Thursday
Connecticut (-7) vs. Purdue – Strong defense tends to thrive in the tournament, and both of these teams have top-rate defenses – in the Top 5 by defensive efficiency. The difference here is going to be the pace of play. UConn plays a far more up-tempo style that capitalizes on their size advantage over virtually everyone they play.
by T.O. Whenham – 03/11/2009
Big East – We’ll start with a tough one. The odds would logically suggest that three teams are favored well above the rest – UConn and Pitt at 7/4, and Louisville at 9/4. Head to head matchups don’t help much – Pitt beat UConn twice but lost to Louisville, and the Cardinals lost to UConn.
by T.O. Whenham – 3/10/2009
Maryland Terrapins, ACC – Maryland played one of the most exciting and impressive games I saw all season when they beat North Carolina in overtime last month. Greivis Vasquez had a triple-double and was as good as a player can be.
by Max Powers, Doc’s CBB AnalystÂ
The Missouri Valley Conference had been the media darling on Selection Sunday during the middle part of this decade. The conference would receive multiple tournament bids and was able to shed the label of mid-major for most of the decade.
by Max Powers, Doc’s CBB Analyst – 02/11/2009
But once conference play opened up things went south and they dropped their first two games to Illinois and Penn State, both middle-of-the-road teams in the Big Ten.
We have so much time on our hands before the Super Bowl that we can afford the luxury of breaking this game down from a million different angles. It also means, unfortunately, that we have more than enough time to become very sick of talking about some aspects of the game. Yes, I’m talking about you, Anquan Boldin.
