MUScoop
MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: CrackedSidewalksSays on March 18, 2013, 09:30:07 AM
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Warriors take on the Wildcats in NCAA opener
Written by: noreply@blogger.com (TB)
Welcome back to March Madness. For the eighth consecutive season MU rah-rah is back in the thick of things, and for the second consective season the team earned mad respect from the Selection Committee by earning a 3 Seed. The Big East Champions play the 14th-seeded Davidson Wildcats (26-7, Southern Conference Champions) on Thursday afternoon at approximately 2:10pm CT. The game will appear on truTV.
More later in the week but this is a tough draw. As the guys at Paint Touches pointed out the Wildcats returned all five starters from last year’s NCAA tournament team (https://twitter.com/PaintTouches/status/313434717745725440) – a bunch that gave Louisville a scare before falling 69-62 in the first round (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/men/gameflash/2012/03/15/78001_boxscore.html).
This is the second consecutive season that the Warriors earned a three seed. Does anybody remember what happened the last time MU was a three-seed, won its conference and lost in the first round of the conference tourney (https://twitter.com/MarquetteU/status/313450795272114176)? Karma. Believe.
Here are a few links to get you through the day:
- Mike Hunt at the J-S (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/marquette-awarded-a-date-with-davidson-p596jce-198721181.html).
- Pete Thamel from CNNSI thinks Davidson is a good bet to beat the Warriors (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-college-basketball-mens-tournament/news/20130318/ncaa-tournament-east-regional/).
- An MUScoop contributor who lives in the Carolinas (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=37141.0) and follows Davidson filed this report.
- The News & Observer points out that the two programs have not faced each other since the 1960s (http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/17/2759203/davidson-draws-marquette-in-first.html).
- The Charlotte Observer (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/17/3921628/davidson-takes-on-marquette-in.html) points out that the Wildcats want to keep their rhythm going … they have not lost since January.
- The Sports Exchange offers this quick preview of the Thursday tilt (http://www.4029tv.com/news/sports/Preview-Marquette-vs-Davidson/-/8897582/19353418/-/7643d3z/-/index.html).
Ken Pomeroy installed MU as a four-point favorite. A quick look at the top line stats show some areas of strength and concern.
- Davidson is terrible at forcing turnovers. MU has to take advantage of this and protect the ball given the trend lines we noted the other day (http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2013/03/deconstructing-season-so-far.html).
- Davidson shoots the lights out. They sink 36.9% of their 3-pointers (nearly 8/game) while MU is just 83rd in the nation (9th in the Big East) at defending the trey, 31.8%. Pat Connaughton, ugh.
Need a primer on the East Region? Check out Paint Touches (http://painttouches.com/2013/03/18/looking-over-the-tournaments-east-region/).
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2013/03/warriors-take-on-wildcats-in-ncaa-opener.html