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UConn center Donovan Clingan (32) and his teammates reacts in the final seconds of the second half of a second-round college basketball game against Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2024, in New York. UConn won 75-58. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
NEW YORK (AP) — Since a disappointing Selection Sunday for the Big East, when all its bubble teams including St. John’s got left out of the NCAA field, the conference has not lost a game in the tournament.
Defending national champion UConn, Marquette and Creighton advanced to the Sweet 16, the Huskies rounding out a 6-0 weekend for the Big East with a 75-58 second-round victory over Northwestern on Sunday night.
Three NCAA bids for the Big East was its fewest since 1993, a surprising development because the league was generally considered among the best Division I conferences this season. Now it is the only multibid conference to get through the first week of the tournament without losing a game.
“When you’re on the bubble, it’s precarious when these things happen. But, yes, I think the teams that are left are finding a way to send a bit of a message here,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where UConn was playing. “That the Big East is one of the elite basketball conferences in the country.”
After an ugly performance by Virginia in the First Four, the Atlantic Coast Conference also asserted itself during the first weekend of the tournament after what was a viewed as a down regular season for the traditional basketball power conference.
The ACC has four teams in the Sweet 16, the most of any conference: Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Clemson advanced to the regional semifinals that start Thursday.
There are more teams from the 919 area code in…
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