Providence beats DePaul, but does it help them?

Providence overcomes a scrappy Depaul team to advance to the quarters of the Big East Tournament with an 83-74 come from behind win. Sharaud Curry had 25 to lead the Friars.

Providence is situated squarely on the bubble. They have an RPI in the low-70's, and two good wins (Pitt and Syracuse), but they have lost 12 games and don't have much meat outside of those two wins. They are the classic definition of "work left to do".

Providence did help themselves by beating DePaul, the formerly winless Big East cellar dwellar.

But how much?

Beating DePaul is far from a good victory. In fact, winning by just nine points and trailing most of the way may actually hurt the Friars in the eyes of the committee. What may have hurt them more was the play of Cincinnati. The Bearcats ended the game on a four game losing streak, thre last three to South Florida, Seton Hall, and DePaul.

Sweeping Cinci was one of the pluses on the Friar's resume. In the last two weeks, that sweep has started to look less and less impressive. So not only did Providence lose out on an opportunity to pick up another decent win in the Big East, Cinci's loss actually hurt the resume they had already built.

What does it all mean? Well, instead of possibly securing a bid with a win over a fellow "bubble" team, PC now earns a hard fought win over one of the worst teams in major conference basketball.

Short of an upset victory over Louisville, Providence is probably NIT bound.