Syracuse travels to Villanova Saturday

Syracuse heads to Villanova Saturday to play the Wildcats in the Wachovia Center at noon. The Orange need this win for their NCAA tournament resume. The 'Cuse doesn't have a solid Big East win on their resume yet. Wins over DePaul and Providence carry some weight, but Syracuse needs to have two or three better wins than those and at least 10 wins in the conference including the Big East Tournament to have a legitimate shot to make the NCAA tournament.

With all that said, Syracuse will probably play just six players tomorrow against Villanova, a team that has lost three games in a row against doormat Rutgers, also injury-riddled Pitt, and at home against Notre Dame. The 'Cuse will try to make it three wins in a row and send Villanova to a fourth straight loss.

For everyone out there that got to watch the DePaul game on Time Warner, did anyone else pick up on the Oppenheimer funds commercial during the first commercial of a commercial break in the first half. The very first line of the commercial was something like "You can't win with just six guys on a team," and it showed six hockey players on a rink. Was Time Warner sending Syracuse a message? I just find it a really odd coincidence that this commercial which I don't think I've seen in a long while all of a sudden appears in a Syracuse game where they essentially have six players. Kudos to Time Warner if someone down there did this on purpose for having a sense of humor.

Again I digress, back to the Villanova. I think this game comes down to fouls. If this game is called tight, Syracuse loses. They don't have the depth to compete with Villanova if both teams rack up fouls. Syracuse will begin to play soft if they get into foul trouble. That will allow Villanova to score at will like they did in the second half of their first match up. Also, Syracuse needs to get Villanova’s bigs in foul trouble. They don’t have the depth or size to compete with Syracuse’s big guys if ‘Nova gets into foul trouble.

The ‘Cuse went down low to Arinze Onuaku against DePaul constantly and it resulted in lots of easy baskets. Villanova isn’t as strong in the front court as DePaul, so the Orange should look to do this again. They should also try to get Donte’ Greene looks down around the basket and get him some easy baskets early. If they can get him going, that will probably help him get into the groove and warmed up to hit the long shots he loves to take.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Syracuse 74, Villanova 69. The outcome of this game could very easily be decided in the first 10 minutes. If Syracuse can avoid those cheap, early fouls, the Orange will win this game. If with 10 minutes left in the game two players have four fouls and several others three fouls like in the first match up, ‘Nova will take over and win this one.