Rush The Court

Brian Otskey is the Big East Correspondent for RTC. He is reporting from the Big East Tournament all week, and will sum up his thoughts on the day’s action each evening. You can find him on Twitter @botskey.

Day three of the Big East Tournament was another one to savor. Connecticut and Syracuse played a spirited game filled with drama in an atmosphere at MSG that was one of the best I’ve ever experienced. The second game of the day turned out to be the best though as what was a snooze-fest of a game suddenly got exciting late with Cincinnati rallying to force overtime and beat Georgetown. The Bearcats won in double overtime, advancing to their first ever Big East semifinal game. They’ll take on Syracuse in Friday night’s first game. In the evening session, Louisville decided it wanted to run with Marquette from the start and continued that style of play for all 40 minutes. The Cardinals forced 26 Marquette turnovers, one shy of the Big East Tournament record as they advanced to the semifinals yet again. Louisville will face Notre Dame in the Friday nightcap, a team that plodded its way through an ugly overtime victory over South Florida.

Here are some reflections from Thursday’s games:

• Syracuse struggled with half court offense today. Is that a problem going forward? – Yes, but only against teams that can slow the Orange down and limit their transition attack. Syracuse had issues in slower paced games against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Georgetown, Louisville and South Florida this year. SU gets Cincinnati again tomorrow, a team that ranks #258 nationally in tempo. If the Bearcats can limit turnovers and hit the offensive glass (two things they do well), they are going to have a chance. Packing it in defensively and making Syracuse beat them from the outside in the half court might be the best strategy for Mick Cronin’s Bearcats. In the NCAA Tournament, the games are slower and closer. Syracuse could have a problem in situations like that as it moves deeper into March.
• Connecticut is a different team – It seems the Huskies are finding their identity, an observation that was confirmed by Jim Calhoun after the game. Calhoun said, “Little did I know I’d find a new team.” Indeed. Despite struggling offensively, Connecticut looked like the team that was highly ranked in the preseason. Neither team played well offensively but that was mostly due to superb defense on both ends. Huskies point guard Shabazz Napier didn’t play nearly as well as he did yesterday but UConn persevered and was a play or two away from winning this game. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said he’d be shocked if Connecticut fails to win at least two games in the NCAA Tournament. After seeing the Huskies this week in New York, I’d be hard pressed to disagree even with what we saw for most of the regular season from this team.

• Today we saw the Georgetown team that is likely to flame out early again in the NCAA Tournament – Holding an 11-point lead with nine minutes to play, Georgetown looked to be in strong command of the game. That is until the Hoyas started turning the ball over and couldn’t make a shot. Georgetown scored just five points over the final nine minutes of regulation, including Otto Porter’s game-tying shot with three seconds remaining. That’s a game Georgetown simply has to close out but six turnovers over that same stretch allowed Cincinnati to get back in it and force the extra session. The game eventually went to double overtime and the Hoyas couldn’t win it as Henry Sims’ potential game-winning three point attempt clanged off the rim. Georgetown plays good defense most of the time but mental lapses and some inexperience on its roster could make it vulnerable to an early upset. However, Georgetown’s biggest problem is lack of spurtability. The Hoyas simply don’t generate enough offense to overpower an opponent and a few mistakes down the stretch like we saw today can cost them dearly when they can’t get any offense going. That’s a recipe for disaster in the NCAA Tournament.
• Twenty-six Marquette turnovers give me second thoughts about its NCAA Tournament chances – I’ve thought for a while now that the Golden Eagles were a Final Four sleeper. Against Louisville’s zone press tonight, Marquette committed a season-high 26 turnovers in a loss to the Cardinals. Louisville took control from the opening tip and never looked back. The Cardinals also out-muscled a thin Marquette front court, grabbing 50 rebounds (26 offensive) on the night. While the turnover number is probably an outlier and just a bad night, you can’t deny what Louisville’s pressure did to the Golden Eagles. Junior Cadougan looked unsteady all evening and Buzz Williams said after the game that his whole team was out of sync. What’s more concerning than the turnovers is the rebounding. Marquette is already thin up front without Chris Otule and Davantae Gardner still not 100%. MU will have a very difficult time matching up against big, physical teams that can slow the pace. I still think this team is a contender to do major damage in the Tournament but today’s game has to give you some second thoughts.
• Rick Pitino proves yet again why he’s a great coach – This is Louisville’s third trip to the Big East semifinals in the last four seasons and that’s not a coincidence. Rick Pitino’s team came out with the intention to press and run with Marquette and the Cardinals executed that game plan flawlessly. Louisville is not a good team in half court offense so slowing the game down wasn’t going to do much for them. Pitino figured his best chance was to run with a team that would oblige and his zone press devastated Marquette’s guards. MU point guard Junior Cadougan had eight turnovers alone, by far the worst game of his season. Louisville will face Notre Dame tomorrow night but it’s going to be tougher for the Cards to get runouts in that one. You can bet Mike Brey’s club will hold onto the ball as long as humanly possible in order to wear Louisville out defensively.

• Notre Dame and South Florida legitimately set basketball back – Watching the game live and following the comments on Twitter, it is a universally shared opinion that the ND/USF game may have been the lowest quality Big East Tournament game ever. When the game went to overtime, some fans at Madison Square Garden actually got out of their seats and headed for the exits, not wishing to witness any more bad basketball. Of all the folks in the western world, it seemed only Stan Heath liked what he saw. “Ugly is in the eye of the beholder,” Heath said. “I love the way we play.” He does have a point because USF can’t win basketball games any other way, even if they lost tonight. This was a game the Bulls should have won but they melted down late and allowed the Fighting Irish to tie it up and move ahead in the extra session. Although Jack Cooley could only manage one rebound and ND was out-rebounded, the Irish came up with some big boards when they needed them. Pat Connaughton and Scott Martin rebounded well, something Mike Brey was very happy about after the game. If the Irish can impose their will on Louisville Friday night, we could be in for another ugly contest.
• The crowd for Syracuse/Connecticut was amazing – When you think of Big East basketball, it’s hard not to think of the Orange and the Huskies right away. Games like that are truly the essence of Big East basketball and the two teams certainly didn’t disappoint this time around either. Syracuse fans dominated the arena but the UConn faithful did manage to make their presence known. In a game packed with thrilling moments and edge of your seat drama, the MSG crowd came through in a big way once again. It’s hard to imagine a Big East Tournament without Syracuse and its fans but that’s what we’re headed for when the Orange leave the conference at a still to be determined date. It’s really a shame because rivalries and settings like what we saw on Thursday afternoon are what big time college basketball is all about.