UConn versus Missouri Will Be Key for Big East Dominance

The Big East will have at least one team in the Final Four as Pitt and Villanova square off tonight in one of the two Elite Eight games. But for fans of the Big East another step toward basketball dominance will be the UConn/Missouri game.

The Big East is the only conference to send three schools to the Final Four. Last night's loss by Syracuse to Oklahoma eliminated the possibility of a Big East sweep heading to Detriot. And with Louisville playing Sunday, the Connecticut game is the most important contest for the Big East to repeat its three team feat back in 1985.

But today's matchup is a classic irresitible force meets the immovable object. The irresitible force is Missouri's offense which put up 102 points on No. 2 seeded Memphis Thursday. The immovable object is of course Hasheem Thabeet and the Huskie interior defense which has been potent through out the tournament.

In Thursday's match up Purdue was able to pull Thabeet and the Huskies away from the basket for most of the game but in the end, the UConn defense was too much for the Boilermakers. The key for Missouri will be to transition quickly and not give the big bodies of UConn a chance to run down the floor.

That maybe easier said than done. It took Syracuse six overtimes in the Big East Championship to finally wear down the bigger bodied Huskies. 

On the offensive side of the ball, UConn like it has most of the season, will have a decided advantage. Against Purdue, the Huskies were able to throw the ball into Thabeet at will and he could simply turn around and put the ball in the hoop or draw the foul and head to the line. 

Missouri did a good job holding the Memphis big guys in check but Memphis does not have the front line strength that Connecticut has. 

The Tigers though will put on good showing and are used to people counting them out and looking past them all year. They quietly won the Big 12 championship went pretty much unnoticed through the first two rounds and then drew attention to themselves by dismantling Memphis (a team many thought should have received a top seed over UConn).

Whatever the case, tonights games should be a little more exciting than last night's blow outs. They can't get much worse.