No surprises so far in the Big East

There was nothing new or unexpected in what happened to Georgetown on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big East tournament. Overmatched by Boston College, the Hoyas lost, 68-57, which put the finishing touches on a season full of dubious achievements from a team that was once a perennial championship contender in the Big East.

The Hoyas finished the season with a 13-15 record and are not eligible for a postseason tournament for the first time since the 1973-1974 season. The defeat was their ninth straight, their longest losing streak since 1971-1972. The streak includes a loss to St. John's, the only Big East game won by a Red Storm team ravaged by suspensions and expulsions.

It was also a tough afternoon at Madison Square Garden for Rutgers, which dropped its third straight game in a 61-58 loss to Virginia Tech. The Hokies (14-14), making their first and last Big East tournament appearance before joining the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, advanced to the quarterfinal round and will face No. 6 Pittsburgh (27-3) today.

Boston College (22-8) will face No. 17 Syracuse (21-6) at 2:30pm.

At least Rutgers (16-12) appears headed to the National Invitation Tournament, a possibility that slipped away from Georgetown on Wednesday. Teams with records below .500 are not eligible for the NIT.

The Hoyas did not go down easily. They trimmed a 10-point deficit in the second half to a point, but they withered as Boston College made 11 of 14 free-throw attempts over the final 4 minutes 48 seconds.

Georgetown Craig Esherick, who last year signed a contract extension through the 2008-2009 season, understands that good effort means little when the season ends without so much as a trip to the NIT.

"I'm disappointed and I think the players are disappointed," he said. "When I look back on this season, the one thing I am going to think is that our guys did the best they possibly could. In a lot of games we were overmatched, and I think some of that was recruiting more so than anything we could have done in those games."

The dismal season has many Georgetown fans regretting the university's decision to extend Esherick's contract, particularly for so many years. But Esherick argued that it was unfair to judge him off one poor season.

"I was certainly very proud of the streak we had," said Esherick, who took over as head coach in the middle of the 1998-1999 season when John Thompson stepped down.

The Eagles have won six straight games and seem all but certain to receive at least an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Rutgers its third game in a row as its hopes of an NCAA tournament bid evaporated. The Scarlet Knights have lost their last three games by a combined six points, failing each time to come up with a crucial play or basket.

"We'll try not to think about it too much and move on, but this definitely hurts," Rutgers forward Adrian Hill said. "We lost those games by one point, two points and three points. It was a matter of too many turnovers and tough play, which is what Rutgers basketball is all about. We're a tough team, tough defenders and tough rebounders, and we got away from that."

Still, Rutgers did not run out of chances. With 10.4 seconds left and the Hokies leading, 61-58, Bryan Randall, who is also the starting quarterback on the Virginia Tech football team, missed the second of two free throws, which gave the Scarlet Knights life.