Separation Wednesday in the BEast

Yesterday we talked about the great opportunity tonight - for completely different reasons - awaiting about a dozen Big East teams.  The scheduling Gods smiled on hoops fans, and laid out intriguing matchups all across the mega conference, giving us a chance to really begin to make some sense of who belongs where in the BEast.

Some made the most of it, and others had a night they'd soon forget.

It's definitely the latter for St. John's and Georgetown.

Tonight in the Garden the Johnnies had a chance to earn some respect around the neighborhood with a win over visiting Syracuse.  Instead, it was the Orange crushing the Red Storm, embarrassing St. Johns 76-59.  While the loss is disappointing for Lavin and the Red Storm, it is equally impressive for the 'Cuse.  At this point, it might be wise to heed Bobby Knight's advice and start lumping Syracuse in with Duke, Ohio State and Kansas when mentioning the nation's elite teams.

Speaking of elite teams, Pitt, as is becoming customary under Jamie Dixon, deserves to be on the short list as well.  Tonight's trip to Georgetown was much, much more important for Georgetown, yet the Hoyas fell to a stunning 1-4 in Big East play after being comfortably outplayed all night by the Panthers.  I've written it before but it merits repeating - this season is getting eerily reminiscent of two seasons past's Top10-turned NIT flop disaster.  And just like two years ago, heck, really last year's embarrassing opening round loss to #14 seed Ohio U as well), with the talent on John Thompson's roster, there's simply no excuse.

In the last real separation game tonight Louisville visited Villanova in an attempt to validate the national ranking many have questioned due to the relative lack of schedule strength thus far for the Cards.  It didn't work out quite as well as Pitino might have hoped.

Jay Wright, who along with Jamie Dixon, has to be one of the most criminally underrated coaches in the nation, is at it again this year, despite not having what many would consider to be a "star-studded" line-up.  In fact, had Bruce Pearl's suspension taken place earlier it's possible both Nova AND Pitt would be on the list of undefeated squads.

Tonight showed clearly what I have long suspected in regards to the Big East.  With the exception of Georgetown whom I was clearly over-enamored with, the league is beginning to settle into four quadrants.

TIER ONE:  Nationally Elite

Syracuse, Pitt, Villanova

TIER TWO: Likely Tourney Teams

UConn, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette

TIER THREE:  Tourney Caliber - Bubble Teams

Cincinnati (I know, 16-1, start emailing me hate mail before it's too late...), St. John's, West Virginia

TIER FOUR:  Not Tourney Teams

Seton Hall, Rutgers, USF, Providence

And DePAUL.  (seriously, can we just boot Providence and DePaul already and bring in TCU and UCF?).

MANIAC'S PICK:  The Maniac's gut feel - the BEast gets eight teams in the Dance, with Louisville, Cincinnati and St. John's clawing for the final spot of the eight.  Right now, due to sheer number of wins I'd wager Cincinnati saves Mick Cronin's job for another year.

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