We’re still in Noo Yawk, and we’ve confirmed that last night’s Syracuse-UConn game really is over, and that Madison Square Garden is till standing. We’re kicking ourselves for ducking out of MSG to meet a friend for dinner/drinks in Midtown, but we caught it on TV at a bar and still can’t believe it. Anyway, they play on at the Big East tourney, with Your Villanova Wildcats playing top-seeded Louisville at 7, and Pitt West Virginia getting UConn the ‘Cuse in the surprising nightcap at about 9:30. Both are on ESPN, and we’ve got the what’s-what after the jump.

‘Nova (26-6) just keeps finding gutsy ways to win, what with its miraculous finish in yesterday’s quarterfinals against Marquette after the Wildcats completely tossed away a 16-point halftime lead. And the beauty of the conference tournament setup — who needs to go to class, anyway? — is that they get to do it again tonight. Louisville (26-5) is just smoking everybody right now, having won eight straight since that 90-57 embarrassment at Notre Dame on Feb. 12. And yesterday, the Fighting Rick Pitinos routed bubble hopeful Providence, 73-55, in the quarterfinals. But according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Cards have struggled plenty in the Garden and have never reached the Big East finals. They are, however, loaded — and balanced: No one averages more than 14 points per game, with 6-9 Earl Clark and 6-6 Terrence Williams going for about 14 points and eight boards per game. Williams also averages 5 assists per game, making him a tricky matchup problem. Louisville beat ‘Nova 61-60 way back on Jan. 10 at the Wacho Center. It was a wild game in which the ‘Cats fell behind, caught up, fell behind again, caught up and blew it from the free-throw line. Louisville also made just 3 of 25 3-pointers, which prolly won’t happen again. This being the Big East, anything — anything — can happen.

Which is our lame segue into West-Virginia-Syracuse. It’s funny, but several reporters after yesterday’s ‘Nova-Marquette game were preparing Final Four-type stories in anticipation of a ‘Nova-Louisville-Pitt-UConn doubleheader tonight. Yet Pitt and UConn — whom many experts still have tagged as No. 1 seeds for the NCAAs — are no longer in Noo Yawk. The No. 7 seed Mountaineers (23-10) used a 1-3-1 to frustrate Pitt into shooting 34.5 percent in the second half of their 74-60 upset, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But co-Big East player of the year DeJuan Blair also got into foul trouble early, which is Pitt’s one big weakness. WVU also worked the shot clock to shorten the game, preventing Pitt from running. The Smoking Musket, a WVU blog, offers its take on tonight’s game here. What can we say about No. 6 seed Syracuse (25-8) after last night? The Orange defeated WVU, 74-61, up at the Dome on Feb. 4. But they didn’t play six freakin’ overtimes the night before.

We love the Big East tourney and can’t wait for tonight. Just sayin’.

Links: Syracuse, UConn is finally over [New York Times]
My game story on Villanova-Marquette [Bucks County Courier Times]
Louisville and MSG [Louisville Courier-Journal]
Remember Louisville 61, Villanova 60? [BIG FIVE POST]
Pitt ousted before Big East finals for first time since 2005 [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
WVU-Syracuse preview (sort of) [The Smoking Musket]
Photo credit: [Big East Conference]