Welcome back to Friends With Bennies, where we sit down with opposing bloggers to talk about their team. Today it's Andrew from Casual Hoya. I answered a few questions for him, which you can find here.
TheUConnBlog: Otto Porter. He's very good. What's the best way for UConn to make him less good?
Casual Hoya: You can start by praying to the high heavens, but since you have been left out of the ultra-casual and hip Catholic 7 clique I'm not sure where you will find your salvation. The obvious answer is to look to double Otto off the ball, but Georgetown does such a nice job of getting him good looks off screens and he's been so good from the perimeter this season that he's going to get his points. To make him less good and increase your chances of winning I'd probably consider going zone and making the Hoyas beat the Huskies from the perimeter or down low. As we've seen a number of times this season and in the beginning of the Syracuse game, the Hoyas offense tends to sputter at times, and UConn is going to need to capitalize when it does.
But to directly answer your question, you have no chance to stop Otto Porter.
TUB: Porter's our biggest concern, but who else should Husky fans be worried about?
CH: Assuming our 2nd leading scorer and rebounder
Greg Whittington will not be miraculously back in action tonight, the two main sources of points for the Hoyas are point guard
Markel Starks and combo guard freshman sensation D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. Starks you are well accustomed to by now, and he can hit threes and well as push it to the hoop. DSR dropped 33 points on DePaul and can light it up from beyond the arc a la former Hoya Austin Freeman, who had his fair share of success against a frail Huskies perimeter defense.
TUB: Conference realignment: do you have thoughts? What are they?
CH: I have thoughts. Our outlook in HoyaLand has changed markedly since all of the Conference realignment news broke, as we went from possibly playing home games against UCF in a couple of years to forging our own path and righteously bringing the rest of the hoops-only schools with us. Obviously there still remains a lot to be worked out, but I'm glad that Georgetown didn't sit back and let the football programs control its future. It will suck to lose the UConn rivalry if and when you guys end up in another Conference, because you guys smell.
TUB: I think it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Kevin Ollie should be the Big East Coach of the Year. You disagree. Is that because you lack eyes, or can you give me some reasons why I'm wrong?
CH: Still waiting for the punchline...
Just as a reminder, this team lost its three leading scorers from last season, lost Greg Whittington towards the beginning of Conference play and currently has no seniors. The Hoyas now sit at 21-4 and atop the Big East at 11-3 and assuming the wheels don't fall off here down the stretch are in line for a 3 seed or better. Ollie has done a great job, no diggity. But let's have some perspective here, cowboy.
TUB: Do you have a prediction for tonight's game?
CH: I've been impressed with UConn this season and that talented backcourt is one of the better tandems that the Hoyas will face all season. Georgetown was able to beat Louisville earlier this season, a team with a better backcourt and a stronger frontcourt than UConn has, so I'll roll with the Hoyas in this one in a typical tight annoying affair. Call it Hoyas 66 - Huskies 59, friendo.
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