Boy oh boy do we have a good night of college hoops ahead of us. I'll be covering the Pitt-Georgetown tonight, so these previews will be a bit shorter than usual.
7:00 pm: No. 5 Pitt @ No. 19 Georgetown: The Hoyas are struggling right now. They've lost three of four, including a game at St. John's and a home date with West Virginia this past Saturday. What's ailing the Hoyas? Two things, really. They are not executing offensively the way they were early in the season and they are struggling on the defensive glass.
Given those issues, Pitt is probably the worst team for them to be facing right now. The Panthers are not quite as good on the defensive end as their reputation says they are, but their strength on the defensive end is their strength. They have a number of tough, physical kids that makes running your sets difficult. Believe it or not, they lead the nation in offensive efficiency, but a huge reason for that is that they also lead the country in offensive rebounding percentage. The Hoyas better have righted the ship in the four days since they lost to West Virginia, because if they haven't this game could get ugly.
7:00 pm: No. 17 Louisville @ No. 7 Villanova: No one ever seems to mention Villanova when talking about the best teams in the Big East, likely due to the struggles of Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns early in the season, but this team is currently sitting at 14-1 and 3-0 in the Big East. Louisville was slept on early in the season and many still believe this team is a bit overrated at 17th in the country, but their whole is better than their parts largely due to the system that Rick Pitino runs -- full court pressure for 40 minutes and plenty of three pointers attempted.
The key in this game is going to be the turnover battle. Louisville's press is pretty tough to play against, and Villanova had some turnover issues against Cincinnati late in Sunday's game. Fisher and Wayns are going to have to protect the ball if the Wildcats are going to win this one at home.
10:00 pm: UNLV @ No. 6 San Diego State: The Aztecs come into this game undefeated, although they haven't exactly played the toughest schedule in the country. Wins over Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Cal, and Long Beach State are nice, but UNLV could very well be the best team that Steve Fisher's crew has played all season long. UNLV is guard heavy, but they don't have a lot of great shooters. SDSU, on the other hand, is loaded up front, which happens to be where UNLV has their biggest issues. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of zone from the Aztecs tonight is another must-see MWC battle.
7:00 pm: No. 4 Syracuse @ St. John's: Believe it or not, these are two pretty similar basketball teams. Both have strong front courts and talented back courts but lack some perimeter shooting. The Orange struggled their last time out, getting bailed out by poor perimeter shooting from the Jeremy Hazell-less Seton Hall Pirates. The Orange will need a better effort if they are going to knock off the Johnies in the Garden.
9:00 pm: No. 1 Duke @ Florida State: Duke historically struggles in Tallahassee, and while the Seminoles probably aren't as good as we all thought they were earlier in the season, this is still a group with a ton of size and strength up front that plays as tough of a brand of defense as you will find anywhere in the country. Duke's defense is pretty solid as well. Can FSU score enough to land the upset?
6:30 pm: No. 2 Ohio State @ Michigan: This will be a bit of a difficult matchup for the Buckeyes, who barely hung on to beat Minnesota last night. Michigan plays the typical John Beilein 1-3-1 zone defense, which, when done right, could help limit Jared Sullinger's size advantage inside. This is far from the Fab Five for the Wolverines, but on Sunday they took Kansas to overtime in Ann Arbor.
9:00 pm: No. 3 Kansas @ Iowa State: The Cyclones are 13-3 coming into this one in their first season under The Mayor, but this will also be Fred Hoiberg's first real test as the head coach of ISU. Kansas struggled at Michigan their last time out, and Josh Selby has come back to earth after his auspicious debut.
8:00 pm: Oklahoma State @ No. 13 Texas A&M: The Aggies are one of the most overlooked teams in the country. OK State is coming off of an upset of Kansas State. Winning in College Station will be tough, but this will give us a good gauge of whether or not the Cowboys are the real deal.
9:00 pm: Colorado @ No. 20 Kansas State: The Wildcats are coming off of an ugly loss to Oklahoma State, while the Buffaloes are fresh off of a 13 point win against Missouri. K-State's size will be an issue for Colorado, but only is guys like Wally Judge and Jamar Samuels play like they are capable of. Can Alex Burks lead this team to another upset win?
8:00 pm: Georgia @ Vanderbilt: Both of these teams could very well end up being the second place team in the SEC East. This will also probably be worth a watch. There have been three SEC East matchups already this season. Two went to overtime, the third was Georgia's win over Kentucky.
8:05 pm: Wichita State @ Creighton: Second place in the MVC in on the line in this one.
8:30 pm: Northwestern @ Iowa: The Wildcats cannot afford to lose a game like this if they want any hope at making the tournament.
9:00 pm: Seton Hall @ DePaul: This game gets a bump because there are rumors floating around twitter that Jeremy Hazell is playing tonight. He's been shot and broken his wrist in the past two months.
Other Notable Games
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday's Pregame Beat: Is this the best weeknight of college hoops this season? |
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