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No. 16 Marquette (15-4) {-2} at Cincinnati (10-11)
Marquette: (RPI #29, Sagarin #16)
15-4
6-8 ats
2-3 away
0/u 7-7
Cincinnati: (RPI #85, Sagarin #101)
10-11
12-7 ats
8-4 home
0/u 7-12
At first glance this game looks like a blow out. As a team Marquette is better from the field, from the line, in scoring offense, in scoring defense, in rebounding, in turnovers, and from the bench. This line started at Marquette -1 and seemed to beg the public to take the Golden Eagles. As of now, the line sits at 2 and, to most, may seem too good to be true. Maybe it is.
On offense the Bearcats are fairly disgusting, they actually don't rank in the top 220 in any shooting category. Cinci has one true play maker and the team will go as far as he can take them. Deonta Vaughn is a 6-1 guard from indi that has progressed nicely in his second year on campus. Vaughn carried this team to home wins over Cuse and Arizona, and he posted 34 in a 1 point loss to Uconn three games ago. After an ugly start to their season Cincinnati has played well in all but one of their last 7 outings.
Marquette is still ranked in the top 20, but they haven't been playing like a top 20 team of late. The Golden Eagles managed home wins over South Florida and Depaul in their last two outings, but they didn't look impressive in either performance. Team leader, Dominic James, has been slowed by a wrist injury and you have to wonder if he's feeling any better after his awful performance last time out (1-7, 3 points). James came to Marquette as a marque recruit and has lived up to the hype thus far, but if he's not 100%, his team could struggle getting into their offense this Saturday. If James still isn't able to knock down the 3, Jerel Mcneal will be called upon to pick up some of the slack. Mcneal, another rivals top 100 recruit, has struggled greatly from behind the arc this season but he'll have to hit a few this weekend if Marquette hopes to get Cinci to extend their defense and open up driving lanes. The road team doesn't have much inside, but 6-6 forward, Lazar Hayward, gives them a bit of a threat inside. Hayward is the teams leading rebounder (6.3 rpg) and is actually their most consistent three point threat. If Cinci forward John Williamson isn't fully recovered from his groin injury, Lazar could force a lot of match-up problems for UC.
This game won't see much impressive action inside, it should be dictated, primarily, bt the guard play. Mcneal and Jones are each in the top 10, in the conference in steals per game while Cinci doesn't have anyone in the top 30. Vaughn comes in as one of the leagues best play makers, but he'll be shadowed by one the the Big East's premier defenders. UC looked dominant on defense their last time out but, previous to that, seven teams in a row had hit over 40% from the field on them. Regardless of that, Cinci has been undervalued much of the season and i look for them to continue their covering ways. The Bearcats have covered 10 of their last 12 while the odds makers have watched Marquette cover just one of their last seven.
According to Jeff Gentil of BearcatLair.com, this has been designated a "Ring of Red" game by the UC athletic department.. I'll be hoping the fans are back and the team is able to feed off of them.
my play:
Cinci +2
write ups: 11-6
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Originally Posted by Illusion
