Monday Lay-up Lines: UConn hosts Pitt for first in the Big East

There are really only two games of significance tonight (that is, if you don't count Siena (20-6, 14-1) taking on Iona (12-14, 7-8) as a game of significance). Clearly, the biggest game of the night takes place in Hartford as UConn (24-1, 12-1) hosts Pitt (23-2, 10-2) in a battle of top five teams. The best match-up in this game will come in the paint, as DeJuan Blair and Hasheem Thabeet go head-to-head head-to-chest. What makes this match-up so interesting is that these two guys play extremely different styles to accomplish the same thing. Blair is a short (relatively speaking), stocky bruiser that uses his strength, leverage, and knowledge of positioning to bully people on the block. Thabeet uses his height and length to block shots and intimidate the opposing team when they penetrate or throw the ball to the block.

I think Thabeet gets the best of this match-up. When Blair is scoring well, he is doing it by going through the defender and to the rim or by using his well-endowed-posterior to create space from the defender. Thabeet is long enough that Blair will either have his shot blocked or changed if he tries either.

Both the Huskies and the Panthers are phenomenal defensively, but I don't really see it having all that much effect on either team. Between Levance Fields and AJ Price, there is sure a lot of senior leadership on those teams.

The winner of this game is going to be decided by the winner of the Blair-Thabeet match-up. Does one of them pick up fouls early? Can Thabeet control the paint with Blair pushing on him every which way? Can Blair get offensive boards and put-backs with someone the size of Thabeet.

The only other game tonight is at 9:00 when Texas (17-7, 6-4) heads to College Station to take on A&M. Texas has struggled of late. They lost three in a row, and almost made it four out of five when lowly Colorado took them to OT. A&M, on the other hand, has been a bit disappointing in conference play, starting out 3-6. But the Aggies are still in the tournament picture right now, and what better way to turn their season around than by knocking off the 'Horns.