March 9, 2008

The brackets for the 2008 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Aeropostale were finalized on Sunday evening. Villanova (19-11, 9-9) is the No. 8 seed and meets No. 9 seed Syracuse in the tournament opener on Wednesday afternoon (noon/ESPN/Sportstalk 950).

The Wildcats and Orange met twice in 2007-08 with each team gaining a victory on the opponents' home court. On Jan. 19 Villanova picked up an 81-71 victory at the Carrier Dome as sophomore Scottie Reynolds dropped in 25 points. VU rallied from a 35-30 halftime deficit.

Syracuse returned the favor by posting an 87-73 win over the Wildcats on Feb. 2 at the Wachovia Center. Paul Harris scored 28 points for Syracuse that day.

Villanova is 26-23 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament. Syracuse owns an 8-3 advantage over the Wildcats in meetings between the schools in the BIG EAST Tournament.

The winner of Wednesday afternoon's contest advances to meet No. 1 seed Georgetown on Thursday at noon.

Villanova defeated Providence 73-63 in its regular season finale to secure the No. 8 seed. This marked the 21st time in 28 BIG EAST seasons that the Wildcats finished with a record of .500 or better in league play.