I Bleed Blue and White

The Game: #10 Villanova (25-6, 13-5) vs. #21 Marquette (24-8, 12-6)

Location: Madison Square Garden in New York, NY

Time: 2:00 p.m. ET (or 20 minutes after Louisville-Providence concludes)

Broadcast: ESPN and ESPNHD

Brief Rundown: Villanova enters the game after a 6 day layoff and are very well rested. But will rust come into play? They ended the season scorching hot, blowing out both Notre Dame and Providence. In their loss to Marquette, they couldn’t slow down the Marquette guards. In their win, they used an explosive offense to run them out of the building.

Marquette lost Dominic James for the year and proceeded to lose their last 4 regular season games. They rebounded with a win over lowly St. John’s, but Maurice Acker has not stepped up in James’ absence. The trio of Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal and Lazar Hayward will be counted on to carry the Golden Eagles to a win.

3 Keys to Victory:

1. Up the tempo – At the beginning of the year I never thought I would say to push the pace vs. these guys, but times have changed. Marquette is dangerously thin now, and Maurice Acker is nowhere near the quality of Dominic James. Villanova likes to run, so do it and force some turnovers and tire Marquette out.
2. Don’t stress early on – The common theme in the BET so far has been teams struggling to score early. The games have typically been low scoring and the dimly lit Garden with notoriously tight rims has been unforgiving to everyone thus far. If the shots aren’t falling early, the team just needs to relax and let the game come to them.
3. Beware of Matthews/McNeal – The two seniors have been far less dangerous without James, but they are still two of the best players in the conference, and they are fighters. They are going to want to prove that the loss of James isn’t going to stop them. They aren’t going to give up and they will fight til the end. Villanova needs to focus their defensive efforts around these two, and deny them the opportunity to go off.

Links:

• VUHoops
• Nova News
• Cracked Sidewalks

…Lets Go Nova…anybody going up to Mecca?…let’s hear some thoughts on the game…