Cardinal has big height advantage

ANAHEIM -- Marquette guard Wesley Matthews didn't have to search hard for an answer Friday when asked if the Golden Eagles had faced a tandem like Stanford's 7-foot sophomores Brook and Robin Lopez.

"No, we haven't," said Matthews, whose team plays the Cardinal today in the second round of the NCAA tournament. "The Big East prepares you for a lot, but we've never faced a team with two 7- footers."

Stanford, on the other hand, has faced opponents as quick as Marquette, if not quicker -- USC, Oregon and UCLA to name three.

"They're similar to Oregon," Stanford senior Fred Washington said of the Golden Eagles. "They probably can't shoot threes like Oregon, but they're a very good team. They have four guys who can step out and shoot it."

On the flip side, Marquette coach Tom Crean knows the obstacles his team faces.

"It's going to be a monumental challenge to match up with Stanford on size alone," Crean said. "But they have numerous other players that can make plays."

NO POINTS, NO PROBLEM: Marquette's Ousmane Barro didn't score when the Golden Eagles played Georgetown and its 7-foot-2 center, Roy Hibbert, a few weeks ago. But the 6-10 Barro doesn't believe Hibbert, who scored 20 points, got the better of him in the Hoyas' 70-68 victory.

"I don't think he shut me down," Barro said. "The main thing was following our game plan."

That plan evidently was to put the ball in the guards' hands. Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Matthews combined for 54 points.

MORE BUTTONS: For Stanford's Washington, a freshman on the Cardinal team that reached the second round in 2004, it's all about the buttons.

"I get a little Saturday button now," Washington said, referring to the pins the NCAA gives to players for each round. "I'm excited. I've always had a Thursday-Friday button. I was trying to get another Saturday button."

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