The Cardinals took care of Villanova last night with a 69-55 win, putting the Cardinals in the BET final for the first time in school history.

Villanova had a 34-26 lead at the half, but gave up 43 points in the final 20 minutes.

Earl Clark scored double digits for the 28th time this season and had a game-high 17 points.

Jerry Smith went 6-of-9 from the field and finished with 16.

Dante Cunningham and sixth man Corey Fisher each dropped 14 points, but with 23 turnovers the Wildats had no shot at winning the game.

Villanova jumped out to a 26-16 lead with 6:33 remaining in the first half, but the Cardinals battled back and regained the lead less than 4 minutes into the second half.

The Wildcats tied the game at 50 with 8:15 to play before Louisville went on a 10-0 run.

The only troubling thing for the Cardinals was their 50 percent shooting average from the foul line.

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The Orange wins a thriller in 6 OT – Post Game Quotes:

Q.  Jim, you coached the triple-overtime game in 1981; did you ever think you would approach that one again?

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  We wouldn’t if Leo’s (Rautins) son (Andy Rautins) hadn’t made the three coming off the screen there.  You just don’t think about games going more than one or two in overtime.  I know in one of the overtimes I told them we were undefeated in overtime so we should be able to keep that streak going.  I forgot when that was.  I think that was around 12:30, 1:00 (laughter).

            You know, just — I can’t really describe fully my emotions about this team in that game.

            Q.  Coach, before tonight, what was the most unique experience before tonight that you’ve had?

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  Before time –

Q.         Professional career.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  On the court or off the court (laughter)?

            Q.  On the court.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  This game.  I don’t think there’s anyway to describe — triple overtime game with Villanova was unbelievable, an unbelievable game.  You get involved after 30 some years and thousands of games, there’s a lot of games in there that are pretty memorable, but I don’t think I can — I think it would be hard to top this game.

            Q.  Coach, was it a relief when Rick and Arinze fouled out to see Hasheem (Thabeet) go not soon after?

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  I don’t remember when it happened exactly but certainly when he went out, that helps ultimately — we were attacking him better tonight than we have ever.  He’s going to block shots.  We were going at him.  Ricky (Jackson) went at him a couple times, Jonny went at him.  He’s a tremendous shot blocker.  I said many times he’s the best shot blocker I’ve seen in this league and, you know, obviously when he goes out, that’s a big weapon, but we already lost two, three guys by then and, you know, (A.J.) Price was the guy, he was just unbelievable.  I thought Kris Joseph went in and played for whatever it was.  He’s never played center, never been in that position.  He drew a charge, he scraped in there.  J.T. (Justin Thomas) has never been in a big game.  He got in there and had a rebound.  He stayed in front of Price.  He’s a senior.  He did a tremendous job out there for us.  I really can’t say enough about those two guys who were hanging in there against this team.

            Q.  For the players, Johnny and Paul, can you tell us how does your body feel right now and what are you thinking about playing tomorrow night as far as mental mindset and physically.

            JONNY FLYNN:  I can’t even feel my legs right now.  We battled it out.  It’s great we got the victory but we got to turn around today and get a big win over West Virginia; a scrappy team we beat before who showed a great performance tonight versus West Virginia (Pittsburgh).

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  West Virginia was unbelievable tonight.  Pittsburgh has been a tremendous team all year and for West Virginia to play the way they were, they were absolutely spectacular tonight.

            Q.  Paul, I mean everybody looked like the legs were gone.  You looked like you had a little extra left in that 6th overtime.  Did you feel a little extra?

            PAUL HARRIS:   Coach kind of rested me before the first game (laughter).  I’ll have my legs a little bit.  Kept blowing layups at the end of the game.  I was asking God, please let me make some kind of great play.  I thank God we won this game.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  The free throw shooting was absolutely unbelievable tonight.  We had to make two free throws at least seven, eight times.  It was Johnny most of the time but Paul a couple times, Andy.  We must have made 16 straight free throws that had to be made just to stay in the game, and that’s hard to do.  That’s hard to do.  They missed a couple for us to give us a chance to stay in the game, too.

            Q.  Jonny, when did you start to kind of, I mean, feel your legs kind of go.  It looked like you were cramping up there and dying.  Do you remember?

            JONNY FLYNN:  It had to be between the second and the fourth overtime, right around that time.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  Around 1:00.

            JONNY FLYNN:  The feeling started setting in.  Paul Harris and other guys kept saying we fought this long, we can’t give this game away right now.  The players, the bench players, all the coaches and everybody really picked us up and carried us through this game for us to withstand an onslaught from Connecticut.

            Q.  Paul and Johnny, were you guys concerned at any point during the overtimes about your own stamina and being able this — if this game kept going?

            PAUL HARRIS:  I got to give a big go to our strength and conditioning coach.  He worked us so hard in the off-season.  He prepared us for a 40-minute game.  Not one like this.  Our legs were there.  We’re glad we just got the victory.

            Q.  Jonny, why did you lose the head band in the last overtime?

            JONNY FLYNN:  I just wanted to get the game over with.  For a second I’m just thinking, Lord, let’s just get this game over, go home.  Whoever wins, wins the game.  It was getting near that time.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  It was getting to the point that — it’s a lot better winning the greatest game that ever played.  It was almost time to like let’s go home.

            PAUL HARRIS:  I think that was because I missed that lay up.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  Which one?  (Laughter.)  I can’t even tell you how much — you missed four in a row at one time.

            Q.  Jim, you were behind for most of the overtimes.  How big was to it get Andy’s three at the start of the 6th?

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  It was the first tip we got, I think.  Paul got it.

            PAUL HARRIS:  We lost every tip.  Jonny Flynn said we need to get one tip.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  Sure enough we got — set the play.  We had Andy coming off that screen and boom, he made it.  That was pretty big.

            JOHN PAQUETTE:  All right, Syracuse.  Thank you.

            COACH JIM BOEHEIM:  Thank you guys.

Pitt proved how hard it is to beat a team three times in the same season tonight. The Panthers lost their first BET game, falling to the Mountaineers 74-60.

Da’Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff had a great time at the party, scoring 34 points combine. Ruoff has gone two games with out knocking down a three, but still managed 18 with Butler putting up 16. 

Freshmen Devin Ebanks was the coolest kid in the building with a game-high 20 points. Ebanks went 10-for-11 from the foul line, helping the Mountiees shoot 90 percent overall after a foul.

Senior Sam Young led the Panthers with 15 points in what will most probably be the last time WVU and Pitt meet this season. Fellow seniors Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs each scored six points in their final Backyard Brawl.*

 It might very well be the last time DeJuan Blair plays WVU as well. The sophomore scored 18 points in as many minutes due to early foul trouble.

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Villanova downed Marquette at the last second today to move on to the semifinals. The 76-75 Wildcat win has been the most intriguing and suspenseful game of the BET thus far.

Despite going into haftime trailing by 16 points, the Golden Eagles outscored Villanova 44-29 in the second half, falling just short of a quarter final victory.

Trailing by one point with less than 10 seconds on the clock, Reggie Redding tried to find Scottie Reynolds who scored a game-high 21 points.

But Marquette’s defense held Reynolds to only three points in the second half, and they were not going to allow him to touch the ball with the game on the line.

Redding drove to the net, which resulted in Dwayne Anderson being left open in the paint. Anderson then made his first field goal of the game as time expired setting up a semifinal match up against Louisville in the next round.

The Wildcats are in hot pursuit of their first BET championship.

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I’m not sure about you, but I am loving the new first round of the Big East Tourney this season.

Sure, it’s disappointing that Georgetown lost, but it’s pretty cool to see St. John’s win a game that matters.

Home field advantage helped push the Red Storm to a 64-59 victory over the Hoyas. 

 St. John’s put up only 10 points in the first half of the second round against Marquette, setting a new BET record in the process. But this was a big win for a young team. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

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The Cardinals began Spring football practice on Sunday.

I will be attending practice tomorrow and speaking with Victor Anderson, Malik Curtley, and Jahmal Lawson.

The main focus with Victor will be his chances of winning the Big East rushing title and how he feels he will be able to perform given the uncertainty at quarterback.

Curtley, a freshman walk-on running back, will give his take on how he is adjusting from being a stand out Kentucky high school player at Paducah Tilghman High School to a Division I player.

Lawson is a transfer from Kentucky Wesleyan who will be competing for the quarterback position next year.

Later on in the week I will be talking with receiver Doug Beaumont, defensive back Chaz Thompson, and others.

Well, his high school buddy Paul Harris announced his intentions to return to Syracuse last week and now Jonny Flynn says he’ll be back for another season at Syracuse. 

There has been lingering speculation Flynn would go pro after this season all year.  That speculation was, or maybe still is, bound to go up depending on SU’s performance in the NCAA Tournament.  Below is Flynn’s statement…

“Not at all. As of right now, Jonny Flynn is coming back to Syracuse University. Depending on what happens in the NCAA tournament, scenarios like winning the national championship, things can switch up, but as of right now, Jonny Flynn’s coming back to Syracuse.”

I checked out a couple of NBA Mock Drafts.  I don’t know who made these — it could be Mel Kiper’s basketball half and it could be Joe from East Slingshot in his basement with a laptop.  Either way here’s where some ‘experts’ saw Flynn going..

• MyNBADraft.com: 25th overall to Sacramento
• InsideHoops.com: Flynn is not a first rounder
• Doc’s Mock Draft: Flynn is not a first rounder
• CollegeHoops.net: A potential early entrant that is not predicted due to his ‘uncertain’ status
• HoopsHype.com: 28th overall to Cleveland

The 15th seeded Scarlet Knights were unable to pull off the third consecutive upset in the first round of the Big East Tournament, falling 61-50 to Notre Dame at the Garden.

Rutgers continued its trend of keeping it close by staying within six points of the Fighting Irish until the three-minute mark of the second half behind the long range shooting of Big East All-Freshman guard Mike Rosario.

Rosario finished the game with 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting while junior center Hamady N’Diaye led the Scarlet Knights with 14 points. N’Diaye missed just one shot, pulled in five boards and had two blocks.

N’Diaye also defended well, holding Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody to a 17.6 percent shooting clip and just seven points.

Guard Tory Jackson led Notre Dame with 12 points and seven rebounds as the Irish advance to the second round of the Big East Tournament.

It’s tough for Georgetown to celebrate, but a little more than an hour after the Hoyas fell to St. John’s, freshman center Greg Monroe has been named the Big East’s Rookie of the Year award.

Monroe was one the nation’s most highly regarded recruits coming out of Helen Cox high school in New Orleans, and he lived up to the hype. The 6’11″ big man averaged 12.7 points per game, and led the Hoyas in rebounding with 6.6 rebounds per game. He was able to dominate at both ends of the floor, facilitating the offense with his vaunted passing ability and denying opponents with countless blocks and steals.

Monroe now joins what Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese called a “who’s who of greatness.” The freshman was unquestionably proud of his award, but he was emphatic when he said this does not take the sting out of today’s loss. He was optimistic about improving for next year, and it was clear he was talking about next year at Georgetown. The return of their center may be the one silver lining the Hoyas can find today.

The other awards Tranghese handed out:

• West Virginia’s Alex Ruoff was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year
• Villanova’s Jay Wright received Coach of the Year honors
• Pitt’s DeJuan Blair and UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet shared the Player of the Year award