Welcome to a special BPS edition from France.  Yes, I know I'm on hiatus, but it's tournament time, and it's time to preview the conference tournament for the most loaded tournament in the country, the Big East.  This year, all 16 teams made the tournament.  That includes Depaul who is perfect in the conference (Detroit Lions perfect), and Rutgers, whose only conference wins were against Depaul and South Florida.  This is the reason I did not like the idea of the entire conference making it, because these 2, along with South Florida (whose only claim to fame this year was upsetting Marquette and beating an inconsistent Cincinnati team), are going to make complete fools of themselves in this tournament.  In a way, I kinda feel bad for those 3.  This year's new format will place the bottom 8 teams in games on the first night.  The 5-8 teams get a first round bye, and the top 4 teams in the conference get a double bye and don't have to play until the 3rd night.  Here are the final regular season standings, each team's conference record, and the rankings prior to the new polls being released:

1. Louisville (6) 16-2 *Big East regular season champs
2. Pittsburgh (3) 15-3
3. Connecticut (1) 15-3
4. Villanova (11) 13-5
5. Marquette (13) 12-6
6. Syracuse (25) 11-7
7. West Virginia 10-8
8. Providence 10-8
9. Cincinnati 8-10
10. Notre Dame 8-10
11. Georgetown 7-11
12. Seton Hall 7-11
13. St. John's 6-12
14. South Florida 4-14
15. Rutgers 2-16
16. Depaul 0-18

Here are the teams who will play the first night:
Cincinnati
Notre Dame
Georgetown
Seton Hall
St. John's
South Florida
Rutgers
Depaul

These 4 teams get a break and don't play until the 2nd night/
Marquette
Syracuse
West Virginia
Providence

With Villanova clinching a double bye with their win over Providence last night, the top 4 seeds are now known:
Connecticut
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Villanova

We now know the matchups for this conference tourney, so enough of the babbling...

Check page 2 for predictions.