Appraising This Tournament Is Difficult : Big East: Talk is cheap for coaches as Connecticut coasts and Georgetown struggles. Syracuse and Villanova also advance.

They protect their own in the Big East. When No. 5-ranked Georgetown beat Providence, 78-77, in Friday’s tournament quarterfinals, the first man at the losers’ side was Hoya Coach John Thompson, who immediately proclaimed the Friars an NCAA postseason-caliber team.

“No one sane would want to play them,” Thompson announced.

And earlier in the day, after Seton Hall was bounced by No. 8-ranked Connecticut, 76-58, Pirate Coach P.J. Carlesimo couldn’t congratulate the Huskies enough. Any more back slaps and Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun would have required treatment.

“They might not (lose) for another three or four weeks,” Carlesimo cheerfully predicted. “They have as good a chance of winning the national championship as anybody.”

Carlesimo should know. Seton Hall came within a three-point shot of an NCAA title last season. This time, the Pirates (12-16) couldn’t reach their conference’s semifinal tournament game.

They are reduced to spectators less than 12 months after the program’s finest moment.

Georgetown almost made an early exit of its own. Down 12-0 to Providence with three minutes gone in the first half, the Hoyas appeared tense and mechanical. Thompson motioned for a timeout and assembled his team at courtside.

Several minutes later, Georgetown had cut the lead to 12-8. And by the eight-minute mark, the Hoyas had overtaken the Friars, 20-19.

Whatever Thompson had said in the team huddle had worked. Details of the conversation, though, remain sketchy. Blame decorum, Thompson said.

“When it was 12-0. . . well, we have women in here,” he said, smiling.

But the gist of the scream session was this: Plenty of time remained, so why panic?

The Hoyas slowly distanced themselves from Providence (17-11). A four-point halftime lead grew to nine points with 9:23 left in the game . . . to 11 with 7:32 remaining . . . and to 13 with just 3:29 to play. The game seemed safely in the Hoyas’ hands.

Shortly thereafter, the Friars made a furious run at No. 5-ranked Georgetown. They fouled at every opportunity, stopping the clock and forcing the Hoyas to convert their free throws.

With each miss, Providence inched back into the game. It trailed, 75-70, with 26 seconds remaining and was a three-pointer away from tying the game with nine seconds left.

But David Edwards made the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity, extending Georgetown’s lead to four points with eight seconds showing. Providence’s Greg Bent hit a last-second three-pointer, but it didn’t matter by then.

“I don’t think the score reflected the game,” Thompson said. “I think it reflected the last few minutes of the game.”

What the Hoyas managed to do the whole game was put the clamps on Providence’s leading scorer, Carlton Screen, who had 29 points when the teams met about a month ago. Friday, Georgetown shut him out: 0 for 4 from the field, 0 for 0 from the foul line.

Calhoun, the Connecticut coach, had issued upset warnings shortly before the Providence-Georgetown game. When someone asked him about facing the Hoyas in the semifinals, Calhoun rolled his eyes.

“You know, there is somebody else playing out there,” he said. “I just wanted to interject that Providence College might win.”

He was almost right. And if nothing else, the Friars fared better than Carlesimo’s Seton Hall team.

Connecticut was never seriously threatened. It led by 10 points at halftime. The Huskies are 26-0 when presented with a halftime lead.

Tate George scored 20 points for Connecticut. Seton Hall’s Terry Dehere also had 20. But the Huskies attempted 25 more free throws than Seton Hall, converting 17 of them.

“It’s a three-game season,” Calhoun said. “It’s very important for us to show that the things we’ve done for the last 3 1/2 months, we could continue to do.”

Not to worry. Seton Hall will vouch for all Connecticut claims.

A claim that Pittsburgh can make is being perhaps the most hard-luck team in the nation. The Panthers, unfortunate all season, had a particularly sour ending in a 58-55 loss to No. 4-ranked and top-seeded Syracuse.

Trailing by one with eight seconds remaining, Pitt’s Brian Shorter rose toward the basket for an apparent game-winning dunk. It was at that exact moment that Syracuse’s Anthony Scott, watching from a few feet away, considered the his team done for.

“When I saw Shorter go baseline for the dunk, I thought it was all over,” he said. “Then I saw Derrick come over.”

That would be forward Derrick Coleman, Big East player of the year. Coleman raced toward the basket and, in a lottery pick type of play, somehow blocked Shorter’s would-be slam.

Teammate Billy Owens retrieved the blocked shot, was fouled, sank two free throws and then held his breath as Pitt tried to tie the game in the final six seconds.

The eighth-seeded Panthers didn’t even get a shot off as Darelle Porter’s errant pass to Bobby Martin went of bounds at the buzzer.

It was a familiar scenario for Pitt (12-17). Earlier this year against Syracuse, the Panthers held a one-point lead with less than 10 seconds left, only to have a shot blocked by LeRon Ellis and the Orangemen convert the turnover into a game-winning dunk of their own.

But this time it was Coleman who provided the heroics. In addition to the blocked dunk attempt, Coleman had seven rebounds and 14 points, including a leaning eight-footer with 18 seconds left that gave Syracuse a 56-55 lead.

“My teammates know I’m the go-to guy,” he said.

As a result of Coleman’s heroics, the Orangemen advance to today’s second semifinal game against Villanova, the only team to sweep them during the regular season.

In a mild upset, the Wildcats, in desperate need of at least one, maybe two victories to earn an NCAA tournament invitation, overcame a seven-point second-half deficit to beat St. John’s, 70-60.

“This was the key game for us,” Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino said. “I feel a lot better right now.”

Center Tom Greis led Villanova (18-13) with 16 points and six rebounds. St. John’s (23-9) got 18 points from Malik Sealy.