Predaction: Providence and Marquette

It's late. Let's do this Notent Notables style (soooo...bullet points).

• Let's start with a quick look at the Horn Companies Big East MPG Challenge. Brandon Triche had 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting, including 3 straight threes in the midst of SU's game-deciding run early in the second half. Meanwhile, Dion had a Scoop-like turnover on a terrible pass at the top of the arc at a critical point with 3:34 to go. So which guard logged the most minutes? As a misdirection (or is it?!?), I'll add that Scoop logged 11 assists.

 It was Dion, with 28 minutes, followed by Scoop with 25. That pair was on the court for the final portion of the contest while Triche looked on. The Junior finished with only 23 minutes. It's hard to say why he ended up on the pine. At points, when Providence seemed on the verge of clawing their way back into the game, I wanted to get the hot hand back in. But Boeheim left him out. My best guess is Jim didn't like the way Triche ran one particular break at the 10:39 mark, throwing the ball away uncharacteristically. But he wasn't yanked immediately, so I'm probably wrong.

Overall...we have a tie in the Horn Companies Challenge! All three guards have averaged 22.3 minutes in Big East play so far. What a great place to kick things off! Feel free to make a prediction in the comments section below.

• While we're on minutes, CJ played 38 of them tonight, pushing him well ahead of KJ in Big East play (31.7 to 29.7). Number 5 (I might start referring to him as Pace Redux in the Sauna) had 14 points, including 4-4 from the free throw line. He's shooting 78.6% there this year, compared to 60.9 last season. I'm also DELIGHTED to see he hasn't taken a three in Big East play. Don't shoot, Pace Redux! (Hmmm...that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue well, does it?)

• Yikes! Things got dicey fast with Keita banged up (hip, as in "his hip is injured" not "he's so hip") and Christmas fouling out. That looked like...yes, it was Pace Redux playing the "Kris-Joseph-in-OT-Six-Memorial-Undersized-Center-Position" for a few minutes until Boeheim tossed Four-Foul-Fab back into the mix. It was interesting that Boeheim waited that long. He tends to gamble more than most coaches when it comes to using guys with four fouls, although he's more willing to take risks with experienced players. He would have Uncle Aku (Arinze Onuaku) or Ricky Jackson out there with four fouls for eight minutes, and they'd often finish the game. Fab finished this one and managed to draw a key charge and grab a few more points playing with those fouls late. See if he gets a longer leash next time he gets to four fouls.

• Now that I've actually seen them play, I stand by my statement that I want nothing to do with Providence later in the season. I'm glad SU is getting their two games against the Friars out of the way early. They've got some nice talent, Bryce Cotton is going to be a great leader at PG for the next couple years, and I like the way this new coach, Ed Cooley, is getting them to play. And I love that Cooley is rocking the full head of hair with the bald splotches instead of just going shaved. (I googled "Ed Cooley hair" but couldn't come up with any reliable explanation for it, just a few morons mocking it and several more reputable sources with quotes saying how classy a guy he is.) 

•  Hey! Scoop Jardine is a finalist for the Bob Cousy award for the most polarizing player among fans of his respective team! Wait, was Bob Cousy that polarizing? Oh no, my mistake. It's for the top PG. Scoop made the final 20. My pick from that list: Tu Holloway.

• This Marquette game is the first one I am legitimately terrified about. Jae Crowder...Dennis Johnson-Odom. This is going to be a battle. I can already hear the dome crowd moaning and screaming as Crowder tips in another offensive rebound. Yikes. Still, I can't see KJ and Scoop  tolerating anything less than revenge for last March.

• I was thinking a little more about SU's rebounding Achilles heel today... Let's say you're an opposing coach, like Marquette's Buzz Williams. You decide you're going to exploit SU's rebounding weakness by crashing the offensive glass. The problem is that simultaneously plays into one of SU's greatest strengths - transition offense. You send three or four guys after missed shots on your end, and all of the sudden you've got three-on-one or four-on-two going the other way. It's not so easy to turn that rebounding against SU.

• Think an SU loss at this point might be a blessing in disguise? Mike Waters disagrees with you. I liked his answer to question one in today's mailbag.

•  Prediction for Saturday: Syracuse 67, Marquette 66. Jae Crowder and DJO get 20 apiece, but KJ leads all scorers with 22.