Orange leave no doubt they belong on top

by Joseph Birmingham

Monday March 1, 2010 

There is no doubt that the Big East is the dominant force in college basketball at the moment.  The one question I had last week has also been conclusively answered.  I wondered if Villanova or Syracuse were the better team. 

The Orange have jumped to number one in the coaches poll by virtue of enormous wins, over Providence and Villanova, the latter game against a on campus record crowd of 34,616 at the Carrier Dome. 

In the meantime, Kansas and Kentucky lost key games on the road to help the Orange to vault ahead.   This marks the second time Syracuse has been ranked #1 in the coaches poll, with the first ranking coming on the last poll of 2003 when they won the national championship.  After dominating Villanova and winning by 18, it seems probable this team will do it again; they certainly have the ability to do so. 

 The Orange are also ranked top on the AP poll, but the Wildcats, in the wake of their loss only slipped one spot to #9 on both polls, which should give you an idea of how good Syracuse actually is. 

The Big East should be sending Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Louisville, Georgetown and Notre Dame to the playoffs with 20+ win seasons, so the fact that Syracuse has beaten all of those teams with the exception of Louisville this season speaks volumes.  And the Orange get the chance to even the score against the Cardinals when they travel to Louisville for the season finale. 

Of course, the Cards will be fighting for the best possible starting spot in the toughest conference in the country so they are not about to lay down without a fight.  Especially since their other remaining game is agianst Marquette, also currently in the fight for a spot.

With 5 teams ranked in the top 20 and four teams still on the bubble, the Big East could send an unprecedented 9 or even 10 teams to the tournament.  If they were not all beating each other up, a record number of qualifying teams would be certain. 

Kansas, Kentucky and Duke not withstanding, I doubt there is another club in the country that could beat two Big East teams in back to back games in the tournament

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