The committee has spoken, and according to their judgment (which is always questionable) the Big East was the best conference in the country top to bottom. The phrase top to bottom is a little vague, but it basically means that the Big East has the most competitive teams in the nation. Not the best group of teams, but the largest number of good teams. That’s why the Big East has 8 teams in the NCAA tournament, more than any other conference. The time for bragging rights is still a few days away, however, since there will be some intriguing matchups to settle nose to nose which league has the better teams.
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• The Pittsburgh Panthers won the Big East Championship on Saturday, beating the Georgetown Hoyas 74-65 in Madison Square Garden. It was the seventh time in eight years that Pittsburgh had reached the Championship game and the second time they have won it in those years.
• Eight teams from the Big East made the NCAA Tournament, tying a record the conference set in 2006. Each of the four regions have two Big East teams who could meet in the Elite Eight.
• The Providence Friars have fired head coach Tim Welsh after having only two winning conference records in his ten years at the helm.

Yesterday evening, the Big East announced the 2007-08 individual Postseason Award Winners.

As predicted, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame won Player of the Year, averaging a double-double and leading the league in points. He is the first player to average 20+ points a game and 10+ rebounds a game since Georgetown’s Mike Sweetney and Syracuse’s Carmelo Anthony did it in 2003. Troy Bell won Player of the Year in 2003, but looking at their numbers it’s hard to see how the award didn’t go to Big Mike or Carmelo. Head to head, this is how the two rivals went at it.

But the real news yesterday for Hoyas fans came as a surprise. A new Big East award was presented last night, and it went to Georgetown’s own Patrick Ewing, Jr. The award? 6th Man of the Year. Tony had talked about the lack of such an award in the NCAA and that if it existed, Pat would be a shoo-in. Well, the Big East obliged, and Pat has some hardware to add to his personal trophy kit.

We said we’d be giving you our picks for some Big East awards, and we already told you our favorite defenders, reserves, and rookies, and now it’s time for the all-conference teams, player of the year, and coach of the year.

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In the NBA, the playoffs are known as the second season. In college basketball, there are essentially two playoffs: the conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament. For the Georgetown Hoyas, the first season is over and they finished as champions. Before we look forward to the second (and third) season, let’s take a quick look back on Part I. If you don’t take even a few moments to celebrate your accomplishments, it’s really not worth earning them in the first place.
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As promised, here are our picks for the best defensive, reserve, and rookie players of the Big East this season.

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• After suffering an upset loss to Providence, the Connecticut Huskies took out their frustration on the Cincinnati Bearcats, demolishing them 96-51. The Huskies, who had already been locked into fourth place, used a 30-0 run to blow out Cincinnati, who now sit in tenth place in the Big East. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but a bad snowstorm prevented the Bearcats from traveling to Connecticut, and the game was rescheduled for Sunday.
• The Syracuse Orange will face the Villanova Wildcats in a game with serious post-season implications. Both teams are fighting for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and it is unlikely that both will get in. As a result, the game is of utmost importance to the two sides in order to keep their tournament hopes alive. That game is scheduled for 12:00 PM on Wednesday, with the winner taking on Georgetown on Thursday at the same time.
• Four teams failed to qualify for the Big East Tournament. Only the top 12 teams make it into the conference tournament, meaning that Rutgers, South Florida, DePaul, and St. John’s will all be at home watching the rest of the Big East battle for the tournament title. However, the system has changed for the next season, to ensure that all 16 teams will compete for the Big East title in 2009.

• The Louisville Cardinals stayed on pace with Georgetown by defeating Villanova 68-54. The win means that the winner of this Saturday’s matchup between the Hoyas and the Cardinals will be the 2008 Big East regular season champion.
• Pittsburgh literally stole a win from Syracuse on Saturday, stunning the Orange with an 82-77 win. Syracuse was winning by one with possession and under 20 seconds left when Paul Harris had then ball taken away by Sam Young, who passed to Keith Benjamin for the go-ahead basket with under 10 seconds. Scoop Jardine’s miss on the ensuing possession along with a technical foul on Coach Jim Boeheim sealed the Orange’s fate.
• It was a wild finish in New York, as the St. John’s Red Storm eked out a victory over Seton Hall to keep their Big East tournament hopes alive. After Jamar Nutter made a three to tie the game, Anthony Mason Jr. responded with a three of his own with 1.7 seconds left to play. A half-court shot by Jeremy Hazell banked in to apparently tie the game, but Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzales had already called a timeout to nullify his player’s heroics. The stunt could not be repeated, and the Pirates fell to the Red Storm 65-62.

Does everybody remember the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes? These con artists pass themselves off as designers and make new robes for the emperor. The bad guys pretend to use special fabric that only the smartest people can see. The Emperor quickly admits that he can see it, and the entire town does the same. Finally, during a procession through the town (or empire I guess), the Emperor walks around in his underwear until finally a little child sees him and says, “But he has nothing on!” The masses realize the kid is right and everybody laughs at the ridiculous Emperor. Meanwhile the Emperor continues his procession.

So class, what does this lesson teach us? There are several morals of the story, but they all basically say, “Think for yourself. Just because a lot of people are saying something doesn’t mean it’s the truth.” This concept applies very well to this season in college basketball, especially after a very interesting past few weeks.
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• Villanova defeated Connecticut on Saturday, 67-65, snapping UCONN’s 10-game winning streak and handing them their fourth league loss.
• Louisville eked out a close one against Pitt on Sunday, beating the Panthers 75-73 in Pittsburgh. It was another solid performance by the Cardinals, as they shot 57% from the field and held Pittsburgh to 6 of 21 shooting from behind the arc.
• Notre Dame also won on Sunday, making them the third team with only three losses in the Big East behind Louisville and Georgetown. The Fighting Irish beat the Syracuse Orange 94-87 in South Bend, marking Notre Dame’s 17th straight Big East home victory.