Big East Tournament 2012 Schedule: Predictions for Syracuse vs. UConn and More

The 2012 Big East tournament will continue to get more exciting, as some of Thursday's round of games will come down to the wire. 

It's day three of the tournament, and the surprise so far has been the UConn Huskies advancing this far. 

They had a magical run a year ago, and they're hoping to duplicate that to increase their chances of reaching the NCAA tournament. 

The top four seeds finally get to play today, so it will be interesting to see if there are any major upsets. 

That being said, here are my predictions for Thursday's action. 

Game 9: No. 1 Syracuse vs. No. 9 UConn (12:00 p.m. ET)

The Huskies shocked everyone with their overtime victory against West Virginia on Wednesday. Their confidence is sky high, which will greatly help them against the Orange.

Syracuse has been resting up while UConn has been getting on a roll, and this could hurt them. The Huskies also gave the Orange a good challenge the last time they faced them.

Unfortunately, the great run ends here because Syracuse is just a better team. They're more complete and they'll use lock down defense to take care of the Huskies. 

Prediction: Syracuse 70, UConn 64 

Game 10: No. 5 Georgetown vs. No. 4 Cincinnati (2:00 p.m. ET)

The Bearcats have enjoyed their extra rest, whereas the Hoyas easily took down Pittsburgh on Wednesday. 

They haven't played each other since early January. Cincinnati won by four points, but both teams have improved since then. 

Today's game will be very fun but also intense. In the end, I'll go with the Hoyas in an upset because they'll be motivated to stick it to the Bearcats for taking that No. 4 seed away from them. 

Prediction: Georgetown 66, Cincinnati 64

Game 11: No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 2 Marquette (7:00 p.m. ET)

The Golden Eagles are going to be very tough to beat, but the Cardinals know they can hang with them. 

This should be a very close matchup, despite the fact Louisville is a No. 7 seed. They're still very talented, and so is Marquette. 

In the end, I give the edge to Marquette and their strong senior leadership. 

Prediction: Marquette 77, Louisville 74

Game 12: No. 6 USF vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (9:00 p.m. ET)

The Fighting Irish have a great chance to win this tournament, and it all starts against South Florida. 

Notre Dame demolished them earlier in the year, and while I think the Bulls will put up a better fight this time around, it will still be hard for them to pull off the upset.

Jack Cooley gets the job done for the Fighting Irish, and Notre Dame advances that much closer to the finals. 

Prediction: Notre Dame 65, USF 57 

Remaining Schedule 

Friday

Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 7:00 p.m. ET ESPN

Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner, 9:00 p.m. ET ESPN

Saturday 

Big East Tournament Championship Game: 9:00 p.m. ET ESPN

Prediction: Syracuse over Marquette 

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