Big East Basketball Standings: Syracuse, Georgetown Ahead Of The Crowded Pack

The storybook ending every Syracuse basketball fan is dreaming of - the one that involves beating the Georgetown Hoyas in the program's final Big East Conference regular-season game to win the league crown - is shaping into form.

On Friday, the Hoyas earned a 62-55 road victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats. The win was Georgetown's seventh consecutive and put them a top of the Big East standings:

If Syracuse is able to win Saturday night at Seton Hall there would be a two-way tie at the top of the standings with the two rivals facing each other twice in the next six games - next Saturday at the Carrier Dome (4 p.m.) and March 9th at the Verizon Center (noon).

As you can see there's a log jam near the top of the standings, as nearly half the field has a chance to collect the regular-season title

The Orange road to the end of the regular season is a bit more difficult than Georgetown, as they play at Marquette (Feb. 25) and host Louisville (March 2).

Meanwhile, the Hoyas' schedule features games against visiting DePaul and Rutgers and road trips to Villanova and UConn - both places SU lost at.

Overall, SU does have the hardest remaining schedule of teams in contention for the regular-season title, however, there's still a lot of games to be played and as we're learning nothing in the conference is automatic.

What we do know is because of Wednesday's loss at UConn, SU's road to its third regular-season crown in four seasons has become more difficult. The only good thing about that is it has become a lot more fun.