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Click here to read Brendon’s rankings with descriptions on his SNY.tv blog, Court Visions >

Welcome to Bracket Junkie’s first NCAA Tournament bracket projection of the season. At the bottom of this post — after my elucidating remarks on the bracket above — you can find a link to the full breakdown that I use to help create the bracket. It’s color-coded for the viewing pleasure of you and your young child.

Projecting the NCAA Tournament field >

Projecting the Big East standings >

The biggest difference in Connecticut’s two-point win over Louisville at the XL Center on Monday night was point-guard play. The Huskies had a clear floor leader, and the Cardinals are still searching for a player they can depend on to make good decisions with the ball in his hands.

Edgar Sosa had one of his best games of the season with seven points and four assists, but his play has been so erratic that one never knows what he’ll provide from one night to the next. And Louisville was just as likely to take a poor shot as a good one in the closing minutes of Monday’s loss. A lot of that falls on Sosa and Andre McGee, who often fail to run the Cardinals’ offense effectively and don’t get their teammates the ball in positions to succeed.

UConn’s A.J. Price, in contrast, controlled the tempo, played a game-high 39 minutes, scored a game-high 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and delivered four assists. He also had two steals. It’s his emergence as an all-league point guard that has been the impetus for Connecticut’s return as a Big East power.

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Power Rankings (through January 27):

Dante and Brendon put their heads together on Monday and put this together. (Expect a new podcast later tonight.)

1. Georgetown
2. Connecticut
3. Louisville
t4. Marquette
t4. Pittsburgh
t4. West Virginia
7. Notre Dame
t8. Seton Hall
t8. Villanova
t10. Cincinnati
t10. Syracuse
12. Providence
13. DePaul
14. Rutgers
15. St. John’s
16. South Florida

Player of the Week: A.J. Price (Dante Carnevale) and Brian Laing (Brendon Desrochers)
Freshman of the Week: Mike Coburn (Dante Carnevale) and Corey Chandler (Brendon Desrochers)

Read Brendon’s full power rankings breakdown>

It’s late on a Friday, so we’re going to keep this brief.

One recap. Eight previews. Seven Big East games. Sixteen Big East teams. One team on bye. Fifteen teams not on bye. There’s only one Big East Conference. There’s only one Court Visions college basketball blog. There’s only one LAST WEEKEND IN JANUARY!

Gonzo gets first Big East road win: Despite trailing by 15 in the first half, Seton Hall outfought the Providence Friars for an 88-75 win in Providence on Thursday night. Brian Laing led the way with 22 and 13, the Pirates outrebounded Providence. Meanwhile, the Friars’ Jeff Xavier hit just 1-of-10 3-pointers. It was a very difficult loss to swallow for Providence, which was in the midst of a three-game win streak and playing at home. The win got Seton Hall back to .500 in conference, and the Pirates can seriously start thinking about postseason possibilities — until the next loss. That’s Big East basketball — one week Providence and Villanova are riding high, the next week their as low as the Mojave. Bobby Gonzalez has done a terrific job getting a flawed team to play at such a high level with consistency. Jim Spanarkel continues to wish Gonzo a good something — not sure what.

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Two stories unfolded at once across the Big East on Wednesday night. While Rutgers was pulling off the upset of the season against Villanova in Piscataway, Connecticut and Cincinnati were locked in a physical battle that tested both teams’ guts and poise.

At the Louis Brown Athletic Center (or RAC), Rutgers has long been a formidable foe, and even this — one of the weakest Scarlet Knights teams in an unimpressive basketball heritage — would be a tough out for any team who enters the RAC.

Someone wrote this on Monday afternoon: “RU hosts Villanova on Wednesday in a bit of a trap game for a young Wildcats team. It comes between the big road win at Syracuse and a home game against Notre Dame on Saturday. Also, Fred Hill is a former Jay Wright assistant, so this could be more interesting than it appears at first glance.”

More interesting indeed.

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With the exception of the ever-tantalizing Big Monday matchup between Syracuse and Georgetown this week’s slate is pretty uninspiring. But because the many matchups feature a better team traveling to a weaker team, we could have a setting ripe for upsets. South Florida, Rutgers and St. John’s — the nearly undisputed worst teams in the conference — each have a chance to pull off an upset at home on Wednesday night.

Louisville (DCBI 40 — you can find an explanation of the DCBI here) at South Florida (DCBI 106) (7:00 p.m. ET on SNY): To listen to Louisville assistant coach Steve Masiello describe it, Louisville’s 92-82 loss at Seton Hall on Saturday was simply a matter of running into a team on an unconscious shooting night. That may be the primary cause of of Seton Hall’s 13-for-28 night from deep, but Cincinnati and even Rutgers had previously shot well from deep in games against Louisville in conference play. Part of the Pitino credo is that his team hits 3’s while preventing opponents from doing the same. Louisville has been terrible at the offensive side of 3’s (16th in percentage during conference play) and mediocre on the defensive side (10th in 3-point shooting defense).

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