[shortsleeve47]

Two teams who can play well against anybody in the tournament and unfortunately have to start off playing against each.

Here's the Marquette perspective and hopefully tomorrow I can enter Kentucky's perspective.....
.................................................. .......................................


Time for 'Big Three' to show maturity
http://media.www.marquettetribune.org

Since the day they first stepped foot on campus, Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal have been the faces of the Marquette men's basketball team. Whether they wanted to be or not, they only recently realized that being grouped together in discussions off the court means little if they do not play well together on the court.

We all have a lot of talent, and just from our individual play, we kind of held each other back," James said recently. "All of us are very unselfish, but when we were out there playing, we kind of had the individual mentality, the, 'We can do this. I can win it by myself,' kind of thing."

The turning point, the three junior guards concurred, was the 86-83 loss Feb. 9 at Notre Dame. Sure, the defeat stung, but the manner in which the Golden Eagles erased a sizable second-half deficit and put themselves in position to tie the game at the buzzer taught them a valuable lesson.

Matthews said the three junior guards became more trusting after the trip to South Bend, Ind. The offense. Their teammates. Each other. The loss seemed to fortify the trio's conviction in the team concept.

Now, the team—and its fans—will find out whether the growth in maturity of its three marquee players translates to postseason advancement unlike anything the junior guards have experienced at the collegiate level.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Thanks for the post...great match up... I think I will back Kentucky in a coin toss. Should be a good one.

[shortsleeve47]

Got to say I am pulling for Kentucky on this one. I mean, how can you not like them if Ashley Judd is one of their biggest fans?
Here's to a great game to watch of two evenly matched teams with high intensity fans.
.................................................. ...........................................

Cats get another chance
Two Battle Tested Teams
When UK Coach Billy Gillispie met with the media Sunday to discuss the 18-12 Cats' happy inclusion in the field of 65 and was asked whether this, his fourth NCAA Tournament, felt any different for him, the coach went all tear-jerker.

"I'm just really proud of this team. Like I started out saying, so many times in life when something bad happens to you, you automatically take a negative approach. I can't stand being around those kind of people. Those are the kind of people that make life bad for all of us, that always see the glass half-empty instead of half-full. I can't stand being around non-believers.

"I've been proud of every single team I've ever had, because they've all had great characteristics, great qualities, so many intangibles. But this team, I've never seen a tougher team, physically or mentally, to be able to overcome the things that were placed in front of them that were beyond their control."

The Marquette Golden Eagles who are pretty good, a 24-9 team that has gone through the nightly battles of the Big Beast, er, East, a league so strong that half of its 16 teams were selected for the field.

And the last time the Cats met Tommy Crean's team, the results didn't turn out so well in 2003, when Marquette with Dwyane Wadetriumphed and earned a trip to the Final Four.

And Marquette is 0-3 in NCAA appearances since D-Wade's departure. But that doesn't mean Thursday night is going to be an easy task.

But then when has this Kentucky team had an easy task?

"It feels great," said senior guard Joe Crawford, "because at one point in the season everybody gave up on us and didn't think we had a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament."

Yet here they are.

http://www.kentucky.com/276/story/349016.html

[Quality88]

It's gonna be rough as hell. The bad thing is, Marquette has had our number in the tournament over the years.

[Geechee843]

yea i got kentucky too. simply cuz i live down south. but domonic james reminds me of isiah thomas. since he's 5'11 but stil has amazing hops and dunks with authority like t-mac or lebron.

but this is wat i hate aboutt college tournaments. you gotta sit through like 3 days of bs matchups before you get into the meat of the brackets. kinda like bowl season where you gotta watch the meinike car care bowl and see bowling green in the gmac bowl before you get to see the sugar bowl or feista bowl