I’m not sure about you, but there were just too many good games this weekend and not enough time to catch them all. Here are a few of those games as well as my take on how these teams will fair in March.

Notre Dame 103 – Providence 84

I know Notre Dame went wild on Louisville a few weeks back, and they did look impressive against Providence, but I still don’t give the Irish a chance of making the NCAA tourney this season.

Providence finds themselfs on the bubble heading into March yet again this season. They have lost 5 of their last 7 games, however, and will face #1 Pitt on Tuesday and #10 Villanova next week. Outlook not so good.

Box Score 

Louisville 72 – Cincinatti 63

Despite two losses in the month of February, the Cardinals are looking strong and their defense has been improving noticeably. They have a tough schedule remaining with games against Georgetown, #8 Marquette, Seton Hall and WVU, but they are just too talented not to make it to at least the sweet 16 this season.

At 17-10, Cincinnati is battling Syracuse and Providence to be the seventh team to make the tournament. It’s very possible that the Big East could send 8 teams to the big dance, but with only one win against ranked opponents (#25 Georgetown), the Bearcats will have to finish out strong and make a good showing in the Big East tourney to avoid the NIT.

Box Score

#10 Villanova 89 – Syracuse 86

Villanova was rolling until they traveled to Morgantown last week. No worries for the Wildcats however, as they pulled off a huge 3-point win against a desperate Syracuse team on Sunday, proving they are still one of the most dangerous teams in the country.

Syracuse is a tough team to predict. Are they the team that beat #17 Florida and #22 Kansas, or the team that lost to Cleveland State? One thing is for sure, Syracuse is alive for a tournament birth as long as they can beat Marquette on March 7th and put together a nice run in the Big East tournament. It’s not loooking good though, the Orange have dropped 7 of their last 10.

Box Score

At halftime today Georgetown celebrated the 25th anniversary of it’s 1984 national tournament team, the former champions providing fitting juxtaposition to the foundering 2009 squad. With this loss the Hoyas have all but dashed their tournament hopes, needing to win out to reach the 9-9 conference record many see as a prerequisite to an NCAA bid.

Unlike many recent games, Georgetown played capable basketball against Marquette, giving themselves a good chance to take down the Golden Eagles. But it is too late for the Hoyas to be playing adequate basketball; they must be dominant if they want to save this season.

At the beginning of the game both teams came out shooting lights out. Georgetown shot 53.1% in the first half, including 63.6% from three, and Marquette was even better, connecting on 60% of its attempts.

As the 1984 team took the court at halftime the score stood tied at 44-44, and things looked good for the Hoyas. They showed resilience and took momentum into the locker room, fighting back from a seven point deficit with six minutes to play.

The second half needless to say was not so positive for Georgetown. Even though the Hoyas outshot Marquette, they lost their advantage on the boards, allowing eight offensive rebounds, and turned the ball over eight times.

Up against a veteran Golden Eagles squad, Georgetown’s inexperience was glaringly obvious. Marquette seniors Jerel McNeal (22 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) and Wesley Matthews (23 points) took over the game when they needed to, while star freshman Greg Monroe all but disappeared when the Hoyas needed him most, going without a field goal attempt for 17 minutes in the second half.

Georgetown does not have much time to reflect on the loss, with Louisville coming to the Verizon Center on Monday. But if the Hoyas can’t figure out how to beat the Cardinals, they may as well give up their tournament hopes.

No. 7 Louisville (20-5, 11-2) will renew their rivalry with the Cincinnati Bearcats (17-9, 7-6) on Saturday at Fifth Third arena in Cincinnati, OH.

The Cardinals lost at home to the Bearcats last year, 58-57, ending their four game win streak against their border rival.

Cincinnati has won four consecutive conference home games since losing to Connecticut on January 10th, and will look to keep their hopes of an NCAA Tournament birth alive with a victory over a top 10 team.

Guard pressure will be imperative for Louisville. Deonta Vaughn is the only real backcourt threat the Bearcats have, and the Cardinal guards must put constant pressure on him with their daunting full court press. I expect Rick Pitino to rotate defenders on Vaughn frequently in order to keep a fresh body on him.

It will be up to Earl Clark and Terrence Williams to stop Yancy Gates and Mike Williams, both of who are averaging double digit points per game. Gates is a solid offensive rebounder and will need to be contained in order to prevent second chances for Cincinnati.

Both teams will have a lot to play for. Louisville will look to keep their Big East regular season title hopes alive entering a tough five game stretch to end the season, while Cincinnati knows what the victory would do for their tournament resume. The Bearcats have three of their five remaining games at home, and if they defend their home court and can upset Syracuse on the road, they would likely seal a tournament birth and top six seed in the Big East Tournament.

Prediction: Louisville 72, Cincinnati 64

St. John’s was unable to improve to .500 as they lost to #9 Duke 76-69 last night at the Garden.

The Red Storm kept the game close for the first 10 minutes, but Duke’s experienced squad proved to be too much for the young Johnnies who played catch up over the last 30 minutes of regulation.

Duke’s starting five scored 63 of their 76 total points as Gerald Henderson (19), Jon Scheyer (18), Kyle Singler (15) and Elliot Williams (11) each scored in double digits.

St. John’s played well enough to keep things interesting as they matched the Devils 54 percent shooting percentage from the field, and out-shot ”America’s team” from the arc 66-to-47 percent.

D.J. Kennedy went 7-of-10 from the field and lead St. John’s with a game-high 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Sean Evans backed up Kennedy with 15 points, but Paris Horne was held to only 7 points (his worst scoring performance in over 10 games) due to a foul-ridden 20 minutes of playing time.

The Storm’s 69 points marked their highest offensive output since a 71-65 win over Notre Dame on January 3rd.

St. John’s will try to snap their five game losing streak when they face rival Seton Hall on Sunday.

The No. 7 Louisville Cardinals (20-5, 11-2) remained tied for first in the loss column in the Big East standings by rallying in the second half against Providence to win 94-76.

It was the second game in a row where the Cards scored 90+ points, given that both came against teams that were never expected to contend in the Big East.

Of the six Cardinal players scoring in double figures, none shot below 50%. Louisville shot 54.7% overall, including 39.1% from three; led by Preston Knowles who went 3-5 from downtown.

Knowles is a player whose impact on the game can’t be described by the box score. He hustles for every loose ball and brings an unparalleled amount of energy off the bench.

Next up will be two road games against Cincinnati (17-9, 7-6) and Georgetown (14-10, 5-8). The Cards have lost only one Big East road game, and although going 1-1 on the two game trip wouldn’t necessarily eliminate them from the regular season title race, it would put the Cards destiny out of their own control.

If the Cards can manage to win both games on the road, they will come back to Freedom Hall to face the toughest team left on the schedule, No. 11 Marquette (22-4, 11-2). The Cards won both meetings with the Golden Eagles last year, but will have to perform as Marquette is entering the toughest part of their schedule and will need to get as many wins as possible.

The Cards will wrap up the season with Seton Hall at home and West Virginia on the road. The last five games, when put in perspective as a whole, will test the mental toughness of Rick Pitino’s team. The games they should win on paper will all be played away from Freedom Hall, while the one remaining game against a ranked team will be at home.

Of course, even if the Cards manage to win out, they still have to wait to see what happens between UConn and Pitt. It’s going to be a great few weeks of Big East basketball to conclude the regular season.

Rutgers offensive coordinator John McCnulty took a job today as the new wide receivers coach for the Super Bowl runner-up Arizona Cardinals.

McNulty spent six years with the Scarlet Knights and two as the offensive coordinator. In his two years as offensive coordinator, quarterback Mike Teel had two 3,000-yard seasons and 46 touchdown passes.

“We wish John and his family nothing but the best as they embark on a new challenge with the Arizona Cardinals,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said in a statement. “John was an integral part of the Rutgers football family and we will miss him.”

It is not yet known who will take McNulty’s place calling plays for the Scarlet Knights this season.

After allowing Providence to shoot 75% and take 46-45 lead at the end of the first half, the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals (20-5, 11-2)  turned up the defensive pressure in the second and held to the Friars to just 30% shooting after intermission to win 94-76.

For a team which had been struggling offensively over the last few games, the victory gave the Cards their second straight game in which they were able to score more than 90 points while compiling more than 20 assists.

In a game that saw 11 lead changes, the Cards grabbed the lead with just under 14 minutes left in the second half during a 13-0 run which gave them the lead for good.

Louisville finished with six players scoring in double figures, led by Edgar Sosa’s 18 off the bench. But for Cardinal fans, the real treat was witnessing star forward Terrence Williams return to form after being hampered by a sprained wrist over the course of the last three games. Williams finished with 17 points on 7-11 shooting performance. He also handed out eight assists and grabbed six boards.

Samardo Samuels (17), Earl Clark (13), Preston Knowles (11) and Jerry Smith (10) rounded out the double figure scorers for the Cards, whose bench outscored the Friars 34-15.

The win puts U of L in a 3-way tie for second place in the Big East standings with Pittsburgh and Marquette behind No. 1 UConn. The Cards will travel up to Cincinnati on Saturday for a 2 o’clock tip with their former Conference USA rival.

Georgetown picked up a confidence boosting win over USF tonight, 65-40. The Hoyas coasted to victory, leading wire to wire, and looked as if they had put their recent woes behind them.

USF did not score its first point until over five minutes had run off the clock. Despite the Bulls’ offensive struggles, Georgetown could not pull away early, and the score stood at 15-13 with 8:03 to play in the first half. However, over the next four minutes the Hoyas went on a 16-0 run to break the game wide open. USF was never really a threat after that.

Sophomore guard Chris Wright continued his stellar play from the Syracuse game, leading all scorers with 17 points while dishing out 5 assists. Freshman center Greg Monroe posted his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hoyas should be happy to return home with a win, because now they must prepare for the three game gauntlet of Marquette, Louisville, and Villanova. With the way the season’s gone thus far, Georgetown probably needs to win two of those three if it hopes to make the NCAA tournament. With subsequent wins over St. John’s and DePaul the Hoyas would then be 9-9 in conference play and hopefully able to breathe a bit easier during the Big East tournament.

After 20 minutes of an up-and-down offensive half of basketball, Providence heads into the locker room with a 46-45 lead over the No. 7 ranked Louisville. In a first half in which the Friars knocked down 75% of their field goal attempts, for the Cards to be down just one I can’t help but be thankful.

Of course Louisville hasn’t exactly been stone cold from the field either. The Cards finished the first half shooting 57% from the field while being led by forwards Earl Clark and Samardo Samuels. Samuels leads all scores with 11 and Clark put in 10 while grabbing four rebounds. Clark also has four of the Cards 14 team assists.

While U of L have been led by the play of their forwards, Providence, on the other hand, has been led by the excellent play of their two guards. Weyinmi Efejuku and Sharaud Curry have missed just one shot between each other and have combined for 19 first half points.

Well, if bad things do come in threes, than USF coach Jim Leavitt can should consider himself out of the woods. However, he’s also out of a defensive backs coach.

Troy Douglas, who has overseen Leavitt’s DB’s for the last four seasons, opted to take a similar position with North Carolina, the St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday.

Douglas is the third assistant coach to leave the Bulls in the last week. He joins former offensive coordinator Greg Gregory (South Alabama) and defensive coordinator Wally Burnham (Iowa State) as recent defects. 

Douglas came under a lot of heat this season when his secondary, despite four seniors and a junior taking most of the snaps, consistently gave up big plays late in games.

“I appreciate everything that Jim has done for me,” Douglas told The Times. “I think this was a win-win situation. It’s an up-and-coming program in a nice area, just as South Florida is.”

According to the report, Douglas said the move was “to a parallel position on the field, but financially a lot better.”

Douglas made $130,000 in 2008.