March 1, 1998

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Providence College Friars will open the BIG EAST Tournament on Wednesday, March 4th at 11:00 a.m. as the eighth seed in the tournament. The Friars will play the #9 seed, Notre Dame in the opening game at Madison Square Garden.

The Friars finished the year with a 12-15 record overall and were 7-11, good for fourth, in the BIG EAST 7 Division. Notre Dame was 13-13 in the regular season and finished fifth in the BIG EAST 6 with a 7-11 record.

The two teams just played on Saturday, February 28th in Providence with the Friars winning, 77-62.

For the BIG EAST Tournament, the first place teams in each division (#1 Connecticut and #2 Syracuse) get a first round bye as does the second place team with the best record (#3 St. John's). The next three teams in each division alternate by record to fill out the top six spots. Thus Miami is #4, West Virginia #5 and Seton Hall #6. The remaining teams are then seeded by record.

Villanova was 8-10 to be the #7 seed. Providence won the tiebreaker with Notre Dame as both teams were 7-11 and the Friars won the head-to-head meeting.

Here's a look at the tournament setup:

Wednesday, March 4
#8 Providence vs. #9 Notre Dame            11:00 am   ESPN2
#4 Miami vs. #13 Georgetown                 1:00 pm   ESPN
#5 West Virginia vs. #12  Rutgers           3:30 pm   ESPN
#7 Villanova vs. #10  Pittsburgh            7:30 pm   ESPN2
#6 Seton Hall vs. 11 Boston College         9:30 pm   ESPN

Thursday, March 5
Winnner of PC vs. Notre Dame vs. #1 Connectictut       Noon      ESPN2
Winner of Miami-Georgetown vs. Winner of WVU-Rutgers   2:00 pm   ESPN
Winner of Villanova-Pittsburgh vs. #2 Syracuse         7:00 pm   ESPN2
Winner of Seton Hall-Boston College vs. #3 St. John's  9:00 pm   ESPN

Friday, March 6
Thursday Afternoon Winners               7:00 pm   ESPN
Thursday Evening Winners                 9:00 pm   ESPN

Saturday, March 7
Semifinal Winners                       8:00 pm   ESPN