Another exciting year of Big East Tournament basketball is underway and it looks like the #9-seeded Connecticut Huskies will not be making a second improbable run to the Big East Tournament Championship. Wednesday, UCONN staved off a worthy opponent, the West Virginia Mountaineers, in overtime 71-67 but fell yesterday morning to the #1-seeded Syracuse Orangemen. It was a close game but the Orange were just too much to handle. And as soon as that game finished up, Cincinnati had just finished off Georgetown in a double-OT thriller. The Big East Tournament is the best.

 Wednesday also signaled a new era for the Big East. Temple held a press conference and announced that they will be joining the Big East in football next year and all sports by the 2013-2014 season. West Virginia, who is joining the Big 12 next year in all sports, has just played in its last Big East tournament.  With all the expansion and re-alignment going on in college athletics, it’s safe to say that this tournament will look drastically different next year. Enjoy it now while it lasts.

 All the other major conference tournaments played some early rounds games Wednesday, with a majority of them hitting the ground running yesterday. The Big 12 Tournament, which hosts a collection of great young, exciting teams, being one of them. I want everyone to keep an eye out for the Baylor Bears. They just beat Kansas State on Wednesday in what was an exhilarating, up-tempo matchup. You’d also be hard-pressed to miss this team, as they were debuting their new, special uniforms. Interesting color choice boys. 

Remember that tickets for all these tournament games are available on StubHub, and judging by this picture from the Pac-12 Tournament in Los Angeles on Wednesday, there are plenty of good seats still available.