Behind junior guard Kemba Walker, the Connecticut Huskies collected their seventh Big East Tournament title Saturday, 69-66, over the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden. UConn's impressive five-day run seems to have really improved the Huskies (No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 19 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll) NCAA Tournament-seed projections.
According to six different Bracketologists, UConn, which was a lock for a No. 5 seed on Monday, moved up to a No 2 seed in three different 68-team fields, and a No. 3 seed in two others (Bracketology 101 has UConn as a No. 4 seed, but their rankings came out before Saturday night's victory).
The Syracuse basketball program was not hurt by its semifinal loss to the Huskies. The Orange (No. 11 in both college basketball polls) still are a solid No. 3 or 4 seed with a possibility of earning a No. 2 spot. The St. John's basketball program, which defeated Rutgers in the second round of the Big East Tournament, was a unanimous No. 4 Monday, but now are hovering around a No. 5 or 6 seed.
Of course we will not know the official seedings until the CBS NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 6 p.m. But if you'd like an idea of what might happen, here's the Sunday Bracketology breakdown for the Big East Conference:
ESPN's Joe Lunardi (11 teams): Pitt (No. 1 seed), Notre Dame (1), UConn (2), Syracuse (4), Louisville Cardinals (4), St. John's (6), West Virginia Mountaineers (6), Georgetown Hoyas (7), Cincinnati Bearcats (7), Marquette Golden Eagles (9) and Villanova Wildcats (10).
SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean (11): Pitt (1), ND (2), SU (3), UConn (3), Louisville (4), St. John's (5), Georgetown (5), WVU (6), Cincinnati (6), Marquette (9) amd 'Nova (10).
SI.com's Andy Glockner (11): Pitt (1), ND (1), SU (3), UConn (3), Louisville (4), St. John's (5), WVU (5), Cincinnati (6), Georgetown (6), 'Nova (9) and Marquette (10).
FoxSports.com's Jordan Schwartz (11): ND (1), Pitt (2), UConn (2), SU (3), Louisville (3), St. John's (5), WVU (5), Cincinnati (6), Georgetown (6), , 'Nova (9) and Marquette (8).
CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm (11): Pitt (1), ND (2), SU (2), UConn (2), Louisville (4), Cincinnati (5), St. John's (6), WVU (6), 'Nova (7), Georgetown (8) and Marquette (9).
*Bracketology 101 (11): Pitt (1), ND (1), Syracuse (3), Louisville (4), UConn (4), St. John's (5), WVU (5), Georgetown (5), Cincinnati (6), Marquette (9) and Villanova (10).
*Updated Saturday