Marquette to face BYU

The Marquette Golden Eagles finally know their opponent for their NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday. After a wild night in Dayton, OH, it will be BYU heading to Louisville to take on the Golden Eagles. After being in a 25 point 1st half hole, the Cougars fought their way back to topple Iona 78-72. In the first half Iona could do no wrong and BYU could do no right, the second half was quite the opposite.

So, what does this mean for BYU? Well, prior to the Big East Tournament, Rick Pitino said he did not like double byes, as he liked to keep playing to stay in a groove, and we all know how that turned out for Louisville - they won the tournament.

This situation may be a bit different. BYU may be tired. Afterall, they flew out Monday morning for a cross country trip to Dayton where they played a hard fought, late night game, only to head out slightly before midnight to get to Louisville. According to Buzz Williams, it is a huge advantage, "We will have 39 hours to prepare for our opponent, they will only have 34 hours to prepare for us."

That might not seem like a big difference, but for someone who prepares for games the way Buzz does, it is a big deal. The tired aspect is not too far fetched. The star for BYU in last night's game was senior Noah Hartsock. Hartsock has been battling injuries, and said this after the game, "I'm feeling fine right now, but tomorrow morning when I get up, that is when we will see how I am doing." That says a lot.

Marquette's Jamil Wilson knows what Buzz WIlliams' infamous 'boot camp' has done for this team, and what the continuous work ethic continues to do. "I know who gets tired. Sometimes, at the free throw line, when you have a little downtime to chat, youget them to talk and you can always tell by how they're breathing, who's tired. They're not used to chasing someone around like that."

So BYU it is. BYU comes in with a pretty impressive 26-8 record, 12-4 in the West Coast Conference. Even more impressive when you consider that all but two of those losses were to teams that were ranked during the year. This is a team that had a lot of success last year, and while they do have a lot of freshmen, they really only lost Jimmer Fredette from last year's squad.

When looking at BYU, don't be fooled thinking they are slow, this is an up-tempo team that is 13th in the nation is scoring, averages 78.2 ppg, so they can get out and run. The key to those points though, is that they shoot it at a clip of almost 48%. Also impressive. Their rotation goes about 9 deep, so the will be running in and out, but the truth is, 82% of their points come from their starting 5, so you know where to focus.

Their leading scorer of course, is Noah Hartsock. Hartsock is a tough player in the middle, but at least you know where he will be as he is not much of a threat at all from outside of the paint. Deny him the ball, and stay out of foul trouble. To quote Mayor Beluga, they must, "Box out! Box out! For the love of God, box out!"

The Cougars do have some size. To go along with Hartsock (6'8) the Cougars also have Brandon Davies at 6'9 and both Brock Zylstra and Charles Abouo at 6'6 & 6'5. Those 4 average a combined 23.4 rebounds per game.

On offense - They don't foul a lot, so attack the rim. If there is a person in particular, that would be Brandon Davies. Davies has fouled out a number of times this year, but has also picked up his share of Ts. The kid gets frustrated, so try and help him to get into the right frame of mind. Go at him.

MU should have the upper hand in this game, so I expect a Golden Eagles victory, but it is the NCAAs, so anything can happen.

Here is the tale of the tape.....