The NCAA Tournament continues into its second weekend starting on Thursday, and before you make your Sweet 16 picks, be sure to check out this March Madness trends and picks sheet to help you out through the big weekend on the collegiate hardwood.

Thursday, March 24th, 7:15 ET: #3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #2 San Diego State Aztecs
March Madness Odds: Connecticut -1
March Madness Trends of Note
The Huskies have covered four straight games as favorites
Connecticut is 6-0 ATS in its last six against teams with a winning percentage above .600
The Aztecs are 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 games against teams with a winning percentage above .600

NCAA Tournament Notes
The Huskies are putting on one of the more remarkable runs that we have ever seen a team go on in the postseason, as they won seven games and covered seven spreads in a span of just 12 days against some of the best teams in the land. Kemba Walker just seems to be unconscious right now, and the argument could be made that he is the most important player left in this tournament. The Aztecs have only won two NCAA Tournament games in their history, both of which happened to be here in this tournament. SDSU will have the decided home court advantage playing in Anaheim. These two teams have never met before on the hardwood.

Thursday, March 24th, 7:27 ET: #3 BYU Cougars vs. #2 Florida Gators
March Madness Odds: Florida -3
March Madness Trends of Note
BYU is just 30-62-2 ATS in its last 94 games as an underdog
The Gators are 6-0 ATS in their last six NCAA Tournament games as favorites
Florida is 5-1-1 ATS in its last seven games following an SU victory

NCAA Tournament Notes
Could it be sweet revenge in the Sweet 16 for the Gators? Head Coach Billy Donovan hopes so, as these Cougars knocked the Gators out of the dance last season the first round in a 99-92 game that was decided in overtime. Both of these teams look remarkably similar to their forms from last season, as the only real absence from last year is Brandon Davies, who was kicked off of the BYU roster a few weeks ago. Still, the Gators have a great history here in the Sweet 16, and they are trying to make it back to their fourth Final Four in the Donovan era. BYU is just trying to prove that it belongs and that it should have been the No. 2 seed of these two teams in this region.

Thursday, March 24th, 9:45 ET: #5 Arizona Wildcats vs. #1 Duke Blue Devils
March Madness Odds: Duke -8.5
March Madness Trends of Note
The Wildcats are just 1-5 ATS in their last six games against the ACC
Duke has covered five in a row against the Pac-10
The Blue Devils are 6-2 ATS in their last eight NCAA Tournament games

NCAA Tournament Notes
The Blue Devils have all to play for right now, as they are just four steps away from retaining their National Championship, something that many didn’t give them that great of a chance to do just last week. The trick is going to be coping with the long trip out to Anaheim, as Arizona will have a decided home court edge, just as SDSU will against UConn earlier in the night. The Wildcats have now won two games thanks to the prowess of Derrick Williams in the post, and he is going to be the key, while the Dookies are going to hope that the good health of Kyrie Irving can set them apart in this one. These two last met in 2001 in the National Championship Game, and Duke knocked off the Wildcats 82-72 as short four point underdogs.

Thursday, March 24th, 9:57 ET: #8 Butler Bulldogs vs. #4 Wisconsin Badgers
March Madness Odds: Wisconsin -4.5
March Madness Trends of Note
Butler has covered six straight March Madness betting battles
Wisconsin is 5-1 ATS in its last six games played outside of the Big Ten
The Bulldogs are 21-5-2 ATS in their last 28 games against teams with a winning percentage above .600

NCAA Tournament Notes
Butler really has a great chance of pulling off the upset in this one if it can shoot the ball as well as it has in its first two games in this tournament against the Old Dominion Monarchs and Pittsburgh Panthers, especially late in games from long range. This is largely the same team that was in the finale last season that lost by a whisker, save for the fact that sharpshooter Gordon Hayward is now in the NBA. The Badgers haven’t had a great history once they reach this point in the dance, but they do have a tremendous defensive team and one that can really shoot free throws in clutch spots. If it’s a close game, Wisconsin will have the huge upper hand. Back in January 2001, Butler went into the Kohl Center and knocked off the Badgers 58-44 in the most recent meeting of these two Midwest schools.

Friday, March 25th, 7:15 ET: #11 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. #2 North Carolina Tar Heels
March Madness Odds: North Carolina -4.5
March Madness Trends of Note
The Golden Eagles are 23-11 ATS in their last 34 games against teams with a winning percentage greater than .600.
North Carolina is 10-3 ATS in its last 13 games in the NCAA Tournament
The Tar Heels are 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games overall

NCAA Tournament Notes
UNC really has had the look of an incredibly dominating team of late, as it really hasn’t played a truly remarkable game since the regular season finale against the Duke Blue Devils. Still, the Heels have a great set of bigs to work with that can get the job done on the inside (John Henson and Tyler Zeller) and on the outside (Harrison Barnes). Marquette is quickly developing into the sweetheart of this tournament, especially knowing that it has 14 losses to its credit already this season. Still, of all of the Big East teams that were in this field, this is clearly the least likely one to do any further damage and would be the most surprising team to reach the Final Four.

Friday, March 25th, 7:27 ET: #12 Richmond Spiders vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks
March Madness Odds: Kansas -10.5
March Madness Trends of Note
The Spiders are 10-1 ATS in their last 10 games overall
Kansas is 4-0 ATS in its last four games against the Atlantic 10
The Jayhawks are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 NCAA Tournament tussles as favorites of 7.0-12.5 points

NCAA Tournament Notes
These two teams do have a history with one another, and you can bet that the Spiders will not be intimidated by going against the No. 1 seed in the Southwest Bracket. Richmond won at Allen Fieldhouse back in 2004, scoring a 69-68 triumph. Little did we know that Kansas was going to eventually roll off 69 straight wins there through this season. Still, these two teams are built totally differently, as the Spiders really need to play this game in the 60s to have success, while the Jayhawks are content to run and gun into the 70s or even into the 80s. Kansas, of course, is still working to try to erase the memory of that brutal loss in the second round last year to the Northern Iowa Panthers, and you can bet that Head Coach Bill Self will have this team ready even though Richmond is another “mid major” team.

Friday, March 25th, 9:45 ET: #4 Kentucky Wildcats vs. #1 Ohio State Buckeyes
March Madness Odds: Ohio State -5.5
March Madness Trends of Note
The Wildcats are 4-1 ATS in their last five games against the Big Ten
Ohio State is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games following an SU win of 20 or more points
The Buckeyes are 5-11 ATS in their last 16 March Madness matches as favorites

NCAA Tournament Notes
This is one of the most intriguing games of the entire tournament to date, as this one pits one of the No. 1 seeds from last year’s tournament in Kentucky, against the No. 1 overall seed in the dance in Ohio State. The talent is there for these two to really put on a tremendous show, as both teams definitely have the full complement of big guys and sharpshooters. Either one could win a game in the 50s just as easily as it could win one in the 90s. One thing is for sure, and that’s that there certainly will be no lack of talent on display. Both of these teams have played some absolutely fantastic basketball to reach this point, and you can bet that both will want to put their best foot forward to get into the Elite 8.

Friday, March 25th, 9:57 ET: #11 VCU Rams vs. #10 Florida State Seminoles
March Madness Odds: Florida State -3.5
March Madness Trends of Note
The Rams are a perfect 7-0 ATS in their last seven games in the NCAA Tournament
VCU is 5-1 ATS in its last six games against ACC opponents
Florida State is 2-6 ATS in its last eight neutral site games as a favorite

NCAA Tournament Notes
This is certainly the most unlikely of the eight matchups in the Sweet 16, as it isn’t all that often that we see a pair of double digit seeds pitted against each other, especially this late on. The Rams are the Cinderella stories for sure, as they had to come out of the First Four to reach this point. They’ve done so with great shooting from the outside and a tenacious full court defense, and the Georgetown Hoyas and Purdue Boilermakers haven’t even stayed remotely close to them. As a result, Head Coach Shaka Smart, who is suddenly the hottest young coaching commodity out there, has his team in the Sweet 16 for the first time Florida State had never won an NCAA Tournament game under Head Coach Leonard Hamilton before this year. This is its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1998 when it was ironically also a double digit seed. Chris Singleton is hoping to be able to make full contributions for the Seminoles this week after playing limited minutes in the first two rounds of the dance. FSU’s defense has been second to none in this tournament, as the Texas A&M Aggies and Notre Dame Fighting Irish just had no chance of getting around this very athletic team.

In and amongst all of the talk about the teams like the #10 St. Mary’s Gaels, the #9 Northern Iowa Panthers, and the #5 Butler Bulldogs, hidden in the East Bracket, there’s a team that has been kicking butt and taking no prisoners, and seemingly no one is talking about them.

Is that because they a… dare I say… favorite? Is it because they are a flashy team and they do have talent? Is it because you have heard of their superstars and their head coach? Or is it because they’re a #1 seed and are expected to march through to the Elite 8 without any difficulties?

Regardless of what the circumstance is, the #1 Kentucky Wildcats have mowed down all three of their opponents without any hassles, and it’s time to recognize that this is their NCAA Tournament to lose.

There aren’t many teams in the country that can absolutely win games when two of their best three players are essentially MIA. There are even fewer that can beat a Sweet 16 foe by 17 points, even if that opponent is “just” an Ivy League team.

On Thursday night, G John Wall only scored eight points, and his counterpart F DeMarcus Cousins tallied nine. That duo is averaging nearly 32 points per game this year.

It’s not like anyone else had a truly remarkable game, either. F Patrick Patterson’s 16 points was only a shade above his season average, and G Eric Bledsoe’s dozen was right on par with his normal night.

But HC John Calipari, in spite of the fact that he has never won a National Championship (or for that matter, had one vacated), knows that you’re going to have to find ways to look like you’re at your best, even when you’re not at your best in this tournament.

That’s exactly what the Cats have done so far in this tournament.

It’s amazing to think that none of Kentucky’s big three have gone off for more than 22 points in a game in the dance (and aside from Patterson’s 22 against #16 East Tennessee State, there hasn’t even been a 20 point game in the bunch either). Yet still, the 17 point margin of victory against the Big Red was easily the smallest of its three. The Wildcats have averaged beating their three March Madness competitors by an average of 25.3 points per game, easily the biggest average margin of victory in the dance.

Now, it’s true that the SEC champs haven’t run up against a foe that anyone really believed could win the whole enchilada yet, but it’s noteworthy to get this far in a tournament that has resembled trying to get through a minefield.

Ask #1 Syracuse or #1 Kansas or #2 Villanova or #3 Georgetown what it’s like running up against opponents that probably have no chance of winning the National Championship.

The #2 West Virginia Mountaineers will stand in the way of the mighty Wildcats on Saturday afternoon for the right to go to the Final Four.

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You just have to love a guy who tells a reporter that he was a McDonald’s All-American, when in fact, he wasn’t a high school all star of any type.

But C Omar Samhan wasn’t lying to the reporter though. He promptly laughed and referred to the fact that he ate so much junk food that he was probably a few Big Macs shy of tipping the scale.

What we’ve learned in this tournament about the St. Mary’s Gaels is that this team is just fun to watch play basketball. Samhan is always smiling. It’s almost contagious. The team doesn’t seem to care about playing defense (but does it much better than we expect) and just wants to come back down the court and run some set offenses that either set up three point plays for one of the lethal sharpshooters or an easy post play for Samhan.

Forget about the fact that this team is out of the West Coast Conference or that it has a #10 attached to its name. St. Mary’s is no Cinderella. Just ask Samhan, who told the student body this week that the Gaels are going to come back to the West Coast with a National Championship in tote.

Unlikely? Probably. Impossible? Not nearly.

After all, take a look at just how strong this team really is. Offensively, the accolades could go on and on. St. Mary’s averages 79.4 points per game, shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from three point range. The Gaels rebound the basketball well at 34.2 boards per game and a +5.6 rebounding advantage on an average night. They shoot free throws well (76.2 percent as a team) and don’t turn the ball over all that much (11.3 times per game).

Don’t rest on this defense either. Yes, this was a team that played a West Coast Conference schedule, thus should have better numbers than the Dukes, Kansases, and Kentuckys of this world, but averaging 5.2 blocks and 5.1 steals per game is fantastic. So is the fact that teams only connect on 29.5 percent of their three point baskets against the Gaels.

So far in this tournament, we’ve seen the surreal and the sublime all at one time from this team. Many expected the WCC champs to bow out against #7 Richmond in Round 1 of the dance. Not only didn’t they go away, but they dominated as well. Don’t look at that 80-71 score line and think that this game was ever really in doubt, especially in the second half. If not for the fact that Samhan was in foul trouble most of the game, it probably would’ve been even uglier. The lead stretch out to almost 20 at times in the second stanza, and the big man finished with 29 points and 12 boards.

Yes, #2 Villanova looked awful against #15 Robert Morris to the point where it nearly got upset on the opening day of March Madness, but there was no way that the Wildcats were going to get bounced by these upstarts from St. Mary’s, right?

Wrong.

Samhan delivered 32 more points, and G Matthew Dellavedova delivered one of the most remarkable plays of the tourney when he banked in a three pointer as the shot clock was expiring to help issue the dagger to the Big East behemoths.

Now, there’s a new challenge. The Toyota Center awaits the Gaels on Friday night, as they take on the Big XII’s #3 Baylor Bears. The Bears are largely accepted as one of the most talented teams in the nation, and they provide a totally different type of test than either Richmond or Villanova presented. Baylor is going to run up and down the court with the Gaels, a style that they aren’t afraid to play as well. F Ekpe Udoh is going to be the first true big man that Samhan has to run up against.

So once again, the small school boys from St. Mary’s… this bunch of Aussies and fellow international players that have come together to make some mish mosh of athletes… has its chance to shine. Imagine if G Paddy Mills hadn’t left school early to jump to the NBA just how frightening this team would be…

One thing is for certain about the Gaels, win or lose. No one is going to take away their charisma. If there’s an award in this tournament for having the biggest heart and the most passion for the game, the WCC champions would win it.

Instead, don’t be surprised if they take another step towards the Final Four on Friday night.

Two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are now in the books, and here at Bankroll Sports, we’re giving all sorts of heck to the teams and players that were totally missing in action to cost their teams a shot at the National Championship.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week

Kansas Jayhawks C Markieff Morris in disbelief after the #1 team in the land was bounced by an inferior Missouri Valley Conference foe.

Where else can we start than right at the top? The Kansas Jayhawks are going to be looked at as the biggest disappointment of this entire season. They were the #1 team in the land and the #1 overall seed in this tournament, and they knew that they were going to have to face a pair of mid-majors in this tournament before heading to the Sweet 16. It took a strong second half run for the Jayhawks to finally take out #16 Lehigh on Thursday, and it became increasingly clear that this was a squad that was disinterested with playing these small time inferior squads.

Enter the #9 Northern Iowa Panthers. If you want proof that this was an underachieving team, just look at how well the Jayhawks played when desperation finally set in. C Cole Aldrich looked like a man on a mission, and the defense was stifling down the stretch. But the great equalizer in this tournament, the three point shot, finally gave the Panthers a four point lead that they would never relent. Now, HC Bill Self has to answer a lot of questions about why team looked like garbage, and G Sherron Collins has to deal with criticism for shooting 0/6 from downtown in the team’s final game of the season. This was really, really inexcusable Kansas, and you know it.

However, the Jayhawks were the only disappointing group in the Midwest Region. The Georgetown Hoyas had to be considered a trendy selection to come out of this bracket, as they marched all the way to the Big East final before getting knocked off in the dying seconds by West Virginia. It didn’t take long to be bounced from the tournament that really mattered, though. Sure, we’ll listen to the fatigue factor thing, but let’s be realistic here. This first round debacle against the Ohio Bobcats was against a #14 seed who was a #9 in their own mid-major conference. No excuses. None whatsoever.

In fact, let’s just give a little bit of grief to the rest of the Big East. Remember when this league was supposed to have nine, ten, maybe even 11 teams in this tournament? Five of the eight teams were gone in the first three days of this tournament, and one of those teams that made it to the second round, the #2 Villanova Wildcats, nearly became the fifth #2 seed in the history of this tournament to lose to a #15 seed in the first round of the dance.

Here’s ranting on the Mountain West and the Atlantic 10 as well. Three days into the dance, and all four teams out of the MWC were already eliminated. Save watching Xavier in the A-10, watching this conference play ball in March Madness has been incredibly painful. Both the Temple Owls and the Richmond Spiders were crushed in their first round games by higher seeds.

Don’t mind the silence that you hear right now in the heartland of our country at this point. Normally, after a Kansas Jayhawks basketball game, you hear blue and red clad nut cases chanting in that slow, monotone, drone-like voice, “Rock Chalk Jayhawk K-U.”

If we slip the ‘A’ out of “chalk,” scoot the ‘K’ over a spot, buy an ‘E’, and change the ‘K’ in “KU” to a ‘P’, you can sum up this performance with our new saying.

Rock Choke Jayhawk P-U!

There are times that perception just doesn’t amount to reality. This wasn’t one of those cases. We all saw on Saturday afternoon that Kansas was one of the most talented teams in the nation. C Cole Aldrich looked like a man amongst boys at times, bullying his way through the paint like an enraged animal. Any time that HC Bill Self didn’t like what was happening on the court, he could bring in a new fresh set of five players if he wanted to and still have a solid looking club out there that was good enough to play with anyone in the nation.

Saturday’s shocking two-point loss to the Northern Iowa Panthers was simply a case of the magic (or if you will, the madness) of March.

Let’s step back for a minute and give a major thumbs down to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, which punished Northern Iowa for some unknown reason by making it a #9 seed in the dance in spite of the fact that it won 28 games and the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles.

HC Ben Jacobsen’s crew won each of their MVC Tournament games by at least 15 points. They slammed Old Dominion in BracketBusters and destroyed Siena in a BracketBusters rematch game from a year ago this year as well. Yes, losing to DePaul, Evansville, and Bradley were all unsightly losses, but what more did you expect from this team?

They played fantastic defense all season, allowing a grand total of one opponent to reach the 70-point plateau against them, and they won 12 games by at least 15 points this year.

I know the logic… Play somebody.

Guess what? The Panthers just played somebody… and won.

That point aside, let’s not belittle the performance that this team put up over the first three days of this tournament. G Ali Farokhmanesh not only nailed the three pointer on Thursday that buried UNLV, but he also dropped four more three balls on the Jayhawks and scored 16 points in the upset on Saturday. F Jordan Eglseder, who hit a grand total of one three point basketball all season dropped two threes on KU as well. The team turned over the Jayhawks 15 times and stayed competitive in the rebounding battle at just -5.

That being said… C’mon Kansas. You’re Kansas.

Maybe we should’ve known that something was wrong with the Jayhawks when they were pushed for at least a little while by #16 Lehigh on Thursday night. Tournament teams in general shouldn’t be struggling with the Mountain Hawks, especially when you’re the #1 overall seed in this tournament.

At the outset of this tournament, everyone was asking the question whether it was going to be Maryland or Michigan State that was going to get murdered by the Jayhawks in the Sweet 16 and whether it was going to by Ohio State or Georgetown falling in the Elite 8.

Self was the one man that knew what he was getting into, as he immediately pointed out UNI as a potential trap game on his squad’s road to Indianapolis.

He was ready. His team wasn’t.

The Panthers jumped out to a 10-2 run and really never looked back, controlling the game’s tempo by slowing down the Jayhawks to a plodding effort.

During that whole game, it was only a matter of time before the Jayhawks went on a run, just like they did against both Texas Tech and Texas A&M in the Big XII Tournament. Someone was going to wake G Sherron Collins or one of the other many stars on this team up.

Collins shot just 4/15 from the field and 0/6 from downtown for the game.

The run was never really complete. The choke job, however, is finished.

The Jayhawks are #1 in the land no more, and though it’s clear that Northern Iowa is no normal #9 seed, this is still a case of a team that just didn’t give its best effort in a do-or-die situation.

Welcome to March Madness, boys and girls. The fun is only just beginning.

List of Current Odds to Win The NCAA Tournament Can Be Found Below!

The NCAA Tournament is through its first round, and there has been plenty of madness to go around.

The Big East has taken a major, major hit, as only Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh remain from a conference which had eight bids (seven of which were Top-6 seeds) at the start of this tournament. Survival also wasn’t easy for the Wildcats, who went from +800 at the outset of March Madness to +2500 after narrowly beating lowly #15 Robert Morris on Thursday afternoon.

Many find the #10 seed in this bracket, the St. Mary’s Gaels to be a team to watch out for. The South Region is probably the weakest region left, and if there is a #10 seed that can come out of nowhere and go to the Final Four, this may be it. C Omar Samhan was mired in foul trouble for the majority of the Gaels’ game against the Richmond Spiders on Thursday afternoon, but he still picked up 29 points and 12 rebounds. St. Mary’s has a team that can stroke the three-ball like none other in the country (41.2%), and that has led it into the Round of 32 in the dance.

There are a few other teams that may be worth taking a flier on because of the strength (or lack thereof) of their upcoming games. The #3 New Mexico Lobos may be an underdog to the #11 Washington Huskies on Saturday, but catching a #3 seed at +6600 after one round seems just too good to pass on. HC Steve Alford’s club may have struggled just a bit with their #14 seed in the first round of this tournament, but make no mistake about it. This is a team that can play with anyone in America. A potential date with #2 West Virginia is going to be difficult, but at these types of odds, the Mountain West regular season champions are going to be worth a look.

On the other side of the bracket, things appear to be set up quite nicely for the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Midwest. Yes, Ohio State knows that two rounds from now, it is probably going to have to face #1 Kansas, but #3 Georgetown and #7 Georgia Tech have both already been dismissed from this tournament, which really could set up the stage for an easy waltz for the Bucks to the Elite 8. Considering grabbing their stock at +1400 while that number is still available, because they clearly have better than a one in 14 chance of winning this tournament right now.

All that the chalk holding up in the West Bracket did was set up the stage for Syracuse to continue to march on. No one expects #8 Gonzaga to give the ‘Cuse a game, and with Vanderbilt already dismissed from this region, a trip to the Elite 8 seems like a formality. Yes, there are four very nasty teams sitting on the other side of this bracket, but the Orange are going to be favored no matter who they play, and if they reach the Elite 8, having +700 on a #1 seed at that stage is having a fantastic price.

Current March Madness Odds @ 5Dimes Sportsbook(as of 3/20/10):
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Kansas +250
Kentucky +475
Syracuse +700
Duke +750
West Virginia +1200
Ohio State +1400
Kansas State +1500
Villanova +2500
Baylor +3000
Pittsburgh +4500
Michigan State +4500
Butler +4500
BYU +4500
Wisconsin +5500
Maryland +5500
Tennessee +5500
New Mexico +6600
Texas A&M +6600
Purdue +7500
Xavier +7500
California +7500
Washington +7500
Gonzaga +8000
Missouri +10000
Georgia Tech +10000
Wake Forest +12500
St. Mary’s +12500
Northern Iowa +15000
Cornell +15000
Old Dominion +20000
Murray State +22500
Ohio +25000

Someone’s going to have to forgive Big East Commissioner John Marinatto if this is what he looks like after yesterday’s NCAA Tournament games from his conference.

It’s bad enough that that’s Buzz Williams, the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles, who crashed out of the dance in their most predictable fashion: losing by two points practically at the buzzer. It was par for the course for a team that only suffered one loss by double digits all year long and lost six games in conference by less than a touchdown.

An 11 seed (as the Washington Huskies were) from a power conference (even though there’s a debate about just how “powerful” the Pac-10 was this year) isn’t the end of the world. Upsets happen all the time like that this time of year, and the Big East knew that it wasn’t going to have an 8-0 first round of this tournament in all likelihood.

Even losing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish wasn’t all that big of a deal to the Big East. After all, the Irish were probably the weakest of tournament teams out of this conference, and they were still adapting to a new system and life where their best player (Luke Harangody) was coming off of the bench and not starting.

Notre Dame was probably an overrated #6 seed playing against an Old Dominion squad that was probably an underrated #11. So it was par for the course for the luck of the Irish to run out late in the game against the Monarchs, and again, it wasn’t that big of a deal or that black of an eye to take.

Now… Villanova…. You’re a significantly, significantly different story.

Once upon a time a threat to take over the #1 spot in the AP Poll, the Villanova Wildcats entered this tournament looking to make amends for a bad showing in the Big East Tournament, which wrapped up after just one game following a loss to the aforementioned Golden Eagles. Surely, there was no way that there was even a remote struggle coming for a team that was going to be on the #1 line of the tourney if not for that late season swoon, right?

Wrong.

Nova was acting like a defeated team before it even stepped anywhere near the court in Providence on Thursday. HC Jay Wright benched both G Corey Fisher and G Scottie Reynolds at the outset of the game for a violation of team rules. His Cats fell behind Robert Morris, the Northeast Conference champions early. No big deal, right?

It is a big deal when you’re still behind by nine points late in the game! However, thanks to officiating that allowed the Wildcats back into the game and some great free throw shooting from Reynolds (who had better have had a great day from the charity stripe after going 2/15 from the floor and 1/8 from downtown), somehow, the Cats clawed their way into overtime. From there, they asserted themselves, and finally downed the scrappy Colonials.

It was all over the news during the 2:30 games as well as in that break between the morning and afternoon sessions. Everyone was talking about how Villanova is done and how St. Mary’s is going to pick it off on Saturday and that that was that for the Big East giants.

That statement might’ve been almost right… But maybe that was that for the Big East period.

Hey Georgetown Hoyas, all you had to do was go out and take care of an Ohio Bobcats team that was probably overrated as a #14, as it was the #9 seed in its own lousy conference during the year and really beat no one of any real note outside of the MAC this year. You could’ve restored order in your own conference.

Instead, you fell behind by double digits in the first half, played a miserable defensive game, and ultimately crashed out of the tourney in the most embarrassing way possible.

It’s not even like the Hoyas can say that they were just a victim of the proverbial “March Madness.” This wasn’t a situation where Vanderbilt was in, where it just got unlucky with a crazy shot at the end of the game. There were no crazy shots. There was just sheer domination.

So now, the Big East enters its second day of basketball, and Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, and Pittsburgh will hope to make a better impression on the college basketball world than what their conference brethren did yesterday.

The lesson learned, though, is that the big, bad Big East might not be quite as big and bad as we once thought.