For the Big East, the first day of the NCAA Tournament went about as badly as could be. Notre Dame, Marquette and Georgetown all lost, and Villanova surely would be lumped in that group if not for some questionable officiating against Robert Morris, a team SU rocked by 40 in its second game of the season. Sure, the top three teams in the conference have yet to play, Louisville is no slouch either, and I enjoy watching the Hoyas get embarrassed as much as the next ‘Cuse fan. But this has to go down as one of the worst basketball days in the history of the conference. Despite it all, I’m more than ready for Friday’s game against Vermont to finally tip off.

Due to an early exit in the Big East Tournament during which Arinze Onuaku was injured, there’s been a lot of time for anxiety and stressing, as if the dreadful performance by the collective conference wasn’t enough. But when you step away from the ledge, it’s easy to remember that the Orange is playing a team that lost four times to opponents with KenPom rankings lower than 200 and lost to Providence by 42 points.

I also don’t think I need to remind anyone that no. 1-seeds are undefeated in the history of always. Friday night should be a walk in the park, even without AO. On a team with six players averaging at least ten points per contest, there’s more than enough to make up for one player sitting out. The team has had a full week to prepare for life without the big man, and it’s time for them to go out and win it.

These are two very different teams from when they squared off in 2005. Just as Taylor Coppenrath and TJ Sorrentine are no longer with the Catamounts, Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins aren’t donning jerseys for the ‘Cuse.

The Catamounts do have a pair of talented players in Marqus Blakely and Maurice Joseph, who as you probably know by now, is Brandon Reese’s cousin or something. Having two dynamic scorers may be enough to take the America East, but against the champions of the Big East, they’ll have a much tougher time scoring with consistency.

Count on SU for a pleasant nightcap to restore some confidence in the Big East.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 12:43 am by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.