Big East Round 2 Open Thread

Here is the schedule for today in the Big East. All games are on ESPN.

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 will be in and out throughout the day and the number of updates will probably be a lot less than yesterday, but I'll try to get them up when I can. Enjoy the games and leave your thoughts, comments, predictions, and game commentary in the comments section.

Enjoy the day!

Providence vs. DePaul

12:50 PM: I honestly can't say that I'm surprised that DePaul is hanging around in this game. I sort of had a feeling about this one. It's Providence leads 32-31 at halftime, getting that lead on a last second 3. I'll be out for various reasons from now until around 2:30 or so. I'll post updates on what happened when I get back, although chances are I'll probably be one of the last to actually know what happened.

2:35 PM The Friars survived. They beat DePaul 83-74, but from all accounts, that was not an easy 9-point win.

Marquette vs. St. John's

2:38 PM: This one could be interesting. Marquette is a team that's been struggling as of late and St. John's is the de facto home team in the Garden.

3:47 PM: Holy Hell! Marquette 38 to St. John's 10 as we start the 2nd half.

5:48 PM The beating just continued. Albeit we're going by a game against St. John's, but the Wildcats are facing a team with confidence in Marquette. Final score: 74-45 Marquette.

West Virginia vs. Notre Dame

6:51 PM: This is not college basketball related, but I'm to lazy to create a whole new post right now for this. But anyway, Peter King is reporting that the Eagles are the frontrunners for Anquan Boldin in a trade that should be completed by July. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, for we should be considering the source and considering who we are dealing with as well. I think you all know who I am talking about.

7:39 PM Woot! I love West fucking Virginia! They're completely taking it to Notre Dame, 34-16! And assuming this holds and WVU wins, there is no way that Notre Dame can be considered in the tourney. They may need to guarantee a way in, but I think if they make the semis or the finals, they will get some consideration. A loss here, though, and a blowout like this, then no, they won't get in.

8:18 PM: This one's not over yet, 41-30 WVU. The Irish are still in it early on in the 2nd half.

9:12 PM: 74-62, the Mountaineers finished off the Fighting Irish. They'll play Pittsburgh tomorrow night. And yes, while it will start a little late (12:20 EDT), I'll have a live blog of all the Big East quarterfinal games. I'll be using CoverItLive, but you can all comment by clicking on the blog that will be embeded and just leaving your name and your comment. I have not spoken to 49er16 about it, but I'm pretty sure he'll be joining me as a fellow producer in the blog. If not, I'm perfectly fine doing it alone. However, I encourage all of you to come and visit and comment. It will be a fun, crazy day.

Seton Hall vs. Syracuse

10:19 PM: 36-31 the Orange lead the Pirates as they look to restore the brackets to true form after a wild first day of the Big East tournament.

10:21 PM: Mt. St. Mary's and Robert Morris are in a close one for the NEC title game, Mt. St. Mary's leads 44-41 with 2:43 to go.

10:26 PM: JEREMY CHAPELL CONNECTS WITH A 3 AND ROBERT MORRIS LEADS BY 2 WITH 1:19 TO GO! And damn you Bob Wischusen, you beat me to the Chapelle Show joke!

10:31 PM: A couple of free throws have tied us up at 46. After a weak day as far as Big East action goes, it's about time we have some exciting basketball today.

10:35 PM THE AWKWARD BOUNCE HAPPENS AGAIN! DALLAS GREEN SCOOPS UP A LOOSE BALL AND MAKES A JUMPER FOR ROBERT MORRIS WITH 2.5 SECONDS LEFT TO GIVE THEM A 2-POINT LEAD!

10:36 PM THE INBOUND PASS IS PICKED OFF! There is a foul though with 1.9 seconds left and some Robert Morris students pre-maturely rush the court. And what happened to my post between 10:36 and 10:48. Anyway, Robert Morris did win and they are dancing.

10:48 PM: Oh man, a mini basketbrawl just broke out in the Garden. It started with a hard foul by a Seton Hall player (I missed who) and things obviously escalated from there. An intentional foul on Syarcuse is called and dueling technicals.

11:16 PM: Syracuse has taken a commanding 81-58 lead with 6-minutes left. So much so that I am stepping out for a bit now. I'll have one more update most likely telling you the final score. If the game is over before I go to bed, I'll also update the conference champion list, if not, I'll do that sometime tomorrow morning.

12:31 AM: Syracuse 89, Seton Hall 74. Meanwhile on the Deuce, we have drama in the Big Sky championship! A 3-FROM MONTANA STATE TIES THE GAME WITH 10 SECONDS LEFT! BUT WAIT! AT THE OTHER END! A PASS INSIDE CONNECTS AND AN EASY DUNK PUTS PORTLAND STATE BACK ON TOP! 3.5 TO GO! UNBELIEVEABLE!

12:33 AM: The inbounds pass is caught at half court and wait, they call a timeout? 1.7 seconds just ticked off the clock for nothing! 1.8 to go. This is crazy. Meanwhile, we've got Linkin Park's "Bleed it Out" playing in the background. Just the song I want to hear before a dramatic conclusion to a conference title game. They're reviewing the clock on the timeout call. There may be more time added.

12:37 AM: They add some time back on the clock. The inbounds pass is caught AND IT'S TAKEN AWAY! PORTLAND STATE IS GOING BACK TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT! THEY'RE THE BIG SKY CHAMPIONS!