A Distinct Big East Flavor in East Final

The Big East Conference tested the strong and the weak all season. Every team was required to play 18 games skin-on-skin confrontations, along with the conference tournament. The NCAA tournament committee has gone out of its way to have teams from the same conference not compete unless they should meet in the Final Four, but with the superior quality of the Big East this year, it became impossible to avoid such a situation should the teams arrive.

If No.1 Pittsburgh (31-4, 17-12 ATS) would emerge as national champions, nobody could say it was easy for the Panthers. They have been pushed to the final minutes in all three games and come in a less than intimidating top seed. Pitt doesn’t seem to have the emotional-fire ready, having not covered last four contests and just three of last nine. Any Pittsburgh backer will tell the tournament credo of “survive and advance” is being taken to ridiculous measures, for a team that is 30-15 ATS against teams that have 80 percent or higher win percentage.

At least the Panthers have the revenge card to play, having suffered one of their four losses at the hands of Villanova. In losing 67-57 in Philadelphia, coach Jamie Dixon’s squad was 3-16 from deep, on the way to shooting 40.7 percent and committing 17 turnovers. Pittsburgh is 22-12 ATS revenging a loss.

This is Villanova’s second trip to Elite Eight in four years and they appear more equipped to make first Final Four appearance since 1985, when they played the “perfect” game in upsetting Georgetown for the national title. These Wildcats (29-7, 18-14 ATS) and have tremendous balance. What makes Villanova so difficult to defend is they have seven players each capable of scoring 10 or more points. Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds have to have their points, especially in big games, for the ‘Cats to be 10-2 ATS versus offensive teams scoring 77 or more points a game this season.

Coach Jay Wright has his players focused on defense and rebounding and opposing teams are paying the price. Duke and UCLA did not have room to execute their halfcourt offenses and were crushed on the boards. In Villanova’s last four contests, they have outrebounded teams 170-119 and are 15-4 ATS after two straight games with an advantage of 10 or more on the glass.
Pittsburgh is a two-point favorite at Betjamaica.com, with total of 142. The first Elite Eight contest is also a 1vs3 matchup and it is worth following, as top seeds have won three in a row, by at least eight points. The total comes into affect on two levels, first, when these seeds have met in this round, the OVER is 7-2 and when the total is less than 145 points; the OVER is spectacular 20-6 ATS.

For Pittsburgh to make first Final Four since 1941, DeJuan Blair and company must stay out of foul trouble and the guards will have to handle the on the ball pressure better.

Villanova has to cause Panthers miscues and take the game right to Pittsburgh from the start. Though the Pitt players have not panicked when falling behind early in all their NCAA games, these ‘Cats are playing very well and far more talented than what they have seen.

No matter what, the Big East will have a representative out of the East region.