2010 Big East Tournament preview

When: March 9-13
Where: Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
Championship Game: March 13 - ESPN
Defending Champs: Pittsburgh
The Format: 16 teams, 5 rounds

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

First Round (Mar. 9)
Game 1 - #9 South Florida vs. #16 DePaul - 12:00pm ET
Game 2 - #12 Connecticut vs. #13 St. John's - 2:00pm ET
Game 3 - #10 Seton Hall vs. #15 Providence - 7:00pm ET
Game 4 - #11 Cincinnati vs. #14 Rutgers - 9:00pm ET

Second Round (Mar. 10)
Game 5 - #8 Georgetown vs. Game 1 winner - 12:00pm ET
Game 6 - #5 Marquette vs. Game 2 winner - 2:00pm ET
Game 7 - #7 Notre Dame vs. Game 3 winner - 7:00pm ET
Game 8 - #6 Louisville vs. Game 2 winner - 9:00pm ET

Third Round (Mar. 11)
Game 9 - #1 Syracuse vs. Game 5 winner - 12:00pm ET
Game 10 - #4 Villanova vs. Game 6 winner - 2:00pm ET
Game 11 - #2 Pittsburgh vs. Game 7 winner - 7:00pm ET
Game 12 - #3 West Virginia vs. Game 8 winner - 9:00pm ET

Semi-Final Round (Mar. 12)
Game 13 - Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner - 7:00pm ET
Game 14 - Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner- 9:00pm ET

Championship Round (Mar. 13)
Game 15 - Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner - 9:00pm ET

Bubble Teams Needing a Win: Seton Hall, Connecticut

Seton Hall - RPI (55) - SOS (31) - KenPom (57)
The Verdict: Need to beat Rutgers and Notre Dame to enter the discussion. Even so, they are still a long shot.

Connecticut - RPI (54) - SOS (3) - KenPom (45)
The Verdict: Must reach the title game. Otherwise there's no way they deserve to go dancing with 11 conference losses.

Player to Watch: Ashton Gibbs-Pittsburgh
Gibbs was an unknown commodity heading into the season, but it didn't take him very long to get acclimated to his new role as Pitt's go-to scorer. The 6'2" sophomore has been unstoppable during his team's most crucial games, averaging 23 points in wins over Villanova, Syracuse and West Virginia. As long as he isn't blinded by the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, Gibbs will give his fans plenty to cheer about.

Prediction: West Virginia
Despite an obvious lack of a pass-first point guard, West Virginia's size is an absolute nightmare for opposing coaches to gameplan against. Bob Huggins has a trio of forwards (Devin Ebanks, Da'Sean Butler, Kevin Jones) who are 6'7" or taller and can create their own shots. Most nights Butler takes care of the scoring, Ebanks the rebounding and Jones everything in between, but the overall versatility here is what stands out most. My money is on Huggins riding the aforementioned trio to his first career Big East title.

Other Previews:
ACC Tournament
Atlantic 10 Tournament
Big Ten Tournament
Big 12 Tournament
Pac-10 Tournament
SEC Tournament