A Guest Blog By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Brian Murphy:

What a night it was in college basketball on this Wednesday!  With multiple top-25 and rivalry match-ups, it had all the makings of an early March game night.

#21 UNC 73 vs. #5 Duke 79: North Carolina absolutely dominated the first half of the first game this year between the best rivals in college basketball.  The Tar Heels took a 14 point lead into the half, but of course you can never count out Duke in Cameron Indoor.  The Blue Devils came out of the locker room like they actually visited Hell and were on fire, getting their first lead of the game with 9:14 remaining in the second half.  They did not look back the rest of the game.  Led by Seth Curry’s 22 points, Duke made clutch three after three and nailed their free throws to seal another great one between Tobacco Road’s finest.

#10 Villanova 76 vs. Rutgers 77: Looking at tonight’s games, no one would have thought that this game would be the most exciting finish of all.  Let’s fast-forward to the second half where ‘Nova had a 12 point lead with only 3:34 left and then 10 with 2:52 left.  Rutgers’ Jonathan Mitchell and James Beatty decided to do the uncanny and hit five 3-pointers combined in the final 1:50.  Now get this: the Wildcat’s James Bell hit a 3 to go up by 5 with 16 seconds left. Game over right?  Not so much in the RAC said the Scarlet Knights as James Beatty cut it to a 2-point game with 11 seconds left.  Villanova’s Corey Fisher made one free throw to go up by 3 with 9 ticks left.  Then the unthinkable happened: Jonathan Mitchell for Rutgers caught a deep pass and put up a 3 that swished in!!….AND 1!!  Mitchell was fouled on his made 3-pointer and went to the foul line with .8 left in a tied-up ball game.  Mitchell shoots it and…..Buckets!  The Rutgers fans stormed the court and craziness ensued in Jersey!

#15 Louisville 79 vs. #7 Notre Dame 89 (OT):  Many folks that follow these teams will tell you that when you match up the Cardinals and Fightin’ Irish, there is a good chance the game will go into overtime.  On Wednesday night, overtime was needed yet again to determine the winner of this classic Big East battle (5th OT game in last 9 meetings).  Louisville, led by Kyle Kuric and his 28 points, had the lead most of the game.  It was never a big enough lead that ND was out of the game and they tied it up and went up by a couple many, many times.  Louisville had the final shot to win it in regulation but it fell short. Once overtime started, Notre Dame, led by Ben Hansbrough’s 25 points, came out like wildmen and just blew out Louisville scoring the first 14 points of overtime.  Notre Dame is further strengthening its case as the best team in the Big East.  They are currently in second place in the Big East standings, only behind Pittsburgh who ND beat on the road.

#11 Georgetown 64 vs. #13 Syracuse 56: In arguably the most back and forth game of the night, the visiting Hoyas pulled away in the final four minutes to give Syracause another Big East lost.  The game had seven lead changes and numerous ties as Georgetown won its seventh game in a row.  Syracuse lost its third straight in the Dome, which is only the third time that has happened in coach Jim Boeheim’s 35 year tenure there.  This game definitely showcased two teams going in opposite directions.  The Hoyas are hot and making quite the Big East run, whereas the Orange have been struggling big time as of late in the Big East and are plummeting in the standings.

As if those four games weren’t enough for you, there were two top-25 teams not in the Big East or ACC who had scares on the road.  #14 Wisconsin needed overtime to beat the lowly Hawkeyes of Iowa on the road by only three points.  Similarly, #22 Texas A&M needed overtime to squeak by Colorado by three points.  Is this a glimpse of what college basketball in March this season will be like.  I bet yes, is it March yet?!

Colts Set To Show Manning The Money: This year’s biggest NFL free agent isn’t going anywhere as the Colts have made it abundantly clear they will pay Peyton Manning whatever he is worth. My guess is it will be bigger than Tom Brady’s deal and carry more guaranteed money, but don’t be shocked if its more creative as well. I think that without a doubt the salary cap will be back next season, and it is even possible that the NFL slows its growth rate. Regardless of how large it is, and how much it will grow each season, it is in the Colts best interest to find ways to defer costs into the future. Look for extra years to be tacked on with some of the money guaranteed, well past when they’d want to pay Manning so that they can lower his costs now. Sure the money will accelerate when Manning retires, and there could be a significant dead money amount that season, but its the smart play. What would you rather have one year of a big dead money hit, during a season where I’m guessing the playoffs will be a longshot without Manning, or paying an extra $2-3 million over 4-6 years, while you are a viable playoff and Super Bowl contender with Manning. Those extra million per year would be the equivalent of another solid starter compared to a minimum salary guy, and that could be the difference. Manning’s contract will be a fun story to watch, but there really isn’t any suspense involved, he will be a Colt well into the future.

Rumors Persist That The League Will Force The Players Hand: While there has been a number of accusations on both sides during this posturing period of labor talks, this is one story that could hold water. Basically instead of the league ‘locking out’ the players over contract negotiations, they will publicly announce their final offer, and force the players to decide whether to accept it or ‘strike’. That is the only feasible way I could see a work stoppage in the NFL. While neither side wins in a labor dispute, the owners and league have more on the line. Even if a work stoppage doesn’t affect one single game next season, they would have to deal with the process stories all year long. How they couldn’t sign/trade a certain player because of the work stoppage, or that a player got injured because he didn’t have a full offseason workout plan. And finally certain teams went to the playoffs, because they didn’t have a significant amount of turnover, and other teams couldn’t compete because they did. If the players strike you will still have stories, but the main culprit won’t be the owners. And lets face it the owners can’t face the bad press in a down economy. When unemployment rate is at an all-time high, no one wins in a battle between billionaires and millionaires. And the billionaires even get a bigger share of the blame as they need to now go out and sell season tickets and merchandise. Unlike the NHL which had a lockout and has recovered nicely, there was an actual reason for the lockout as salaries were exceeding revenues and could have become a real solvency issue for the league. There is no solvency issue for the NFL as even the poorest teams are quite capable of paying their bills. Look for an agreement to be reached, but if not don’t look for the NFL and the owners to take the fall.

Matt Szczur Chooses MLB Over the NFL: Villanova star wide receiver Matt Szczur will commit fully to the Chicago Cubs, and forgo his NFL career at this time. Szczur was a 5th round pick last season by the Chicago Cubs and signed for a bonus of $100K, with an additional $400K (or $500K) if he choose baseball over football by this February. Szczur played rookie ball for the Cubs last summer, and looked really good and was even named the Cubs 7th best prospect according to Baseball America. At the same time though he went back to Villanova for his senior season, and had another impressive year. He was projected to be drafted in the 4-5th round based on workouts, but given his work ethic and character (which are both off the charts) he could have heard his name called much sooner. Szczur seemed likely to choose football over baseball, so the Cubs stepped up their offer to $1.5 million. Szczur will now be heading to Spring Training as opposed to the NFL Combine this spring. He is still a bit raw as a prospect since he split time between two sports, but he has a ton of potential. He profiles as a starting center field prospect, who could be up within 2-3 seasons. Its a bold move for Chicago, and one that I’m sure many an NFL G.M. hates to see.

The Big East Tournament is in many ways like a mini-NCAA Tournament, considering the talent and depth of teams involved. It is by far the most prestigious of the conference tournaments, as well as the toughest. This year that last part has been well emphasized, as many top teams have already fallen. In the first round perennial powerhouse UConn was throughly beaten by St. Johns. The second round saw last year’s winner Louisville, lose a close game to Cincinnati. Yesterday though was filled with upsets, with three of the top four seeds losing in their first game. Top ranked Syracuse lost to 8th seed Georgetown, while Pittsburgh got knocked off by 7th seed Notre Dame, and Villanova lost to Marquette. The lone top four seed to advance, was 3rd seed West Virginia who needed a last second shot to hold off Cincinnati.

Now because of yesterday’s massacre of top seeds, people will begin to question the Big East Tournament format and whether or not it should be changed. Because of it’s 16 team size the Big East Tournament has a unique format, where in which the top 8 teams receive a bye, and the top four teams get a double bye. In the last two seasons with the double bye format, those teams with the extra rest are 3-5 in their first round game. Now people are already calling for a change in format. I feel that is well premature. While it is disturbing that the double bye teams are falling so early, a few things should be remembered. One, these games for the most part have been very close, that number could have been worse, but it also could have easily been 6-2 or 7-1, in favor of the double bye teams. Two, we are only talking about two years here. If this was a trend over 5-6 years, I’d maybe say you have a problem, but if the top four seeds sweep the next two years (which is not out of the question) then that number is 11-5, quite a difference in opinion. The last thing that should be remembered is that this is the Big East we are talking about. They are by definition a super conference.

The Big East has more talent and parity then we’ve ever seen in college basketball before. Last season they had THREE number 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, despite the fact that two of those teams, UConn and Pitt lost their opening game in the Big East Tournament. This year the Big East isn’t as talented, but they will still send 8 teams tournament bound, and still have some of the top teams to watch. Teams like Marquette, Georgetown, and Louisville would have probably finished 3rd or 4th in most conferences. And teams like South Florida, Cincinnati, Seton Hall and even Connecticut, would have likely been top 8 seeds in another conference. My guess is if you broke up the Big East and spread them around the other conferences, you’d probably have a good 10-12 teams make the NCAA tournament each year, with at least two receiving number 1 seeds. That is how deep and talented this conference is.

Now I’m not saying this as a pity party for the Big East, just pointing out that all conference’s aren’t created equal. You can’t compare how the top four seeds in the Big East do, compared to the Big Ten or Pac-10 (honestly couldn’t just about any team in the Big East win the Pac-10 this season?). Or even compare them to two of the better conferences Big-12 and ACC. Those other ‘powerhouse’ conferences might run 7 or 8 teams deep, but the Big East runs a good 12 teams deep.

I think it would be too much of a knee-jerk reaction to change the format of the Big East Tournament. I don’t think they could go back to the way it was 3 years ago when only the top 12 teams made it. And while its feasible, I’m not sure if teams would want to do a tournament bracket system,where 1 seed plays 16, ect. Since that would negate any team from getting a bye. Hopefully wiser heads will prevail and they will keep the tournament as is for the next couple years before they make any changes. Maybe the double bye is harmful to those teams, but I’m not sold yet, and in the meantime I’ll just keep enjoying the best postseason basketball in the country.

By Guest Blogger Geoff Newolet:

Villanova will edge West Virginia in a battle for second in the Big East

No. 9 Villanova is hosting No. 8 West Virginia in a Big East match up that will determine who earns second place in the regular season Big East title race. More importantly, the winner will potentially earn the two-seed in the Big East tournament – depending on Pittsburgh’s results and the tiebreakers. Villanova has already defeated West Virginia this year by the score of 82-75.

Villanova started the season on a tear. They won 20 of their first 21 games, and they were ranked as high as second nationally. As of late, they have lost three of seven – all to Big East opponents. Villanova also only has two strong victories over ranked opponents at home against Georgetown and West Virginia. They also have quality wins over Maryland, Dayton and a slew of solid Big East teams.

West Virginia is coming off a huge home victory over Georgetown, which propelled them to contention for second in the Big East. The Mountaineers are 23-6 on the year, and five of their six losses came against Big East opponents. Their other loss came against a top-five Purdue team. The mountaineers are led by forwards Da’Sean Butler, Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks. Each of the three averages over 12 points and 6 rebounds, and they have caused match up problems all year for their opponents.

The Wildcats are led by senior Scottie Reynolds who averages nearly 19 points per game. Corey Fisher also chips in at 13 point per contest, and he rounds out one of the best backcourts in the Big East. Beyond those two players, only one other averages in double figures for the Wildcats, which creates an unbalanced attack. Villanova is certainly a top-20 team in the nation, but it seems that they are not quite a top-five team, and their past ranking of second nationally came prematurely.

Villanova has already defeated West Virginia on the road this year, and they will edge them again at home. It will be a close came, though, that could end up going either way. Final score: Villanova 76 West Virginia 72

Duke will pummel North Carolina to stay atop the ACC

The troubled North Carolina Tar Heels will renew their rivalry with the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke is looking to finish undefeated at home for the season, whereas North Carolina is looking for their sixth conference win of the season. No. 4 Duke is 25-5 on the year, and they are tied for the ACC lead at 12-3. North Carolina is in the midst of one of their worst seasons in decades, and will most likely be thrilled when the season finally ends.

Duke is coming off their first loss in nine games against ACC rival Maryland. Maryland is now tied with Duke for first place in the ACC, which will give Duke even more incentive to defeat the Tar Heels. It is hard to imagine Duke losing to an inferior North Carolina team with the ACC title on the line. This certainly will not be a uninspired, unmotivated performance by the Blue Devils.

North Carolina has absolutely nothing to play for aside from bragging rights over their conference rivals. The Tar Heels are 16-14, and they have no chance of making the NCAA tournament. They will potentially receive an invitation to one of the various lesser, irrelevant tournaments such as the NIT or the CBI, but being in one of those tournaments is just as much of a disappointment for the Tar Heels as not making a tournament at all.

North Carolina, though, is slightly headed in the right direction with two straight conference wins over Wake Forest and Miami. It would be quite an accomplishment for them to finish their miserable season with a three-game ACC win streak topped by a road win against the Blue Devils.

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, that most likely will not happen, as Duke will be too much for them with the combination of their superior guards: Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. Not to mention, North Carolina will be without arguably their best player – Ed Davis. Duke will handle North Carolina with ease in order to keep pace for the ACC title. Final Score: Duke 80 UNC 60

The Syracuse Orangemen survived a late rally by the Georgetown Hoyas, to improve to 12-2 in the conference and 25-2 overall. Early on it looked as though the 5th ranked would rout the 10 ranked Hoyas on their home floor, jumping out to a 15 point halftime lead. Syracuse led by as much as 23 points, with 12:30 left on the clock, but the Hoyas weren’t going to go down without a fight. Georgetown kept chipping away at the lead, and with a minute remaining just one point separated the two top ranked teams.  Georgetown had a chance to take the lead but missed, and Syracuse forward Kris Johnson responded, giving the Orangemen the 3 point lead with 7 seconds remaining. Free throws decided the rest of the game and Syracuse remains undefeated on the road.

With four games to go Syracuse has a half game lead on Villanova for the conference. The two teams face off for conference supremacy on February 27th (though WVU and Pitt could still overtake them, each 2 1/2 games back). Right now I think the conference is Syracuse’s when it is all said and done. The Orange finish out at Providence, home against Villanova and St. Johns, then their last game at Louisville. Providence and St. Johns are two of the weaker teams in the conference so the ‘Cuse should have no problems there. Louisville is always a dangerous team and beat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome earlier this season, but I think Syracuse can take them.

Their tough test will be at home against Villanova, not because Villanova is ranked 4th in the nation, but because its at home. Amazingly, their only losses are at home this season, in the Carrier Dome, one of the hardest venues in college basketball for away teams to play in. Syracuse is actually really lucky how their schedule turned out, with no back-to-back away games in the final stretch, and with an easy game before each of their tough matchups. Villanova on the other hand isn’t so lucky. Their final five games are a bit tougher; they are at 21st ranked Pittsburgh (and the Peterson Events Center may rival the Carrier Dome in terms of home court advantage), home vs South Florida, who has played some great basketball against top teams this year, at Syracuse and Cincinnati back to back, before finishing up with 8th ranked West Virginia at home. While anything can happen in the Big East, the Orangemen will likely hold on to their half game lead for the regular season title (the Big East Tournament is a completely different animal).

By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Geoff Nelowet

The Georgetown Hoyas are coming off one of their most uninspired and sloppy performances of the season in a 72-64 home loss to unranked upstart South Florida. The game before that, the Hoyas took down perennial superpower and then eighth-ranked Duke in a blowout home win. If the last two results for the Hoyas are any indicator, this team has the potential to knock off the best – as long as they play with intensity every time they are on the court. Otherwise, they fall back to the middle of the pack, and in the Big East, arguably the most competitive conference in the country, a team such as the Hoyas cannot afford to lose to anyone other than the conference elite.

And the conference elite is now in town, as Georgetown is facing a reversal of roles – they are now playing the underdog. Albeit a slight underdog, the Hoyas are facing second-ranked Villanova. ‘Nova is 20-1 on the season and 9-0 in the conference. They already defeated Georgetown on their own court three weeks prior. It was a game in which the Wildcats were in control for almost its entirety, led by fifteen at halftime and finished with a five-point victory. Georgetown, even at home, will have to put forth a much better effort to walk away with a win.

The Hoyas boast one of the best triads of players in the nation. Austin Freeman, Greg Monroe and Chris Wright each average nearly fifteen points per contest, and Monroe is one of the best rebounders in the conference at 9.7 per game. Jason Clark is the only other player averaging double figures at 10.5 point per.

Unlike the Hoyas’ balanced attack, much of the Wildcats’ offense flows through senior guard Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds, who nearly left last season for the NBA, is fifth in the conference in scoring at 18.5 points per game. ‘Nova, though, has five other players on the roster that average nine points or more. Reynolds may control a high volume of shots, but the Wildcats do not lack in depth or talent, and their 20-1 record reflects that.

Georgetown was frustrated against USF, and they will undoubtedly play with more effort and determination. The Hoyas are also looking to avenge a loss, and at home, this looks like an opportune time for Georgetown to pull the upset. This will be no easy task, though, as Villanova is one of the premier teams in the nation – they will not go down without a fight. Final score: Georgetown 88 Villanova 84