Total Take For Big East Showdown

Marquette vs. UConn, 6:30 ET

This is the last Saturday of College Basketball before we get the NCAA Tournament. Personally, I love college hoops, I've talked quite a bit about the success this year. And, that isn't because I am trying to brag. I try to share if I'm doing well, or struggling because I know we get new readers daily, and we get guys who can't read every article every day. So, you need to know if I'm doing well or not. To answer the question, I'm doing pretty well the last three days, going 5-1 since Thursday. Today, I look to once again take a unit in a Big East battle as Marquette takes on UConn.

Marquette was a team that just lined my pocket the other day. Let's be really clear, I was fairly lucky in that game. They went to overtime against a Villanova team that struggled against a DePaul squad just a day prior. Now Marquette has a very unenviable task in taking on UConn. This is the third time the two teams will play and UConn has bested Marquette twice already. How did they get here? Marquette had a great regular season, ending 23-8 and boasting a 14-6 conference record. They did have two home losses, one against UConn and the other against Butler. The two wins in the tournament came against Villanova, and yesterday against Providence. The game against Providence was a comfortable 11-point win which may lead to a little more rest for the legs. Offensively, most of their scoring is coming from Kam Jones, a guard that is a very strong shooter who averages 16.7 points on 50.5% shooting from the floor and 41.1% from deep. He isn't the only scorer on the team, they have another guard and two strong forwards that combine to average 39.8 points per game. They do have a fairly deep rotation as well with 10 guys averaging roughly ten or more minutes per game. 

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 19: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Marquette Golden Eagles reacts against the Michigan State Spartans during the second half in the second round game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 19, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

UConn is probably the best team in college basketball. They just reached 30 wins with their victory yesterday. They did win 28 games before the tournament started and only lost three games this season. Just two losses came against Big East opponents with one at the had of Seton Hall and the other at Creighton. For the record, the only other loss was against Kansas which came on the road early in the season. This will also be UConn's third game of the Big East tournament. The first game they easily defeated Xavier, winning the game by 17. Yesterday was a bit of a different story as they were only able to beat St. John's by five points. This was kind of a back and forth battle as UConn's largest lead was 14 and St. John's was 7. One of the reasons that I like UConn so much is that they have so many guys that can lead the way for them. They have five players that average double figures and another three that play 13 or more minutes per game. They don't turn the ball over much, play aggressive defense, and pass well. They do the big things well, but they do small things efficiently as well. It can be hard to beat any team three times in a season, but UConn is talented enough to do it even against a tough Marquette team. 

In this one, I think we see some fairly efficient scoring now that they have seen each other twice. I'm a little concerned that the legs might not be there for both rosters as we are on game three for each of them. Plus, Marquette had the overtime game. However, I think that will impact the effort on defense more than anything. Both teams will be plenty motivated to win this one and should feel comfortable in the arena now. I'll take the over in this one. 

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