BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DEPAUL @ MARQUETTE

January 26, 2008



For the Marquette Golden Eagles, there is no doubt that the Bradley Center will be a very welcomed sight for sore eyes. Marquette, who had been ranked near the top 10 all season in the country, suffered two blowout losses on the road to Louisville and Connecticut just days apart. Now they have had six days to stew on those losses and prepare for former C-USA rival DePaul.

DePaul, along with Cincinnati, is one of the surprise teams of the Big East sitting with a 4-2 conference record. The Blue Demons also have been off a week after surviving a scare against Rutgers at home last Saturday. The Blue Demons are going to have to be ready for a big effort from Marquette this weekend.

Even though the Bradley Center is an NBA arena, it has become a GREAT college basketball atmosphere. The Golden Eagles can ride the wave of the energy produced by the crowd to make it a tough road venue for any opponent. Marquette could use the lift of the crowd as they try to get back into the thick of the Big East after the consecutive road losses.

DePaul is a young team, but since the start of the Big East they have started to settle into their roles much better. They have also learned how to close out games, something that they did not do well at all in their non-league schedule. Jabari Currie and Cliff Clinkscales have become a solid and more consistent duo at point guard. Each brings something different to the table, so coach Jerry Wainwright can mix and match based on the opponent. Draelon Burns has the green light to shoot it whenever he can and his defined role of scorer has been accepted and cherished by the senior guard. He gets a lot of help from exciting freshman Dar Tucker who is an explosive athlete and shows a knack for the big play when it is needed. Antoher senior, Karron Clarke, is another big athlete that can contribute on both ends of the court for the Blue Demons.

Where DePaul could make things tough on Marquette is inside. Mac Koshwal and Wesley Green offer a lot of size, something Marquette does not have. DePaul can also go a little bit smaller to match Marquette's preferred line-up by using Tucker and Clarke with Koshwal on the frontline. This group actually matches up well with Marquette and Will Walker adds a scoring punch to the backcourt off the bench.

Marquette will counter with an athletic and quick group of guards that will look to attack DePaul with pressure on the ball. Dominic James and Jerel McNeal are two of the best on the ball perimter defenders. Look for McNeal to be everywhere on the court that Burns is and for James and Maurice Acker to be all over the DePaul point guards. Wesley Mathews and Lazar Hayward round out the perimeter players in the starting line-up for the Golden Eagles. Mathews is a quality all-around player, but he has been quiet offensivley this season. Hayward has stepped up his game offensively, finding a comfort level that did not exist last season. Dan Fitzgerald and David Cubillan add another perimeter threat to the line-up when they are in.

Where marquette has to be careful is in the paint. Dwight Burke, Ousmane Barro and Lawrence Blackledge get most of the time in the paint and they have to battle DePaul's bigger front line. Against UConn, coach Tom Crean completely abandoned the interior, offensively and defensively, by using Dan Fitzgerald in the starting line-up. The look of three guards and two wings was hoped to spread out UConn, but the Huskies were not phased and with the Marquette perimeter shots not falling, they had nothing else to fall back on while on the road and found themselves down 67-38 miday through the second half.

Back home and in their comfort zone, I look for Marquette to pressure DePaul into early mistakes with an all out defensive blitz. Dominic Jame's bad wrist is worrisome, but he can contribute in other ways and if he can fuel the offense with dribble penetration and kick out to open shooters, they could be better off.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Marquette 78 DePaul 61