ESPN's Joe Lunardi has his latest Bracketology up and as has been the case for most of the season, he projects eight Big East teams will make the NCAA Tournament. While the teams that get those eight bids has certainly shuffled over the course of the season, the number has, for the most part, remained constant. Despite losing to Notre Dame on Saturday, Syracuse remains the number one overall seed in the tournament and is the only number one seed from the Big East. Georgetown and West Virginia, both enjoying seasons more successful than most has projected before the season started, project as three seeds. Connecticut and Marquette now project as five seeds and Seton Hall has slowly trickled down to a seven seed.
The final two Big East teams in the mix, Cincinnati and Louisville, project as ten seeds. Louisville is listed in the same region with rival Kentucky and is matched up in the first round with in-state school Murray State. That would make for an entertaining game, considering it was fellow in-state school Morehead State that eliminated the Cardinals in the first round last year. Cincinnati's inclusion is a testament to just how far the Bearcats have come since the brawl with Xavier. Despite having some bad losses (Presbyterian, St. John's), Cincinnati has responded well in conference play and will have another chance to score an impressive win tonight when it hosts Syracuse. You can view Lunardi's projection of the tournament field here.