STF Big East Report 1.23.08

I designed a regular posting date of Tuesday for the Big East Report so that I could instantly react to the events of “Big Monday,” the 7pm game of which almost always features a Big East battle. Then, as an off-shoot of my inability to maintain any normalcy or continuity in my depraved existence, I keep posting on Wednesdays and Thursdays and all this crap. Additionally, I just found a site where you can design your own pie charts, and that’s easily the best way to throw co-workers under the bus without them knowing, so that’s been a huge distraction. Anyway, without further ado, The Big East:

Team With the Best Week: West Virginia
The fastest way to heal the Coach Rod scars? Huggy Bear starting to win, and creating a dangerous enough team to make some upset-minded noise in March. Check this: the Mountaineers have won three in a row to rise to second in the conference behind GU, in the process knocking off an underrated South Florida team. They still have the win over Marquette, which seems kinda less important now, but still. Georgetown awaits on Saturday (I’ll be watching from a bar in Scottsdale, AZ), and they still have two tangos with Pittsburgh, but if they grab a 5 or 6 seed in the Dance, they might have the cajones (and the coaching) to stun a weak 3 in the Round of 32.

Player of the Week: Deonta Vaughn, G, Cincinnati
In my first edition of this report, I utterly threw Cincy in front of the train. Turns out they’re not so bad (they currently sit at third in conference). I have no respect or faith that they can do anything in March, either at MSG or the Dance, but I’m impressed by this Vaughn kid, a sophomore who dropped 14 with 4 dimes in their three-point win over Pittsburgh this week. According to his Cincy Bearcats profile, he has five brothers and three sisters - sounds like a bad Dennis Quaid movie - and majors in criminal justice, which I would have majored in if I had any ability to wrap my head around statistics. The team site also notes he’s “very good off the pick and roll,” which seems a bit editorial to me, but eh.

Team with the Worst Week: Marquette
Bad week for Wisconsin overall. The Eagles have dropped their last two - let’s not even talk about the current fate of DWade and the Miami Heat - by a combined 36 points to Louisville, a team that should be good but isn’t really (even with Padgett) and Connecticut, a team that won’t be good until the middle of next season. These guys were once ranked No. 11, and I was telling site editor/overlord Marco that they might be a “sleeper” to win the Big East. Now I just feel stupid, like the guy in my film class who, when prompted for a list of genres, shouted out “Erotica!”

Games to Watch:

Saturday - Connecticut vs. Indiana. Although Eric Gordon won’t be in school long, this could be a preview of an awesome 2009 Sweet Sixteen game.

Saturday - Georgetown vs. West Virginia. I’m shaking over this one, but that might be the alcohol poisoning.

Sunday - Cincy vs. Seton Hall. I don’t know why SHU intrigues me (they’re 2-3 in conference), but they do, and so does Cincy, so at least I’ll be intrigued on Sunday. That might be the soft-core porn, though.

Generally Irrelevant Family Guy Quote of the Week

Brian: You’re drunk.
Stewie: You’re sexy.

Big Monday this week is Louisville vs. UConn. The above seems like the potential pre-game exchange between Calhoun and Pitino, no?