Marquette outscored Louisville in the second half 41-35 to break upon a three point lead at the half (see the ESPN recap). Dominic James played a great game, hitting tough threes and runners, as well as setting up teammates for open shots. On the other hand, Louisvlle’s star player — Terence Williams — went 4-16 from the field and scored 10 points.  A few thoughts from the game:

• Pitino didn’t prepare his troops enough defensively. The first half was a defensive hodge-podge as they tried a combination of a 2-3 zone and a weak full-court press. It didn’t work, so they switched to man-to-man, which also didn’t work. The man-to-man defense didn’t work for a fundamental reason (see below), while the 2-3 zone didn’t work because Louisville executed horribly. There were several times Dominic James got to the rim on a dribble drive, something that shouldn’t happen often against a 2-3 zone. It seemed to me that Pitino realized a 2-3 zone would be effective and threw it in the mix a few practices before the game.
• It’s extremely difficult to play man defense against Marquette. Their three guards (James, McNeal, and Matthews) can easily get by a man defense on the dribble causing havoc as the defense tries to rotate. Despite their relatively strong three-point shooting, I’d rather play Marquette in a 2-3 zone than have their players pick apart a man defense.
• Despite the loss on their home floor, there were plenty of silver linings for Louisville. Despite playing horribly on defense, they were down only 7 with 2 minutes left. Edgar Sosa, their starting freshman point guard, is coming along very nicely. Derrick Caracter, their star freshman, is finally playing after a bad start to the season. And playing against a tough Marquette defense, they only had 8 turnovers. This was my first good look at Louisville and I came away pleasantly surprised. If Sosa and Caracter, their two star freshmen, can grow and develop a bit more throughout the season, Louisville could slip into the tournament.

More on the game from the guys over at Card Chronicle and Cracked Sidewalks.

Categories: Commentary, donald, Louisville, Marquette
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Several bloggers (including our own Big Willie) have noted on Notre Dame’s ability to snatch defeat from the claws of victory. Today was an exception, however, as they kept West Virginia’s comebacks at bay. It was the Mountaineers turn at Groundhog day as they got to within 5 (exactly!) an astounding four times in the second half. Each time Notre Dame would break the 1-3-1 and put the Irish back up by 7. If UConn wants to figure out how to break down the West Virgina defense, they need only look at the Irish, which put together a textbook attack. If they are able to dissect other defenses with the same precision, Notre Dame will be a force. That seems like a big “if”, though.

West Virginia, on the other hand, looked small and seemed to depend too much on the outside shot. Eight of the Mountaineers’ 14 field goals in the second half were three pointers. They made exactly one free throw. Without a threat of scoring through penetration, the Mountaineers look to be a bit one-dimensional. They had great success in their first three Big East games, but my belief is that you’ll mostly die if you live by the three.

More on the game from the West Virginia perspective.

Categories: Commentary, donald, Notre Dame, West Virginia
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Finally! We have some conference games on tap and I for one could not be more excited that I don’t have to see our schools beating up on the Davidsons of the world any more. We’ve already watched the Moutaineers knock UConn from the ranks of the unbeaten, and then last night UConn rebounded to defeat USF 69-50, which included an impressive performance from Freshman guard Jerome Dyson, and Sophomore forward Jeff Adrien. After watching the game, I was still most impressed by the play of Freshman Doug Wiggins who came off the bench to give the Huskies quite a jumpstart in the first half. Melvin Buckley paced the Bulls with 17 points in the loss.

Tonight there are four games, three of which are on ESPN Full Court, and I believe they may still have their free preview on, so you might want to check some Big East hoops out tonight. They are:

Villanova @ West Virginia – It’ll be interesting here to see if WVU will play as well against the Wildcats as they did in their first game. I expect Villanova to come out of there with a very close win, and it should be a good game.

Rutgers @ Seton Hall – Seton Hall should win here by 10-15, and nobody outside of New Jersey is likely to watch it.

DePaul @ St. John’s – This should also be tight. I expect Depaul to win, but St. John’s should make it interesting.

Louisville @ Notre Dame – Finally, the best game of the night, and it’s not televised. Freaking great! I think the Irish will win in another close one.

Tomorrow (Thursday night) we’ve got…
Pitt @ Syracuse – The game I am most excited about is tomorrow night’s matchup as Pitt travels to the Dome for their Big East opener. Knowing Syracuse, they’ll probably beat Pitt, beat Marquette and then lose to Rutgers. That would only be too typical. I actually think that the Cuse does have enough to beat Pitt, and I think if there was ever a good chance, it’s now, before the Panthers get rolling. Look for a nailbiter and for an Orange upset.

Marquette @ Providence – Give me Providence by 5-10. Marquette is better, but I can see them over-looking this game for their next tough test against the Orange. I think this will be an upset.

Categories: Big Willie Style, Commentary
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