I Bleed Blue and White

****Updated for the night session****

The 2nd day of the Big East Tournament is under 2 hours away! Rejoice! I shouldn’t be complaining about yesterday though. Besides that atrocious Notre Dame-Rutgers affair, the games were pretty competitive and entertaining despite being played by the dregs of the conference.

Today should be better though as we’ll see some NCAA Tournament-quality squads hit the hardwood. Oddly enough, no spreads available for the night session games yet, so we’re going to wait to pick those games until we see a spread.

12:00 p.m. ET – PROVIDENCE -8.5 DePaul

• DePaul’s magical 1-game run will officially end today. It’s not that I don’t like the Blue Demons, because I was thrilled that they won yesterday. I just don’t think they can keep this close. They definitely cannot score with Providence. And even though they rediscovered defense yesterday, I don’t think they can slow down the Friars either. I think Keno’s boys will win this one going away and win by 10+. Plus, I’d rather see Providence take on Louisville. That would actually be a contest.

2:00 p.m. ET – MARQUETTE – 7 St. John’s

• This one I am a little less sure about. I really envision the Johnnies being able to keep this one close. It’s no secret that Marquette is struggling mightily. They haven’t won in a couple of weeks and maybe some doubt is creeping in. But Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews (and Lazar Hayward for that matter) will be the best players on the court. St. John’s is going to need to shoot the ball extremely well because they won’t get a lot of easy buckets. I feel like I’m going to regret this pick, but the Golden Eagles will cover.

7:00 p.m. ET – WEST VIRGINIA – 4.5 Notre Dame

• The Mountaineers are just stifling on defense, so it’s hard to envision the ND shooters getting many open looks. That means that the offense is most likely going to fall on Luke Harangody, who was awful last night, and Tory Jackson, who was very good. I don’t see anyone on the Irish who can account for Da’Sean Butler, and Alex Ruoff killed them in the first matchup. I’m banking on Devin Ebanks bothering Harangody with his length. West Virginia wins, and covers.

9:00 p.m. ET – SYRACUSE -6.5 Seton Hall

• After the underdogs hurt me yesterday, I can’t pick all favorites again. Plus, I love Seton Hall. I think their ability to shoot is going to kill Syracuse’s zone. Syracuse is tricky though. Are they primed for a run after beating Marquette in Wisconsin? The Pirates’ depth worries me, but I’m taking Seton Hall with the points.

Man, I really hate these long layoffs. I love watching college hoops, don’t get me wrong. I can sit down and watch just about any game, but having not watched ‘Nova since last Friday is starting to get old. Thursday night, please come quickly. As for last night, things didn’t go as we hoped, but you can’t win them all.

Tuesday night recap:

#13 Clemson 93, Maryland 64 – I watched this game and Maryland scrapped with Clemson for most of the 1st half, but Clemson just demolished them after the break. Trevor Booker had 14 and 11, but it felt more like 25 and 22. He was all over the place. Clemson is a dangerous team. They shoot it well and they are fast and athletic. The 2nd half showed just how good Clemson can be, but their performances still vary too much from night to night.

#11 Marquette 79, Seton Hall 67 - This game was close and Seton Hall was actually winning at the half, but they couldn’t stop Marquette in the 2nd half. They did a nice job containing Jerel McNeal, but Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward burned them at opportune times. This would have been a nice upset that would have really helped Villanova.

Games to watch for Wednesday:

Providence at #7 Louisville (7:30, ESPN2) – Louisville rebounded nicely from the whooping that Notre Dame handed them last week by blowing out lowly DePaul by 45, but now comes another threat. Providence has now won two in a row and is searching for a quality win. A win at Freedom Hall would almost certainly get the Friars into the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday. The Friars will struggle against Louisville’s frontcourt, however, so their best chance is to win a shootout.

Georgia Tech at #8 Wake Forest (7:30) – Georgia Tech is in last place in the ACC with a 1-10 record. It’s an embarrassing season for them, but their lone victory was over the Demon Deacons. Wake is struggling to find consistency and will look to avenge their awful loss to Tech earlier this year. They are in a battle for the 2nd place spot in the ACC, and cannot afford another bad loss.

…Between me and everyone who reads this, I really don’t think that Providence or Georgia Tech have a prayer to win tomorrow…of the two, I think Providence is more likely, and I’ll spend some time watching that game…Louisville’s guards aren’t terribly special and the Friar guards have an advantage there but I don’t see anyone on PC that can match up with Samuels, Clark or Williams…

…As for Tech, they already did the unthinkable once this year…don’t count on it happening twice…

I got to thinking today about Dwayne Anderson’s probable absence for Friday’s game at West Virginia, and what the consequences could be. On the surface, he’s not the #1, 2, 3 or even 4 scoring option, and his defense is good, but not anything the team can’t compensate for. But losing him means going to a 7-man rotation on the road in a tough place to play against a good team, which isn’t good, especially when he is considered a frontcourt player.

Will Anderson's absence expose 'Nova's depth issues?

Then I started to think about what the greatest weakness for this team is. They’ve got the outstanding guards on offense, a legitimate offensive threat down low (for the first time in a while), and they have defended spectacularly well in the post despite the perceived lack of depth and size. They are killing it from outside right now and Corey Fisher has suddenly put it all together and has given Villanova a player that can get into the lane and cause havoc.

So really, what it comes down to in my mind is the depth issues, and the ability to defend the perimeter. Villanova’s lack of depth hasn’t reared its ugly head yet. In fact the only instance I can think of is Dante Cunningham’s foul troubles at UConn, forcing Frank Tchuisi into the game mid-1st half. But even then Villanova was taking it to the Huskies.

So in my opinion, Villanova’s greatest weakness has been perimeter defense. It’s been a struggle for a couple years now. Teams always seem to shoot well from beyond the arc against us, and the “star” guards just seem to have their way. For example, in 3 of Villanova’s 4 losses this year, they have been destroyed by the opposition’s backcourt.

1. Texas — AJ Abrams had 26 points on 44% FG (44% 3 pt FG)
2. Marquette — Jerel McNeal (26 points on 50% FG, 50% 3 pt FG), Wes Matthews (19 points on 83% FG (50% 3 pt FG), Dominic James (17 points on 37.5% FG (40% 3 pt FG)
3. UConn — AJ Price (29 points on 77% FG (67% 3 pt FG), Jerome Dyson (19 points on 55% FG (0-1 3 pt FG)

That’s really ugly. Now, in fairness, Corey Fisher has been dynamite on defense lately, but even in the wins vs. Syracuse and Marquette, it felt more like Villanova just couldn’t be stopped rather then them shutting down the opposition. Jonny Flynn and the trio of Marquette guards still found sucess against Villanova.

So in my opinion, if Villanova is going to really continue moving forward, they are going to need to improve the perimeter defense. I know that they trap a lot and have to compenstate down low, but teams are having too much success with their guards.

What does everyone else think? Leave your comments below and we’ll talk about it.