Live from the Carrier Dome

 Yes, I know this is a Pitt blog but it is also a Big East blog and since I am covering the West Virginia men's basketball team in Syracuse in the Sweet 16, well, tonight we will make it a blog about all things basketball, Mountaineers, Big East and whatever else.

It is a very slow internet conneciton, however, so I will do my best to try and make sure that I continue to update this through the night.

This is a really intriguing matchup with the age-old question of offense (Washington) versus defense (West Virginia). We will see how it plays out but know this - while pace is a big part of this game, Washington is a much better offensive team - especially in the past nine games -- that Missouri was so the Mountaineers ability to slow the pace is only half the equaiton - the other is being able to defend them in the half court.

The interesting thing, however, is this -- while Kentucky and West Virginia are well represented here, by gar the color that I see the most of in the stands is red - as in Cornell, which is clearly going to have a bit of a home court advantage in the second game against the Wildcats.

Cornell is about an hour from Syracuse and the fan base has reportedly gobbled up every ticket available.

OIt is almost time to tip the ball so, I will be checking in periodically throughout the night.

One important note -- Casey Mitchell, not Joe Mazzulla, got the start in place of the injured Truck Bryant.