An astonishing 13 out of 16 teams from the Big East made it into the top two postseason tournaments. Here’s a breakdown of the Big East in March Madness.

• Eight teams from the Big East conference have made it into the Big Dance. Syracuse was named a #1 seed, Villanova and West Virginia are #2 seeds, Georgetown and Pitt are #3s, Marquette and Notre Dame are #6s, and Louisville is a #9 seed.
• Tomorrow, Notre Dame, Villanova, Marquette, and Georgetown all play their first games of the tournament. The Hoyas face Ohio at 7:25pm.
• Five more teams from the Big East went to the NIT, and three of those teams were in action last night.
• UCONN snuck by Northeastern in the opening round of the NIT, beating out the other Huskies 59-57 in the #4 – #5 game in Hartford.
• North Carolina State upset the USF Bulls 58-57 in the #3 – #6 game. Dominique Jones had a chance to win it with 9 seconds remaining, but he opted to pass and the Bulls did not get a good last shot.
• Finally, Seton Hall got blown out of their own gym 87-69 by the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Pirates’ leading rebounder Herb Pope got ejected from the game in the first half for intentionally hitting Texas Tech’s Darko Cohadarevic in the groin.

Yesterday, the Big East announced the 2009-10 all-conference teams, and two Hoyas were honored. Greg Monroe was the youngest player to make it to the All-Big East First Team, and Austin Freeman was named to the All-Big East Second Team.

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• The new rankings were released yesterday, and Georgetown remained #7 in the AP Top 25 while moving up to #8 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll. Georgetown is ranked behind three other Big East teams, Villanova, Syracuse, and West Virginia. In total, there are five Big East teams in both Top 25s and 4 in the Top 7 or 8.
• Austin Freeman was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll for the 2nd time this season. It’s the 6th straight week that a Hoya was honored. Meanwhile, USF’s Dominique Jones took home Big East Player of the Week. Georgetown will face Jones on Wednesday at the Verizon Center.
• In Big Monday last night, Louisville beat Connecticut 82-69 in Freedom Hall. That’s three straight losses for UCONN, and the Huskies have only one conference victory since playing the Hoyas – they beat St. John’s at home.

• The new NCAA rankings came out yesterday, and after the loss to Villanova, the Hoyas dropped from #11 in both polls to #12 in the AP Top 25 and to #14 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll. There are five Big East teams in the top 15 of both polls, and Connecticut snuck into the Coaches’ Poll at # 21.
• Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds was named Big East Player of the Week and Providence’s Vincent Council took home the Rookie of the Week award. But for the fourth straight week, a Hoya was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll, and this time it was sophomore Greg Monroe.
• In Big Monday action last night, Syracuse defeated Notre Dame 84-71 in South Bend thanks to 20 point performances from Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins. The win was Syracuse’s third straight victory away from the Carrier Dome.

• The new rankings were released yesterday, and Georgetown has moved up to #11 according to both polls. There are six Big East teams in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
• Austin Freeman was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll for his excellent performances against Marquette and Connecticut. However, Luke Harangody stole the Big East Player of the Week Award.
• Yesterday, DePaul fired Coach Jerry Wainwright after five seasons at the helm. Wainwright has been DePaul’s only coach since joining the Big East Conference, and during that time, they have gone 20-51 in conference play. Assistant Tracy Webster will be filling in as interim head coach.
• In Big Monday action, Villanova came back from being 17 down in the first half to defeat Louisville 92-84 at Freedom Hall during a “white-out”. Scottie Reynolds had 30 points in the second half.

• For the second week in a row, the Hoyas moved up one spot in both polls and are now #12 according to the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll. There are five teams ranked from the Big East according to the Coaches’ Poll, and Pittsburgh makes the sixth conference team in the AP Top 25.
• Pittsburgh’s Ashton Gibbs was named the Big East Player of the Week, and Villanova’s Maalik Wayns took home the Big East Rookie of the Week award. Also for the second straight week, Chris Wright made the Weekly Honor Roll for his play against St. John’s and DePaul.
• In Big Monday last night, Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 74-71. The Panthers still have a busy week ahead of them playing at Connecticut tomorrow night, and then hosting Louisville on Saturday.

• The new polls were announced yesterday, and Georgetown came in #13 in both rankings. Georgetown was the 5th team from the Big East to make the Top 25, and the other four all made it into the Top 10.
• Devin Ebanks of West Virginia was named the Big East Player of the Week, but Chris Wright got a little bit of recognition of his own, making it in to the Weekly Honor Roll.
• The first Big East conference games took place this weekend with undefeated West Virginia knocking out Seton Hall in overtime on Saturday. And last night, in the year’s first Big Monday, Pittsburgh topped DePaul 65-52.

• The Georgetown Hoyas earned two big wins against ranked opponents in nationally televised tournaments, beating Butler in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday, and then beating Washington in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim on Saturday.
• The new polls came out, and thanks to those two wins, the Hoyas have moved up to #11 in both sets of rankings.
   
  There are three Big East teams in the top 10, and five in the top 15 according to both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, and Cincinnati is the 6th Big East team to make it in the AP poll, sneaking in at #25.
• #3 Villanova lost their first game of the season on Sunday, losing to cross-town rivals Temple 75-65.
   
  The Hoyas defeated Temple in their first home game of the season, so by the transitive property, Georgetown is better than Villanova.
• Undefeated Seton Hall scored a school record 134 points in their victory over the VMI Keydets on Saturday.
   
  Though unranked, Seton Hall is one of the four remaining undefeated teams in the Big East.
• Greg Monroe was named the Big East Player of the Week after his impressive performances against Butler and Washington. It’s the first time Greg has earned Player of the Week honors after earning himself Rookie of the Week three times last year leading up to the Big East Rookie of the Year award.
   
  Also, Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati earned his second Big East Rookie of the Week award of the year.

• Hollis Thompson was named the Big East Rookie of the Week yesterday for his 16 point effort against Lafayette. West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler took home the Big East Player of the Week Award.
• The new rankings came out yesterday, and Georgetown came in #16 in the AP Top 25 and #14 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The Big East had seven teams ranked in the Top 25 in both polls.
• Since the rankings were released, there have been two Big East teams in action. The Hoyas defeated Mount St. Mary’s last night at Verizon Center, and Syracuse beat Colgate at the Carrier Dome.

• Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun says he will return to the sidelines next year for the Huskies. There had been speculation that he would retire because he had reached his 800th win, he has had recent health problems, and the core of this past year’s Final Four team is departing. Also, the NCAA is beginning an investigation into the Huskies’ recruiting to see if any violations were committed. Calhoun is 66 years old and has coached for 23 years at UCONN.
• Syracuse guard Johnny Flynn is expected to sign with an agent, which will preclude his return to college for his junior season. Flynn led the Orange in scoring with 17 points a game, was a member of this season’s All-Big East second team, and was only the fourth player in conference history to win Big East Tournament MVP without winning the championship.