7:00 pm: Villanova @ West Virginia: Villanova is just beginning what may be the toughest late-season schedule in the country. Just two days removed from getting a beatdown at the hands of Georgetown during a blizzard on Saturday, the Wildcats will travel to West Virginia to kick off Rivalry Week.
This is an interesting matchup of styles. Villanova is a guard-oriented team that has been struggling on the defensive end of the floor at times this season. In that game against Georgetown, the Wildcats gave up 103 points, the first time since 2004 that a team has broken the century mark against them. West Virginia is a forward-dominated team, relying on their defensive ability and their aggressiveness going to the offensive glass. Anyone can tell you that the key to this game is going to be Nova's ability to rebound the basketball.
That said, West Virginia has been struggling at the start of games recently, needing comebacks to knock off both St. John's and Louisville. One of the things that Huggins has been doing is using a 1-3-1 zone that is very similar to the one that John Beilein uses. (Side Note: I heard on one broadcast that Huggy Bear had Joe Mazzulla draw it up one day on a whim, but haven't been able to find the story anywhere. Any readers know what happened?) I think that Huggins may be forced to use this defense simply because Villanova has too many talented guards.
9:00 pm: Kansas @ Texas: The Longhorns have been fading fast. Their most obvious problem is that their best offensive team can't defend, and their best defensive team can't score, a problem that is magnified when just looking at their perimeter players. There are other problems as well - Rick Barnes hasn't been able to find a way to take advantage of Dexter Pittman inside, they lack a true go-to scorer, its impossible to run an offense with Jordan Hamilton on the floor - but right now Texas just simply cannot put a complete team on the court. As a result, rotations are getting quicker, roles are being redefined, and the Horns are losing.
But as much as they have been struggling of late, what you need to remember is this was the No. 1 team in the country at one point in the season, and rightfully so. The talent is there for Texas to be a Final Four team.
Kansas, on the other hand, continues to play at less than 100% while they try to figure out exactly what they are going to get from certain guys. Is Sherron Collins going to be a facilitator or a go-to scorer? Is Cole Aldrich going to gt touches on the offensive end? Will Xavier Henry start hitting shots from the perimeter? When will Tyshawn Taylor break out of this funk? The issue for Kansas is that right now, the best team that they can put on the floor is not their best team. Brady Morningstar and Tyrell Reed have been getting crunch time minutes, and nothing against those two, they are excellent ball players, but Taylor and Henry are more talented. The scary part? Despite that, the Jayhawks have one loss on the season and are 8-0 in the Big XII with a three game lead.
Other notable games
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday's Pregame Beat |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment