Big East Rivals, Villanova and Pittsburgh, Compete for Spot in Final Four

Of all the teams left in the NCAA Tournament, the remaining road favors the winner of tonight’s game between Pitt and Villanova.

The reason being that these two teams get to play each other on one day rest while all the other teams have to prepare for unfamiliar foes on the same rest. 

The winner tonight will get to play a non-conference opponent on the long lay-off, then likely (though by no means certainly) another Big East team in the finals on one day rest.

Granted I am just talking path here.  I am in no way suggesting that any Big East team is a lock for the finals.  But in terms of preparation for matchups, Pitt and Villanova have the most favorable set-up for these next three games.

Of course talent factors in as well.  And if we look at talent, I am not certain Villanova is a team that can make the finals.  They can beat Pitt because of matchups.  Pitt struggles with guard oriented and full court pressing teams.  For Villanova, that is a check and a check.

In fact, with all the discussion of Pitt’s relative struggles compared to others in the Elite Eight, something that gets overlooked is the matchups. ETSU, while being an inferior team, was also a pressing team. 

The full court press has always given Pitt trouble. Likewise, OSU was a guard oriented team, at times playing four guards. Defensively, that means that Pitt had to put a big man on a guard.  No wonder they had a field day shooting threes.

Xavier was a solid matchup for Pitt.  They had two big men, one 7′ and the other just under, who were tough and physical defenders.  It doesn’t help when you have two big men double team your undersized big man. 

And Xavier was also a solid rebounding team.  On paper, that game looked like it would be a tough matchup for both teams, and it was.

Matchups are huge and Pitt proved to have some of the toughest style vs. style matchups in the tourney so far. This has made for some supposedly lackluster basketball. 

Of course it is often not mentioned that Pitt shot 50% against OSU when people talk about how poorly they played. Nor do they mention that they held Xavier to 18 points in the second half.  People say that Xavier missed shots. 

But I don’t think it is a coincidence that both OSU and Xavier came up empty in the second half of their games against Pitt. The Panthers turned the defense up to a new level in both games.

In fact, in the last 60 minutes of basketball, the Pitt defense has been so good that it has held opponents to 20 percent three point shooting after getting lambasted from behind the arc by the cowbows.

All said and done, Pitt played ugly ball against three teams that were tough style matchups for them.  And they came out of those three games 3-0.

Tonight is tough matcup No. 4. Villanova is a guard oriented pressing team.  It is no coinciednce that Nova has beaten Pitt four of their last six meetings. 

Though their last game had less to do with Pitt struggling against the press than it had with DeJuan Blair taking silly fouls and taking himself out of the game.

It has been said ad nauseum that Blair must stay on the floor tonight for Pitt to win.  Ok, fair enough.  But to be accurate, Pitt’s best players must be on the floor for them to win.  And I don’t just mean that they need to be standing out there in uniform. 

They need to be on the floor mentally and emotionally. They need to have their heads in the game. They need to be ready to throw their superior talent and physical presence at Villanova.

Nova has no one to matchup with Blair.  Nova has no one who can hang with Sam young.  But Pitt’s struggles rarely come from other teams neutralizing those guys. It usually has more to do with those guys not seeming ready or interested.

If Pitt looks disinterested in making a Final Four, then we as fans can’t complain that they should be there. 

If Pitt is focused and ready to play, then it is hard to imagine that they don’t make it. It is in the hands of the players. Or more accurately, it is in their hearts. 

This team has more than enough talent and physical presence to dominate Villanova.

What remains to be seen; what we will find out tonight, is if they have the heart.