Monster win for the Cardinals. Bad loss for the Cuse.

Yeah, Syracuse hasn't been playing very good as of late. I hope this served as a wake up call.

Nice coaching job by Rick Pitino. He hasn't given up on the season yet and neither have his players.

The funny thing is, I thought the exact opposite after the beating UofL took at St. John's. They looked like they undoubtedly had given up on the season.

Credit to Pitino today.

Its not a BAD loss by any means. UL isn't great, but they have enough talent on any given day. Certainly a game they needed.

After being slapped by St. John's, I'd say it's a bad loss if a team is fighting for a possible #1 seed and have a lot of tough games remaining. The Cuse could have probably afforded losses at Georgetown and vs Villanova and still gotten a #1 seed, but they now will likely have to win one of those 2 for sure.

They can still get revenge as they go to Louisville on the final day of the season.

Obviously, the outcome of this has a greater impact on Louisville. Louisville has some bad losses on their resume, so this win will offset the bad taste those losses might put in the committees mouth.

Syracuse might have cost themselves a #1 seed , if the tournament was starting Thursady. It isn't and they still have time to secure the wins they need to get a #1 seed. Being a #2 seed instead of a #1 seed isn't a big deal.

I think Syracuse loses to G'town on the road Thursday but beats 'Nova on the 27th. It's a 9:00 p.m. game on a Saturday in the Carrier Dome against a top 5 opponent and conference leader. I think the largest on-campus crowd to ever watch a college hoops game will be roaring from start to finish and the players will feed off of that.

I still like the Orange's chance of getting a #1 seed.

Louisville has had some real tight losses this year. They were bound to get a big W. Shocked it was at Syracuse.
Cuse will need a bounce back win at Georgetown, yikes.

Just checked out the latest Bracketology and Joe Lunardi still has Syracuse as a #1 seed. Lots of hoops left to be played though.

UConn just won @ Nova. Big East gets more and more confusing.

Syracuse is back in first place in the Big East following 'Nova's loss. Big game at #10 G'town Thursday followed by another road game at Providence on Tuesday and then the huge clash vs. Villanova at the Carrier Dome on Saturday the 27th at 9:00 on ESPN. That game might decide the regular season conference crown.

Three top fives now have gone down since Friday. One more could be on the way tonight in College Station. Incredible.

Can Mississippi State pull the perfecto tomorrow night (assuming A&M takes care of business on its home floor against Kansas) and drop UK?

A surprising amount of people picked MSU to beat UK. I did, and I usually don't pick against the Cats. However, they can match Cousins inside and are capable of absolutely crushing you from the three-point line. That's UK's weakness on D and MSU will play very well tomorrow because they badly need a victory over a marquee opponent.

Azubuike24 wrote:MSU will play very well tomorrow because they badly need a victory over a marquee opponent

I like UK over MSU anywhere else but Starkville. And the above reason is why. Their gym should be rocking -- if it isn't, then they have no life in their blood -- and the Bulldogs are playing for their spot in the NCAAs. The Bulldogs still travel to South Carolina and have Tennessee on the final day of the season. Then the SEC Tourney. Losses to UK, USC and Tennessee, which are all more than possible, would mean a 9-7 finish in the extremely weak SEC West -- a drop early in the SEC Tourney could then mean an ousting from the Dance.

Should be a good one.

Of the 3 SEC bubble teams, I think MSU is in the best shape, followed by Ole Miss and then Florida.

Mississippi State is 6-4 in the league and does have UK and UT at home. They also have Alabama at home and Auburn and LSU on the road, which are arguably all games they should roll in. If they can get either UK or UT at home and then win those 3, at minimum they are sitting pretty at 10-6. If they can also win at USC, they would be 11-5 with another quality win (UK or UT) and would be in the NCAA's most likely.

Mississippi is 5-5 in the league and has a huge week this week. They play 3 straight and 4 of their final 6 at home, including Vanderbilt and Florida at home this week. They must win at least one of those games, and absolutely have to win against both Auburn and LSU at home, which shouldn't be difficult. They also travel to Alabama and Arkansas, which will be tough, but if the Rebels are NCAA worthy, they at minimum split that pair. If they can split both pairs (VU and UF this week) and (ALA and ARK in the next few weeks), they should be 9-7 in the SEC and likely get a bye in round 1 of the SEC Tourney. Their wins over K-State and UTEP are going to hold up as very quality going forward as would that split with Vandy or Florida.

Florida is 6-4 in the league but they are in the most trouble with their remaining schedule. They host Auburn on Wednesday, which should get them to 7-4, but they finish at Mississippi, vs Tennessee, at Georgia, vs Vanderbilt and at Kentucky. Not only do 4 of their final 5 come against the top half of the SEC, but the so-called "easiest game" of the bunch is in Athens, which absolutely won't be easy as we've seen UGA beat Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Illinois, St. Louis and South Carolina there.

If I had to predict things now, it's Billy Donovan's Gators who are going to yet again miss out on the NCAA Tournament. The worst part is, this year they have wins over Florida State and Michigan State, which given the bubble status, look very strong and should separate their resume from the pack. I think Mississippi and Mississippi State will finish strong, win the games they should and do enough with some of the toss-up games that they will sneak in the NCAA Tournament. It will also help that they will both likely get byes in the first round of the SEC Tourney, and the team without the quality OOC wins (MSU) swept Ole Miss, so the pair will look stronger (MSU with head to head, Ole Miss with the OOC resume) and it will be tough to differentiate the two. If the records were the same with a split between the two or Ole Miss holding the sweep, I'd say the SEC only would get 4 bids unless MSU really played great from here on out. I'd say it finishes...

Mississippi State 22-9, 10-6, SEC West Champs (RD1 bye), quarterfinal SEC Tourney game against Florida/Alabama winner.

Mississippi 21-9, 9-7, SEC West 2nd place (RD1 bye), quarterfinal SEC Tourney game against Tennessee/LSU winner.

Florida 19-12, 8-8, SEC East 4th place, day one game against Alabama and possibly facing Mississippi State in the quarterfinals.

In this scenario, the Florida/Mississippi State could be a play-in game, but clearly it would mean a lot more to Florida. Mississippi could also have another shot at a good win facing Tennessee (who should roll LSU). Either way, one or two of those SEC Tourney quarterfinals could determine the conferences NCAA bids.

Syracuse rebounds from the loss to Louisville by going to #10 G'town and pulling off the victory after nearly blowing a 23-point lead. It wasn't pretty.....but I'll take it.