HOT TICKET: THURSDAY NCAA MATCH-UPS
It is time for the Madness to begin as the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament tips-off tonight in Dayton (OH) with the play-in game between Mt. St. Mary’s and Coppin State. Both teams will battle for the right to face North Carolina, the top overall seed in the tournament.
The Big East will be strongly represented throughout the tournament with a record-tying eight conference representatives: Georgetown, Louisville, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Marquette, West Virginia and Villanova. The action for the Big East teams will get under way on Thursday afternoon.
Check below for our 1st Round Previews of the Big East teams in action on Thursday and a possible look ahead to the Second Round:
Thursday:
South Region:
(13) Oral Roberts vs. (4) Pittsburgh, 3 PM in Denver
The first Big East team in action in the 2008 NCAA Tournament was the last team in action in the 2008 Big East Tournament as the champions and the conference’s automatic qualifier the Pittsburgh Panthers will face Oral Roberts, the automatic bid from the Summit Conference in Denver.
Pittsburgh will have to get themselves back up for the task after an incredible run through the conference tournament, led by tourney MVP Sam Young, to beat Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette and Georgetown on consecutive nights. Now, they have to travel 1,450 miles to battle Oral Roberts in the high altitude of Denver.
Oral Roberts is making their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. In 2006 they were beaten by Memphis, 94-78, in the First Round and last year they fell to Washington State in the opening round. Is the third time the charm?
It is a little bit of a surprise for Oral Roberts to be here as they lost their top two players from last season and they were expected to be in a rebuilding phase. However, Scott Sutton’s squad got a big lift from JUCO transfer Robert Jarvis (16 PPG off the bench) and Moses Ehambe (12 PPG) stepped forward this season. The pair rely on the three-point shot as their most effective weapon, launching over 400 shots from beyond the arc between them. Not only is the quantity high, but so is the quality as they each shot over 40% from the arc. With the three-point line being the great equalizer in college basketball, Oral Roberts seems to have the recipe to upset someone in the Big Dance.
Will Pitt fall prey to the letdown following a four-day Big East run? At times, the Panther defense has been lax, especially on the perimeter where hot-shooting guards can give them some trouble. After the effort they poured into winning the Big East Tournament, they will need to bring that same defensive intensity to the court on Thursday and keep the long range bombers of Oral Roberts under control.
With Levance Fields being healthier and healthier, Pitt’s play has gotten better and better. Fields seems to bring out the best in his teammates, delivering the ball to Ronald Ramon in spots to maximize his three-point shooting ability, hitting Sam Young in spots for him to score regularly and getting the ball to finishers like Gilbert Brown and Keith Benjamin. Pitt will also need to bring their toughness and grit on the boards to battle Oral Roberts and keeping DeJuan Blair on the floor is a must.
Pittsburgh is playing in their 7th consecutive NCAA Tournament, so they definitely trump the Oral Roberts advantage. However, Pitt is a poor free-throw shooting team and their opponent will definitely use the three-point shot as their primary weapon, if there is a Big East team that has a chance to be upset early, it could be the Panthers, not because of past history, but the ingredients of the two teams. Oral Roberts is among the nation’s leaders in FG% defense, Pitt shoots poorly from the foul line, is coming off the emotional high of their Big East Tournament champion and the great equalizer of the 3-pt shot seems to be in favor of Oral Roberts. If Pitt brings their effort on the defense and the boards that we saw last weekend, they shouldn’t have much to worry about…however, it will be interesting to see if they are ready to go on Thursday afternoon.
The winner will face either Temple or Michigan State on Saturday.
(11) Kentucky vs. (6) Marquette, 2:30 PM in Anaheim
In a rematch from a 2003 Regional Final, the Golden Eagles of Marquette take on the Kentucky Wildcats of the SEC. Marquette won that game led by Dwyane Wade’s 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as Marquette advanced to the Final Four against top-seeded Kentucky. This year, it is Marquette that enters as the favorite and Kentucky will try to knock them out.
Kentucky started slowly this season and were 7-9 at one point with losses to teams such as San Diego, Houston, UAB and Gardner-Webb. However, Billy Gillispie and the Wildcats turned things around and won 11 of their last 14 games to finish 18-12 overall and 12-4 in the SEC. However, only a win over Tennessee impressed many observers and the only other NCAA-calibre team they beat in that stretch was Arkansas. They did beat the SEC automatic qualifier Georgia two times, but Georgia only won four SEC games in the entire season.
Marquette enters the tournament after an 11-7 season in the Big East and a semifinal conference tournament loss to Pittsburgh. The Golden Eagles are led by their junior guard trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Mathews and they will be match-up directly with the strength of Kentucky, who is led by guards Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. With the injury to freshman forward Patrick Patterson, Bradley and Crawford have become even more vital to UK’s chances of success with the need of Perry Stevenson and Derrick Jasper to step up. The Wildcats do not get much help inside with the loss of Patterson, making this an ideal match-up for Marquette.
This is Tom Crean’s crew third consecutive NCAA appearance, however, each one has ended early with a first round exit the last two seasons. In fact, the last NCAA Tournament win for Marquette came over Kentucky in 2003. That streak should end on Thursday and it is likely to end convincingly as Marquette matches up well with UK in nearly every position. The guard trio of James, McNeal and Mathews with Maurice Acker and David Cubillan should give Bradley and Crawford fits and Lazar Hayward and Ousmane Barro will more than hold their own against the UK front line.
The winner of this game will then meet up with the winner of Stanford and Cornell on Saturday. The Cardinal is the #3 seed in the bracket and playing in Anaheim is a big advantage. If it is Marquette and Stanford, it will definitely be a match-up of contrasting styles as Stanford relies on the Lopez twins in the frontcourt to overpower opponents while Marquette looks to run by their opponent with speed.
West Region:
(10) Arizona vs. (7) West Virginia, 9:40 PM in Washington DC
West Virginia makes the short trip to the nation’s capitol to take on Arizona in a West Regional contest Thursday night. Arizona, a traditional power from the Pac 10, made it in to the tournament on the strength of playing the #1 rated SOS this season. Their 8-10 conference record and 19-14 overall mark does not indicate one of Arizona’s strongest teams, however, there is still talent on their roster.
Arizona has been coached by former Marquette head coach Kevin O’Neill since Lute Olson took a leave of absence early in the season. O’Neill earned praise early on for getting the Wildcats to play tougher and wins over Texas A&M and on the road against Illinois and UNLV, along with a tough loss with an injury plagued line-up at Memphis gave Arizona hope they would be a tough out in the Pac 10.
Arizona features one of the top freshmen in the nation in Jerryd Bayless (20 PPG) and a top sophomore in Chase Budinger (17 PPG). Jordan Hill anchors the middle for Arizona, but their interior toughness has been their point of weakness all season.
That weakness is probably not something West Virginia will be able to exploit, however, this game features a tremendous match-up between Joe Alexander and Chase Budinger that many will watch with great interest. Budinger has long been projected as a high draft pick in the NBA when he decides to make himself available, but not many players have done more to raise their stock the last few weeks than Alexander. Both players are very skilled forwards with size in the 6’7-6’8 range. Alexander will look to get help from Alex Ruoff from 3-pt range and the steady, tough play of senior Darris Nichols. The x-factor for the Mountaineers is likely sophomore DaSean Butler who can do a little bit of everything, something that Arizona seems to lack.
Where West Virginia will look to spread around their production and use a team effort on both ends of the floor, Arizona is likely to put the game into the hands of their stars, Bayless and Budinger. In this case, I look for Bob Huggins to come up with an array of defenses designed to make the pair work VERY hard for their points. They will get their points, but WVU will make them work for it. If Hill, Nic Wise and Jawan McClellan do not step forward and take the scoring pressure off their top two, West Virginia should be able to get past Arizona because their balance and the Wildcats are not a team to take advantage of their soft middle.
The winner faces either Duke or Belmont in Round 2 on Saturday.
East Region
(12) George Mason vs. Notre Dame (5), 9:50 PM in Denver
In 2006 George Mason caught the attention of the college basketball world with their improbable run to the Final Four. On their way, Jim Larranaga’s club defeated Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut, before losing to eventual champion Florida in the Final Four. The Patriots have become the rallying force behind the mid-majors in the tournament and everyone wonders who will be the next ‘George Mason’? could it be George Mason this season?
Well, Notre Dame will hope to end that talk before it begins when they match up with the Patriots Thursday night in Denver. However, this is a solid club who own wins over Dayton, Kansas State and South Carolina and played Villanova very tough in December. Led by ‘Cinderella’ holdovers Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas, the Patriots remain a formidable and tough opening round match-up for the Irish.
Notre Dame will rely on the Big East Conference’s Player of the Year, Luke Harangody, who will look to atone for last season’s 4-pt, 1-rebound 1st round performance as the Irish were one and done at that hands of Winthrop last season. Thomas is a 6’7, 230 lb bruiser that, like Harangody, averages a double-double this season. His athletic ability around the basket is going to be the key in his match-up with Harangody. Where you wonder if George Mason has enough is who will also take on Harangody when Thomas is out and who will match-up with Rob Kurz. John Vaughn and Dre Smith are solid guards, but they will have their hands full chasing the jitter-bug point guard of the Irish Tory Jackson and having to kind Kyle McAlarney on the perimeter.
George Mason is a very good team and look for Will Thomas and Folarin Campell to be productive, but the depth of the Irish should be too much to handle. They could slow Luke Harangody and pressure Kyle McAlarney on the perimeter all game, but dealing with Tory Jackson, Rob Kurz and Ryan Ayers or Zach Hillesland could be too much to handle for the Patriots. Notre Dame has not had much success in the post-season in recent years, but this squad has shown more toughness and the players perform well in their roles better than any team previously.
The winner of this contest will meet the winner between the match-up of Washington State and Winthrop. Could there be a Winthrop-Notre Dame rematch??
We will be back this afternoon for a look at Friday’s games involving Big East teams.
Want Seats for these ‘Hot Tickets’?