Big East Quarterfinals: A Look Ahead

by TRAVIS CLARK

The Big East happens to be an earlier starter when it comes to the postseason tournament. The first round took place midweek, and while it's too early to pronounce some of the results as upsets, DePaul managing to squeak into the quarterfinals comes as a slight surprise -- the Demons drew 2-2 at Georgetown before winning on penalties. West Virginia also fell at the hands of Rutgers, 2-0.

With the quarterfinals taking place on Saturday and Sunday, notable upsets could be on the horizon, as the two best Big East schools enter play after a first round bye. No. 5 Louisville and No. 8 Connecticut are certainly the favorites at this stage of the tournament. Louisville boasts the best statistical case, having tallied an impressive 32 goals in conference play, with UConn the next closest at 20.

 South Florida, Notre Dame and St. John's are three schools that could put together a run and contend for the conference. South Florida sits at No. 13, but the Bulls face a tough challenge when they visit the Irish on Sunday. St. John's were in the preseason top 5, but after posting a rather disappointing 7-2-8 mark sit on the brink of the top 25.

As November 16 nears -- NCAA Tournament Selection day -- this conference tournament has huge implications. First, the automatic big to the NCAA Championship that conference winners receives is huge in the Big East that is not highly regarded in the RPI, and secondly, if a program of a higher stature were to get knocked out, it would take away an at-large bid another school was out to land.

Here's a look at the match-ups this weekend:

Saturday

(6-R) Rutgers at (2-R) St. John's

(5-B) Providence at (5-B) Connecticut

(5-R) DePaul at (1-R) Louisville

Sunday

(3-R) South Florida at (2-B) Notre Dame

*R is for Red Division, B is for Blue

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Who do you think will win this weekend in the Big East Tournament? Will anyone fall victim to an upset? Are Louisville and UConn both sure bets to advance?

Share your thoughts below.