ESPN.com Jay Bilas Weekend Watch

[jesmu84]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/notebook?page=notebook/weekendwatch3001

Jay likes us.  and I like him pointing out Mo's defense (if only because he saw him in person earlier in the week)

No. 23 Georgetown at No. 8 Marquette

Why Georgetown Can Win: The Hoyas are small and lack great depth, but Georgetown executes its offense very well and has several efficient offensive weapons. DaJuan Summers, Austin Freeman and Greg Monroe are all capable of putting up 20 or more points, but Georgetown needs to get better and more consistent play out of Jessie Sapp and Chris Wright. When Georgetown's guards play well, the Hoyas play well. Monroe is having a great season, and has played like a veteran, averaging 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals. The one area in which Georgetown has struggled is in protecting its own defensive board. The Hoyas have not been a good rebounding team, and their defense is not over until a defensive rebound has been secured.

Why Marquette Can Win: Guards, experience and toughness. Marquette has the toughest and most experienced guard trio in the country in Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews. Nobody is having a better season in the Big East than McNeal. The senior guard is averaging over 23 points per game in Big East games, and had 27 against Notre Dame in a spectacular performance. In league play, McNeal is third in the league in scoring, first in 3-point shooting and sixth in steals. James is the team's best on-ball defender and Matthews is having his best season, leading the team in free-throw attempts at over eight per game.

Matchup to Watch: Lazar Hayward vs. Greg Monroe.
Even though the guards get the headlines, Hayward is as important a player as Marquette can put on the floor. Dwight Burke will probably start out on Monroe, but Hayward will certainly spend time guarding him. Monroe is well beyond his years as a player, and he needs to be aggressive posting up a much smaller Marquette team. The question is whether post feeders will be able to see openings against the Golden Eagles' pressure to deliver the ball to Monroe.

Stat to Track: Turnover margin and paint touches. The Golden Eagles lead the conference in turnover margin at +5.3, and they average under 10 turnovers per game in Big East play. Marquette is adept at putting pressure on the ball, knocking it away and taking away perimeter scorers. Georgetown does a good job of protecting the ball, but the Marquette perimeter defenders, especially McNeal, James and Maurice Acker, can get into you and up underneath you on defense. On offense, Marquette is very good at driving the ball into the lane and getting fouled or finding openings to kick it out for a shot or to attack a close-out. The more Marquette is able to get into the lane, the better chance it has to win.

X-Factors: The benches. Neither team gets much out of its bench on average, but Georgetown has been getting better performances out of Jason Clark. If he, Omar Wattad and Julian Vaughn can come in and provide quality minutes, Georgetown will have a shot to win on the road.

The Winner: Georgetown has already won one of the biggest Big East road games of the season, winning at Connecticut to start things off. But the Hoyas have not played well of late. Marquette is having a great season and is mature enough to process the importance of this game. With a brutal end to the Big East schedule, Marquette needs to make this game important. I like the Golden Eagles to win this one.

[77ncaachamps]

Me too, Jay. Me too.