LIVE DOGS IN THE ELITE EIGHT
The Big East is dominating Saturday night’s Elite Eight, with three of the four teams representing the conference.
And while two of those are top seeded Pittsburgh and Connecticut, underdogs Villanova and Missouri both got wins over higher seeds in the Sweet Sixteen and have the ability to do it again.
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Missouri (+5.5) at Connecticut – 4:40 pm ET
Both of these teams are coming off very impressive performances in the Sweet 16.
Connecticut had little trouble with an offensively challenged Purdue team squad from the Big Ten. They won 72-60, covering the seven-point spread.
The Huskies have now covered all three games in the tourney and are getting production from a number of different players. Against Purdue, it was light-scoring guard Craig Austrie who stepped up with 17 points even though he averages just seven on the season.
The key to UConn though is not offense, it’s having 7’3’ center Hasheem Thabeet in the lane to block shots and flat-out intimidate the opposition. Sure, they would love to have injured guard Jerome Dyson back, but they’ve shown enough on both ends of the floor to win a title without him.
Missouri has played very solid in the tourney, especially last game by beating second seed Memphis 102-91. Missouri was a 4.5 point dog, but they led by 24 points at one juncture and beat Memphis at their own game with their frantic pace and press.
Missouri’s best players, forwards DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons and guard J.T. Tiller, aren’t that well known nationally but they can play. Coach Mike Anderson also likes to bring a bunch of guys off the bench to keep everyone fresh.
The big question in this game is how will Connecticut handle the Missouri defensive pressure? The best way to analyze this is to see how they handled a similar style in Louisville back on February 2nd. UConn went with a three-guard offense exclusively in that game although Dyson was still playing.
UConn does have three solid guards left with Austrie, A.J. Price and Kemba Walker, but if they are all on the floor, then Stanley Robinson or Jeff Adrien will have to sit, and Robinson has been playing great lately.
Overall, UConn is going to have their hands full with Missouri’s aggressiveness, and you can expect a tight game coming down the stretch.
Villanova (+2) at Pittsburgh – 7:05 pm ET
Two Big East foes will kick off Elite Eight action with top seeded Pittsburgh going against third seeded Villanova.
If you watched the tournament and didn’t know who was the higher seed, you would it assume it was Villanova. After all, they have played great in the last two games, in easily dispatching traditional powerhouses UCLA and Duke.
The key has been an incredibly unselfish and balanced offense with six players in double digits against UCLA and three more against Duke. The Wildcats are not a big team, with four guards in their Top 7 rotation, but they play very strong and physical defense for their size.
Pittsburgh has struggled in the tournament even though they were able to comeback and beat Xavier on Thursday night, 60-55. That game had a six-point spread, and the Panthers are now 0-3 ATS in the tourney
Pitt is playing very tight as a top seed and not getting much production outside their ‘Big 3’ players of Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields.
Their best hope in this game is that they’re playing a familiar team from their conference, where they played so great in the regular season.
However, these squads met once back in January and Villanova pulled away for a 67-57 home win after trailing by five at halftime. They have a great chance to beat Pitt again, and this really should be closer to an Even spread.
