Boo Yah

Two upsets of 25 teams in three days should mean that Marquette is in the NCAA tournament. First #17 Georgetown, tonight #9 Pitt.

Marquette 84, Pittsburgh 82


Steve Novak was once again the man with 27 points, including five 3s. He also set the single season record for 3-pointers at Marquette on Thursday night. He has 57 3s in Big East play with three conference games left, just six behind the record of 63 held by Connecticut's Ray Allen in 1995-96.

Pitt had the game within 2 with less than a minute left, but Aaron Grey missed two free throws. The Panthers were forced to foul and Marquette was smart enough to put the ball in Novak's hands. Steve Novak has missed 1 free throw in 14 months. That's one missed free throw in 14 months!

Novak sank both, giving Marquette an 83-80 lead with 11 seconds left.

Freshman Dominic James had 16 and Wesley Matthews had 13.

This win puts Marquette and Pitt in a tie for 4th place in the Big East at 9-5.

If you'll remember, Marquette has also beaten UConn. They led Villanova for 37 minutes and just barely lost to Pitt earlier in the year. Novak thinks that means not only should Marquette be in the tourney, but they should be ranked. With #24 Bucknell, #7 Florida and #10 Tennessee (the last in spectacularly bad fashion to everyone's favorite elephants) going down, Marquette might have a chance. However, in last week's poll, Marquette received no votes and Wisconsin's more likely to get in there ahead of the Golden Eagles. UWM actually got a few votes, but failed to capitalize on some ESPN exposure this weekend.

Bracketology has Marquette as a 9 seed in the Minneapolis bracket. Wisconsin's a 6 seed in the D.C. Bracket. UWM is looking to win the Horizon league. If they do, they're looking at a 13 seed in the Oakland Bracket.


Big East Standings


#4 Villanova 10-1 20-2
#1 Connecticut 10-2 23-2
#11 West Virginia 9-3 18-7
#9 Pittsburgh 9-4 20-4
#17 Georgetown 8-4 17-6
Marquette 8-5 18-8
Seton Hall 7-5 16-8
Cincinnati 7-6 18-9
Syracuse 6-6 18-8
Rutgers 5-8 15-11
Louisville 4-8 16-9
Notre Dame 4-8 13-10
Providence 4-8 11-12
St. John's 4-9 11-13
DePaul 3-9 10-13
South Florida 0-12 6-19