Big East Report (Dec. 18)

Big East standings as of 12/18/06: (Overall records in parenthesis)

1. Connecticut (9-0)
2. Pittsburgh (10-1)
3. Notre Dame (8-1)
4. West Virginia (8-1)
5. South Florida (7-1)
6. Seton Hall (6-1)
7. Marquette (10-2)
8. Syracuse (9-2)
9. Providence (7-2)
10. Villanova (7-2)
11. Cincinnati (7-3)
12. Georgetown (7-3)
13. St. John's (6-3)
14. Louisville (5-4)
15. DePaul (6-5)
16. Rutgers (5-5)

My Personal Power Rankings:

1. Pittsburgh (1)
2. Connecticut (2)
3. Georgetown (3)
4. Notre Dame (5)
5. Syracuse (4)
6. Marquette (6)
7. Villanova (8)
8. Providence (9)
9. Seton Hall (10)
10. Louisville (7)
11. West Virginia (11)
12. DePaul (12)
13. St. John's (13)
14. Cincinnati (14)
15. South Florida (15)
16. Rutgers (16)

This week's games and predictions: (home team in CAPS)

Monday, December 18:

South Florida 76, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 61 (Las Vegas, NV)

Tuesday, December 19:

SYRACUSE 88, Drexel 70
NOTRE DAME 96, Portland 58
PROVIDENCE 77, Holy Cross 63
MARQUETTE 82, Oakland 60
UNLV 80, South Florida 63

Wednesday, December 20:

CONNECTICUT 82, Pepperdine 58
LOUISVILLE 85, Savannah State 52
WEST VIRGINIA 81, Citadel 57
GEORGETOWN 80, Towson 61
VILLANOVA 83, Rider 62
DEPAUL 78, UC-Irvine 63

Thursday, December 21:

Seton Hall 74, Virginia Tech 68 (New York, NY)
OKLAHOMA STATE 77, Pittsburgh 75
NOTRE DAME 82, Army 61
ST. JOHN'S 87, New Jersey Tech 52

Friday, December 22:

Missouri State 79, SOUTH FLORIDA 60
SYRACUSE 81, Hofstra 68
RUTGERS 73, Lehigh 59
PROVIDENCE 84, Harvard 63
MARQUETTE 85, Morgan State 61

Saturday, December 23:

CINCINNATI 73, NC State 70
GEORGETOWN 78, Navy 65
SETON HALL 74, Pennsylvania 62
LOUISVILLE 82, Miami 69
DEPAUL 77, California 74
Villanova 81, LA SALLE 67
ST. JOHN'S 79, Columbia 61
PITTSBURGH 83, Dayton 71

Quote to Note: Louisville coach Rick Pitino makes his 2nd appearance here in as many weeks: "We've got to learn how to make easy shots, the little bank shots, the two-point shots."

Ummm, don't players learn that in middle school, Rick?

Weekly Big East Awards: (Awarded by the conference with their quotes)

Big East Player of the Week:

Demetris Nichols, Syracuse. "Nichols matched his career scoring high with a 28-point effort in a 94-71 win over Baylor. It was the Orange's only game of the week. Nichols shot 12-of-18 from the floor, which included 4-of-6 from 3-point range. The native of Boston, Mass. also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Nichols is on the highest scoring stretch of his career, averaging 27.3 points over his last three games. For the season, he is second in the Big East in scoring (18.5)."

Big East Rookie of the Week:

Jerome Dyson, Connecticut. "Dyson collected a game-high 19 points while leading Connecticut to an 89-73 win over St. Mary's (Calif.). A native of Rockville, Md., he also grabbed five rebounds and made two steals. For the season, Dyson leads the undefeated Huskies in scoring (14.2) and steals (2.1). He has started every game."

Big East Weekly Honor Roll:

John Williamson, Cincinnati. Averaged 17.5 pts., 12.0 rebs. in a 1-1 week.

Sammy Mejia, DePaul. Averaged 22.5 pts., 8.0 rebs. and 4.0 assists in wins over Wake Forest and Rhode Island. Shot 59.2 percent from the floor.

Rob Kurz, Notre Dame. Posted 16 pts., 12 rebs., 7 assists and 4 blocks in victory over Elon.

Kentrell Gransberry, USF. In his Bulls' debut, recorded 24 pts., and 11 rebs. in 23 minutes in a win over Norfolk State.

Joe Alexander, West Virginia. Had 18 pts., 6 rebs. and 4 assists in win over Savannah State.

Best win:

Cincinnati 67, Xavier 57- The Bearcats earned a quality win against their cross-town rivals, only to be followed up by a stinker against Ohio State on Saturday.

Worst loss:

UMass 72, Louisville 68- Yes, UMass is a good team again. However, Louisville has to win that game at Freedom Hall. Louisville can't shoot the ball right now, and that was never more evident than in their loss to Kentucky on Saturday. This loss to UMass may be the beginning of a tough time in Pitino country.

National games to watch:

December 18-

Oklahoma State @ Tennessee: The Cowboys put their undefeated season on the line at Bruce Pearl's place in the first of two tough games for them this week. Chris Lofton has been lights out so far, and he'll be key if the Vols want to pull off the upset.

December 19-

Illinois @ Missouri- The Braggin' Rights Game features an improved Missouri team led by Mike Anderson against an Illinois team still trying to find its way after losing Dee Brown and James Augustine to graduation. Upset city?

December 20-

Memphis @ Arizona- Two high octane offenses will be going up against one another in this game. Nobody really knows if Memphis is for real yet. This would be a good opportunity to get some press.

LSU @ Washington- LSU continues its northwest swing after escaping Corvallis with a win on Sunday night. John Brady's club needs to be more consistent, as they have lost to Texas and Wichita State early on this season. Washington needs this game to get back on track after getting blown out by Gonzaga last week.

December 21-

Pittsburgh @ Oklahoma State- Pittsburgh's second true road game (seems like an eternity since they played two in a row on the road) takes them to "neutral site" Oklahoma City. Sean Sutton's club has played very well on the young season, and I suspect Pitt may be headed for two straight losses after getting thrashed at Wisconsin on Saturday.

Duke vs. Gonzaga- Call it Redick vs. Morrison one year too late. Madison Square Garden will be buzzing with two of the top programs in the nation meeting in the nightcap of a double header. Mark Few's team has been inconsistent, beating Washington by 20 but then losing at Georgia last weekend. This should be a dandy.

December 22-

Georgia @ Georgia Tech- Are the aforementioned Bulldogs for real? A win in Atlanta will go a long way towards proving that.

December 23-

Texas @ Tennessee- A nice matchup of pretty even teams in my estimation. Texas is very young but has a great group of players. Tennessee will be coming off a big game vs. Oklahoma State on Monday.

Boston College @ Kansas- The Eagles have been playing extremely well ever since shot blocker extraordinaire Sean Williams returned. Kansas has been so up and down so far, nobody knows what to make of them. I expect this one to be close with BC having a great shot to pull off the upset in the end.

Ohio State @ Florida- This could be the game of the year, as two legit national title contenders go at it. Joakim Noah vs. Greg Oden? That's just the beginning. This game has the potential to be a classic.