G L I D E H O Y A S: Marquette looking to catch the red hot Hoyas off guard and "sneak" in a big win

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Glide

It must be something in the air now. I get on the bus at 6:00 am in the morning with my Mitchell & Ness Georgetown jacket, and the bus driver's eyes light up and he says, "Georgetown" and a smile lights up on my face and as I walk nearer to the back of the bus one guy nods his head and other folks are smiling like I've never seen them do that early in the morning. Twice when I got off of work walking towards the metro this guy excitingly says, "Georgetown." I smile and say, "Georgetown" back to him, then I said we're gonna beat Syracuse tonight. The Hoyas did! They beat the Syracuse Orangemen 64-56 on road in front of 30,000 fans. This was Georgetown's Coach John Thompson, III's first time winning in the Syracuse Dome since he became the Hoyas' coach. “That’s one of the most talked-about moments in this conference. This is my seventh year in the Big East and this is my first win up here,” Thompson said. “I’ve been thinking the last couple of years, some kind of way the man upstairs is going to say, ‘OK, you closed down Manley, but they’re your ancestors. No one in your lineage is going to win at the new place.’ Me and the man upstairs, I’m glad he lifted whatever he sprinkled over the top of us.”

The Hoyas (19-5 8-4) have been taking their games one a time and not letting the hype throw them off track. I think Georgetown is aware of the fact that the Marquette Golden Eagles (15-9 6-5) are desperate for a road win and looking to "sneak" in a big win in the nation's capital. The Hoyas have won 7 straight conference games and are playing with "sense of urgency." Their team play has been outstanding especially from their senior leaders Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, Julian Vaughn. The underclassmen have been playing well also with Jason Clark leading the pack and sophomore Hollis Thompson putting in work off of the bench. The Hoyas have smoothly moved into 3rd place in the Big East and are looking to take each step necessary to move to number two, then to the number one spot one game at a time.

Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles haven't really been playing bad basketball. They are almost in the middle of the conference standings, so that should tell you something. The can beat you if you're not on your game. The Hoyas last played Marquette in a Big East Tournmnament seminfinal game crushing the Golden Eagles 80-57 to advance to the championship game of the BET.

Marquette has played pretty good basketball when they come to the Verizon Center, Washington, DC. Their last win which was on the road against the Hoyas in D.C. was on February 21, 2009. The Golden Eagles won 78-72. The Eagles have been losing close games in the singles digits this season. Coach Buzz Williams has his teams well prepared, and no matter how far they're down Coach Buzz will fire his team up to make a comeback before end of the game. This is one of the reason they have lost some games in single digits. The are looking for a "sleeping giant", to sneak a win in, so I hope and pray that sleeping giant is not my Hoyas. The Golden Eagles snuck in a squeaker win on the road against USF 59-58. And it did so with defense, a part of its game that was absent until those final minutes.

Normally, when I'm watching Marquette play, and if they are losing at the end of games, Coach Buzz still has his team playing hard for their next game, so, I think Marquette will try to come out strong defensively against the Hoyas. Because the Big East conference is a rocky road to ride on, and as long as my Hoyas stay focused, poised, tough and play with a sense or urgency they will be fine.

PICK EM UP HOYAS!