Big East Tournament 2012 Bracket: Syracuse and Notre Dame on a Collision Course

The only team that has beaten Syracuse all season is lined up to meet the Orange again in the finals of the Big East tournament. 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the third seed in the Big East. That puts them in the bottom half of the bracket with No. 2 seed Marquette. And that leaves them both looking up at No. 1 seed Syracuse. 

You can view the full bracket here. 

The Orange earned the No. 1 seed on the strength of their greatest regular season ever. They finished at 30-1 overall, 19-0 at home, and set a Big East record for dominance with a 17-1 record in the conference.

The home record isn't supposed to be a factor now that college basketball has reached tournament season, but the Big East tournament will be played in Madison Square Garden, which is a home away from home for the Orange.

They are clearly the class of this league, and they will cruise into the championship game. But it is there where they could face a troublesome matchup.  

The Orange's lone blemish on the season came against Notre Dame. The Irish took down Syracuse by nine, 67-58, on Jan. 21.

In that game, the Irish were drilling their outside shots, giving the Orange's zone defense fits. That is certainly a performance this team is capable of repeating. 

Of course, they will have to get there to prove it. And that is going to be easier than you might think. The big team standing in their way is Marquette. 

Notre Dame throttled Marquette 76-59 last month in their only meeting of the season.

Anything can happen in these tournaments, but the smart money is on a Syracuse-Notre Dame championship game.