Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

A tremendous day of basketball lies ahead in New York City. Every game has something riding on it.

yeah looking at it-
Nova- win and probably clinches a #1 seed.

Marquette/Seton Hall- loser probably falls into the first 4.

Xavier/Butler- Butler wins and they get pretty close to locking up a 3 seed I feel. For Xavier win gets them not only in tourney for sure but also away from First 4.

Providence/Creighton- For Creighton- win keeps them out of the 8/9 mess. (a loss and both teams are likely on the 8/9 line unless PC can win a 2nd game).

IMO for the conference best case- Nova, Marquette, Butler, and Creighton

12:00pm - Big East QF: St. John's vs. 2 Villanova, FS1 - Justin Kutcher, Jim Jackson, Steve Lavin
Line: Villanova -14

2:30pm - Big East QF: Marquette vs. Seton Hall, FS1 - Justin Kutcher, Jim Jackson, Steve Lavin
Line: Marquette -2.5

7:00pm- Big East QF: Xavier vs. 18 Butler, FS1 - Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Lisa Byington
Line: Butler -6

9:30pm - Big East QF: Creighton vs. Providence, FS1 - Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Lisa Byington
Line: Creighton -2.5

This is where the Big East really screwed up the schedule. They 8-9 game winner (in this case St. John's) gets screwed by having to play a 12 noon game the day after a 7pm game? Is maybe 20 hours of rest too much to ask? Playing the 1 seed Villanova is tough enough, don't make the dog play it as a day game after a night game too. I know Nova isn't unbeaten in these quarterfinal games, they've lost once and while that does hurt my point to some extent, I don't believe it makes it invalid.

Some suggestions:

1. I completely understand why they don't do this (TV and attendance) but consider playing the opening round games earlier in the day.

2. Switch around Thursday game times:

12:00PM: 4 v 5
2:30PM: 3 v 6
7:00PM: 1 v 8/9
9:30PM: 2 v 7/10

Then Friday:
6:30PM: 1/8/9 v 4/5
9:00PM: 2/7/10 v 3/6

Yes, I know this would increase rest difference in Friday's games (and more significantly, put the higher seed at that rest disadvantage), but at least it gives all teams at least (roughly) 24 hours between tipoffs.

Hall2012 wrote:This is where the Big East really screwed up the schedule. They 8-9 game winner (in this case St. John's) gets screwed by having to play a 12 noon game the day after a 7pm game? Is maybe 20 hours of rest too much to ask? Playing the 1 seed Villanova is tough enough, don't make the dog play it as a day game after a night game too. I know Nova isn't unbeaten in these quarterfinal games, they've lost once and while that does hurt my point to some extent, I don't believe it makes it invalid.

Some suggestions:

1. I completely understand why they don't do this (TV and attendance) but consider playing the opening round games earlier in the day.

2. Switch around Thursday game times:

12:00PM: 4 v 5
2:30PM: 3 v 6
7:00PM: 1 v 8/9
9:30PM: 2 v 7/10

Then Friday:
6:30PM: 1/8/9 v 4/5
9:00PM: 2/7/10 v 3/6

Yes, I know this would increase rest difference in Friday's games (and more significantly, put the higher seed at that rest disadvantage), but at least it gives all teams at least (roughly) 24 hours between tipoffs.

Leave it as is. If you landed in the bottom 4 seeds that is the price you pay. I'm sure St. John's is just happy to advance. It will a huge day today no matter what.

Hall2012 wrote:This is where the Big East really screwed up the schedule. They 8-9 game winner (in this case St. John's) gets screwed by having to play a 12 noon game the day after a 7pm game? Is maybe 20 hours of rest too much to ask? Playing the 1 seed Villanova is tough enough, don't make the dog play it as a day game after a night game too. I know Nova isn't unbeaten in these quarterfinal games, they've lost once and while that does hurt my point to some extent, I don't believe it makes it invalid.

Some suggestions:

1. I completely understand why they don't do this (TV and attendance) but consider playing the opening round games earlier in the day.

2. Switch around Thursday game times:

12:00PM: 4 v 5
2:30PM: 3 v 6
7:00PM: 1 v 8/9
9:30PM: 2 v 7/10

Then Friday:
6:30PM: 1/8/9 v 4/5
9:00PM: 2/7/10 v 3/6

Yes, I know this would increase rest difference in Friday's games (and more significantly, put the higher seed at that rest disadvantage), but at least it gives all teams at least (roughly) 24 hours between tipoffs.

I think if you are the conference- you're more worried about the 1 seed.

only thing you could do is this set up
noon 4 vs 5
230 1 vs 8/9
700 3 vs 6
930 2 vs 7/10

Hall2012 wrote:This is where the Big East really screwed up the schedule. They 8-9 game winner (in this case St. John's) gets screwed by having to play a 12 noon game the day after a 7pm game?

I honestly don't care. The Tournament shouldn't be designed in any way that helps the bottom four teams more than the top six.

Hall2012 wrote:This is where the Big East really screwed up the schedule. They 8-9 game winner (in this case St. John's) gets screwed by having to play a 12 noon game the day after a 7pm game? Is maybe 20 hours of rest too much to ask? Playing the 1 seed Villanova is tough enough, don't make the dog play it as a day game after a night game too. I know Nova isn't unbeaten in these quarterfinal games, they've lost once and while that does hurt my point to some extent, I don't believe it makes it invalid.

Some suggestions:

1. I completely understand why they don't do this (TV and attendance) but consider playing the opening round games earlier in the day.

2. Switch around Thursday game times:

12:00PM: 4 v 5
2:30PM: 3 v 6
7:00PM: 1 v 8/9
9:30PM: 2 v 7/10

Then Friday:
6:30PM: 1/8/9 v 4/5
9:00PM: 2/7/10 v 3/6

Yes, I know this would increase rest difference in Friday's games (and more significantly, put the higher seed at that rest disadvantage), but at least it gives all teams at least (roughly) 24 hours between tipoffs.

So the 1 seed has less rest between Thursday and Friday to give the 8 - 9 seeds more rest between Wednesday and Thursday? Ummm....no. If you want more rest, win more games.

I'm not arguing to help the lower seeds, just to give the 8-9 winner a fair chance. As is, they don't even get 15 hours of rest between. The difference between 24 and 28 hours rest between Thursday and Friday is negligible, but to ask a team to play 2 games in about 15 hours is crazy. As far as rest is concerned, you're better off being the 10 seed than the 8. If you win your first game as the 10 at least you have close to a full day to recover. So with that you can throw the "want more rest, win more games" argument out the window.