Perhaps no other sequence in Big East play this season defines the league's current state than this: On Jan. 23, Pitt won at St. John's by 24 points. Three days later, Pitt lost at home to Rutgers by 13. And then on Feb. 6, St. John's won at Rutgers by seven.

What's the old saying? On any given day ...

Parity is alive and well in the nation's largest basketball conference. Before yesterday's games, three games separated third place from 12th place. All it takes is one game for a team to go from feeling comfortable to uneasy.

Take Thursday night's game between Pitt and West Virginia. By virtue of its 55-54 victory, Pitt tied Marquette for fifth place in the Big East standings. With the loss, West Virginia fell into a three-way tie for eighth.

"I don't think there's another conference in the country like that," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of the importance of each and every game and ever-shifting standings.

Five days earlier, Pitt and Connecticut were playing for a share of third place in Hartford, Conn. After losing to the Huskies, the Panthers found themselves in a tie for seventh.

Connecticut is the hottest team in the conference. The Huskies have won five consecutive games in the league, but coach Jim Calhoun will be the first to step forward and attest to the competitive nature of the league this season. The Huskies' past four victories have been decided in the final minute. Only the first game of the winning streak, against Marquette, was decided by more than 10.

"It's really, really difficult to win games in this league," Calhoun said. "I think it's more competitive than any conference in America right now."

That competitiveness makes the conference fun to watch, but it causes headaches for the head coaches. Georgetown is probably the only team in the league that can feel good about its NCAA standing at the moment. Connecticut, Pitt, Marquette, Syracuse and Notre Dame are in the top 40 of the Ratings Percentage Index, but their spots in the NCAA tournament are not secure.

While Connecticut's hot streak puts the Huskies in good position for the postseason, a four-game losing streak by one of the league's top preseason teams has its postseason hopes in jeopardy. Villanova was ranked as high as No. 17 last month, but the Wildcats entered yesterday's home game against Seton Hall in a tailspin.

The Wildcats are not concerned with the NCAA tournament. They're worried about qualifying for the Big East tournament. Only the top 12 teams in the league get invited to Madison Square Garden for the conference tournament the second week in March. Villanova was in 13th place before yesterday's game.

Coaches have been concerned for the past couple of years that the Big East's size and competitiveness worked against its teams when it came time for the NCAA selection committee to choose the 65-team field.

No other conference has the issues the Big East has in terms of size. Last season, Syracuse was 24-11 and 10-6 in the Big East and got left out of the NCAA tournament. Syracuse was the first Big East team to win 10 conference games and be left out.

In 2006, Cincinnati was 8-8 in the league and the selection committee kept the Bearcats at home.

The Big East went to an 18-game schedule this season for the first time since the expansion to 16 teams in 2005. This is the first season that every team in the conference will play one another. That was done so the final standings would be a truer indication of the order of the league's teams. But with the expanded schedule came the opportunity for more teams to beat each other.

"Anything can happen any night in this league," Providence coach Tim Welsh said. "You can get popped any night."

The Friars are a perfect example of the league's fickle nature this season. They lost their first two games, won three in a row and then lost three in a row before beating DePaul Tuesday night.

One of their victories in their three-game winning streak in January was against Connecticut] on the road. Good luck trying to figure out which Providence team will show up Tuesday night when the Friars visit Pitt.

Marquette is another team that has been hard to figure. The Golden Eagles beat Notre Dame by 26, but they also have three losses on the road by 15 points or more.

All of this parity should make the Big East tournament must-watch television. There could be as many as three or four teams going to New York needing a victory or two to cinch NCAA bids.

"Without a doubt, this is the most parity there has been in the league since I've been here," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "There's no question, every game you play people are out there to take your heart. You have to try to do the same thing to them."