Sixteen Deep: Ready for an Unreal Tournament

(Awful joke in the title, I know)

The Big East Tournament starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. I won't make comparisons to March Madness or anything because no tournament in the world is more exciting than that, but the Big East Tournament has and always will be a marquee event.

And it's not like you need to go through the annals of the event's history to find some great games. Take last year's six overtime game between Syracuse and UConn. I'm sure everyone remembers watching that game or at least hearing about it the next day and cursing themselves for missing it.

I won't bore you with more crazy games but suffice it to say there have been tons of stars passing through the Garden and tons of games to be replayed on ESPN Classic for years to come.

As for the new format implemented last year where all 16 teams are eligible, four teams get double byes and four get single byes , I'm still kind of on the fence about it. I know this blog's namesake claims the league is "Sixteen Deep" but let's be honest. On a neutral court, it's really not.

I agree all 16 teams should get in (means Rutgers is guaranteed an extra TV game) but I would really like to see a more traditional 1 vs. 16, 2 v. 15 and so on set-up. I understand this would mean a lot more games would be played and you'd have to break it up, but that's a part of it. I'd rather shorten the regular season schedule by two games and really do the tournament right.

I'm surprised to say I really haven't heard much debate about this. I guess I'm in the minority with this one. What does everyone think about that? Sure you want to reward teams for regular season excellence, but what more of a reward do you need than taking on DePaul with nothing to lose?

Without any further ado, I will now put myself out there and make some predictions:

First Round:
South Florida over Depaul
UConn over St. John's
Providence over Seton Hall
Rutgers over Cincinnati (homer pick)

Second Round:
Georgetown over South Florida
UConn over Marquette
Notre Dame over Providence
Louisville over Rutgers

Third Round:
Syracuse over Georgetown
UConn over Villanova
Pittsburgh over Notre Dame
West Virginia over Louisville

Fourth Round:
Syracuse over UConn (8 OT - The rematch everyone wants!)
West Virginia over Pittsburgh

Finals:
Syracuse over West Virginia
MVP: Andy Rautins