Syracuse Barely Beats Villanova, And We're Talking Football

((HT: ACCDN))

Without their starting QB, it took a failed 2-point conversion in the bottom of the second overtime for Syracuse to barely beat Villanova (otherwise known as FCS/Division I-AA Villanova)), 27-26.

Syracuse starting QB Terrel Hunt got ejected after throwing a punch on Villanova LB Dillon Lucas.
Hunt also received a 15-yard Unnecessary Roughness penalty on the play and it served as a motivator for the decidedly underdog Wildcats.


While it wasn't the six OT thriller in the Big East tourney, it certainly was a renewal of the rivalry- if only for a night.

Brackets Continue Implosion With UConn and Dayton

((HT: WSYR-TV Syracuse))

Tyler Ennis' jumper with time running out didn't go in for a change and Dayton's run in the March tournament continued with a 55-53 win over 3rd-seed Syracuse in Round 3...

It was the first game since the Big East Tournament in 1995 that Syracuse failed to make a three-pointer as the Flyers packed it in the paint defensively and dared the Orange to make a shot from outside.

Three of Syracuse's last four losses were by five points or less.

By the way, if the math escaped you temporarily, Syracuse lost six of their last nine. All that after being ranked number one in the country at one point in the season and winning their first 25 in a row before losing to Georgia Tech in ACC play to start the down slide that ended in their second game of the tournament...

Here's the look from Syracuse...


"That thing was on line and he went for the win," Dayton head coach Archie Miller said postgame. "The thing that went through my head was the game at Pitt, when I saw that highlight 7,000 times when he banged the 3. I thought he was going to go to the basket. When I saw him raise up, I didn't feel good about it. But Buffalo's been good to us these last couple of days on the buzzer shots."

The 11-seed now moves on to play the winner of Kansas-Memphis...

The other big win Saturday came from UConn over former Big East counterpart Villanova... a 7-seed knocking off a 2...

Nova had a lead early in the game, but hit a stretch of 11:24 without hitting a shot from the field before sinking a three near the end of the first half to go in trailing 25-24. But, for the second game in a row, UConn's Shabazz Napier carried the Huskies- even with a bruised shin that kept him on the sidelines for a while late in the game.

Napier had 21 in the second half and 25 in the game...

The Huskies play the winner of North Carolina and Iowa State in New York City...
Here's a part of their second half of success...
((HT: NCAA March Madness))

Seton Hall With The Big East Tourney Buzzer Beater Win

We love March Madness.

If you like basketball at all, how could you not?

Check out action on Thursday afternoon as Seton Hall pulls off the HUGE upset of Villanova, who was making a push for a #1 seed in next weeks NCAA Tourney.

The Hall with the inbounds pass, the ball ends up in Sterling Gibbs's hands and Gibbs drills the pop-back jumper giving the Pirates a 64-63 win in the 1st round of the Big East Tourney.

Check out the video:



"In the end, it was supposed to get in my hands and I was supposed to create a shot for my teammates or create a shot for myself, and I just stepped back and hit the jumper."  Gibbs said.

Not only did Gibbs' buzzer beater bury Villanova but so did poor shooting.  The Wildcats only shot 38 percent from the field and was 4-19 from three point range.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright gave Seton Hall their due.

"Seton Hall played better than us. They made the plays at the end." Wright said.

It's Official: Hoops Only Schools Leave the Big East

Yes, like most, we reported on this story a couple of days ago.

Now it's official.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova have voted unanimously and as a group to "Withdraw" from the Big East. (*Note-Official Date not yet set)

And the days of one of the few remaining "Power Conferences" existing in College Basketball, are officially numbered.

The teams, who again, aren't football schools, felt it in their best interest to leave as the Big East expands to take on several former Conference USA schools (Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF and eventually Tulane) along with Boise St. and San Diego St in football. East Carolina and Navy join for football in 2015. And lest we forget Pitt and Syracuse leave after this year too.

If the league still exists.

Follow all that?

At this point, the only thing that could keep the conference from going away? Football money. Mind you, they turned down a $100+ million a year TV deal just a couple of months ago. With this roster of schools, they won't get it now.

And in the "Name" of better competition, it should be noted the automatic "BCS" berth the Big East once had--it's gone too.

So...what does this all mean?

It means ESPN is stuck with Big Monday's with little schools in the Winter time. It means the conference of Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony will never be the same. It means that college sports continues down its road of ultimate greed and selling out for one thing and one thing only.

The almighty $.

Don't let ANY college president, athletic director, coach or other tell you something different. Maryland  didn't leave the ACC for better academics...or a conference they can ever win in Sports. They left for the money. It's all TV revenue, specifically football. And it is all driven by ESPN. They've been quoted as advising multiple schools. They've been the one's paying obscene amounts of money for the "Super Conferences" (which by the way cable subscriber--comes out of YOUR pocket whether you are a fan or not). They've been the driving force in it all.

And to an extent, we can't totally blame the "Catholic Seven" here either. They are looking out for their only interest and that interest wasn't the Big East's. They'll be fine. They'll form their own conference and might cherry pick a couple other Atlantic 10 schools.

So, college sports has officially jumped the shark. Yes, it's the only way you can pay your head football coach $4 million a year. Which by the way, won't stop him from jumping to another school who will pay him more at any time during the contract. Or you from paying him if he doesn't win the BCS title in year 2.

That's all, we'll get off our horse, you can call this cynical or not being "Up with the Times" and you aren't wrong. But sometimes, someone has to call a "Deal with the Devil" for exactly what it is....

Shabazz Napier finishes crazy 10 seconds of UConn/Villanova game

If there was ever a 10-second span that encapsulated a game...this might be it.

UConn and Villanova went to overtime Monday night in Philadelphia and with 10-seconds left, it was 70-68 Huskies.

In the ensuing 10-seconds, Villanova gets a driving layup to tie it with 5-seconds left.

And from there, UConn's Shabazz Napier took over. From 30-plus feet, with about 1-second left.

Nothing but net.

UConn wins 73-70.

Video courtesy: UConnHuskies/YouTube--

Big East To Have "Secret" Meeting, Who's In, Who's Out

Need another example of how bizarre conference realignment has gotten? The remaining football playing members of the Big East Conference have scheduled a "secret" meeting Tuesday night to see who wants in and who wants to get out.

Since Syracuse and Pittsburgh pursued the accepted invitations from the ACC last weekend, Big East commissioner John Marinatto wants answers from the gang of six.

Connecticut has been openly lobbying to become the 15th member of the ACC. UConn president Susan Herbst has been very public about that. Though president Herbst said UConn has not applied for ACC membership yet she acknowledged to ctpost.com that she grew up on ACC basketball from attending Duke University as an undergrad.

Notre Dame wants to keep its football independence however doesn't want to see the Big East go down in flames since it's a member of the conference in other sports.

Is Villanova eyeing a move to the ACC? One problem, the Wildcats football program is an FCS member.

Rutgers? They appear to look mighty attractive to the ACC. There have been rumors that Rutgers, along with Connecticut, were the next to bolt for the ACC.

Since the ACC and SEC appear not to want West Virginia will they now beg and plead their Big East colleagues to stay in the union?

Maybe the first order of business is the thank Texas A&M for accelerating what appears to be the demise of the Big East conference.

Maybe they will keep that a secret.