The Big East has seen a few big games today with some implications for Pitt.

First was Georgetown walking all over Marquette. I have a hard time believing we can drop three games to the Golden Eagles after this game, but hey, this is the Big East. Every game is tough and every game can surprise you in some way. From a Pitt standpoint we get a little more breathing room at the top spot in the conference standings. Georgetown is one game back and Marquette is 1.5 back.

The real upset was West Virginia over Ben Howland’s Bruins. Although it was 10 am in the internal clocks of UCLA players and starting PG Darren Collison didn’t play, a loss is a loss in the eyes of the RPI–something which means a good deal to Pitt at this point.

According to ESPN InsiderRPI (subs. of course), UCLA had the #1 RPI before the loss (Pitt with the 3rd RPI) and it will be interesting to see how that shapes up once it is updated.

Should it be a choice between Pitt and UCLA for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, our win over WVU and UCLA’s loss could both play a big part in that decision.

By the way, four weeks from tomorrow we’ll know if Pitt gets screwed again by the selection committee.