Big East basketball was finally supposed to take its lumps this year. Connecticut was picked to finish 10th in the league, Syracuse was supposed to be rebuilding after losing three starters, two of them NBA-caliber, and Louisville was pegged as a team of young, hot recruits playing for a coach who was shaking off an embarrassing offseason that included having to testify in an extortion trial.  But Louisville’s ascension to 22nd in Mondays Associated Press poll sent a message to the rest of college basketball: the Big East is doing just fine. Seven of the top 25 spots belong to Big East teams, including 13-0 Syracuse. Six are in the top 15. Five reside in the top nine. Undefeated Cincinnati is scratching the surface alongside West Virginia in the upper end of the Others Receiving Votes pool. Eventually, all of this will change as the schools inevitably beat up on each other. But as they shuffle and volley for position, college basketball fans will be treated to plenty more top-flight matchups like Monday’s 78-63 win by No. 6 Pittsburgh over No. 4 Connecticut.  “This was supposed to be the year the bully would get bullied. The year the worm turned. The year the Big East finally experienced a down season,” the Post Standard’s Mike Waters writes. “The Big East, it seemed, was about to get its comeuppance. Two months later, the supposedly down Big East again looks dominant.”  ESPN’s Andy Katz, after watching the first third of the season unfold, now predicts that the Big East will place eight teams in the NCAA tournament, and chides hoops prognosticators for thinking the conference would have lost a step because of graduations and NBA defections. “The largest league in the country once again should be one of the best, and perhaps one of the most competitive,” Katz writes, “with a chance to have more bids than any other conference.”  Syracuse’s Rick Jackson and UConn’s Kemba Walker have been the breakout stars of this young season. Jackson shed 25 pounds in the offseason and has been so efficient at rebounding and scoring that fans have come to expect double-doubles from him every night (he already has nine this season). Walker, who scored 31 points in the loss to Pitt, leads the nation in scoring and has connected on over 42% of his three-point attempts. “If you’ve watched any Connecticut basketball game this season, youd be hard pressed to find a better player than Kemba Walker,” the Lost Lettermen staff writes in naming Walker their early candidate for player of the year. “When he takes over a game, it’s almost a crime not to serve popcorn and soda along with the performance.”  One of the teams that might buckle under the weight of a seemingly top-heavy league is Seton Hall. After losing guard Jeremy Hazell, who had averaged 24 points in his first three games of the season, for six weeks with a wrist injury suffered in November, the Pirates learned that their top scorer might be out for the entire season after he was shot in the back Sunday morning in Harlem. it looks likely that the lanky scorer will be redshirted because of the wound. Hazell recounted the shooting for the Daily News. It’s just another bit of bad news for new head coach Kevin Willard, whose 6-6 team already has losses to Atlantic-10 teams Temple, Xavier, Richmond and Dayton, and starts Big East play Tuesday night. “I’m worried that we’re 1-4 in A-10 play,” Willard told the New York Post’s Dan Tomasino. “I don’t know how we’re gonna do in the Big East.”  The defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints accomplished a few things with their 17-14 Monday night victory over Atlanta. First, and most importantly, they locked up a playoff spot, leaving the Giants, Packers and Buccaneers scrambling for the last NFC wild card entry into this year’s postseason. Second, the Saints showed themselves still capable of winning crucial games, even if they’re marred by ugly interceptions and lack the offensive fireworks that football fans have come to expect from them. And third, New Orleans proved that the Falcons could be had at home. No visitor had won in Atlanta this season (and its happened just once before with Matt Ryan starting under center). “Though the Saints likely wont overtake the Falcons for the division title, first-round playoff bye or No. 1 overall seed,” Yahoo’s Michael Silver writes, “they’re suddenly looking like a team capable of coming out of the wild-card round and accomplishing big things.”  The Times-Picayune’s Jeff Duncan took pleasure in turning the Falcons marketing call for fans to “Rise Up” back on them. “In one memorable evening, the Saints stole the Falcons’ slogan and thunder, and spoiled their armor of invincibility at the Georgia Dome,” Duncan writes. “The road to the Super Bowl might go through Peachtree Street, but it also might have go around the defending champions.”  Air Force defeated Georgia Tech 14-7 Monday in a relatively ho-hum Independence Bowl that had promised much more from the nation’s top two rushing offenses (Georgia Tech averaged 327 rushing yards per game this season, Air Force 317.9). Much more interesting were stories coming out of the game about Air Force’s live falcon mascot. Instead of flying back to its handler’s arm before the game, the falcon took off from the stadium area and toured Shreveport, La., for three quarters, until it was found, corralled, and brought back to the stadium in time for the end of the game. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Doug Roberson said that the bird, one of several trained falcons used by the school, was found perched on a building. Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel thinks he knows why the bird returned to its handlers so peacefully. “Reports have said that the bird was recovered downtown,” Murschel writes, “after it realized there wasn’t really anything to do in Shreveport.”  Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself  write to us at dailyfixlinks@gmail.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email Nando at nandodifino@yahoo.com.
If this is a down year for the league, it's scary to think what an up year looks like. Plus: The Saints show they're still a force; and runaway falcon tours Shreveport.