The Syracuse Orange men's basketball program earned their 20th consecutive victory Monday night by defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers, 71-63, in a Big East Conference game at the Carrier Dome. The Orange (20-0, 7-0 Big East) remain unbeaten and according to the latest Bracketology rankings they're the favorite to earn the No. 1-overall seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Out of four separate Bracketologist from different websites -- ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi, SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean, SI.com's Andy Glockner and CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm -- Syracuse is a unanimous No. 1 seed.
As for the Seton Hall Pirates (15-3, 4-2), they're without a doubt going to be a part of March Madness, receiving seeds of No. 6 through No. 4. Palm, who released his latest Wednesday morning, and Dobbertean, released Tuesday, both had the Pirates slotted as a No. 4 seed, while Lunardi had them as a No. 6 and Glockner had them as a No. 5.
Meanwhile, the Big East is getting between eight and seven teams into the NCAA Tournament, as the West Virginia Mountaineers (13-5, 4-2), Georgetown Hoyas (15-3, 5-2), Louisville Cardinals (14-5, 2-4), Marquette Golden Eagles (15-4, 4-2) and Connecticut Huskies (14-3, 4-2) are currently all shoo-in to be a piece of March Madness.
The only Big East team that is currently on the outside possibly looking in is the Cincinnati Bearcats (14-4, 4-1). So far, Dobbertean and Lunardi have the Bearcats in, while Glockner and Palm have them out.
Here's the breakdown of the Big East Conference bracketology results to give you an idea of where teams stand with each Bracketologist.
SB Nation's Dobbertean (8): SU (1), Georgetown (3), UConn (3), Seton Hall (4), West Virginia (5), Marquette (6), Louisville (7) and Cincinnati (9).
ESPN's Lunardi (8 teams): SU (1), UConn (3), Georgetown (3), WVU (6), Seton Hall (6), Marquette (7), Louisville (8) and Cincinnati (12).
SI.com's Glockner (7): SU (1), Georgetown (2), UConn (3), WVU (4), Seton Hall (5), Marquette (7) and Louisville (9)
CBSSports.com's Palm (7): SU (1), Georgetown (4), Seton Hall (4), UConn (6), Marquette (6), WVU (7) and Louisville (10).
SB Nation's blog South Orange Juice has everything on the Pirates, while Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician is all about the Orange. For more on Big East basketball, visit the SB Nation blog Big East Coast Bias. If you're a college basketball nut, well, SB Nation's college basketball hub will solve your hoops cravings.