UConn-Pitt. Thabeet-Blair. Price-Fields. Robinson-Young. Walker-Dixon. Adrien-Brown. And so it goes.
It’s time for the liveblog.
March 7, 2009
There will be a liveblog for this game.
Good column, summarizing a key aspect of the game.
Maybe it will be in the first possession, or maybe the second. To be sure, at some point in the opening couple of minutes, a call or a non-call will arrive that will signal how this one stands to play out.
Blair will get the ball down in the blocks. He’ll drop his shoulder. He’ll drive toward Thabeet’s chest. And tweet! Or no tweet. A foul on Thabeet? A charge on Blair? No call? Hmm.
Or maybe it’s on the other end. Thabeet and Blair will engage in an elaborate dance of give and take, both battling to establish position. And tweet! Or no tweet.
Can’t wait to find out who the refs are. It’s been on everyone’s mind.
“I think Calhoun got in their heads,” Blair said.
Blair, who jokingly said he would bring in cupcakes and cookies for officials, made a plea earlier this week for the game to be called without a lot of unnecessary whistles.
“DeJuan thought [Calhoun’s comments] had an effect in the games after that,” Pitt junior Jermaine Dixon said. “We’ll see. Calhoun is a legendary coach. I’m pretty sure referees respect him. So, we’ll see how it turns out.”
The players talking about it like this makes me more than a little nervous.
I’d rather see them just wanting to focus on the big game aspect.
Let’s blow the Connecticut-Pitt basketball game today at the Petersen Events Center into perspective, one that every Pittsburgh sports fan can understand.
“Someone who’s in a position to know tells me it’s a tougher ticket than the Super Bowl,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said the other day.
Everyone’s fired up.
”I’m excited,” coach Jim Calhoun said. “(My playiers) should be excited. It’s an opportunity to win a championship. One game. One afternoon. Twelve to 2. Two hours. After all the practices and all the trips and all the tough places that we went, they have a chance to win a neighborhood title, which is really nice.”
The Huskies (27-2, 15-2) had a week to prepare for a chance to claim at least a share of the program’s 11th Big East regular-season title. They dissected the last meeting with Pitt – a 76-68 loss on Feb. 16 – and formulated a game plan.
Motivation also comes in the form of trying to go undefeated on the road for the first time since the 1998-99 national championship season. Pittsburgh (27-3, 14-3) is determined to finish its season unbeaten at home, also needing a win for a shot a conference title.
To accomplish its goal, UConn has to be mentally and physically tougher than the last meeting when they got beat up on the boards (48-31) and lost a five-point lead with seven and a half minutes remaining.
”We’ve definitely got to match their intensity,” senior Jeff Adrien said.
And of course more is expected from Hasheem Thabeet this time.
Blair expects Thabeet to come out with something to prove.
“He’d better,” Blair said. “I’m ready for it. My team is ready for him.”
Thabeet, who averaged 17 points and 11.7 rebounds in three consecutive wins as Connecticut regained the nation’s No. 1 spot, said he has nothing to prove.
“It’s not about me proving myself that I can play ball,” he said. “I can always play.”
UConn senior guard A.J. Price, as well as Adrien, said one lesson they learned in the first game is nobody in the country — not even Thabeet — can be expected to guard Blair straight up.
“We just can’t allow (Thabeet) to be physical and man-up with Blair one-on-one the whole game,” Price said. “We need to help him out as a team and not expect him to block every shot that goes up.”
The one thing I really hope will end up on YouTube, are the ceremonies before the game to honor the seniors.
Pitt’s seniors — Tyrell Biggs, Sam Young and Fields — will be honored during a pre-game presentation today. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at roughly 11:40 a.m. Tipoff is noon. The seniors, who are 108-29 in their career, can become the winningest senior class in Pitt history with a win over UConn. “The four years have been great,” Biggs said. “The last one, playing my last game here in front of everybody, is going to be tough. I’m going to try to leave a real good impression.”
Pitt is favored by 3.5 points.
Oh, and courtesy of Chris Dokish:
…I did some checking to see who will definitely be visiting this weekend for the UConn game and verified to attend thus far are Dante Taylor, Talib Zanna, Tom Droney, and Kyryl Natyazhko. Isaiah Epps, Adreian Payne, and Sterling Gibbs have also been invited.
See everyone at noon.
