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Big East News

Villanova’s Josh Hart is Big East Player of the Year, Butler’s Holtmann COY

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The Big East held their annual awards ceremony this afternoon at Madison Square Garden ahead of the league’s postseason tournament that begins later tonight. The results weren’t overly shocking.

Villanova’s Josh Hart, a finalist for the Wooden Award, was named the Big East’s Player of the Year. Hart is the fourth Villanova player to win this award and the first since Ryan Arcidiacono shared the award with Kris Dunn in 2015. Other Villanova winners were Randy Foye (2006) and Kerry Kittles (1995).

Continue reading Villanova’s Josh Hart is Big East Player of the Year, Butler’s Holtmann COY →

Betting, Opening Lines

Big East Tournament 2017 Opening Line: (3) Providence +2 vs (6) Creighton 3/9/17

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Providence is 20-11 on the court this season and the Friars are 20-11 ATS. Creighton is 23-8 on the court and 18-11 ATS. Kenpom has this game as Creighton winning, 74-70, and he gives Providence a 35% chance of winning.

The oddsmakers have weighed in on this matchup that tips at 9:30pm on Thursday:

Opening Line

 Providence +2

Opening O/U

 146

Opening Moneyline

 Prov +120/Creighton -140

Stay tuned for updates as the line moves.

Note: The line opened at Providence +2 at 12:25pm ET on Wednesday but quickly moved to a Providence +3 at 12:33pm ET.

Trends

  • Providence is 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games
  • Providence is 12-3 ATS when an underdog this season
  • Over is 6-3-1 in Providence’s last 10 games
  • Creighton is 5-5 ATS in their last 10 games
  • Creighton is 12-6 ATS when a favorite this season
  • Over is 5-4-1 in Creighton’s last 10 games

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Big East News, Ed Cooley, Kyron Cartwright, Player News, Rodney Bullock

The Official pcbb1917.com 2017 Big East Postseason Awards

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Awards season in college basketball is just heating up with the regular season less than a week old in the major conferences. The Big East announced their All-League teams on Sunday and some of their individual awards on Monday. The big awards will be announced at 4:30pm ET Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, which is a couple hours before the Big East Tournament tips off. Here are my official pcbb1917.com 2017 Big East Postseason Awards. Hold your applause till the end, please.

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Big East Tournament

Big East Tournament 2017: 35 Years at Madison Square Garden…and Counting

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No offense to the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin’ Donuts Center), the Carrier Dome or the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center) but the best Big East Tournaments have happened at Madison Square Garden. This is the 35th straight season the basketball-focused conference has had their postseason tournament at MSG after rotating between the three aforementioned buildings in the league’s first three year of existence. The Big East Tournament being played at the Garden is a foundational part of the league’s history. Dave Gavitt, the Big East’s father and former Providence coach and Athletic Director, had a way of being ahead of his time. A great example is his insistence that the newly formed Big East play it’s conference tournament in NYC, a story relayed by former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese to Brendan McGair this week.

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General News

Kyron Cartwright & Rodney Bullock Named to USBWA All-District Team

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The postseason honors continue to roll in for Providence’s top two players. After both being named to the Big East Second Team on Sunday, Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock were named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-District I Team on Tuesday. In addition to being named to the All-District I team, Cartwright was named the District I Player of the Year. He becomes the third straight Providence player to be named District I Player of the Year and the sixth Friar all-time. The previous winners were Kris Dunn (2016, LaDontae Henton (2015), Jamine Peterson (2010), Ryan Gomes (2005) and Austin Croshere (1997).

Cartwright was also named the Big East’s Most Improved Player on Monday. District I is made up of colleges in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The voters are USBWA members in each district. Full disclosure, I am a USBWA member and voter.

Here is the full list of Players of the Year and All-District teams released by USBWA:

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Bracketology/RPI

Providence, Big East Bracketology Update 3/6/17

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ESPN and CBS Sports have released updated brackets and we’ll continue to track the minutiae of each bracketology update so you don’t have to.

The regular season concluded on Saturday with all ten Big East teams in action and the results shuffled the deck a bit heading into the Big East Tournament that tips off on Wednesday night. There are a lot of bubbles bouncing around in the air right now and both national media members and bracket aggregating sites like BracketMatrix.com are pumping out lots of predictions and content as conference tournament season rapidly approaches for all the power conferences. Let’s take a look at where Providence, their non-conference opponents and the rest of the Big East stands in the latest bracketology.

Continue reading Providence, Big East Bracketology Update 3/6/17 →

Big East News, Kyron Cartwright, Player News

Providence’s Kyron Cartwright is Big East’s Most Improved Player

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For the second straight season the Providence Friars are home to the Big East’s Most Improved Player. Kyron Cartwright was chosen by the league’s coaches as the 2016-17 Big East Most Improved Player a day after being named a Second Team All-Big East performer in his junior season with the Friars. Cartwright is the fourth player in school history to win this award and he’s the third player coached by Ed Cooley to do so.  Previous winner include Ben Bentil (2016), Kadeem Batts (2013) and Herbert Hill (2007).

Continue reading Providence’s Kyron Cartwright is Big East’s Most Improved Player →