Tuesday Lay-up Lines

The game of the night is taking place in Philly as Marquette (20-3, 9-1) heads down to play streaking Villanova (19-4, 7-3). The Wildcats have won five in a row after losing at UConn, including victories over Pitt and Syracuse. Marquette, on the other hand, suffered their first defeat in conference play at the hands of South Florida. This should be a fun one to watch as both of these teams have great back court play. As much as I like Marquette, I think that Villanova wins tonight, as long as Dante Cunningham stays out of foul trouble. The Golden Eagles don't have an answer inside for Cunningham, who is turning into one of the best players in the Big East. I'm curious to see who Buzz Williams puts Jerel McNeal, the best perimeter defender in the conference, on defensively. The obvious answer in Scottie Reynolds, but do you risk putting the sometimes-flaky Dominic James on one of the Corey's?

There are a number of other good games on tonight as well:

• 7:00 PM: Michigan State (19-4, 9-2) @ Michigan (15-9, 5-6): Raymar Morgan will most likely not be playing (pneumonia), which is a break for the Wolverines who could really use this win. The Spartans are flying well under the radar right now. They are 7th in the RPI right now, 19-4 against the 7th toughest schedule, and have four losses (all to top 25 RPI teams) when they were missing either Goran Suton (first two) or Raymar Morgan (last two) in each. I don't see Michigan being able to handle the size, strength, or athleticism of the Spartans.
• 8:00 PM: Oklahoma State (14-8, 3-5) @ Texas (15-7, 4-4): The Longhorns have lost three in a row and could really use a win to boost a mediocre tournament profile. OK State, on the other hand, is one of those teams that just seems to keep hanging around the tournament discussion. They have an RPI of 31 and a SOS of 6, which means that if they can string together a couple of wins here late, they have an excellent shot at getting to the dance.
• 9:00 PM: Florida (19-4, 6-2) @ Kentucky (16-7, 5-3): Both of these teams could really use the win. Florida looks to be the safer bet to get into the dance right now, but Kentucky will be the more dangerous team if they do make it. Problem is, the Wildcats are a two man show with Jodie Meeks (who has struggled in the last three while being face guarded) and Patrick Patterson. If Florida can keep the ball out of Meeks' hands while making it difficult to get the ball inside to Patterson, the Gators should be able to pull out the victory in Rupp.
• 9:00 PM: Clemson (19-3, 5-3) @ Boston College (18-7, 6-4): All the credit Clemson recieved for beating Duke by 27 they lost after blowing a 19 point second half lead to Florida State at home. BC does own a win over North Carolina, but the Eagles still have a lot to prove to a lot of people if they want to reach the dance.

Other notable games:

• 7:00 PM: Virginia (7-12, 1-7) @ Florida State (18-5, 5-3)
• 7:00 PM: Providence (14-9, 6-5) @ South Florida (8-14, 3-7)
• 9:00 PM: Indiana (6-16, 1-9) @ Minnesota (18-5, 6-5)
• 9:00 PM: Seton Hall (13-9, 4-6) @ DePaul (8-16, 0-11)