A year after doing the unthinkable and getting 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament, the Big East looks upside down.

‘I think we’ve all seen each year something unique in the league,’ Villanova head coach Jay Wright said in the Big East coaches’ teleconference Jan. 12. ‘Last year, it was 11 teams, everybody was like, ‘Wow, can you believe this?’ Now, as you said, the league has kind of turned upside down, and we’re saying, ‘Can you believe that?’ I think the one thing we all know about the Big East is that you never know what’s going to happen.’

There’s perhaps no better example than Pittsburgh. The Panthers finished the 2010-11 season at 28-6 and captured the Big East regular-season championship with a 15-3 conference record. Pittsburgh earned the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Region of the NCAA Tournament, eventually getting upset by No. 8 Butler in the third round.

But this year, the Panthers are on the exact opposite end of the conference standings. Pittsburgh sits in last place in the conference at 0-7 in the Big East. The team’s last win came against St. Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 20, which made it 11-1 on the young season and looking like a typical Jamie Dixon-coached Pittsburgh team.

But since then, Pittsburgh has lost eight in a row, starting with a 59-54 loss to Wagner on Dec. 23. And despite its 16th-place showing so far in the Big East, Pittsburgh was picked to finish fourth in the 2011-12 preseason coaches’ poll, even nabbing a first-place vote.

Pittsburgh plays fellow bottom-feeder Providence (12-8, 1-6) in the Petersen Events Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game may mark the Panthers’ best chance to get a conference win in the next week as it takes on No. 9 Georgetown (16-3, 6-2) on Saturday and West Virginia (15-5, 5-2) on Monday.

About halfway through Big East play, teams like South Florida, Cincinnati and Seton Hall remain in the top half of the conference while perennial powerhouses like Louisville, Villanova and Pittsburgh make up the bottom. And despite the eye-catching standings featuring a few surprises, Big East coaches know that any of the conference’s teams can come out with a win on any given night — regardless of record or performances in years past.

‘It is competitive, it is deep and there are no nights off,’ South Florida head coach Stan Heath said in the Jan. 12 teleconference.

The Bulls, who were picked 14th in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, are tied for fifth in the conference with Cincinnati.

South Florida has won three out of its last four and has already defeated four teams that were projected to finish higher in the preseason coaches’ poll.

And while Pittsburgh is off to its worst start in recent memory, South Florida is off to its best start in its seven years in the Big East, thanks in large part to its stifling defense.

‘I think there’s open space throughout the league, and we’re trying to battle and compete to find our way toward the top and keep moving upward,’ Heath said in the teleconference. ‘I think teams in the past that have struggled are moving up, and there’s some perennial powers that have yet to get on track and they will. So it’s just a wide-open race right now — other than Syracuse.’

But even No. 3 Syracuse has shown its vulnerability lately, losing ugly to Notre Dame on Saturday without sophomore center Fab Melo and being taken to the wire by Cincinnati on Monday.

The bottom of the Big East is strong, as Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Seton Hall are among the teams that are better than expected in the conference this year, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said in the Jan. 12 teleconference.

‘If you don’t play well, you can lose a lot of games in this league,’ Boeheim said.

Georgetown, which was picked to finish 10th in the preseason coaches’ poll, is tied for second place in the conference. Meanwhile, Louisville, which was picked to finish third in the preseason coaches’ poll and received three first-place votes, is tied for 10th in the conference with Rutgers.

And even the defending national champion is in an unexpected spot. At 14-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big East, No. 24 Connecticut is on a two-game losing streak and tied for seventh in the conference. The Huskies were co-favorites along with Syracuse to win the conference in the preseason coaches’ poll, receiving seven first-place votes to Syracuse’s five.

Tied in seventh place in the conference with Connecticut is Seton Hall, even after the Pirates dropped two straight games and were picked to finish 13th in the Big East.

‘There’s no games where you can say, ‘OK, well, we’re going to win this one,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said in the teleconference. ‘You have to play really well to win every night out.’

Big East game of the week

Villanova (10-10, 3-5) at Louisville (15-5, 3-4)

7 p.m., Wednesday, ESPN

Coming off wins against Seton Hall and St. John’s, Villanova looks to continue its winning streak against Louisville, which is fresh off a nine-point win at Pittsburgh. After starting 1-5 in the Big East, the Wildcats looked primed to make a run in the conference, although its next two games come against Louisville and a tough Marquette team sitting comfortably inside the top 20.

Villanova guard Maalik Wayns led the Wildcats to two wins, averaging 26.5 points per game.

Also stepping up lately for Villanova is freshman forward JayVaughn Pinkston, who averaged 18 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game in the two wins.

Leading the way for the Cardinals — tied for 10th in the Big East — are senior guard Kyle Kuric and sophomore guard Russ Smith, both averaging better than 12.5 points per game.

The all-time series is tied 8-8, but Villanova has won the past two meetings.

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Published on January 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

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