Reuters, LOS ANGELES: The race is on between Paramount's Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and Sony's Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy Just Go With It.
In an impressive start, Never Say Never opened to an estimated $12.4 million from 3,105 theaters on Friday to beat Just Go With It, which grossed an estimated $9.7 million from 3,548 theaters.
Both movies should crack the $30 million mark for the full weekend. Heading into the frame, most box office observers expected Just Go With It to win the session, but Never Say Never is now a real contender.
Concert films generally drop more than regular movies as the weekend unfolds, and that's the reason why no one is ready to call the contest between Never Say Never, directed by Jon M. Chu, and Just Go With It, directed by Dennis Dugan.
Of those turning out for Bieber's bigscreen debut, 84 percent were females, with 67 percent under the age of 25. Just Go With It played to a distinctly older audience, with 67 percent of those buying tickets over the age of 25. The Sandler-Aniston pairing played heavily to females, or 61 percent.
In 2008, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour opened to $8.7 million on Friday on its way to grossing $31.1 million for the weekend.
Moviegoers liked Never Say Never and Just Go With It, portending good word of mouth. Bieber fans gave Never Say Never an A CinemaScore, while Just Go With It received an A- (females gave the romantic comedy an A).
Disney's animated family film Gnomeo & Juliet opened to an estimated $6.1 million from 2,994 theaters on Friday. The 3D film should pick up Saturday and gross north of $20 million for the weekend.
Focus Features' Channing Tatum Roman epic The Eagle, directed by Kevin Macdonald, opened to an estimated $2.8 million from 2,296 theaters, in line with expectations.
Coming in No. 5 on Friday was Screen Gems holdover The Roommate, which grossed $2.6 million in its second Friday bringing its total ticket sales to $20.3 million.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Gabourey Sidibe says enough "perfect, pretty" films
Reuters, BERLINp: Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, who stars in a new street drama tackling violence, mental illness, and drugs, told the Berlin film festival on Saturday that Hollywood should better reflect the real world.
"Yelling to the Sky" is actress-turned-director Victoria Mahoney's debut feature. She also wrote and produced it.
The movie, which also features musician Lenny Kravitz's daughter Zoe in the lead role of 17-year-old Sweetness O'Hara, is in the main competition line-up in Berlin.
"Yelling to the Sky" has drawn comparisons to "Precious", the 2009 picture for which Sidibe was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Both are no-frills treatments of a young woman's struggle to emerge from domestic abuse and poverty.
The muted reaction among journalists and critics at a press screening in Berlin, however, suggested it may not enjoy the same critical acclaim.
"I think the similarity between this film and 'Precious' is that it's not a perfect, pretty story, which is what we get most of the time out of Hollywood," Sidibe told reporters.
"It's gritty and honest and it's not trying to make you like it. It's really a slice of life and it's this one girl's life and her struggle and her fight to really become a person and to define who she is.
"I think there needs to be more stories like that because my life has never looked like anything that Hollywood has produced."
TOUGH THEMES
Berlin has a reputation for showcasing hard-hitting, low-budget movies, and "Yelling to the Sky" fits the bill neatly.
Sweetness is the daughter of a mixed-race couple in a rundown U.S. neighborhood. She is beaten on the street by notorious bully Latonya (Sidibe). Her mother, who is mentally ill, flees home when her husband beats her.
Older sister Ola takes Sweetness under her wing, but when she leaves, the central character is left to fend for herself.
Sweetness forms a gang, deals and takes drugs, metes out punishment of her own and gets caught up in serious crime. The she tries to turn her life around before it is too late.
"Even though she is in extreme circumstances, I think what related me to Sweetness was the emotional aspect of just growing up," actress Kravitz said of her role.
"Even though I didn't grow up in those kind of circumstances ... I was still lost and confused and alone and sad and angry and all of the very human emotions that I think we all feel."
Mahoney said she did not believe the film was too negative.
"I believe that it was an honest expression of what was occurring for those people in that moment," she said. "There are moments of joy and light and love and care."
Mahoney expressed hope that her first movie would lead to more that featured mixed race relationships and children.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
"Yelling to the Sky" is actress-turned-director Victoria Mahoney's debut feature. She also wrote and produced it.
The movie, which also features musician Lenny Kravitz's daughter Zoe in the lead role of 17-year-old Sweetness O'Hara, is in the main competition line-up in Berlin.
"Yelling to the Sky" has drawn comparisons to "Precious", the 2009 picture for which Sidibe was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Both are no-frills treatments of a young woman's struggle to emerge from domestic abuse and poverty.
The muted reaction among journalists and critics at a press screening in Berlin, however, suggested it may not enjoy the same critical acclaim.
"I think the similarity between this film and 'Precious' is that it's not a perfect, pretty story, which is what we get most of the time out of Hollywood," Sidibe told reporters.
"It's gritty and honest and it's not trying to make you like it. It's really a slice of life and it's this one girl's life and her struggle and her fight to really become a person and to define who she is.
"I think there needs to be more stories like that because my life has never looked like anything that Hollywood has produced."
TOUGH THEMES
Berlin has a reputation for showcasing hard-hitting, low-budget movies, and "Yelling to the Sky" fits the bill neatly.
Sweetness is the daughter of a mixed-race couple in a rundown U.S. neighborhood. She is beaten on the street by notorious bully Latonya (Sidibe). Her mother, who is mentally ill, flees home when her husband beats her.
Older sister Ola takes Sweetness under her wing, but when she leaves, the central character is left to fend for herself.
Sweetness forms a gang, deals and takes drugs, metes out punishment of her own and gets caught up in serious crime. The she tries to turn her life around before it is too late.
"Even though she is in extreme circumstances, I think what related me to Sweetness was the emotional aspect of just growing up," actress Kravitz said of her role.
"Even though I didn't grow up in those kind of circumstances ... I was still lost and confused and alone and sad and angry and all of the very human emotions that I think we all feel."
Mahoney said she did not believe the film was too negative.
"I believe that it was an honest expression of what was occurring for those people in that moment," she said. "There are moments of joy and light and love and care."
Mahoney expressed hope that her first movie would lead to more that featured mixed race relationships and children.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Fox: No plans to hire Lindsay Lohan for 'X-Factor'
AP, LOS ANGELES: Lindsay Lohan's escalating legal woes have been accompanied by rumors about the future of her career.
But a spokeswoman for Fox's upcoming "The X-Factor" says the talent show isn't part of the equation.
Ann-Marie Thomson said Saturday that producers have not talked to Lohan (LOH'-un) about joining the show, despite online speculation that the troubled actress was being courted as a judge.
"The X-Factor" is the creation of former "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell. It is set to premiere in the fall.
Lohan was arraigned this week on a charge that she stole a $2,500 necklace from an upscale Los Angeles jeweler.
But a spokeswoman for Fox's upcoming "The X-Factor" says the talent show isn't part of the equation.
Ann-Marie Thomson said Saturday that producers have not talked to Lohan (LOH'-un) about joining the show, despite online speculation that the troubled actress was being courted as a judge.
"The X-Factor" is the creation of former "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell. It is set to premiere in the fall.
Lohan was arraigned this week on a charge that she stole a $2,500 necklace from an upscale Los Angeles jeweler.
Liz Taylor treated for congestive heart failure
AP, LOS ANGELES: Elizabeth Taylor remained in a Los Angeles hospital on Saturday for treatment of congestive heart failure.
The Oscar-winning actress' condition was unchanged, her spokeswoman Sally Morrison said early Saturday afternoon. She did not know how long Taylor would remain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The 78-year-old Taylor first disclosed in November 2004 that she suffered from congestive heart failure. The condition was compounded with other ailments including spinal fractures and the effects of scoliosis.
Taylor had been scheduled to attend an amfAR benefit gala Wednesday night in New York, where she was to receive an award alongside President Bill Clinton and designer Diane von Furstenberg, celebrating their dedication to AIDS research.
Elton John accepted the honor on her behalf.
The actress had near-fatal bouts with pneumonia in 1961 and 1990, and another respiratory infection forced her to cancel all engagements for several weeks in late 1992. Both her hip joints were replaced in 1994 and 1995.
She's also battled ulcers, amoebic dysentery, bursitis, and had a benign brain tumor removed in 1997. In recent years, she has had to use a wheelchair when out in public.
Taylor, who's appeared in more than 50 films, won Oscars for her performances in "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). But she's been just as famous for her marriages — all eight of them, including two to Richard Burton — and her lifelong battles with substance abuse, her weight and physical ailments, including numerous visits to the hospital for more than 20 major operations and countless treatments.
The Oscar-winning actress' condition was unchanged, her spokeswoman Sally Morrison said early Saturday afternoon. She did not know how long Taylor would remain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The 78-year-old Taylor first disclosed in November 2004 that she suffered from congestive heart failure. The condition was compounded with other ailments including spinal fractures and the effects of scoliosis.
Taylor had been scheduled to attend an amfAR benefit gala Wednesday night in New York, where she was to receive an award alongside President Bill Clinton and designer Diane von Furstenberg, celebrating their dedication to AIDS research.
Elton John accepted the honor on her behalf.
The actress had near-fatal bouts with pneumonia in 1961 and 1990, and another respiratory infection forced her to cancel all engagements for several weeks in late 1992. Both her hip joints were replaced in 1994 and 1995.
She's also battled ulcers, amoebic dysentery, bursitis, and had a benign brain tumor removed in 1997. In recent years, she has had to use a wheelchair when out in public.
Taylor, who's appeared in more than 50 films, won Oscars for her performances in "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). But she's been just as famous for her marriages — all eight of them, including two to Richard Burton — and her lifelong battles with substance abuse, her weight and physical ailments, including numerous visits to the hospital for more than 20 major operations and countless treatments.
Tubby Smith blasts struggling Golden Gophers
AP, MINNEAPOLIS: Tubby Smith has seen enough.
Mired in the first four-game losing streak of his four-year tenure as coach at Minnesota, Smith lashed out at his struggling team after a 71-62 home loss to Illinois on Thursday night.
Few were spared in the postgame rant that criticized Blake Hoffarber, Rodney Williams, Colton Iverson, Chip Armelin individually and the overall mentality of his entire team.
"We've got to get those folks believing and trusting in what we're doing and doing it the right way," Smith said. "Obviously what happens is people start questioning coach's philosophy. 'Coach don't know what he's doing.'
"After 37 years, everybody's going to question when you're losing. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's a four-game losing streak or a one-game losing streak. I don't mind taking it. But I'm not going to take it when guys aren't doing it the way we say to do it. And that's what we're going to get back to, basic fundamentals.
"And I don't think it's that they're not doing what we want to them to do. It's that physically they're incapable of doing some of the things that we're asking them to do. I've got to figure that out."
It was the most frontal and critical assessment of his team since he left Kentucky and took the job. Perhaps it was Smith's way of trying to get his players' attention before it's too late.
The Golden Gophers (16-8, 5-7 Big Ten) are just 1-4 since starting point guard Al Nolen went down with a broken foot. Losses on the road to Purdue and Indiana and at home to Ohio State and Illinois have exposed their weaknesses and done serious damage to their NCAA tournament resume.
Injuries to Nolen and Mo Walker and the departure of Devoe Joseph over differences with Smith have gutted the team. Their bench was outscored 23-2 by the Illini's reserves on Thursday night and Hoffarber, the team's leading scorer and senior leader, is showing signs of wearing down after moving from shooting guard to point guard for Nolen.
Smith ripped Hoffarber's shot selection after the game, saying "it cost us." He also said "we're not getting much out of Rodney" and, "we've got to get more out of Colton."
Williams, the super-athletic swingman, has scored in double figures just once in the past 10 games and Iverson has been scoreless for two straight.
Smith was asked if this was a similar situation to last year's team, which lost Nolen to academic suspension in the second half of the season yet still rebounded to make the NCAA tournament.
"We don't have the same kids," Smith said. "We had some pretty mature kids last year. Lawrence Westbrook, Damian Johnson, Paul Carter, Devron Bostick. Seniors that were men. Right now we've got boys. That's a big difference. We've got (freshmen) Chip Armelin, Maverick Ahanmisi, Austin Hollins. It's a big difference."
Hoffarber, Hollins and Williams combined for 12 of the team's 16 turnovers and couldn't respond to the Illini's in-your-face perimeter defense. The Gophers tied the game at 51 with 7:30 to play, but Illinois outscored the worn-down Gophers 20-9 the rest of the way.
Center Ralph Sampson III said after the game that the Illini "were just more hungry for the win than we were."
Smith, who won a national title at Kentucky and was credited with building solid programs at Georgia and Tulsa, doesn't seem to have the answers this time around.
"I don't have anything I can do to wave a magic wand," Smith said. "It's called hard work."
The Gophers have road games at Iowa on Sunday and Penn State on Thursday looming. More performances similar to the one they gave against Illinois could doom them.
"We're just hurting ourselves," star forward Trevor Mbakwe said. "The last couple games we're just beating ourselves with the lapses we've had.
"The spirits are still high," he said. "I still believe we're going to make the tournament and this is just a little bump in the road right now."
Earlier this week, Smith called out Mbakwe for recent subpar performances. The message hit home and Mbakwe had 17 points and 16 rebounds against Illinois.
After calling out the rest of the team, maybe Smith is hoping it will have the same effect.
"We're all still hungry," Mbakwe said. "We all still believe in each other, believe in the team, believe in the system. We've just got to come out with some wins."
Mired in the first four-game losing streak of his four-year tenure as coach at Minnesota, Smith lashed out at his struggling team after a 71-62 home loss to Illinois on Thursday night.
Few were spared in the postgame rant that criticized Blake Hoffarber, Rodney Williams, Colton Iverson, Chip Armelin individually and the overall mentality of his entire team.
"We've got to get those folks believing and trusting in what we're doing and doing it the right way," Smith said. "Obviously what happens is people start questioning coach's philosophy. 'Coach don't know what he's doing.'
"After 37 years, everybody's going to question when you're losing. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's a four-game losing streak or a one-game losing streak. I don't mind taking it. But I'm not going to take it when guys aren't doing it the way we say to do it. And that's what we're going to get back to, basic fundamentals.
"And I don't think it's that they're not doing what we want to them to do. It's that physically they're incapable of doing some of the things that we're asking them to do. I've got to figure that out."
It was the most frontal and critical assessment of his team since he left Kentucky and took the job. Perhaps it was Smith's way of trying to get his players' attention before it's too late.
The Golden Gophers (16-8, 5-7 Big Ten) are just 1-4 since starting point guard Al Nolen went down with a broken foot. Losses on the road to Purdue and Indiana and at home to Ohio State and Illinois have exposed their weaknesses and done serious damage to their NCAA tournament resume.
Injuries to Nolen and Mo Walker and the departure of Devoe Joseph over differences with Smith have gutted the team. Their bench was outscored 23-2 by the Illini's reserves on Thursday night and Hoffarber, the team's leading scorer and senior leader, is showing signs of wearing down after moving from shooting guard to point guard for Nolen.
Smith ripped Hoffarber's shot selection after the game, saying "it cost us." He also said "we're not getting much out of Rodney" and, "we've got to get more out of Colton."
Williams, the super-athletic swingman, has scored in double figures just once in the past 10 games and Iverson has been scoreless for two straight.
Smith was asked if this was a similar situation to last year's team, which lost Nolen to academic suspension in the second half of the season yet still rebounded to make the NCAA tournament.
"We don't have the same kids," Smith said. "We had some pretty mature kids last year. Lawrence Westbrook, Damian Johnson, Paul Carter, Devron Bostick. Seniors that were men. Right now we've got boys. That's a big difference. We've got (freshmen) Chip Armelin, Maverick Ahanmisi, Austin Hollins. It's a big difference."
Hoffarber, Hollins and Williams combined for 12 of the team's 16 turnovers and couldn't respond to the Illini's in-your-face perimeter defense. The Gophers tied the game at 51 with 7:30 to play, but Illinois outscored the worn-down Gophers 20-9 the rest of the way.
Center Ralph Sampson III said after the game that the Illini "were just more hungry for the win than we were."
Smith, who won a national title at Kentucky and was credited with building solid programs at Georgia and Tulsa, doesn't seem to have the answers this time around.
"I don't have anything I can do to wave a magic wand," Smith said. "It's called hard work."
The Gophers have road games at Iowa on Sunday and Penn State on Thursday looming. More performances similar to the one they gave against Illinois could doom them.
"We're just hurting ourselves," star forward Trevor Mbakwe said. "The last couple games we're just beating ourselves with the lapses we've had.
"The spirits are still high," he said. "I still believe we're going to make the tournament and this is just a little bump in the road right now."
Earlier this week, Smith called out Mbakwe for recent subpar performances. The message hit home and Mbakwe had 17 points and 16 rebounds against Illinois.
After calling out the rest of the team, maybe Smith is hoping it will have the same effect.
"We're all still hungry," Mbakwe said. "We all still believe in each other, believe in the team, believe in the system. We've just got to come out with some wins."
Buckles, Dieng returning to lineup for Louisville
AP, LOUISVILLE, Ky: Rick Pitino walked onto the practice floor on Thursday and couldn't quite believe what he saw: more than a dozen healthy players on the court.
It's a rare sight for the injury-ravaged Cardinals, who have somehow remained competitive in the Big East despite a bench that's had almost as many players in street clothes as jerseys and shorts in recent weeks.
Pitino expects power forward Rakeem Buckles and freshman center Gorgui Dieng to be available on Saturday when 16th-ranked Louisville (18-6, 7-4 Big East) hosts 12th-ranked Syracuse (20-5, 7-5).
Buckles hasn't played since Dec. 27 after breaking his left index finger in practice while Dieng has sat out the past four games following a nasty spill in a win over West Virginia on Jan. 26.
The reinforcements couldn't have come at a better time for the Cardinals, who looked exhausted in overtime in a loss to No. 8 Notre Dame on Wednesday.
Louisville had a chance to win it at the end of regulation but missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds then let the Irish score the first 14 points of the extra session.
"I think our guys are really tired mentally after losing that game," Pitino said. "They were very disappointed in themselves."
Their coach, however, was not. Pitino has remained upbeat all season, knowing his team is overachieving. The injuries have forced him to get creative with the lineups, with surprising results. He doesn't expect there to be an adjustment period with Buckles returning, crediting his players for being so adaptable.
"Chemistry is always going to be great with this team," Pitino said. "Gorgui and Rak are guys that are not only low maintenance, no ego, very humble people, but everybody was rooting for them to get back. The attitude and chemistry are always going to be there. Now it's the execution."
Buckles called the weeks watching helplessly from the bench in a black sweat suit unbearable. He was the team's leading rebounder at the time of the injury (7.5 per game) but went more than a month without even touching a basketball to give the five pins inserted in his broken finger time to go to work.
He'll wear a sleeve and some tape over the digit against the Orange but doesn't believe it will hinder his ability to grab the ball with both hands or shoot. Even if it did, he admits he probably wouldn't tell anybody.
"It was something, worst part of my life, sitting and watching," Buckles said. "I knew we were winning but it still hurts."
The losses were even worse.
"Every game we'd lose, I'd be down for a few days thinking it's my fault, feeling like if I'd have played we would have won," Buckles said.
Louisville thrived in his absence even though Pitino allows he "kept waiting for the bottom to fall out."
It never did, but he acknowledges the bottom may have been teetering after the loss to Notre Dame.
The Cardinals led throughout the first half, faltered for a stretch in the second before rallying to tie the game in the final minutes.
The late-game heroics that defined wins over Connecticut, West Virginia and Marquette failed to materialize this time, and the defeat left Louisville drained.
The narrow margin also magnified a bizarre sequence at the end of the first half when soft-spoken forward Kyle Kuric was hit with a technical foul after dunking over Notre Dame's Scott Martin just before the buzzer.
Referees ruled Kuric taunted Martin by glancing at him after the play. Pitino called it the most "absurd" technical he's ever seen.
"You see guys pounding their chest, pulling their uniforms out, and Kyle Kuric is the antithesis of all of that," Pitino said. "But the referee doesn't know he's a mime."
Pitino said the call had little effect on the outcome, though Buckles, who watched the game from his dorm room after undergoing treatment earlier in the day, just shook his head.
"I guess you can't look at nobody after you dunk," he said. "I guess you've got to cover your eyes."
It's a motion Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has done at times over the past month as the Orange have squandered an 18-0 start by losing five out of their past seven.
Pitino, a former assistant under Boeheim in the late-1970s, remains wary. The only thing predictable about the Big East this season has been the unpredictability. There are eight teams either 7-4 or 6-5 in conference play, and things only promise to get more jumbled as February turns into March.
"It's just a tough league," Pitino said. "It's not that they're up and down, it's just that it's a tough league and you don't know where your next win's going to come from. I think (Georgetown coach) John Thompson III said it best, 'The next tough game is the next game,' and that's the way this league is."
It's a rare sight for the injury-ravaged Cardinals, who have somehow remained competitive in the Big East despite a bench that's had almost as many players in street clothes as jerseys and shorts in recent weeks.
Pitino expects power forward Rakeem Buckles and freshman center Gorgui Dieng to be available on Saturday when 16th-ranked Louisville (18-6, 7-4 Big East) hosts 12th-ranked Syracuse (20-5, 7-5).
Buckles hasn't played since Dec. 27 after breaking his left index finger in practice while Dieng has sat out the past four games following a nasty spill in a win over West Virginia on Jan. 26.
The reinforcements couldn't have come at a better time for the Cardinals, who looked exhausted in overtime in a loss to No. 8 Notre Dame on Wednesday.
Louisville had a chance to win it at the end of regulation but missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds then let the Irish score the first 14 points of the extra session.
"I think our guys are really tired mentally after losing that game," Pitino said. "They were very disappointed in themselves."
Their coach, however, was not. Pitino has remained upbeat all season, knowing his team is overachieving. The injuries have forced him to get creative with the lineups, with surprising results. He doesn't expect there to be an adjustment period with Buckles returning, crediting his players for being so adaptable.
"Chemistry is always going to be great with this team," Pitino said. "Gorgui and Rak are guys that are not only low maintenance, no ego, very humble people, but everybody was rooting for them to get back. The attitude and chemistry are always going to be there. Now it's the execution."
Buckles called the weeks watching helplessly from the bench in a black sweat suit unbearable. He was the team's leading rebounder at the time of the injury (7.5 per game) but went more than a month without even touching a basketball to give the five pins inserted in his broken finger time to go to work.
He'll wear a sleeve and some tape over the digit against the Orange but doesn't believe it will hinder his ability to grab the ball with both hands or shoot. Even if it did, he admits he probably wouldn't tell anybody.
"It was something, worst part of my life, sitting and watching," Buckles said. "I knew we were winning but it still hurts."
The losses were even worse.
"Every game we'd lose, I'd be down for a few days thinking it's my fault, feeling like if I'd have played we would have won," Buckles said.
Louisville thrived in his absence even though Pitino allows he "kept waiting for the bottom to fall out."
It never did, but he acknowledges the bottom may have been teetering after the loss to Notre Dame.
The Cardinals led throughout the first half, faltered for a stretch in the second before rallying to tie the game in the final minutes.
The late-game heroics that defined wins over Connecticut, West Virginia and Marquette failed to materialize this time, and the defeat left Louisville drained.
The narrow margin also magnified a bizarre sequence at the end of the first half when soft-spoken forward Kyle Kuric was hit with a technical foul after dunking over Notre Dame's Scott Martin just before the buzzer.
Referees ruled Kuric taunted Martin by glancing at him after the play. Pitino called it the most "absurd" technical he's ever seen.
"You see guys pounding their chest, pulling their uniforms out, and Kyle Kuric is the antithesis of all of that," Pitino said. "But the referee doesn't know he's a mime."
Pitino said the call had little effect on the outcome, though Buckles, who watched the game from his dorm room after undergoing treatment earlier in the day, just shook his head.
"I guess you can't look at nobody after you dunk," he said. "I guess you've got to cover your eyes."
It's a motion Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has done at times over the past month as the Orange have squandered an 18-0 start by losing five out of their past seven.
Pitino, a former assistant under Boeheim in the late-1970s, remains wary. The only thing predictable about the Big East this season has been the unpredictability. There are eight teams either 7-4 or 6-5 in conference play, and things only promise to get more jumbled as February turns into March.
"It's just a tough league," Pitino said. "It's not that they're up and down, it's just that it's a tough league and you don't know where your next win's going to come from. I think (Georgetown coach) John Thompson III said it best, 'The next tough game is the next game,' and that's the way this league is."
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