BIG EAST PREVIEW: MARQUETTE @ RUTGERS

January 7, 2009


While Rutgers might be through with the brutal stretch of top 5 teams North Carolina, Pittsburgh and UConn, who were ranked 1, 2 and 3 when they played them, the Big East allows no breathers and next up for the Scarlet Knights is Marquette. The Golden Eagles will look to build on their best-ever 2-0 Big East start at the RAC tonight.

Here are some of the pregame stories and previews found on the web this morning:

Seniors Hoping to Avoid Letdown Against Rutgers (Journal-Sentinel)
Stats Don’t Tell Story for Knights (mycentraljersey.com)

Peeking ahead in your schedule is not hard to do in this league, but Marquette will try and concentrate at the task on hand tonight in New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights gave #1 ranked Pittsburgh all they could handle in their Big East opener on New Year’s Eve and that should certainly have the attention of the Golden Eagles this evening.

Marquette is coming off an 84-50 route of Cincinnati and if they unleash their defensive pressure from the outset, they could do something similar to RU. Jerel McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Mathews have been excellent this season both offensively and defensively. In their last game, they held Deonta Vaughn scoreless against Cincinnati and will look to make life just as difficult tonight against RU freshman Mike Rosario, who seems to be the catalyst of the RU offense.

Marquette is not the biggest team in the conference and the Scarlet Knight could match-up very well in the frontcourt with Greg Echenique, Hamady N’Diaye and JR Inman, but they will only be as productive as their backcourt getting them the ball in position to score.

Marquette is a 9 ½ point favorite on the road, but look for RU to play this one tough. Marquette still pulls it out with more talent, but the young Knights will also use some of their experienced players and play well at home.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Marquette 70
Rutgers 63