Big East Round 1 Open Thread

While my conference tourney Live-Blog-A-Palooza won't officially start until Thursday, I will have open threads for you today and tomorrow for the first 2 rounds of Big East tourney play. Personally, I will not be watching every moment of these games (even tomorrow when they are actually on TV), but I will be scoreboard watching and if there's an upset brewing, I'll give you the low-down on what's going on (or if there's just a close game). Here's your schedule for the game, and all of them can be seen on the Big East website.

12:00 PM: #9 Cincinnati vs. #16 DePaul (winner meets Providence)
Approx. 2:00 PM: #12 Georgetown vs. #13 St. John's (winner meets Marquette)
7:00 PM: #10 Notre Dame vs. # 15 Rutgers (winner meets West Virginia)
Approx 9:00 PM: #11 Seton Hall vs. #14 South Florida (winner meets Syracuse)

I'll be posting updates throughout the day. Enjoy!

Cincinnati vs. DePaul

1:18 PM: Sorry about the delay. I had a few errands to run after my class. Anyway, DePaul is hanging tough with Cincinnati, 40-38 the Bearcats are winning with 13:44 to go. Now we know why Cincinnati is most likely out of the tournament.

1:29 PM: Damn, It's a 6-point lead....for DePaul! Yes, DePaul, winless DePaul of the Big East. And the announcers are pimping this as the first time a #16 seed ever won in post-season college basketball. Urm, dude, they're playing a #9 seed in a conference tournament.

1:47 PM: Less than 3 minutes to go and DePaul is up 7, 57-50.

1:55 PM: 65-55 DePaul with 1-minute left and I think it is safe to say that for the first time this year, DePaul has won a game in the Big east! They're playing Providence tomorrow!

1:59 PM: History in the Garden! The first #16 seed to ever win a Division I post-season men's basketball game. The final score: DePaul 67, Cincinnati 57.

Georgetown vs. St. John's

2:59 PM: Georgetown and St. John's are in a close one, 22-20 the Hoyas are winning. What are the odds if G-Town wins this game that ESPN will be talking about their tourney chances tomorrow?

3:04 PM: "You can save 15%.....or more...on car insurance". Nice smooth promo Mr. PbP guy whose name I do not know.

3:14 PM St. John's is leading G-Town 30-28 at the half. May St. John's win so that we never, ever, ever have to hear ESPN talk about Georgetown's tourney chances again. The same will apply with Notre Dame later on, although they are a little more credible than G-Town.

3:35 PM Ugh. I just noticed that in the center of the court up top there is a freecreditreport.com logo. Ooh damn, I missed how, but there is a ref practically unconscious on the floor.

3:40 PM: It turns out the ref clunked heads with a St. John's player. The stretcher was initially brought out for the official but it was quickly waved away as he was able to walk off on his own power. 34-33 St. John's with 16:33 to go in the game.

4:09 PM:Are we looking at a 2nd upset today? St. John's is beating Georgetown 46-44 with 7:29 to go.

4:27 PM: Under 2-minutes to go and it is a 2-point game. St. John's is leading. Make that a 4-point game with 1:34 to go.

4:29 PM: JESSE SAPP CONNECTS FROM 3! The Hoyas are now within 2 with 1:09 to go.

4:31 PM St. John's takes the shot clock down. Shot clock under 5...a drive to the basket and a foul on Georgetown! That basket was not there either. What a break for St. John's with 34.9 to go.

4:32 PM: The first one is made the 2nd free throw is missed. 3-point game. Georgetown with a chance and there is a foul. They make both freebies. 1-point game. They foul a 64% shooter with 18.8 to go. We've got a thriller in the Garden.

4:34 PM: Both freebies are made. Back to a 3-point game. Timeout Hoyas with 15.3 to go in the game. 62-59 St. John's.

4:36 PM Freeman has it. To Mesherakov (don't correct my misspelling). HE LAUNCHES UP A 3 AND IT HITS THE BACK OF THE SUPPORT! OH MY! St. John's ball up 3 with 3 seconds to go!

4:39 PM: Roberts is fouled with 1.8 to go. If he makes a free throw, this one will be on ice. IT'S GOOD! The second one is in as well. 5-point game and #13 St. John's has beaten #12 Georgetown. That means that tomorrow at 2, it will be St. John's taking on Marquette.

Notre Dame vs. Rutgers

7:16 PM: Could it be? Could the overrated teams (Georgetown and Notre Dame) possibly go 0-for-2? Rutgers leads 9-6.

7:35 PM: Luke Harangody just made a long-range 2-point J to put the Irish up by 5 on the Scarlet Knights, 22-17.

7:47 PM: Big run for Notre Dame. 28-19, the Irish lead.

8:16 PM: Rutgers has battled back. They were within 1, although 2 freebies from the Irish have made it a 3-point lead.

8:27 PM: Big run by Notre Dame. They're now up by 13, 45-34 with 10:15 to go.

8:36 PM: Hold on a second! Here comes Rutgers! They're within 6! Oh damn, as I type this, Notre Dame sinks a three. And another basket. 53-42 Notre Dame.

8:46 PM: Everytime it seems like Rutgers is getting back into this game, Notre Dame gets a bucket or 2 and just takes all of their momentum away from them. 55-47 with 2:00 to go.

8:51 PM: 7-point game, under a minute to go. Rutgers has chance after chance after chance after chance to make a bucket yet they can't convert on any one of their plethora of rebounds in that span of 30 seconds. And now there's a steal by Notre Dame! JAM! THE IRISH WILL SURVIVE! Don't worry though, I have confidence that West Virginia will take care of them tomorrow.

8:56 PM: 61-50 Notre Dame has officially beaten Rutgers. Seton Hall-South Florida coming up in 20 minutes. And that's the game I have the least amount of interest in.

Seton Hall vs. South Florida

9:30 PM: Seton Hall has opened up a 13-6 lead on the Bulls to kick things off in this one. It is Syracuse so you do have to be wary, but I do not imagine them having any problems at all with the winner of this one.

9:53 PM: Seton Hall continues to lead, 25-17 is the current score over USF.

10:14 PM: The Big East really could not have had a lesser compelling game if they wanted to. It's halftime right now, and that's about all I know. I've hardly been following this game at all. I'll be back in a bit for more updates.

11:08 PM 1:45 to go and Seton Hall is still in the lead. Now it's 64-50 Pirates are in the lead. For any of you who have been watching (assuming such a person exists), has this game been as boring as advertised?

11:15 PM: That concludes the first round of the Big East tournament. Final score: 68-54 Seton Hall. Tomorrow the tourney moves to ESPN and I won't need to follow it on a computer. I will have an open thread up, although, I'll probably miss the Providence-DePaul game completely because I have so much going on in those 2 hours that the game is being played.

Tomorrow's matchups:
12:00 PM: Providence vs. DePaul (winner plays Louisville)
Approx. 2:00 PM: Marquette vs. St. John's (winner plays Villanova)
7:00 PM: West Virginia vs. Notre Dame (winner plays Pittsburgh)
Approx. 9:00 PM: Syracuse vs. Seton Hall (winner plays UConn).

I'll have more on the conference title games later.