Sat 3/8 Providence at Creighton

[Bill Marsh]

The consensus heading in the last few weeks seemed to be PC had no chance in this one, however I disagree. Jays are on a slide and PC beat them badly in first matchup, I'm hoping it's a matchup issue, but not counting on it..... Depends on if PC comes to play like their NCAA life depends on it, they are a jekyll and hyde road team and when their shots aren't falling on the road they are bad. Keys for PC are to stay in it, if they fall behind big early its over. If they can stay within 10 at worst even and cut it down to within 5 with 5 min left I'd take our chances, or better yet if they can play their very best and lead the way. Obviously we know Creighton when shooting it hot can be unbeatable and has Mr. McDermott. I'm hoping the emotion of senior day is too much and PC steals it. Jays 15-0 at home, gonna be tough.

I have a different take on this one. I agree with the consensus that PC's chances @Creighton are slim and none. Can't completely dismiss PC's chances in this game since they already have a win over CU, but CU will be fired up in this game for a lot of reasons and they'll be at home where they haven't lost all year. Not a formula for success for PC.

However, I think this really frees up the coaches and the fans to look at this game as a warm up for the BE tournament. Almost like a scrimmage. Go out and give it all you've got and hope for a win but you can't really expect it as anything more than a long shot. So, what will make this interesting for me is to see what Cooley introduces in this game that he might want to use in the tournament. Last night Providence went with the zone almost exclusively against Marquette except for a few possessions. Will Cooley do something similar against Creighton?

I'd find it interesting if he were to press Creighton the entire game to speed it up, something Creighton doesn't want to do. They don't really have the depth to press the whole game, so maybe he plays half court ball pressure the whole game with zones like a 1-3-1. Creighton passes really well, so it might just be an invitation for them to get open 3's unless PC can turn them over and force them into rushing their shots.

Bottom line is that anything they do against Creighton may well be a preview of what they're ring to use in the tournament that they haven't been doing much of during the season. It might simply be more of the 2-3 one we saw last night. Their big men have been getting in foul trouble and they have to find a way to keep them in the game longer. The 2-3 did that last night.

[gofriars08]

A week ago I would've told you the Friars have no shot in this one, but in the past week, Providence has inched closer to an NCAA birth while Creighton has seemingly fallen back down to earth a bit. I still think Creighton is the clear favorite and a significantly better team, but Providence has much more to play for in this game and seems to be rounding back into form after a rough patch in early February.

What gives me some hope is that I still don't think Creighton has answers for PC on the glass, and the Friars' wings are long enough to bother shooters like McDermott and Wragge. Then again, McDermott was battling a cold the night these two teams last played, and it was in Rhode Island.

I still don't put PC's chances much above 20-25%, but a week ago I'd have them at single digits.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Let's see what has happened in the league so far on Sr. night:

Nova crushes Butler
SHU smacks Xavier
PC beats Marq
Gtwn beats CU

Maybe Nova, SJU and PC are all in for a little trouble this weekend. I would predict the line to be in the 8-9 pt range and I would bet on Creighton in a Sr. night, revenge, "put a beating on someone to get out the frustrations" type of game. CU 85- PC- 67

[SJHooper]

Let's see what has happened in the league so far on Sr. night:

Nova crushes Butler
SHU smacks Xavier
PC beats Marq
Gtwn beats CU

Maybe Nova, SJU and PC are all in for a little trouble this weekend. I would predict the line to be in the 8-9 pt range and I would bet on Creighton in a Sr. night, revenge, "put a beating on someone to get out the frustrations" type of game. CU 85- PC- 67

Marquette is one of the few teams SJ does not have too much trouble with. They can't shoot and neither can we. At home they will definitely be tougher but if we are tourney worthy we win it. Best matchup against us IMO. I'd rather play Marquette than almost any other team except Butler or DePaul.

[gosports1]

i predict creighton will come out on fire and light up the 3's. PC will fall far behind but make a run get close enough for the hope of an upset but then creighton will pull away down the stretch

[Bill Marsh]

A week ago I would've told you the Friars have no shot in this one, but in the past week, Providence has inched closer to an NCAA birth while Creighton has seemingly fallen back down to earth a bit. I still think Creighton is the clear favorite and a significantly better team, but Providence has much more to play for in this game and seems to be rounding back into form after a rough patch in early February.

What gives me some hope is that I still don't think Creighton has answers for PC on the glass, and the Friars' wings are long enough to bother shooters like McDermott and Wragge. Then again, McDermott was battling a cold the night these two teams last played, and it was in Rhode Island.

I still don't put PC's chances much above 20-25%, but a week ago I'd have them at single digits.

Good points. Harris is 6-9 and quick. I don't know if they match him up against Doug, but if they do, McD probably doesn't often see defenders this long and this quick. OTOH, if Providence wants to muscle him, they have Batts. Doug probably has a lot of centers guarding him and he can eat them up by taking them outside or by driving by them when they come out to guard him. PC also has the defenders to give Wragge a hard time whether it's Batts or Henton. It will be interesting to see what wrinkle Cooley uses against them. He could go with some form of a zone again.

PC may just be a bad matchup for Creighton. Providence is the #1 defense against the 3 in the Big East. Obviously that's what a team needs to be able to do to beat Creighton. OTOH, Providence is the best offensive rebounding team in the league and CU doesn't have much to combat that. PC normally turns the ball over too much, but CU isn't particularly good at turning anyone over, so they're not in a position to exploit that weakness.

[sciencejay]

The consensus heading in the last few weeks seemed to be PC had no chance in this one, however I disagree. Jays are on a slide and PC beat them badly in first matchup, I'm hoping it's a matchup issue, but not counting on it..... Depends on if PC comes to play like their NCAA life depends on it, they are a jekyll and hyde road team and when their shots aren't falling on the road they are bad. Keys for PC are to stay in it, if they fall behind big early its over. If they can stay within 10 at worst even and cut it down to within 5 with 5 min left I'd take our chances, or better yet if they can play their very best and lead the way. Obviously we know Creighton when shooting it hot can be unbeatable and has Mr. McDermott. I'm hoping the emotion of senior day is too much and PC steals it. Jays 15-0 at home, gonna be tough.

I have a different take on this one. I agree with the consensus that PC's chances @Creighton are slim and none. Can't completely dismiss PC's chances in this game since they already have a win over CU, but CU will be fired up in this game for a lot of reasons and they'll be at home where they haven't lost all year. Not a formula for success for PC.

However, I think this really frees up the coaches and the fans to look at this game as a warm up for the BE tournament. Almost like a scrimmage. Go out and give it all you've got and hope for a win but you can't really expect it as anything more than a long shot. So, what will make this interesting for me is to see what Cooley introduces in this game that he might want to use in the tournament. Last night Providence went with the zone almost exclusively against Marquette except for a few possessions. Will Cooley do something similar against Creighton?

I'd find it interesting if he were to press Creighton the entire game to speed it up, something Creighton doesn't want to do. They don't really have the depth to press the whole game, so maybe he plays half court ball pressure the whole game with zones like a 1-3-1. Creighton passes really well, so it might just be an invitation for them to get open 3's unless PC can turn them over and force them into rushing their shots.

Bottom line is that anything they do against Creighton may well be a preview of what they're ring to use in the tournament that they haven't been doing much of during the season. It might simply be more of the 2-3 one we saw last night. Their big men have been getting in foul trouble and they have to find a way to keep them in the game longer. The 2-3 did that last night.

I like this perspective, but wouldn't it be better for coaches to hold new wrinkles close to their vest these next/last games and use them for the first time in the BET? Everyone gets 3-4 days (or more) between last season game and first tourney game. Wouldn't they use that time to work on something new? Why showcase it ahead of time so that opposing coaches could use the next few days to scheme against it?

[stever20]

I could see PC throwing something new this game. Why? because a win, and they are almost 100% guaranteed to be in the NCAA tourney. So, throw the kitchen sink at them. Conversely I coudl see Creighton playing maybe a bit more closer to the vest.

[XUFan09]

If Xavier wins tomorrow, I'll be rooting for Providence because they'll probably have secured a tournament berth with a marquee road win. If Xavier loses, though...sorry, I like that 3 seed.

[Bill Marsh]

The consensus heading in the last few weeks seemed to be PC had no chance in this one, however I disagree. Jays are on a slide and PC beat them badly in first matchup, I'm hoping it's a matchup issue, but not counting on it..... Depends on if PC comes to play like their NCAA life depends on it, they are a jekyll and hyde road team and when their shots aren't falling on the road they are bad. Keys for PC are to stay in it, if they fall behind big early its over. If they can stay within 10 at worst even and cut it down to within 5 with 5 min left I'd take our chances, or better yet if they can play their very best and lead the way. Obviously we know Creighton when shooting it hot can be unbeatable and has Mr. McDermott. I'm hoping the emotion of senior day is too much and PC steals it. Jays 15-0 at home, gonna be tough.

I have a different take on this one. I agree with the consensus that PC's chances @Creighton are slim and none. Can't completely dismiss PC's chances in this game since they already have a win over CU, but CU will be fired up in this game for a lot of reasons and they'll be at home where they haven't lost all year. Not a formula for success for PC.

However, I think this really frees up the coaches and the fans to look at this game as a warm up for the BE tournament. Almost like a scrimmage. Go out and give it all you've got and hope for a win but you can't really expect it as anything more than a long shot. So, what will make this interesting for me is to see what Cooley introduces in this game that he might want to use in the tournament. Last night Providence went with the zone almost exclusively against Marquette except for a few possessions. Will Cooley do something similar against Creighton?

I'd find it interesting if he were to press Creighton the entire game to speed it up, something Creighton doesn't want to do. They don't really have the depth to press the whole game, so maybe he plays half court ball pressure the whole game with zones like a 1-3-1. Creighton passes really well, so it might just be an invitation for them to get open 3's unless PC can turn them over and force them into rushing their shots.

Bottom line is that anything they do against Creighton may well be a preview of what they're ring to use in the tournament that they haven't been doing much of during the season. It might simply be more of the 2-3 one we saw last night. Their big men have been getting in foul trouble and they have to find a way to keep them in the game longer. The 2-3 did that last night.

I like this perspective, but wouldn't it be better for coaches to hold new wrinkles close to their vest these next/last games and use them for the first time in the BET? Everyone gets 3-4 days (or more) between last season game and first tourney game. Wouldn't they use that time to work on something new? Why showcase it ahead of time so that opposing coaches could use the next few days to scheme against it?

Yes, but a team has to practice something to get good at it. I don't know that the best time to unveil something is when you need it the most. A team's tendencies are well established at this point, so that's what opponents will expect. They may be aware that you could go to something else, but they'll prepare for your tendencies. PC is a man-to-man defensive team. The fact that they used a 2-3 zone almost exclusively against Marquette doesn't mean that opponents will now prepare for them like they're Syracuse.

GW beat Creighton and held them under 34% shooting by switching defenses between man and zones especially a 1-3-1. I wouldn't be shocked to see PC employ the same approach this weekend. This will allow them to practice it and to evaluate how it works for them.