Marquette may seek to take the ball to Nick Collison on offense in hope of putting him on the bench with foul trouble. Although Kirk Hinrich is a solid player, the Golden Eagles are in better shape giving him the chance to beat them than they are Collison. Collison is a fantastic post player.
For Kansas, the primary difficulty will be in containing Travis Diener with only one player. Marquette has such a large number of good shooters that Diener beating the first man will always open a good shooter for a kick-out shot. Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, Dwayne Wade presents the same difficulty. Putting two men on him or helping is death when he finds Robert Jackson lurking on the baseline or Steve Novak for the jumpshot. Not helping means one poor player has to stick with Wade- a dicey proposition at best.
Defensively, look for Kansas to take the ball at Steve Novak. Novak has trouble guarding quick players. Against Kentucky, Keith Bogans' ankle injury allowed Novak to hold his own.
Although Kansas will look to run, the Jayhawks also must get back on defense. Marquette plays better in transition than many people think.
TEXAS vs. SYRACUSE
Texas coach Rick Barnes has had the joy of figuring out a way to attack Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone. Syracuse has allowed an average of only 61.5 points per game during the tournament, holding opponents to only 36.3% shooting.
Syracuse's zone benefits from the number of Orangemen players with long arms. That makes locationg soft spots in the zone or cross-court passing difficult. Oklahoma guards Hollis Price and Quannas White had real difficulty. Fortunately for Texas, however, point guard TJ Ford is much more of a creator than either of those players, and may be able to penetrate into gaps and seams. If he can do so, the zone will collapse to cover him and he should be able to find an open teammate for a shot.
Syracuse's centers are sometimes caught playing lazy, and open shots can be found near the free-throw line. TJ Ford is actually the perfect player to have against the Syracuse zone. He is not a great jumpshooter, but often penetrates to draw the foul or find an open teammate. His ability to attack gives Texas a much better chance of beating Syracuse's zone than other teams have had. Syracuse can limit Ford's ability by forcing him to move left whenever possible. Moving to his right, Ford is the best point guard in the nation. Moving to his left, he is "merely" one of several top point guards in the nation.
