NCAA - Midwest

Similar squads to meet for berth in Final Four

Marquette and Kentucky play tough defense and don't rely on one scorer.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 29, 2003

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kentucky and Marquette are, in many ways, like mirror images.

"There are quite a lot of similarities," said coach Tubby Smith, whose top-ranked and top-seeded Wildcats (32-3) meet the No. 3 Golden Eagles (26-5) today in the Midwest Region final at the Metrodome for a berth in the Final Four.

Including their three NCAA Tournament games, Smith's Wildcats are holding teams to 63.6 points on 41.1 percent shooting. Marquette is holding teams to 68.7 points on 41.2 percent shooting.

Hmm.

"Both teams get after it on defense because defense wins ballgames," Marquette junior guard Dwyane Wade said. "Kentucky wouldn't be on a 26-game win streak if they didn't play the defense they play. And we wouldn't be in this position if we didn't also play defense."

The Wildcats, averaging 77.5 points, have seven players who score at least six points a game. The Golden Eagles, who average 78.9 points, have six players at that level.

Hmm.

"They're not a one-man team much like we're not," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "They've got so many different players they can put out on the floor who create havoc defensively and play very unselfish offensively."

Like his team.

But there is a potential smudge on the glass blurring the reflection.

Kentucky senior guard Keith Bogans suffered a high left ankle sprain late in the first half of Thursday's victory against Wisconsin, didn't play in the second half and might not go today. If he's out, the Wildcats will miss more than his scoring (a team-high 15.7 points), playmaking, rebounding and ball-hawking.

"Certainly his competitiveness," Smith said. "Keith is a guy who's willing to take that last shot. He wants to take that shot. That mentality can inspire guys, lift guys up."

Marquette still has someone like that: Wade. A consummate team player (he's second on the team in assists), Wade is more than capable of taking control of a game. He scored 20 of his game-high 22 during the second half of Thursday's Sweet 16 victory against Pittsburgh.

"He's a real differencemaker," Smith said.

While Bogans looks like the perfect counterpart, the Wildcats still can look to powerful center Marquis Estill. He's coming off a career-high 28 points against the Badgers.

"Guys are going to have to step up, myself included," guard Gerald Fitch said. "I'm going to have to take my game to another level, especially offensively. We don't have that many shooters on the perimeter now.

"But I personally love the challenge of having a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I'm definitely going to step to the plate and try to carry this team as much as I can on the perimeter. I don't think it will be that different on defense. We always stick to our principles of helping and trapping."

"It's been the key to our success all year," Estill said.

Once they bought into focusing on it, even though defensive stops often don't produce the kind of breath-taking images SportsCenter will show over and over again. But unlike offense, defense can be a constant and the difference between success and failure.

Both teams reflect that.

"There's a lot of high-powered offensive teams in the country, Kentucky certainly being one of them. But if you look at the points they create off their defense and the turnover points they get, the second-chance points they get, you really find out where the beauty of their team is," Crean said.

"I'd like to think that we're in the same position. We're a better team when we're scoring points off our defense, when Wade is creating turnovers and we're getting stops, getting the rebound, and getting out and running the break."

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