#1 Indiana and #2 Miami Go Down in East Bracket
The Big East will decide the winner of the East bracket as the #3 Marquette Eagles took down the #2 Miami Hurricanes 71-61 and the #4 Syracuse Orange beat the #1 Indiana Hoosiers 61-50. Both games looked very similar as the two Big East teams used smothering defense to build double digit first half leads that the top two seeds could not shoot themselves past. Indiana was only 3 of 15 from three point land and Miami was a paltry 8 of 26.
The Orange and the Eagles will meet for the second time this season. Marquette won the first meeting on February 25 at home 74-71. The two Big East rivals will know each other well which should mean a great East Regional Final in what is the conference’s final season under its current configuration. Syracuse will join the ACC after the tournament and the Eagles will join the new Big East Conference made up of the non-football playing schools from the current Big East plus the Butler Bulldogs and Xavier Musketeeers so far.
Fans and oddsmakers alike were expecting to see a regional final game between the Hurricanes and the Hoosiers, but both the Big Ten champion Hoosiers and ACC champion Hurricanes picked bad nights to go cold from the field. Miami scored only 16 points in the first half and started the second half equally cold as the Eagles built a 51-30 lead. Miami then went on a 7-0 run and got the ball back with a chance to get back in it but missed two shots from right under the rim. They got the ball back again and had a good look from three points but again could not hit the big shot. Marquette then scored to build the lead back to 16.
The Hoosiers were also throttled offensively as they scored their lowest point total of the season. Indiana had 10 shots blocked and shot only 16 of 47 from the floor. Syracuse built a 12 point halftime lead as they held the Hoosiers to only 22 first half points. Like the Eagles, the Orange kept the pressure on in the second half as they maintained a double digit lead throughout the rest of the night.
So no matter who wins on Saturday, the Big East will have at least one team in the Final Four in Atlanta. The overall #1 seed in the tournament is the Big East Tournament champion Louisville Cardinals who will be in action on Friday. The Big East has a excellent chance at putting two teams in Atlanta. All season long, the Big Ten, ACC and even the Mountain West was getting more respect than the Big East for the nation’s best conference. But the Big East has been the beast of the NCAA Tournament.
