So ... between the 'Nova and the Officials vs. BobMo handicap match and the BYU - Florida extravaganza and the Notre Dame - Old Dominion rock fight and the Murray State buzzer beater vs. Vandy, the NCAA got all its close games out of the way already, right?
Yeah: I don't believe that, either.
Have your Tums and brandy on hand, cats and kittens, as YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles take on the suddenly frisky Washington Huskies sometime around 6:22 p.m. tonight.
We've linked you to every possible story we could find on the game, we've interviewed a UDub fan, and we even gave you a Queensryche video. BUT: if you still feel underprepared, your cherry-picked stats and your AE-sanctioned officially unofficial beer are after the jump.
After half-a-day of games, the BIG EAST conference has looked B-A-D, with the Domers collapsing against ODU (and with Gody nearly putting up a goose-egg in his final college game) and with 'Nova needing overtime and several generous assists from the officials to survive Robert Morris. Now the task falls to YOUR Golden Eagles to defend the honour of our right noble conference.
All the numbers you need to know:
MARQUETTE
Points per game: Lazar Hayward, 18.1 ppg; Jimmy Butler, 14.9 ppg; Darius Johnson-Odom, 12.8 ppg
Rebounds per game: Lazar Hayward, 7.7 rpg; Jimmy Butler, 6.4 ppg; Joe Fulce, 3.2 rpg
Headbands per game: Lazar Hayward, 1.0; Junior Cadougan, 1.0
WASHINGTON
Turnovers per game: Isaiah Thomas, 2.4 topg; Venoy Overton, 2.3 topg; Quincy Pondexter, 1.8 topg
Fouls per game: Venoy Overton, 3.0 fpg; Matthew Bryan-Amaning, 2.8 fpg; Tyreese Breshers, 2.7 fpg
Hyphenated names per game: Matthew Bryan-Amaning, 1.0
Most importantly, your officially unofficial beer for tonight's festivities: Lagunitas Brown Shugga', which I've not been able to find locally in about three months. Anybody know where they're hiding some reserves?
Enjoy the game, and bring me home a winner.