyinmi Efejuku, who’s playing with a heavy heart after the recent passing of his father, is more than athletic enough to score on slashes, and Brian McKenzie and emerging Marshon Brooks can do so as well.  If they establish themselves that way, it can only help open up opportunities to shoot it from long range.

The last two games have shown that the Friars can be effective and even win when they get the ball inside to try to score.  As much as it helped to have Xavier back in the lineup after what happened two days earlier, the bigger development is the offensive change.  They got a boost Monday from Xavier’s return, but the new offensive emphasis will boost them as long as they keep that up.

The victory against Rutgers snapped a four-game losing streak for the Bearcats, but it didn’t come without a challenge.
The Bearcats nearly saw a 16-point lead vanish as they led by one with 1:22 left.
Deonta Vaughn scored a game-high 18 points to lead Cincinnati. Mike Williams added 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

De Paul Blue Demons (8-10, 0-5)
Last week:
vs. Cincinnati, L 59-55
This week:
Jan. 20 at South Florida
Jan. 24 at Marquette

The Blue Demons have lost five straight and six of their past seven after falling by four to Cincinnati last week. They are 0-5 to start conference play for the first time since starting the 2001-02 season 0-5 while members of Conference USA.
Guard Will Walker scored a team-high 17 points in the loss. He was 4-of-8 from 3-point range, but the rest of the squad was 0-for-8 from 3-point range. Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal each scored 15 points as well for De Paul.
The Blue Demons will look to avenge an 80-58 loss to South Florida on Jan. 10. It was their first loss to the Bulls since joining the Big East after four straight victories.

Louisville Cardinals (13-3, 4-0)
Last week:
vs. Notre Dame, W 87-73, OT
vs. Pittsburgh, W 69-63
This week:
Jan. 21 at Rutgers
Jan. 25 at Syracuse

The Cardinals have won five straight, including knocking off No. 1 Pittsburgh. They have now won their past three games in the regular season against ranked opponents – Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Villanova.
In addition, Louisville has won three straight against the No. 1 team in the country. The previous two were over Florida on Dec. 13, 2003 and Kentucky on Dec. 27, 2003.
Terrence Williams had a big game with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Earl Clark had 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks as well.

Marquette Golden Eagles (16-2, 5-0)
Last week:
at Providence, W 91-82
This week:
Jan. 24 vs. De Paul

Marquette used a 51-37 scoring advantage in the second half to squeeze past Providence on the road. The Golden Eagles have now won eight straight games since a 12-point loss to Tennessee in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 16.
Lazar Hayward and Jerel McNeal each scored 25 points for Marquette, while Wesley Matthews added 22. Dominic James scored nine points with six assists and only one turnover in 37 minutes. He has only two turnovers in his past two games.
The Golden Eagles are the only team in the league with three players among the top 12 in scoring average – Matthews (19.1, 3rd), McNeal (18.8, 4th) and Hayward (16.5, 12th).
The chances of extending the win streak to nine looks good when Marquette hosts De Paul, a team its beaten three of four times since both joined the Big East.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-5, 3-3)
Last week:
at Louisville, L 87-73, OT
at Syracuse, L 93-74
This week:
Jan. 24 vs. Connecticut

The Irish have lost three of its past five games – all on the road. The most recent was a 19-point rout at the hands of Syracuse. It was also the first time this season Notre Dame has lost consecutive games.
Against Syracuse, Luke Harangody scored 25 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and had six assists. He extended his streak of 20-plus points to 10 games, the school’s longest streak since Adrian Dantley did it in nine straight games. Harangody also has a streak of seven straight double-doubles.
Kyle McAlarney added 24 points, going 7-of-14 from 3-point range. He has hit 74 3-pointers this season, tops in the Big East.
The Irish will have good and bad news this week. The good news is they return home, where they’ve won 45 straight games, dating back to Feb. 25, 2006, and have won 20 straight home conference games. The bad news is the opponent is Connecticut, whose only loss this year was a 74-63 loss to Georgetown at home.
Notre Dame is 5-3 in Big East play at home against Connecticut.

Pittsburgh Panthers (16-1, 4-1)
Last week:
vs. South Florida, W 75-62
at Louisville, L 69-63
This week:
Jan. 19 vs. Syracuse
Jan. 25 at West Virginia

The Panthers, the No. 1 team in the country, suffered their first loss of the season in a great game against Louisville.
The Panthers struggled down the stretch, which likely cost them the game. They hit just one field goal in the final eight minutes of the game, and committed a season-high 20 turnovers.
Jermaine Dixon scored a team-high 19 points, and Sam Young added 18.
They’ll get a chance to get back on track with a matchup against Syracuse. The Panthers have beaten the Orange 10 out of the past 13 meetings. Pittsburgh is also 11-0 at home this season.

Providence Friars (11-6, 3-2)
Last week:
vs. Marquette, L 91-82
This week:
Jan. 19 vs. Cincinnati
Jan. 22 at Seton Hall

The Friars let a five-point halftime lead slip away in a nine-point loss to Marquette, and have now dropped two straight in conference play after a 3-0 start.
For the second straight game, the Friars were led by Marshon Brooks coming off the bench, scoring 21 points. He also had six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Geoff McDermott had 15 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Randall Hanke was 4-of-4 from the field for nine points. He is second in the conference in field goal percentage at 68.9 percent.

Seton Hall Pirates (9-8, 0-5)
Last week:
at Connecticut, L 76-61
This week:
Jan. 22 vs. Providence
Jan. 25 vs. Georgetown
The Pirates continue to struggle, having lost five straight and seven of their past eight games after a 15-point setback to the Huskies.
Seton Hall shot just 31.4 percent in the first half, and got just two points off the bench.
Jeremy Hazell scored a team-high 20 points. He ranks second in the league at 22.3 points per game. The Pirates are 0-5 in conference play for the first time since the 1985-86 season.
Seton Hall hopes it will turnaround starting this week. The Pirates will play their next four games at home, beginning with Providence, a team Seton Hall has beaten twice in a row.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There’s always a lot said about how much it helps when a team has winning experience, especially if that team goes up against one that lacks such experience. While it doesn’t always manifest itself in such a matchup, when it does it’s almost undeniably clear.

Saturday night saw such a matchup, that of Marquette with its big three visiting Providence and its group of upperclassmen that have come close and shown glimpses of being big winners but haven’t done it yet. The final score, with Marquette winning 91-82, gives no sense of how this played out, and a look at the box score won’t make it so clear, either.

“There’s nothing that you can deduct from the stat sheet that, if you didn’t know the final score, you would say that Marquette won,” said Golden Eagle head coach Buzz williams. “I think that’s the thing that’s immeasurable in life, but specifically with our team, is the heart of these guys and the character of these guys. I think it’s happened several times thus far, and we may lose the next 13 games, but I think that our character was revealed tonight, and I’m thankful to be a part of it.”

The Golden Eagles’ big three are seniors Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. They have been inseparable on the court since arriving in Milwaukee, and that’s true more than one might think. On 13 occasions in their careers, one of them has missed a game due to injury. In those games, the Golden Eagles are 7-6, compared to 78-27 with all three in the lineup. So take one out of the equation, and things just aren’t quite the same.

On Saturday night, the Golden Eagles were not the better team for a lot of the game. In the first half, Providence showed what they are capable of when they don’t settle for early three-pointers, as they consistent got inside via driving or entry passes and saw good results. They scored 32 of 45 points in the paint en route to a five-point halftime lead, and keeping the turnovers down to five certainly helped.

The Friars got the lead to 13 points on a couple of occasions, but the Golden Eagles slowly chipped away as the best Providence could do after that was trade baskets a few times. Once James got a fast break dunk off one of 13 second-half Providence turnovers to tie the game at 76 with 5:23 left, the Golden Eagles had the edge. They had the momentum at that point, but more importantly, have been there and done that. The Friars may have tied the game once more, but the psychological impact of losing a lead they held for much of the game to a team with winning experience was huge.

“Their demeanor changed a little when the game got tied,” said McNeal, who had 25 points. “It’s a testament to our team to just stay in there, keep fighting, keep battling through it all.”

After the game was tied at 79, Marquette scored the next 11 points to seal the win. They made every right play, while the Friars committed more costly turnovers and once again could not come through with a signature win. The big three scored the Golden Eagles’ final 12 points, after Lazar Hayward helped set up the finish with a number of key shots en route to 25 points, 16 in the second half.

“He’s one of the hardest guards on our team, no doubt about it, because he can play inside and out and he’s so versatile with the things he can do,” McNeal said of Hayward, who was 5-7 from long range. “He really helped us tonight, he came up with a number of big shots that got us back in the game and swung the momentum back into our favor.”

Williams, who has a great touch with self-deprecating humor, won’t say he felt the team was in position to win once they finally tied the score, but felt the team got better defensively and that made the difference. Even though Providence shot over 56 percent for the game, including better than 57 percent in the second half, the turnovers were too much. The Friars’ 13 turnovers led to 17 Marquette points in the second half.

Even though Williams won’t admit it, you had to think his team had the edge once they tied the game. They are the better team, the one with winning experience, and in a matchup like this, if that team ever completes a rally, the pressure all goes back on the underdog. When that showed up on Saturday night, it was unmistakable in the final minutes.