Big East Tournament 2012 Bracket: Teams That Could Surprise the Field

The Big East looks set in stone with both the Syracuse Orange and Marquette Golden Eagles looking to take the field, but are there any teams that could surprise us all?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish definitely stand a chance, as do the Cincinnati Bearcats, but the rest of the field is in question.

The Big East has been one of the strongest conferences all season long, so many of these teams should still be a shoo-in even without claiming the automatic bid.

Outside of the top four, these teams can come in and potentially upset the field and perhaps capture the Big East title.

No. 9 UConn Huskies

The reigning National Champions can never be written off, even if they have to go through both the DePaul Blue Demons and the West Virginia Mountaineers just to reach the Orange in the quarterfinals.

The Huskies have had a decent season going 18-12, but the problems lies in them losing eight of their 18 conference games.

The team is also coming off of a few disappointing losses, as they dropped two-point games to both Providence and the Orange just before they took down the Pittsburgh Panthers to close out the year.

They will need to find some of that magic that they found around this time last year, and if they can potentially upset the Mountaineers and the Orange, they stand a chance to take down anyone in this field.

No. 7 Louisville Cardinals

Caught behind the great play of the conference leaders, the Cardinals haven't had a bad season themselves.

Rick Pitino's squad has gone 22-9 this year, but their conference record is just 10-8. They are coming off of a tough loss to the Orange to finish out the season, dropping the final game 58-49.

The team will need to ramp up the scoring heading into this tournament, but with Providence or Seton Hall their first opponents on the board, they should have an easy time reaching the Golden Eagles in the quarterfinals.

The two only met once this season, which was on the road for the Cardinals. They dropped that game 74-63, but they will be looking to get the best of the Golden Eagles the second time around.

If they can overcome Marquette, there is a good chance they have a shot against the Fighting Irish the following round—assuming they make it there.

The toughest challenge would be a third game against the Orange in the final of the tourney, which could really hinder the team's chances of taking the whole thing.

No. 6 USF Bulls

The Bulls are a team that can shock many in the Big East tournament, but their history definitely isn't in their corner.

While they should have no problem with Villanova or Rutgers in the second round, as they handled both fairly easily, it will be the Fighting Irish in the quarterfinals that can trip them up.

The two played each other back in early January, and the Bulls fell 60-49 on the road. They never got another look at the Irish, but they have a shot in the dark of taking them out in the Big East tourney.

Things won't get any easier in the semifinals, but given they only played each Big East opponent once (besides Villanova and Pitt), they could surprise many in their second shot at a victory.