Day two of the Big East/SEC Challenge brings two high profile, nationally televised matchups. The 10-game challenge is currently tied 2-2 after the first day with Providence and Georgetown winning while St. John's and DePaul lost. Here's a quick look at the matchups tonight.
Florida (5-1) at Syracuse (7-0) - 7:00 - ESPN
This should be a very entertaining matchup with Florida bringing an aggressive four-guard lineup to play against Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone defense. Florida's Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, and Bradley Beal will need to hit their outside shots to beat the zone. So far, Florida's done a good job from three point range, shooting 43.6% from deep, good for 17th nationally. Despite using a three and four guard lineup at times, Florida is one of the better rebounding teams in the country as well. For Syracuse, the pressure will be on to score with Florida and that means Brandon Triche, Scoop Jardine, and Kris Joseph need to play well, limit turnovers and not allow the Gators to get out and run. Syracuse is deeper than Florida, but if the Orange fall behind and are forced to play at a pace faster than they're comfortable with, it could be a tough night in the Carrier Dome.
Vanderbilt (5-2) at Louisville (6-0) - 9:00 - ESPN
Vanderbilt enters the game coming off a tough overtime loss to Xavier at home. The Commodores are playing without Fustus Ezeli, the team's best post player, and at times it has shown. Still, they have a talented, experienced backcourt led by John Jenkins and Brad Tinsley. Vanderbilt isn't the only team struggling through injury issues. Louisville has had some kind of injury to just about every player on the team and has even resorted to a couple player practicing in MMA style helmets to protect against concussion. The Cardinals are solid but thin up front with center Gorgui Dieng and talented freshman Chane Behanan. If either gets into foul trouble, it could be trouble for Louisville as there simply isn't much healthy frontcourt depth to provide relief. Louisville isn't nearly as dependent on the three point shot as they were last year, but if Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric do heat up from three-point range Louisville should get its second quality home win of the week.
The Undercard
Cincinnati at Georgia - 7:00 (ESPNU) - Cincinnati entered the season in the top 25 but has struggled mightily, dropping games to Presbyterian and Marshall. Meanwhile, Georgia has lost three respectable games but is still trying to develop an identity with the loss of talent from last year's team to the NBA.
Auburn at Seton Hall - 9:00 (ESPNU) - The Pirates are playing better this year. Kevin Willard is getting good production from Herb Pope and they'll need it against Auburn, too. It's been a while since the Tigers were even respectable in basketball and it while Tony Barbee is one of the up and coming young coaches in college basketball, he still doesn't have much to work with until next year's recruiting class arrives. Still, Auburn is 4-0 against relative stiffs. Seton Hall is the best team Auburn has faced so far and it should show on the scoreboard.
The Big East has a chance to win all four games, but should at least split tonight's games against the SEC.