Big East Finals Preview

After ten intense hard fought games over the last three days, it all comes down according to plan to the number one and number two seeds meeting for the conference championship. Pittsburgh meets Connecticut for the third consecutive year in the Big East Final. Pittsburgh is the current title-holder, after taking the 2003 crown from the Huskies who bettered them in 2002. It has become a great Big East rivalry and tonight is the rubber match. Let’s look at how this one matches up.

No.1 Pittsburgh vs. No.2 Connecticut

Pittsburgh is not going to go away from its formula of slowing the tempo, playing aggressive half court man-to-man defense and rebounding the basketball. They rely on their physical strength to take the other team out of what they are trying to do. It will be such a sharp contrast in styles, as the Huskies will want to get out and run and use their quickness and athleticism. Connecticut also plays tremendous half court defense, but they use their team quickness to beat you to the spot rather than muscle you for position. If they get beat on the perimeter they have Josh Boone in the back of the defense to block and later shots around the rim. Charlie Villanueva’s health is an issue tonight. Without him, the Huskies would be down to seven healthy scholarship players. Neither team relies heavily on their bench, so fresh legs will be important. The match-up of Taliek Brown and Carl Krauser at the point guard will be a treat as these two New York City guards go head to head. I can’t wait for this battle to get underway tonight.

What to Look For:
• Which teams gets a great performance out of a bench player. I like Connecticut’s Denham Brown to step up tonight and give the Huskies some scoring help.

• Julius Page is one of the league’s top wing defenders and he has to prove it tonight on Ben Gordon. His long arms will be a factor because he can play a bit further off Gordon and still get in his vision on a jump shot.

• The “battle of the rookies” between Boone and Chris Taft. This is a look at the future of interior play in this league.

Prediction: I keep watching Pitt and saying they can’t possibly be as good as they are. Yet they win all of their games. It will not be different tonight. Page does a good job on Gordon and the Huskies injury woes catch up to them. The score stay under 70 and the Panthers win 66-63.