Friday night. Thought I had things all set to be able to watch right away. Not happening. Back later.
February 15, 2008
Flash back to last year: Tom Crean called Pitt-Marquette a rivalry. I didn’t think it was last March and I really don’t think so right now either. Maybe he does it to pump up his players…who knows. What makes a rivalry? Location of the teams — sure it’s Big East, but Pittsburgh and Milwaukee aren’t too close. Great games in the past — we’ve surely had some, but not enough. Passionate fan bases — both teams have a solid following, but I don’t think there’s enough hate between the fans.
Next, a quote.
“My rule was I wouldn’t recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That’s not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk.” —Al McGuire
Come on, you know that’s cool. It’s also the basis for the name of the best MU blog out there…Cracked Sidewalks.
They’re not letting Levance’s offseason problems go away.
Fields missed more time for the foot injury than he did for punching an off-duty police officer, allegedly grabbing for the officer’s weapon, and ultimately being tased in an incident outside a strip club last September.
The fans are going to give him a tough time on that tonight — it’s a guarantee. He’s said in the past though that he’s used to it now and it won’t bother him.
Cracked Sidewalks speaks highly of the great rebounding between Blair and Young. Physicality is the answer.
With Fields back in the mix, MU will need to hit the floor with the same toughness and energy we saw in Newark earlier in the week. Marquette summoned up the moxie and energy that was missing for much of the Big East season as they silenced the chippy Pirates. The Golden Eagles dominated the Pirates on the glass, held them to just 38% shooting, and had an impressive 13 assists on just 30 made field goals.
By the way the over/under on the number of times Dominic James hits the floor is being set at 5 ½. He flops to the floor like he’s been shot (Duke Blue Devil style). I’m taking the over.
I’m headed to North Allegheny HS before the MU game to watch Zeke Marshall (6′ 11″ center from McKeesport) tonight. Hopefully I’ll have some type of “scouting report” (notice the quotation marks) since he is a possible Pitt recruit.
Good news. Seth Davis is going with the home team in his pick.
Still, Fields will be far from top shape, and Pitt is playing a road game against a Marquette team that is badly in need of a marquee win. As Dominic James has stumbled through illness and injury (only two double-digit scoring outings in his last eight games), 6-6 sophomore Lazar Hayward has emerged as the Golden Eagles’ go-to scorer.
Big East blog also goes with Marquette, but does a much better job of breaking this down.
Marquette will be challenged by Pittsburgh’s strength inside. DeJuan Blair will look to be physical inside against Ousmane Barro to score around the basket and control the defensive glass. Sam Young and Lazar Hayward might be the key match-up of the night. If Hayward can be similarly production as Young, Marquette’s chances are great. If Young gets to the foul line and Hayward is in foul trouble, it could mean big trouble for MU as they do not likely have another forward on their roster to guard Young.
Keys for Pitt include Blair staying out of foul trouble and getting some perimeter scoring from senior gaurds Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. Both players have played well in the 12 games since Fields have been injured, as they have persevered through their own ailments. Ramon has a bad shoulder and Benjamin cut his shooting hand a few weeks ago and his perimeter shot has not been the same. If he can regain that touch, and with the return of Fields, the Pitt backcourt suddenly becomes one to fear as well.
I don’t expect Fields to play more than 15 minutes or so.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s beat writer for Marquette focuses on Pitt and DeJuan Blair.
Marquette needs this game badly, because they haven’t done much against upper-tier teams in conference. They are also running out of opportunities in the conference season.
Ranked 20th in the Ratings Percentage Index on Thursday, MU is just 2-6 this season against top-50 RPI teams, a major determining factor for seeding in the post-season, and 1-5 vs. top-50 Big East teams.
MU has just three more games left against such teams, starting tonight with No. 16 Pittsburgh.
Kind of amusing that they view beating a depleted, banged up Seton Hall team by 25 as a statement game. We liked what Pitt did to Providence, but I don’t read about any Pitt player claiming it was a statement of anything other than beating an inferior team.
Of course, beating Marquette at the Bradley Center would be a huge win for Pitt.
“This is a big road game, two ranked teams on a Friday night, at their place, where we haven’t won since they came to the Big East,” Fields said.
…Marquette, like Pitt, has a distinct home-court advantage. The Golden Eagles are 12-1 at the Bradley Center this season. However, Marquette has just one signature Big East victory, a Jan. 12 win against Notre Dame. The only other victory since then against a team with a winning conference record came at Cincinnati.
“They have a lot of returning guys, so we’re very familiar with them,” Dixon said. “They return all five starters. We have none returning. We’re the different team.”
This game is part of Pitt’s roughest stretch of the schedule as games at Notre Dame and then Louisville and I would add the return game with Cinci because Pitt will play those 3 games in a week’s time.
Starkey gives love to Coach Dixon and Dixon’s deeper goal to have Pitt win it all.
The question was, “For all the success you’ve had, do you have to make that tournament run for people to believe Pitt is truly an elite program?”
“We haven’t won a national championship,” Dixon said. “There’s no question that’s a difference-maker. That’s a whole different thing. We want to win a national championship, and I understand the importance of winning one.”
It’s not like we can dictate things, but I think I would be willing to lose to Notre Dame and Louisville in the following two games as long as Pitt takes out Marquette tonight. Why?
This.
Seven members of the 2002-’03 Final Four team will be in attendance for Friday night’s game against Pittsburgh at the Bradley Center.
Travis Diener, Steve Novak, Terry Sanders, Scott Merritt, Andy Freund, Jared Sichting and Tony Gries will be honored at halftime. Dwyane Wade will be playing in the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans and unable to attend. Also missing the ceremony due to prior commitments are Robert Jackson, Todd Townsend, Joe Chapman, Chris Grimm and Karon Bradley.
Grrrr. Nice timing. Please spoil this.
“I’m looking forward to playing on Friday as long as the foot feels good,” Fields said last night after Pitt’s light workout at the Petersen Events Center. “Everything is going as planned.”
When asked later about how confident he was in playing, Field said: “I know I’m going to play.”
Levance Fields wasn’t smiling when he said it, but everyone could tell he was content inside.
“I’m going to play,” he said. “You probably can’t tell by this face, but I’m real energetic. When Friday gets here, I will be extra excited.”
Sensing a theme?
