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Marquette at Pitt
3/4/09
Here we go again! Another battle in the Big East!
Although the Marquette Golden Eagles arent looking as promising as they were before Louisville handed them another loss, Marquette still posses a threat to a very good Pittsburgh Panthers team in what is a must win situation for them if they still want a chance at winning the Big East Conference title.
The final two Games of the season will be challenging to say the least for the Panthers as they have to face the Golden Eagles and then the Big East leading UConn Huskies immediately after. Granted the Panthers do have the edge of the Huskies with the way they dominated them in the paint in their last meeting, but you can bet that Coach Jim Calhoun will have a new and improved Game plan in their second and final meeting of the season.
As for Marquette they will try and salvage what they can in the rest of the regular season before heading into the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles will be coming into this Game with two straight losses two UConn and Louisville in which the Huskies beat them convincingly and Cardinals just got by them with a Four point victory.
Although Marquettes chances of winning a Big East title are basically slim to none, these final two Games could be a huge momentum boost going into the Big Dance. With wins over both Pittsburgh and UConn, arguably two of the best teams in the country, the Golden Eagles will be flying high will confidence going into the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers will be looking to close out the season as strong as possible and a win over both Big East heavyweights in Marquette and UConn would be just what the doctor ordered. The recent loss to Providence was a huge disappointment and big blow to their confidence and if the Panthers cant figure out a way to rebound from that as quickly as possible they could be in trouble come Tournament time.
Pittsburgh was able to somewhat recover from the upset loss to Providence with a win over lowly Seton Hall in their last Game, but their toughest tests of the season are just around the corner for the Panthers.
The one thing, besides DeJuan Blairs double-double average, that the Panthers have going for them in the final two Games of the season is the fact that both Games will be played in Pittsburgh where the Panthers are a perfect 17-0 this season.
Although UConn is a different story altogether, I dont think that Pittsburgh will have much trouble with Marquette as long as their two star forwards in DeJuan Blair and Sam Young play as good as they have all season long.
There is always a chance of an upset in college basketball, just look what happened to the Panthers against Providence, so to say the Golden Eagles couldnt win this Game would be foolish, but I would be surprised to see it.
Bet 5dimes.com has this Game Pitt -10.5 with a total of 148. We’ll lay the -10.5 here and also lean slightly towards the Over.
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