well, i was on the right side of all 3 blowouts last night, but couldn't win the close one. hard to believe there's only 7 games left.
uconn (-6) 2 units. missouri's style of play is the only thing that gives them a chance here. a game like this is where the loss of dyson really hurts. austrie and walker have done a decent job filling in, but there is still a definite drop-off. however, from what i've seen, uconn can still handle a press. and if missouri isn't getting points off their press, they are in serious trouble. memphis was a great matchup for them, because the tigers (of memphis) don't have a true point guard. uconn has enough ball handlers to render the press mostly ineffective. and once this becomes a halfcourt game, HUGE advantage to uconn.
pitt (-2) 1 unit. have to go with the big east team again. wait, what? oh. damn, there were a lot of good teams in that conference this year. anyways, pitt simply is not playing their best, or anywhere near it right now. but they're still winning. blair was bad against oklahoma state and flat-out awful against xavier. i've never seen him play as passively as he did against xavier. hell, even the announcer called him 'lethargic'. if he doesn't play hard tonight, then 'nova will probably win this game. anyways... 'nova played poorly against american, then beat a mediocre ucla squad, and then beat a duke team that's simply not put together to go far in the tournament. you need some inside scoring. that same weakness will come back to haunt 'nova tonight. unless they are able to get blair in foul trouble again, pitt should grind out another win. they finally started to play defense like the pitt teams of the last few years against xavier. i look for that to continue against 'nova. i think a lot of factors (all tied to the home court) from that first matchup contributed to 'nova's win over the pitt. that was the last college basketball game played at the spectrum. it was a huge event in philly. so between the foul trouble for pitt's big guys and forcing 17 turnovers, 'nova had a huge emotional edge in that game. not the case tonight. in fact, the edge may be with pitt, thanks to a little revenge factor.
uconn (-6) 2 units. missouri's style of play is the only thing that gives them a chance here. a game like this is where the loss of dyson really hurts. austrie and walker have done a decent job filling in, but there is still a definite drop-off. however, from what i've seen, uconn can still handle a press. and if missouri isn't getting points off their press, they are in serious trouble. memphis was a great matchup for them, because the tigers (of memphis) don't have a true point guard. uconn has enough ball handlers to render the press mostly ineffective. and once this becomes a halfcourt game, HUGE advantage to uconn.
pitt (-2) 1 unit. have to go with the big east team again. wait, what? oh. damn, there were a lot of good teams in that conference this year. anyways, pitt simply is not playing their best, or anywhere near it right now. but they're still winning. blair was bad against oklahoma state and flat-out awful against xavier. i've never seen him play as passively as he did against xavier. hell, even the announcer called him 'lethargic'. if he doesn't play hard tonight, then 'nova will probably win this game. anyways... 'nova played poorly against american, then beat a mediocre ucla squad, and then beat a duke team that's simply not put together to go far in the tournament. you need some inside scoring. that same weakness will come back to haunt 'nova tonight. unless they are able to get blair in foul trouble again, pitt should grind out another win. they finally started to play defense like the pitt teams of the last few years against xavier. i look for that to continue against 'nova. i think a lot of factors (all tied to the home court) from that first matchup contributed to 'nova's win over the pitt. that was the last college basketball game played at the spectrum. it was a huge event in philly. so between the foul trouble for pitt's big guys and forcing 17 turnovers, 'nova had a huge emotional edge in that game. not the case tonight. in fact, the edge may be with pitt, thanks to a little revenge factor.
