Saturday morning I posted about the Big East dominance of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Well, less than 48 hours later, that post was looking a little bit silly after the Big East had a losing record in the second round of the tournament. Of the 7 teams that advanced past the first round, only Villanova, West Virginia, and Louisville are still dancing. Here’s a quick recap of the Big East’s tumble in round two.

• #2 Georgetown - The Hoyas opened a big lead at half time, but Davidson came roaring back in the second half and upset one of the tournament favorites. Stephen Curry, former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry’s son, scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half as Davidson sent Georgetown home much earlier than most people anticipated. The Hoyas shot the ball well, but couldn’t slow down Curry or the Davidson offense in the second half. The Big East regular season champ will not be making a return trip to the Final 4.
• #3 Louisville -I picked the Cardinals to make the Final 4 in both of my brackets and so far they are looking strong. Louisville was never really threatened by Oklahoma and won by 30 over the 6th seeded Sooners. Louisville’s game translates VERY well to tournament play. They press, play good defense, and have the shooters to score points in bunches. Louisville has 2nd seeded Tennessee next. If the Vols handle Louisville’s press as well as they handled Vandy’s in a regular season loss, Louisville could be headed back to the Elite 8.
• #4 Pittsburgh - A lot of people’s brackets were busted when Pitt fell to Michigan State Saturday night. Pitt was the hottest team in the country and was finally getting healthy. Pitt couldn’t get into any sort of groove shooting the ball though and Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas got hot at the right time for the Spartans. Pitt had some bad luck this year with injury after injury.
• #5 Notre Dame - I don’t want to talk about it.
• #6 Marquette - The Golden Eagles lost an overtime nail-biter to 3rd seeded Stanford. Marquette held a 6 point lead at the half, but Stanford rebounded after a poor shooting first half to force overtime. In OT, Stanford outscored Marquette 11-10 for the 1 point victory. Marquette looked very strong in taking care of Kentucky in the first round and are another team who’s game translates well to tournament time because of their quick guards who can create fast break opportunities, but Stanford made sure the Eagles will be home this weekend.
• #7 West Virginia - The Mountaineers dominated the second half of their contest against Duke on Saturday and are back in the Sweet 16 again this year. Joe Alexander is putting on a clinic so far in the tournament and Joe Mazzula nearly had a triple double as West Virginia knocked off 2nd seeded Duke. The Blue Devils barely got past 15th seeded Belmont in the first round and simply could not match West Virginia’s toughness inside.
• #12 Villanova - The last team in the tournament is still dancing will two of the #2 seeds will be home this weekend. Villanova controlled from start to finish against Sienna and Scottie Reynolds was superb. When he wants to, Reynolds can completely take over a game and he has done so in the NCAA Tournament so far. He had 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists and will need to be just as good for Villanova to have any chance against #1 seeded Kansas.

Notre Dame failed to advance to the Sweet 16 Saturday night after losing to Washington State 61-41.  The Cougars defense smothered the Irish offense into the single worst offensive performance of the Mike Brey Era.  Notre Dame’s 41 points were 23 points fewer than their previous season low of 64 against Baylor.

Big East rival Marquette went down to Purdue in overtime earlier tonight leaving the Big East 1-2 in second round action today with Pitt still playing against Michigan State.

We’ll have a full recap on the homepage in a bit.

The Big East sent 8 teams to the NCAA Tournament this year and all but one - UConn - have advanced to the second round. Here’s a quick look at how the Big East teams did in Round 1.

• #2 Georgetown def uMBC 66-47
• #3 Louisville def Bosie State 79-61
• #4 Connecticut lost to San Diego 70-69 (OT)
• #4 Pittsburgh def Oral Roberts 82-63
• #5 Notre Dame def George Mason 68-50
• #6 Marquette def Kentucky 74-66
• #7 West Virginia def Arizona 76-65
• #12 Villanova def Clemson 75-69

7-1 in the first round is pretty impressive - especially since UConn lost by just 1 after their star player got hurt in the first half. Most of these games weren’t even close. Georgetown, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Pitt were in control from start to finish of their games.

It will be tough for all 7 Big East teams to advance tot he Sweet 16, but here’s a quick look at who each team faces.

Click here for a quick preview of each Big East team’s 2nd Round matchups

Here’s a couple pics from yesterday’s open practice in Denver courtesy of Colorado Irish.  Another pic from the shoot around after the jump

While I was on Sporting News earlier tonight reading the articles I quoted below I saw a “Simulate the Tournament” link so I simulated the East Bracket. On the first attempt, without any refreshing, or anything like that, Sporting News simulated Notre Dame to the Final 4 with wins over Mason, Winthrop, North Carolina, and Louisville along the way.

Before anyone gets too excited though, the same “BracketCaster” simulated Gonzaga over Notre Dame in the Semis and then the Zags over Texas for the title.

Sporting News has an article up talking about the possibility of George Mason making another run in this year’s tourney.  Here’s an excerpt:

The Patriots, meanwhile, are trying to act like underdogs even though a lot of people expect them to win. They’re trying to act like they haven’t been here before, even though they have.

Heading into the tournament, Larranaga got advise from Bob Rotella, the famous sports psychologist, who he termed a “very, very good friend” of his.

“He said, “Listen, your whole focus, your whole team’s focus has to be relax and enjoy the journey. Have fun with it. Don’t be uptight. … You have everything to gain and nothing to lose,”‘ Larranaga said. “He said, “If you go in with that mind set, I think your guys will play great.”‘

Another article on TSN basically picks the Irish to win though…

George Mason might be a popular pick on a lot of brackets this year, but the fact remains Notre Dame has more depth and enters the game with a desire to prove they are more than a Big East flameout. The Patriots lost four of seven games before winning the Colonial title. They can’t afford a let down of any sort.

I just set up this year’s Tournament group over at Yahoo and am inviting all UHND forum members to participate. We will be giving out a $100 gift certificate to the UHND store again this year to the winner thanks to the generosity of our merchandise partner Football Fanatics . When you sign up, PLEASE use your UHND forum user name so that it is easier to track down the winner and easier for everyone to follow along.

Last year sbeNDfan took home the top prize.

Here are the details:

• Link: 2008 UHND.com Tournament Challenge - Yahoo.com

Note: You can get merchandise for just about any professional or college team through the UHND Store, so you won’t be limited to just Notre Dame merchandise.