Your 2012 Big East Championship Day 1 Open Thread

Back again, for one last time.

The 2012 Big East Championship will be the last one with the Big East that Marquette joined back in 2005, as West Virginia will leave for the Big 12 over the summer. They will leave behind a reputation of being a bunch of complainers because of the furor created when Adam Zagoria reported that Jae Crowder would be named Big East Player Of The Year yesterday evening. Sorry, y'all, but I don't know why you're so upset about not winning an award from a conference that your athletic director called a sinking ship.

Moving on.

We kick off this year's edition of the Big East Championship the exact same way that we kicked off last year's edition: #9 Connecticut vs #16 DePaul. The more things change, the more they stay the same. That game and the first game of the evening session, Seton Hall-Providence, are of the most interest. Both games feature teams on the edge of the NCAA Tournament at large field in Connecticut and Seton Hall and the winner of the SHU-PC game will face off with Louisville tomorrow for the right to face Marquette on Thursday.

We've got the full lineup of games after the jump! Stick around all day and chat!

Session 1, on ESPN2:

#9 Connecticut (18-12) vs #16 DePaul (12-18), 11am Central
#12 St. John's (13-18) vs #13 Pitt (16-15), 1pm

Session 2, on ESPNU:

#10 Seton Hall (19-11) vs #15 Providence (15-16), 6pm
#11 Rutgers (14-17) vs #14 Villanova (12-18), 8pm