The notion that the Big East has taken a beating is undeniable.  After getting eight teams into the tournament, only Syracuse and West Virginia remain.  While the number of teams left does not dictate the hit on the conference reputation, the teams and the way they lost definitely does.

First round exits by Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown, along with second round exits to smaller conference teams by Pitt (Xavier/ A10) and Villanova (St. Mary’s/ WCC), have made this a rough year for the Big East.

West Virginia gets a shot at conference redemption when they face off against Pac-10 champion Washington.

The Mountaineers beat Morgan State handily in the round of 64 and then put away a pesky, full court-pressing Missouri team in round two.

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CHD Bracket Challenge for the Sweet 16 is open at Yahoo sports.

Password is chd group name is collegehoopsdaily.com

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These are just about everywhere, but it was such a great game, with an even better finish, I figure it’s worth posting again.  (Thanks ESPN).

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With all of the bag things you read about athletes today, it’s nice to see some guys just having fun.  I’m an admitted former WVU student, so call me biased if you want, but this videos are pretty candid and funny.  (videos after the jump).

The first video is Da’sean Butler, Joe Mazzula and Jonnie West dancing to “What is Love?” and doing their best Night at the Roxbury. Next Butler and Mazzula play backup singers/ dancers to West lip-syncing to a Brian McKnight song.  Lastly, the terrific trio stuff their pants with some weird pillows and proceed to have a pillow fight.

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Looks like a CUSA title, the nation’s leading scorer and a NCAA birth weren’t enough to give Tom Penders any sort of job security.

Article at SportbyBrooks.com

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With three down and one to go, it’s time to wrap up the first round breakdowns with the East Region.

1-Kentucky vs 16-East Tennessee State – Welcome to the Big Dance East Tennessee State. We hope you enjoyed your stay. There’s the door. Kentucky cruises in this one.

8-Texas vs 9-Wake Forest – Both Texas and Wake limped into the Big Dance. Wake Forest has one of the best all around players in the nation in sleek, combo forward Al Farouq Aminu. Texas started out the season 17-0, then got ranked as the #1 team in the nation, and finished the season at a 7-9 clip. Damion James is a stud, averaging 18 points per game and 10.4 rebounds a contest. The Longhorns have all the talent in the world, but for the most part, outside of James, they are young and inexperienced. If Texas can put it all together at the right time, they have a legit shot to upset Kentucky in round two and make a deep run. While I’m not sure if that is going to happen, I do expect Texas too be too much for Wake in this one, and move onto round two for what should be a very exciting match up with Kentucky.

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Now that we’ve covered the West and Midwest Brackets, let’s move on to the South bracket.

1-Duke vs 16-Arkansas-Pine Bluff/Winthrop – The good news is Arkansas-Pine Bluff or Winthrop gets to add an NCAA Tournament win to their resume. The bad news is they will be rewarded with a date with Duke in a first round game two days later. Duke coasts through easily in this one and moves into round two.

8-California vs 9-Louisville – This is an intriguing match up. Led by Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher, Cal is one of the best shooting teams in the tournament. The Bears, though, don’t play a lick of defense. Louisville plays solid defense and has a lot of weapons on the offensive end including its stud in the post, Samardo Samuels. This is a tough one to call. In what should be a barn burner, look for the Big East battle tested, yet inconsistent Cardinal (who swept their two meetings with Syracuse this season) to barely nip Cal in this one.

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Now that we’ve broken down the West Region, let’s move on to talk about Kansas and the rest of the Midwest Region.

1-Kansas vs 16-Lehigh - Congrats to Lehigh for winning the Patriot League conference tournament. Their reward: a first round date with the best team in college basketball. Enjoy your short stay, MountainHawks. Rock Chalk Jayhawk will have this one in the bag by halftime. Next…

8-UNLV vs 9-Northern Iowa – These are two of the better defensive teams in this year’s tournament. Led by big man Jordan Eglseder and forward Adam Koch, Northern Iowa’s main objective is to slow the game down and limit its opponent’s possessions. While this isn’t your father’s Runnin’ Rebels (or Jerry Tarkanian’s for that matter), UNLV does have the ability to put up points in bunches, but can also play the slow-it-down half court style that Northern Iowa aspires to play. This is a really hard game to call. Northern Iowa is the better shooting team but UNLV is more athletic.  Look for this to be one of the most closely contested games in the first round and I give Tre’Von Willis and UNLV a slight edge due to their overall advantage in athleticism.

5-Michigan State vs 12-New Mexico State – Few teams come into the Big Dance year after year better prepared for a deep run than Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. Backing into the tournament with a 5-5 record over their last ten games, Michigan State just doesn’t seem to have it in them this season to make another deep run in March. The talent is clearly there, but due to injuries and inconsistencies, Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan, Draymond Green and the rest of the Spartans, haven’t been able to live up to the preseason hype that surrounded them. If they can put it together now, they have the talent to make a deep run. The New Mexico State Aggies possess a very high powered offense, but don’t play much defense. They added a new wrinkle to their attack when versatile sophomore forward Troy Gillenwater (14.4ppg, 6.3rpg) returned from academic suspension in late January. Jonathan Gibson (17.5ppg) and Jahmar Young (20.5ppg) make up one of the most explosive back-courts in the tournament. Call me crazy, but I’m picking the Aggies here to pull off the upset and just sneak by Michigan State.

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Between now and tip-off on Thursday, we’ll be breaking down each game in each region to give you some help in filling out your brackets. We’ll start things off in the West Region.

1-Syracuse vs 16-Vermont – Even with Arinze Onauku sitting this one out due to injury, Syracuse is too much for all-world talent Marqus Blakely and Vermont. Blakely, who was one of only two players in the country to average at least 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals a game this year (the other being wing Paul George of Fresno State), will do all that he can to try and keep the Catamounts close, but Syracuse will pull away in the final ten minutes of the game and win it by 15-20.

8-Gonzaga vs 9-Florida State - Both teams have very good size inside, but the difference in this one will be guard play. The better guard play will win out, as Matt Bouldin and the high-powered Gonzaga offense will be too much for the offensively challenged Seminoles to overcome.

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