Colleges

Women's hoops: Big East tournament info

By Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Published March 8, 2008

When/where: Today-Tuesday; XL Center, Hartford, Conn.

Today's schedule: No. 5 seed Pittsburgh vs. No. 12 Villanova, noon; No. 8 Marquette vs. No. 9 DePaul, 2 p.m.; No. 7Louisville vs. No. 10 St. John's, 6; No. 6 Syracuse vs. No. 11 USF, 8.

TV: Today's games on Catch 47, with the USF-Syracuse joined in progress after USF softball vs. Team USA; quarterfinals (Sunday) and semifinals (Monday) on ESPNU; championship (Tuesday) on ESPN2.

Favorite: Connecticut. Monday's 20-point win against Rutgers was a reminder of how tough it is to beat the Huskies in Hartford. Scariest thing about that game? It's the closest any Big East team came to beating the Huskies in Connecticut. Barring any surprises, the field will set up a third UConn-Rutgers showdown; let's hope it's more like the first game - a two-point Rutgers win - than Monday's rematch. Even as a freshman, the Huskies' Maya Moore can make a good case for league player of the year.

Dark horse: Is there one? Rutgers is the only team that can go into Hartford truly confident against the homecourt Huskies, but the Scarlet Knights could lose in the semis to third-seeded West Virginia, which beat them in Morgantown, W.Va. The Mountaineers lost by 36 to UConn in Storrs, Conn., so it's hard to pick them in the final. Then again, West Virginia's first game is likely against Syracuse, which beat them by 22 on Monday.

[Last modified March 7, 2008, 20:50:37]