Less than an hour from now, the Big East Tournament semifinals will get underway with the sixth seeded Marquette Golden Eagles taking on the seventh seeded Pittsburgh Panthers in the first of what should be a fun doubleheader at the Mecca in NYC.

There probably are some disappointed Uconn, Notre Dame and Louisville fans. That’s because their respective schools fizzled out in yesterday’s quarters.

First, Jim Calhoun’s Huskies were ousted by tonight’s surprise participant the West Virginia Mountaineers 78-72. They had no answer for junior forward Joe Alexander, who roasted them for a career high 34 points along with seven rebounds. The Big East’s most improved player shot 12-of-22 from the field and sank 10-of-12 from the charity stripe.

He also got UConn young big Hasheem Thabeet in foul trouble limiting him to six points, six boards and two blocks in 28 minutes. When he has an off night, it’s usually a bad sign for the Huskies, who do boast one of the better point guards in the league in junior floor leader A.J. Price. He paced No.15 Uconn with 22 and dropped six dimes in a losing effort.

Alexander also got support from teammates Da’Sean Butler (17 pts, 9 boards) and senior leader Darris Nichols (13 pts, 2 treys, 4 rebs, 2 assists) as the fifth seeded Mountaineers made it four consecutive losses in the Big East tourney for a flustered Calhoun, who wasn’t pleased with his team’s execution.

“Some games are very complex and you mull over them, why you won and why lost, it’s difficult,” the Hall of Fame coach lamented to reporters. “This one is very easy. They came out and kicked our butt.”

Calhoun will try to get his young team ready for next week’s NCAA 65 field which definitely should include them as they won 13 games in arguably the most competitive conference and still are 24-8. Figure a four or five seed.

West Virginia will go for their third win in three nights in the first big game when they battle the No.1 seeded Georgetown Hoyas, who destroyed Villanova 82-63 tying a tournament record with 17 three’s including six from Jessie Sapp, who netted a career high 23. Backcourt ‘mate Jonathan Wallace sank five from downtown and DaJuan Summers added a hat trick.

Stunningly, big man Roy Hibbert had a goose egg playing just 14 minutes with four turnovers and five fouls. Can you say overrated much?!?!?!?!?!

Meanwhile, two more “upsets” (not really) took place with Pitt outlasting Louisville in overtime 76-69 on the strength of leading scorer Sam Young’s double double (21 and 12) including the go-ahead bucket on a turnaround inside with Rice product Edgar Sosa flopping. Speaking of the sophomore who had a solid NCAA a year ago, he was awful finishing with just three points plus four assists and was pulled several times by Rick Pitino.

The Cards just were too up and down from the outside in crunch time. They misfired on 15 of 19 three’s which won’t win you many games. Especially when quite a few are forced.

Meanwhile, the Panthers relied on more of a balanced attack getting an inspired effort from Xaverian produce Levance Fields who netted 13 and six assists. All Hallows product Ronald Ramon also nailed three trifectas adding 13 with four boards and four assists as Pitt once again eliminated Louisville to advance to the Big East Final Four where they’ll play Marquette in the second game after 9 ET.

Card supersub Earl Clark paced them with 19 on nine-of-14 shooting and also had nine rebounds (six off.) David Padgett, Juan Palacios and Jersey native Derrick Caracter added 11 apiece in the defeat.

Many like Pitino’s team which played well down the stretch to go far starting next week. I’m not sure because they’re too hot and cold. While he’s a superb coach, this team seems to rely too much on the perimeter. It’s basically hit or miss. They are much better when they spread the floor and utilize floor leader Terrence Williams.

If you like balance, the No.13 ranked Cardinals have it. At 24-8, they should get a decent seed similar to what Big East rival UConn receives. We’ll see if they step it up come Big Dance time.

The final game of the night saw Marquette bounceback from 10 down to defeat the Fighting Irish 89-79. They outscored Mike Brey’s 14th rated Irish 57-41 in the second half with a frenetic brand of hoops which saw talented leading scorer Jerel McNeal toast Notre Dame for 28 (9-of-16 FG) including four from downtown along with six boards.

The junior forward was just awesome. He came out and took it to Notre Dame with scoring in a variety of ways in transition and from way out in establishing a new career high. He missed the tournament last year and the NCAA’s due to a wrist injury.

Thus far, he’s making up for it leading underrated coach Tom Crean’s No.25 Eagles into tonight’s semi showdown with Jamie Dixon’s Panthers.

Dominick James had a solid overall game with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. He really did a nice job of getting into the lane drawing defenders and kicking out to open teammates.

However, in a close game, it was the play of little used sophomore backup Maurice Acker which swung it in Marquette’s favor. The guard drained two three’s and netted 10 of his 11 in over a four minute span late.

He really came up big. The same couldn’t be said for Big East Player of The Year Luke Harangody who was bottled up by Ousmane Barro (6 pts, 7 rebs, 4 blk). In fact, Harangody finished with a disappointing 13 and just five rebounds while plagued with fouls eventually fouling out.

The Irish were kept in by guards Tory Jackson (10 pts, 9 assists) and Staten Island product Kyle McAlarney (20 pts, four treys). Teammates Rob Kurz (15 pts, 7 rebs) and Zach Hillesland (14 pts, 9 rebs) also had solid nights in a losing effort.

Believe it or not, a McLarney off balance right wing three cut Marquette’s lead to six with under 60 seconds left. Jackson stole the in bounds but for some reason, forced up an off balance three from the corner. Had he dribbled and found McAlarney, who also connected on another deep three minutes prior, maybe it becomes a one possession game.

We’ll never know. What is known is that Marquette played superior defense and executed better. Their superior speed and athleticism resulted in a second straight big win.

The Irish will probably get a five or six seed having finished 24-7. A six wouldn’t be great as those 6/11 match-ups can be a nightmare.

If their guards are on and Harangody recovers from an off performance, they could make the Sweet 16. They’ll need to play better D though.

With that, tonight’s big games are about to start. See ya later.