Apparently Jamine Peterson’s amazing 29 point, 20 rebound performance was not good enough for any BIG EAST weekly honors, or any mention in the ESPN Weekly Honors post.  I guess his stinker against Louisville brought him down so much, even doing something only 12 other BIG EAST players have ever done could not make up for it.

Harangody, Oriakhi Earn Weekly Men’s Basketball Honors

Harangody was named BIG EAST Player of the Week after he averaged 30.0 points and 5.5 rebounds and shot 57.9 percent from the field (22-of-38) to lead Notre Dame to a pair of close victories against BIG EAST opponents.  Harangody scored a season-high 36 points — including a go-ahead free throw with 1.9 seconds left — and had six rebounds in a 74-73 win at USF. He had 24 points and five boards on 9-of-15 shooting in a 70-68 win against No. 8/8 West Virginia

YAWN.  Jeremy Hazell (averaged 23 points), Dominique Jones (averaged 28 points), Wes Johnson (averaged 19 and 10 in two games), and Friar killer Scottie Reynolds (averaged 18 pts and 3 assists in 2 wins) made the honor roll.

In ESPN land, Katz doesn’t even give Greedy a mention among many other good performances for the week.  I guess the fact that it was against Rutgers makes it ho-hum?

Tennessee, CofC’s Goudelock take home honors

Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell, who has never seen a shot he doesn’t like, scored 33 in a win over Cincinnati.

Srsly? Man, if only Greedy could hit one of those 4 foul shots in a row he missed in the end to get to 30 points.

Hey, finally a Providence mention in ESPN’s Weekly Watch! Only took 7 weeks!

Purdue notches top win of week

Cooling Off

All the good vibes about St. John’s heading into the Big East must be fading fast. The Red Storm got pummeled by lowly Providence on Sunday, 74-59, to drop to 0-2 in the Big East. The game was at St. John’s. You can’t let that happen this season. Playing without starting point guard Malik Boothe, who is nursing a strained groin from the Red Storm’s loss at Georgetown on New Year’s Eve, St. John’s turned the ball over 23 times, resulting in 21 Friar points. The Red Storm hadn’t totaled as many miscues since last Feb. 14 at Marquette (24).

Lowly eh? I would have went with “rebuilding”.

In league rankings, power shifts to the Midwest

4. Big East: The league may not have a top-seeded team in 2010 after getting three last season (Louisville, UConn, Pitt), but the strength of the league from 1-16 has gotten better. The bottom of the league has risen up with Seton Hall and St. John’s having a real shot at an NCAA bid. West Virginia should be the favorite, despite Villanova’s high ranking. But the Wildcats, Connecticut, Georgetown, Syracuse and possibly Louisville will be in play for bids. So, too, should Notre Dame, with the possible player of the year in Luke Harangody, Cincinnati, with maybe the freshman of the year in Lance Stephenson, and Seton Hall are sleeper teams to rise up into the top four in the league. And never discount Pitt under Jamie Dixon. Toss in the Red Storm as the only team that returns all five starters and the Big East has 11 of its 16 teams thinking NCAAs.

No PC talk yet folks.  Under. The. Radar.

ESPN.com’s Weekly Watch

Wins Of The Week

Providence over Pitt: The Friars had to get a marquee win over a team ahead of them in the Big East.

Twenty Places To Be This Week

Villanova, Pa., Thursday: Providence got the quality home win. Now it could use a big-time road win over the Wildcats to convince the selection committee it belongs in the field.

This could potentially be the longest 4 days ever in the history of the universe.  At least we’ll be able to enjoy a little Wednesday LOST with no basketball worries.

There was some talk last week about how Jim Calhoun said that the 18 game league schedule was doing more harm than good.

“The league and the number of games, the only way is to cut it back, there’s no other way possible,” the UConn coach said. “I disagree with the 18 games. I think we’re paying too great a price to our teams. And we’re 24-2. We’re probably going to the NCAA tournament. I’m not moaning. I’m looking at it (from) an overview from a guy who’s 23 years in the league and loves the league and wants to see every team have a fair chance. … The games are fair. The officiating has been very good all year. I was upset the other night because it was a different type of game but beyond that, it’s been great all year.

“But I want to see our teams and our coaches and our players succeed. I think the 18-game schedule is prohibitive.

In Andy Katz’s latest blog entry, he thinks it helps more teams get in.

Any Big East coach who wants to go back to 16 league games should take this into consideration: Playing the two more games to reach 18 helps more teams get into the field. Let’s just take Notre Dame for example. The Irish are 7-8 in the Big East, with the possibility of 7-9 if they lose at Connecticut on Saturday. If there were only 16 league games, then the Irish would have a tougher time getting an NCAA bid. But Notre Dame has two more chances to get wins. Obviously, the Irish wouldn’t have two more home games since they would have already played eight home games in a scenario with 16 league games. Still, the two games remaining with Villanova and St. John’s give the Irish a chance to get a bid. Also, look at Providence and its remaining games. PC is 17-11 overall and 9-7 in the Big East after the win over Pitt. Claiming one more road win, even at Rutgers, to reach 10 conference wins would carry more weight than 9-7. So, even if the Friars split the two remaining road games with Rutgers and Villanova, a 10-8 Big East record would help them get a bid. The Big East has to get all its teams on nationally, as well, multiple times. In a 16-game schedule, that becomes tougher. Don’t expect the 18-game schedule to shrink to 16 anytime soon.

Trio of surprising blowouts just part of another wild and wacky Wednesday

Villanova 94, Providence, 91, Providence, R.I.

Impact: The Wildcats got 31 points from Scottie Reynolds to move to a more legitimate 6-3. Villanova has beaten Pitt at home and Providence on the road within the past week to increase its selection possibilities. Meanwhile, PC missed out on another opportunity to beat a ranked team at home after losing to Marquette, too. The Friars (6-4, 14-8) are running out of chances to impress the selection committee for a bid.

Weekly Watch for February 1st

Still breathing

Providence: The Friars did get pushed around by Connecticut but the home win over Syracuse gives them more legitimacy as they move forward to mount a potential NCAA campaign.

Gottfried ready to unwind, move on

Looks like I won’t have to eat crow on Providence and Villanova. I have said on the air and here in this space how much PC and Villanova needed to win a quality game against a Big East team that is a lock for the NCAAs. PC got its win against Syracuse, while Villanova beat Pitt.

Thanks buddy…do you mind saying we need to win on Saturday against UCONN too?

Weekly Watch: A surprise (Oregon State) and a staple (Blake Griffin)

Beating up on the bottom

Providence: The Friars are off to a 5-2 start in the Big East. That’s great news for PC fans. But a word of caution: None of the five wins has come against a likely NCAA tourney team. Now will come the test. Providence will play eight of its final 11 games against projected NCAA tournament teams. The Friars can’t just beat the three remaining non-NCAA tournament teams in the Big East and expect to earn a bid.

Well, we are going to hear a lot of this until Wednesday.  No doubt he is right that we haven’t beat any NCAA tourney teams.  However, two of those wins came on the road — something that should not be overlook.  This Senior class has won TWO road games each season during the previous 3 years.  When you look at what happened to ND on the road versus St. John’s, and Georgetown at Seton Hall, those 5 wins have to mean a little more than just beating up on the bottom.

Northeastern makes its move in Colonial

Got a chance to see Northeastern on Wednesday night, and I really liked what I saw in the Huskies’ 58-57 win over George Mason. They have plenty of scoring options when they play the way they did against the Patriots.

Matt Janning gets to the rim and can consistently make 3-pointers. He scored 20 points, made three treys and picked up two steals.

Eugene Spates, who hasn’t been consistent for the Huskies, made two critical 3s for 10 points and played with confidence. Matt Smith came off the bench to make three 3s, and Manny Adako and Nkem Ojougboh can score in close.

The Huskies beat Providence on the road, knocked off Indiana (which isn’t saying much this season, but it still bodes well for a CAA team to beat a Big Ten team on the road), and are off to a 7-1 start in Colonial play.

“We can play with anybody,” Janning said. “That’s the mindset of everybody in this locker room.”

Northeastern has to go to Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth in the next two games, so whether NU can be a real threat to VCU and George Mason is yet to be determined. What is a known commodity is how much Bill Coen is making Northeastern a real player in this league. The facility at Matthews Arena is for hockey, not hoops. But Coen puts a quality product on the floor and should continue to make this a consistent winner.

If the Huskies defend, they’ll contend. Making shots the way they did against George Mason is the equalizer for any team in the postseason. NU was 8-of-18 on 3s, didn’t miss a free throw and shot 54 percent overall. If the team can keep hitting those numbers, it will be a factor to win a game in the NCAAs (if it gets a bid).