MILWAUKEE (AP) -Then there were two.
The Big East was largely considered the country’s best conference this season, and it showed with eight schools – half of the 16-team league – receiving bids to the NCAA tournament. But after Pittsburgh’s loss Sunday, the league is down to its final two: No. 1 seed Syracuse in the West Regional and No. 2 West Virginia in the East.
With all the failings of the mega-league, 11 conferences are represented in the round of 16, including five mid-majors. Only the Big Ten (Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State), the Southeastern Conference (Tennessee, Kentucky) and the Big East have multiple teams remaining.
Still, the Big East must have expected more big names to survive the tournament’s first weekend.
“We were always talked about as the best conference in the country. So when we lose some games in the tournament, it becomes more talked about,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said after the Panthers’ 71-68 second-round loss to Xavier.
Especially with all the high seeds.
Pitt was the third seed in the West Regional.
Mary’s in the second round Saturday, was the No. 2 seed in the South Regional.
Georgetown, which didn’t even make it out of the first round, was the third seed in the Midwest.
Marquette, Louisville and Notre Dame also lost in the first round.
“The conference is still good,” West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler said. “Granted, some of our teams might have lost. It’s a bad draw of the cards, you know.”
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins had an even sharper opinion.
“Whoever doesn’t think the Big East is a great league really shouldn’t write sports. They ought to do something else. Do cooking or something,” he said. “You have to be kidding me. The Big East is a great, great basketball league.”
The Big Ten is faring the best so far among all the conferences at 7-2 after the first two rounds. The Pac-10 and West Coast Conferences are 3-1, the SEC is 4-2 and even the Big 12 is 7-5 overall in the tournament.
“Is the Big 12 not any good because Kansas lost? No. The Big 12 is a great league,” Huggins said. “I actually was wondering, were you guys going to start talking about the Missouri Valley was the best league in the country. What do you guys think about (it)?”
Three conferences with only one team in the tournament advanced to the regional semifinals – The Valley (Northern Iowa), the Ivy League (Cornell) and the Horizon League (Butler).
regional semifinals for the third straight year along with Big Ten power Michigan State. Xavier coach Chris Mack said throughout the weekend he was tired of his Musketeers being perceived as “fodder” for big conference foes.
“We’re not just playing for ourselves. We’re playing for the Atlantic 10,” forward Jamel McLean said. “A lot of mid-major teams have shown the world that it’s bigger than just power schools out there.”
Cornell coach Steve Donahue said there are definite advantages to playing the power schools in the tournament.
“In the NCAA tournament, you get a neutral side, you get great officials,” he said. “You just really get an opportunity to play your game against teams in a real, honest, clean environment, which for a mid-major against high majors is very difficult.”
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FAVORS’ FLOP: It was supposed to be a matchup of two of the top five picks in the upcoming NBA draft, but Ohio State’s Evan Turner shined while Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors spent most of Sunday in foul trouble.
The Buckeyes beat the Yellow Jackets 75-66 and afterward, Favors said he would talk to coaches and advisers before making a decision on whether he’ll return for his sophomore year.
The 6-foot-10 Favors didn’t score his first points until there was 14:59 left. He finished with 10 points and four rebounds before fouling out with 41 seconds left.
year-old Favors could use a little more seasoning. Junior forward Dallas Lauderdale said he could tell Favors would slow down at times.
“I could tell times when he just quit. If I was fighting in the post, I could tell when he quit and I could tell when he didn’t want to run,” he said. “It was just a weird feeling because I could tell, like my swim move, I just had a little bit more.”
Lauderdale still thinks Favors has plenty of natural ability, though.
“For him to be so young and so strong, his future is bright,” he said. “That’s all I’ve got to say: He’s got a bright future.”
Turner, a leading candidate for national player of the year and a junior, finished with 24 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and nine turnovers. Ohio State will play Tennessee on Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
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TOUGH LOSS: As much as this loss to Michigan State hurts, it’s not the worst Maryland coach Gary Williams has endured in the NCAA tournament.
Greivis Vasquez’s basket put Maryland up 83-82 with 6 seconds left Sunday, only to have Korie Lucious hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Spartans the win.
“It’s not the worst,” Williams said. “Where would it be? 2001 in the Final Four, we were up 20 on Duke. That one hurt.”
Actually, it was 22.
ed just three points in the second half, Terence Morris ran into foul trouble and Maryland wound up losing 95-84. Duke went on to win the national title.
This latest loss will be tough, though, because it was Vasquez’s last game in a Maryland uniform. The ACC player of the year did everything he could, going on a late scoring tear to put the Terrapins in position to win. Vasquez scored nine of Maryland’s final 11 points in the last two minutes, and finished with 26.
“I didn’t want that game to be my last. But unfortunately it went the other way,” he said. “I’m just proud that we came back and we took the lead. We had a lot of guts to do that. And our team did it. Everybody. (It’s) something that is going to make us better not only as a player, but as a person, all of us, especially the seniors.”
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FRIENDLY RIVALRY: Those friendly phone calls and text messages between grade school teammates Iman Shumpert and Evan Turner might be on hold for a while.
Turner got the best of his old buddy in Ohio State’s 75-66 victory over Georgia Tech in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday. Bouncing back from one of the worst shooting games of his career, Turner scored 24 points and came within an assist and a rebound of a triple-double.
“I’m always going to wish him luck,” Shumpert said. “But I’m not sure when I’m going to pick my phone up.”
seventh grader to be put on the eighth-grade team at their school in suburban Chicago. Turner played shooting guard, Shumpert point guard. They often played one-on-one after practice and, after going to separate high schools, faced each other during the season and in the summer.
But this was their first matchup in several years.
“He’s definitely gotten stronger, his defense has gotten a lot better,” Turner said. “He’s definitely a competitor and he’s coming out to win.”
Shumpert has emerged as Georgia Tech’s top defender, and had previously disrupted such big-time players as Duke’s Jon Scheyer, Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez and Oklahoma State’s James Anderson. While Turner did have nine turnovers and shot 42 percent, he still found ways to take control of the game.
“Sometimes he got free,” Shumpert said, “and made us pay.”
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QUOTABLE: “This is different from football. We find out in this tournament who the best teams really are.” – Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim on the difference in talent between major and mid-major programs.
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AP National Writer Nancy Armour contributed to this report.
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