The first day of the Big East tournament has ended and while most of the games went as expected, there was a big time upset.
Villanova has been in a ltieral freefall, losing their last four regular season games to end their season. Make it five in a row now as the Wildcats have been taken out by South Florida in the opening round. South Florida’s Anthony Carter scored a last-second layup to help defeat Villanova, 70-69. Jay Wright believes the Wildcats need to regroup:
“I don’t think any of us have ever finished a season this way,” Villanova coach Jay Wright lamented afterward, “so we’ve got to get their heads right.”
Villanova will still make the NCAA tournament, but it’s going to be interesting to see what kind of seed the selection committee awards to them. The Wildcats lost to four very good teams to end their season (Pitt, Notre Dame, St. John’s, and Syracuse), so none of those losses were shameful. But losing to the 10-22 Bulls is definitely an eye-opener.
In other games, UConn routed DePaul behind 26 points from Kemba Walker, Rutgers beat Seton Hall in overtime, and Marquette beat Providence 87-66 despite 41 points from Marshon Brooks and Vincent Council.
Marquette will take on West Virginia tomorrow and Georgetown will square off against UConn to determine who plays Pitt on Thursday.