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Marquette vs.
Louisville
3/1/09
The Big East is really starting to heat as we come to the end of the
college basketball season. There have been upsets galore and teams
going up and down in the Top 25 polls. As of right now, the UConn
Huskies look like the clear favorite to win the Big East title and
get a number seed in the NCAA tournament, but the great thing about
college basketball is that anything can happen.
There is no question as the college basketball season comes to a
close that the Big East conference has the best teams in the nation.
With teams like Louisville, UConn, Pittsburgh, Marquette and
Villanova all on the top of their game right now the Big East will
almost certainly have one or more teams in the Final Four when it is
all said and done.
One of the key match ups coming down the stretch in the Big East
will be the Marquette Golden Eagles going up against Rick Pitino’s
Louisville Cardinals.
The Cardinals will be coming into this game red hot, winner of their
last four games which were all against Big East conference
opponents. Golden Eagles are coming off a disappointing 11 point
loss to the Huskies which may have delivered a huge blow to the
team’s confidence.
Ironically enough, even though they have played very well during the
regular season, the Golden Eagles schedule will be tough in their
final three games. After their game against Louisville the Marquette
will face Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The Golden Eagles should be able
to handle the Orangemen fairly easy in the last game of the season,
but facing three of the best teams in the country in three straight
games will be a tough.
First there was the loss to the Huskies, which was almost a forgone
conclusion, now they will face a very tough Cardinals squad followed
by the number one team in the country in the Pittsburgh Panthers.
The Cardinals on the other hand have a chance to finish the season
with a seven game win streak going into the NCAA tourney. They will
definitely have their work cut out for them when they face the
Golden Eagles on Sunday, but after that it will be pretty much
smooth sailing as they Big East underachievers in Seton Hall and
West Virginia.
Although Marquette could bounce back from their loss to the Huskies
with a big win over the Cardinals, I just think Louisville is
playing at a higher level right now. Not only are the Cardinals
playing better basketball than the Golden Eagles at the moment, but
they have been tested all season long by the best teams in the
country and will be ready for the challenge that Marquette might
bring.
Louisville has only lost two games in their last 16, so I think an
upset here is highly unlikely. Like I said, it is college basketball
and anything can happen, but I think Pitino has his team playing
exceptional basketball at just the right time and will be too much
for Marquette.
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