Big East Tournament, Cincinnati News, Georgetown News, Marquette News, Matt Whitfield, Notre Dame News, Pittsburgh News, Ray Floriani, Syracuse News, Villanova News, West Virginia News

2010 BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: DAY THREE RECAP

by RAY FLORIANI and MATT WHITFIELD

NEW YORK CITY – The quaterfinals of the 2010 Big East Tournament served as reminder, as if we needed one, as how tough and unforgiving this conference is. Also, how interesting and exciting for those of us watching and/or analyzing.

The Scores:

Georgetown 91, Syracuse 84

Marquette 80, Villanova 76

Notre Dame 50, Pittsburgh 45

West Virginia 54, Cincinnati 51

Ray’s ten points of emphasis from Thursday…

1. Syracuse exited the tournament one and done. For Orange faithful, the weekend to quote Steeley Dan, “didn’t turn out as you planned”. Orange fans can also take solace from 2003. That year they won a quarterfinal game before being eliminated by UCONN in the semis. Less than a month later they cut the nets down in New Orleans. ESPN reported no team lost its first conference tournament game and won the national title. Interesting, but right now Syracuse is concerned with Arinze Onuaku who exited the Georgetown game with a knee strain that needed further evaluation.

Georgetown fans support their Hoyas and are sticking around into the weekend.

2. Syracuse shot 54% against the Georgetown defense. The Hoyas’ defense wasn’t a non-entity as they did force 17 turnovers and came up with the necessary crucial stops in the stretch.

3. Marquette-Villanova was an excellent 4 versus 5 seed matchup. Corey Stokes was big off the bench for ‘Nova leading the way with 22 points. Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette led all scorers with 24 points and his 5 of 7 from beyond the arc was crucial. On remembering the recruitment of Johnson-Odom, Marquette coach Buzz Williams said, “I watched him for seven minutes and knew he was a player.”

4. Two minutes to go in Marquette-Villanova. A tie score. Thursday afternoon at a packed MSG. Courtside. It doesn’t get any better than that.

5. Earlier in the week Syracuse coach expressed displeasure with the double bye. Villanova coach Jay Wright likes it. If you have injuries you can get rest and time to heal. If you do not have layers in the trainer’s room you can utilize the days off (from games) to continue practice and sharpening up. “Any situation where you need only three wins to get the title is good,” Wright said.

6. The first semi, Marquette-Georgetown, will be for the Big East ‘Jesuit title‘. Good day overall for catholic institutions with Notre Dame winning the third contest of the day.

7. Anxious moments for a href=”http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/big-east-team-pages/marquette/”>Marquette with Lazar Hayward and Mo Acker in foul trouble. Hayward had a 20 point afternoon while Acker scored three before fouling out. Still, Williams said both have to be on the floor for Marquette to operate on all cylinders.

8. Pittsburgh did a good job adjusting to the Notre Dame tempo. The Panthers did get to face it in a late February loss in South Bend. Pitt defended Harangued (12 points) a great deal better than Seton Hall did. Irish guard Tory Jackson made a few big plays in the stretch. Another key factor was the entire second half, especially in those anxious waning moments, Pitt never grabbed the lead. Love that slower style of ND. As coach Mike Brey said, “it’s a great fit when your players have a high basketball IQ and can all catch and pass.”

9. Cincinnati showed a great deal of heart. They trailed 18-4 early and went to the 9:18 remaining mark of the first half before scoring their first field goal. They gradually came back simply by making shots. Scoring raised their energy level especially on defense. A buzzer beating three by Jonnie West (whose famous dad made some clutch shots in his day) put West Virginia up by three at the break. Second half they fell behind by nine only to come back again. A late turnover followed by a Da’Sean Butler banked three at the buzzer was the difference in a heartbreaker of a loss.

10. Say this about Lance Stephenson…he takes his criticism because of the ‘Born Ready’ hype of prep days but the Cincinnati freshman is willing and able to deliver in the clutch. Tuesday he canned the winning free throw against Rutgers and tonight he hit a huge three to tie the game with seconds left before Butler drilled the game winner.

10a. After a week of riding the train from New Jersey to Penn Station I finally got the tracks and some of the times memorized.
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Matt Whitfield’s Quotebook from Thursday at the Big East Tournament…

“I thought Georgetown really played well tonight. The first game we controlled the game. The second game we controlled about 30 minutes. And then they started to get the ball into Monroe and they did that tonight from the beginning [and] we had difficultly with it. We just couldn’t get enough stops. And I think we made some bad turnovers throughout the course of the game. But I told the players I think Georgetown is capable of beating anybody any night.” – Jim Boeheim
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“I thought they played extremely well. I thought we played well on offense. We just didn’t get any stops defensively when we needed to. I thought we battled as hard as we could and it just wasn’t our day.” –Jim Boeheim
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“Well, he’s a key part of our team, I mean, he’s had a great year. And he’s a tremendous player. We hope that he’ll be fine. We don’t know [the extend of it yet].” –Jim Boeheim on Arinze Onuaku’s injury
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“He’s the best inside passer in college basketball easily. And he can score in there. I thought that overall we didn’t do a bad job with him. I think Chris Wright had a big night. He really had a great game. I thought when he plays like that, that’s when they beat people.” –Jim Boeheim on Greg Monroe and Chris Wright’s big games
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“I don’t know that there’s any one particular thing, you know against them. They had runs against us in the previous two games. I think we did a very good job today, with the exception of the last minute or two, of not turning the ball over. Normally we turn the ball over against them. They do a great job of creating your turnovers into easy baskets. And I thought our guys did a pretty job good, very good job actually, of just trying to hunt and peck and make the right decisions against their zone.” –John Thompson III
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“There are no holes in it. You get no easy baskets. We just wanted basically to get the ball into the middle. Get the ball either to Greg or off the penetration and then make decisions from there.” –JTIII on attacking the SU 2/3 zone defense.
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A dangerous team? That’s an understatement. That team is still one of the best, if not the best, team in the country in spite of today’s outcome. Do I expect them to be a dangerous team in the tournament? Absolutely. –JTIII on the Orange
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“It was trying to take away their big man’s strong hands. That was one thing we as a team thought we could do coming into the game. Just more or less about the scouting report, it wasn’t anything special I was doing.

I just went with the information my coaches gave me and it was effective.” –Greg Monroe on the defensive effort on the SU big men
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“I mean we are not concerned about that we just want to get there and play well. And regardless of who we play. Anyway you’re gonna have to beat teams. Everybody’s gonna bring their A game. –Andy Rautins on the possibility of SU losing a chance to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament
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“Next week seems like a long way away. We have to worry about whoever we play tomorrow, whatever draw we get. It’s definitely a confidence boost. I don’t think this team lacks confidence. I just think we’re ready to play. And fatigue is not going to be an issue. We’re just going to be ready to play whoever we play tomorrow. –Jason Clark
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“I think Villanova is arguably one of the best teams we’ve played since I’ve been at Marquette. So hard to guard. Every one of those guys they brought on the floor can pass, dribble and shoot. They keep you in constant rotation because of their ability to penetrate and I thought they were outstanding. Very well prepared. And we struggled to guard them. It’s very hard to win games when your opponent shots 54% and out rebounds you by five.” –Buzz Williams

“I think Jay Wright will be in the Hall of Fame long before his career is over. And I think if you’re on that that trajectory in your career, that tells you you’re one of the elite in your profession. I read every single word he ever says. Because I think he’s a great example of what coaches should be like.” –Buzz Williams on the ‘Nova head coach
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“Well, great game. We give all the credit to Marquette. They just continued to answer every play, every situation, every little adjustment we made, they had an answer for. They just did a great, great job. I have to give them credit.” –Jay Wright
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“We didn’t play that poorly. Obviously, you know a couple of times we lost Johnson-Odom, we lost Hayward. But it’s easy to say that when you watch the game. They do such a great job of making the extra passes, driving the ball, not taking the initial shot, making the extra passes. They get you scrambling. If you’re not great at playing every possession for 35 seconds defensively, they’re going to get you. I think that was the difference. We’re good at it. We’re not great at it yet.” –Jay Wright on the difficulty of playing Marquette’s style
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“I think that happens every year in the tournament. I think that’s what is great about tournaments. You don’t have to worry when they say you have to prepare one day after, it’s not a big deal. We’ve all played each other.We know each other. I think that’s what makes these games great. It’s been great games throughout the tournament. Our familiarity with each other is, it makes it tough beating any team.” –Jay Wright
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“It’s tough, but you know, that’s basketball. You have to go on to the next thing. We’re looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.” –Scottie Reynolds
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“I think the Big East season does wear you down because you see so many teams that are at the top and so many competitive teams night in and night out. You got to prepare yourself mentally and physically and know that each team that you face is going to be a tough one, just like this one.” –Scottie Reynolds on thw 18-game grind of the Big East regular season
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“It’s a close game that came down to the last possessions. And we just didn’t get it done. They seemed to make shots at the end of the clock and they executed well. And we need to do a better job.” –Jamie Dixon
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“To their credit, they’re playing well. We’re playing well. And that’s why you saw a game that came down to the final possessions. You know we’ll get better for it I think. I think we have a couple days to prepare. We’ll get ready to find out who we play Sunday. That’s why I told the guys afterwards this is disappointing.” –Jamie Dixon
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“Right now we don’t feel good. I’ll speak for myself. I don’t feel good. But I’m very happy with our effort and what we did. These kids have given everything they can. And they’ve been called young, inexperienced all year, but they haven’t played like it. I think this will be a good learning lesson for us today. I think this is something we can get better for.” –Jamie Dixon on his team and season
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“I thought we really defended the last seven minutes to win the game, because they defended us. We couldn’t get much offensively, so it was going to be us defensively to win. And I thought we were fabulous on that end of the floor.” –Mike Brey
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“This run we made at the end of the season, it was pretty special. Those guys have played great without me. Now to make a run in the Big East Tournament is great as well. We’re just looking forward to playing as well tomorrow and having the momentum we had tonight.” –Luke Harangody

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