The evening and night games provided us with plenty of memorable moments and two of the best games so far this season.

The afternoon games gave us a couple of squads needing and getting redemption wins, despite still having a lot of work to do on their resumes. We also saw The Jimmer get creative and show you other aspects of his game besides the leaning scissor-kick threes from the hash marks (though those are really fun to watch), and we’re preplexed by Washington’s road-o-phobia.

• Wildcats Win a Wild One. We’ve written so much negative stuff about Kansas State this year, let’s say something good for once. Jacob Pullen used a tasty little crossover to wrong-foot his defender and get to the hoop for an easy lay-in with about two seconds left to give the Wildcats their first Big 12 road win this season, an 86-85 squeaker over Iowa State. Congrats on the nice win, but let’s keep a big-picture perspective. KSU’s next two are at Colorado (tough) and at home against Kansas. If they can win those two, then they’ll have our attention. That’d put them at 18-8 (6-5) with a late-season win over a title contender. Ironically, that KSU vs KU game is a Valentine’s Day tilt.
• Speaking of Wildcats Needing Wins… Northwestern has a pulse, at least, having pulled out a close road win at Illinois, 71-70. We’re still scratching our collective head regarding the change over the last month in Demetri McCamey (14/4 asst). In the Illini’s first 16 games, McCamey had only one game in which he had less than five assists (three in a win vs Oakland on 12/8). At that point, they were 13-3. In their last seven games, McCamey has had only one game with more than five assists (11 in a win vs Michigan State on 1/18). The Illini have lost five of those seven games.
• Along Came (the other) Jones.  Another team that earned a little redemption (and needed it) with a road win: the Baylor Bears. Perry Jones (27/7) deserves every bit of the hype he gets, but today it was Anthony Jones (10/8) who saved the Bears with a lay-in with 3.1 seconds remaining, giving Baylor a good solid win (76-74) over a 16th-ranked Texas A&M squad. Checking the schedule, Baylor has seven Big 12 games remaining, and we see a minimum of three wins out of those (Nebraska, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M, all at home). That would make Baylor 8-8 in the Big 12…which isn’t even as encouraging as it sounds. In the past 18 years, a .500-or-worse team has only been to the NCAA Tournament four times. The Bears still have two games against Texas ahead of them. They might need to steal one of those.

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Game #133.  RTC Live is at Cal to see surprising Pac-10 leader Arizona take on the equally surprising Bears this afternoon in Berkeley.

In a Pac-10 season that was essentially handed to Washington through the early going, Arizona has had something else to say about that conventional wisdom.  Coming into tonight’s game in Berkeley, Arizona is 8-2 in conference play while Washington is 7-3.  UW will play Oregon in Eugene this afternoon, and both teams have home-dominated schedules the rest of the way (Arizona with three; Washington with two).  If the Wildcats hope to keep a one-game lead until the rematch on February 19 in Tucson, today’s game is very important.  In typical Mike Montgomery style, Cal has overachieved its way to a 6-4 Pac-10 record at this point.  Behind Jorge Gutierrez and Allen Crabbe’s fine play, the Bears have not been a pushover despite losing all five starters from last season’s conference championship team.  Cal comes into this one having won four in a row, while Arizona is on the same number in its streak.  Something has to give today — will it be Derrick Williams again making his case as one of the top big men in the country; or will it be Cal reminding everyone that Montgomery gets the most out of his personnel year after year?  Join us this afternoon on RTC Live for all the action.

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Game #132.  RTC Live is back in north Jersey to see if Kemba Walker and UConn can get back on track after a rough couple of weeks.

Connecticut will look to avoid their third straight loss when they roll into New Jersey tonight to face Seton Hall. The Huskies lost two straight home games for the first time since 2007, falling to Louisville and Syracuse in a span of four days. They’ll try to right the ship on the road against a Seton Hall team that has struggled but has shown the ability to play with the big boys in the Big East. The Pirates are only 10-13 overall but did win big at Syracuse and have stayed in games with quite a few opponents until the final minutes. Jeremy Hazell is the leading scorer for Kevin Willard in his first season as the Pirates’ headman. Hazell missed 13 games earlier this season with a broken wrist and was the victim of a scary armed robbery attempt around Christmas. He hasn’t been the same since his return, averaging 15 PPG on 20.4% three point shooting. Kemba Walker, who was the early frontrunner for National POY, is in a slump of his own for Jim Calhoun’s club, shooting 30.7% from the floor over his last five games. The growth of freshman Jeremy Lamb has been promising, but Connecticut needs Walker to be on top of his game as we head down the home stretch of the season. Connecticut has dominated this series since the 1993-94 season. The Huskies have won ten straight games, 17 of the past 18 and 24 of the past 26 against the Pirates. Seton Hall’s last win over Connecticut was nearly ten years ago on March 3, 2001. Join us for RTC Live tonight and find out if the Huskies can get back on track and continue their domination of Seton Hall or if the Pirates can pull the upset and snap their streak of futility against Connecticut.

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It’s college basketball Saturday, and we’re back in action with this week’s Boom Goes the Dynamite.  We’ll be periodically briefing you throughout the day on the goings-on with various games, players and happenings throughout the nation.  The schedule doesn’t appear to be all that great on paper, but we’ve found through a number of years of watching this sport that it will always surprise you just when you think you’ve got it all figured out.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy…

• Marshon Brooks Nearly Beats Georgetown By Himself.  Only in the Big East would you find a player averaging nearly 24 PPG that nobody talks about, but that’s generally been the case with Providence’s Marshon Brooks this season.  He’s having a spectacular individual year but PC has been brutalized by the ridiculous conference schedule, and even though he’s very likely a first-team all-conference guy, he gets no press.  Well, maybe he’ll get something after today’s 43-point performance where he nearly beat Georgetown all by his lonesome.  Using a variety of drives, jumpers and aggressive plays resulting in trips to the line, Brooks took over the game with about eleven minutes to go, scoring 19 points down the stretch and putting a big-time scare in the Hoyas who had been comfortably ahead.  On the last play of the game, Brooks was stripped by Chris Wright as he came upcourt, but it doesn’t take away from the scintillating day he had that represents just another weekend afternoon in the rugged Big East.
• Who Decided a 10 AM Local Start is a Good Idea? We’re not idiots and we certainly understand that television drives scheduling, but who decided that playing a west coast game at 10 AM local time was a stellar idea?  The St. John’s-UCLA game tipped off in the mid-morning hours in Westwood and we’re trying to remember a non-gimmick game that started so early locally.  The question is why?  The players are used to practicing early, but the fans in Pauley Pavilion were clearly still shaking off the effects of Friday night, and it took until the last five minutes of action for them to wake up.  CBS could have easily shown Illinois-Northwestern in the 1 PM slot, and UCLA-St. John’s in the 3 PM slot instead of putting them opposite each other — why didn’t they?
• CBS Needs to Make Other Options Available.  Which brings us to our other complaint…  if you’re going to split national coverage between two games, how about providing the rest of the country in non-blackout areas an alternative channel through which to watch the other game?  It’s not like this is the NFL and the only way to see the AFC or the NFC is through a single channel.  College basketball games are on fifteen different networks, and outside of say, NYC and LA, the interest in those two schools is relatively low.  CBS recognizes this viewing problem and provides an alternative during March Madness; we think it would make sense for them to do so for regular season games as well.
• Lavin Bowl: UCLA and St. John’s are Both Dangerous March Teams.  All of that said about the television coverage, and we certainly don’t want to overstate this, but if we’re a #5-#7 seed and we see either UCLA or St. John’s opposite us in our first round matchup, we’re not very happy about that slotting.  Both teams are capable of causing significant problems to a favorite in a single-game matchup.  UCLA, with its bruising front line, and St. John’s, with its long athletes and pressure defense, are not easy teams to prepare for (ask Kansas and Duke).  Neither team is a threat to make the Sweet Sixteen, but to win a single game over a “better” team is entirely possible.
• The Middle of the ACC Is a Steaming Pile of Doo Doo.  With Clemson’s road win over Georgia Tech, Maryland’s home win over Wake Forest, and BC’s win over Virginia Tech this early afternoon, there are now four teams tied at 5-4 in the conference race.  And we’re not sure any of the Tigers, Terps, Hokies or Eagles are worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid.  We’re sure that the tiresome ACC defenders will tell us that all seven deserve to be invited, but other than beating each other, can you find a quality win on any of these four team’s resumes?  A single one?  Can one of them at least beat North Carolina or Duke once?
• Rashad McCants’ Dad Lashes Out.  A lot of folks have had differing opinions as to how demoted point guard Larry Drew II handled his exit from the UNC program last week.  James McCants, former Carolina star Rashad McCants’ father, wasted no breath in voicing his opinion of the matter on a Facebook post recently.  This is particularly interesting because, of course, it’s not like McCants the Younger had a bad career in Chapel Hill — he was one of three stars who led the Heels to the 2005 national championship, and arguably it was the arrival of Roy Williams that allowed that team to flourish.  Interesting stuff from within the Carolina family.

Game #130.  RTC Live is back at BYU for another superb Mountain West matchup in Provo.

It is another episode of the Jimmer Fredette show on Saturday afternoon as BYU takes on UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels are looking to get back into the mix in the Mountain West. UNLV currently sits at 5-3, two games back of 7-1 BYU and SDSU. UNLV is on the right side of the bubble when it comes NCAA Tournament time, but a win in Provo could mean great things for their seed selection. In the two teams’ first meeting this season sophomore Anthony Marshall scored a season high 26 points for UNLV, but it was not enough as BYU won 89-77 in Las Vegas. In that game UNLV “held” The Jimmer to just 39 points. With UConn’s Kemba Walker fading Fredette is in the driver’s seat for the NCAA scoring crown, and with a couple more attention grabbing performances the National Player of the Year award is not out of the question either. Can Jimmer drop 40? 50? Or will UNLV steal the spotlight?

Note: BYU doesn’t allow live-blogging so our correspondent will provide updates at each television timeout during the game.

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Game #131.  RTC Live is back in Eugene with its interesting court design to see if the Huskies can get back on track after a shocking loss Thursday night.

The suddenly slumping Washington Huskies are coming into Eugene to face the now-hot Oregon Ducks in a fierce rivalry game. The Huskies have lost two games in a row  to regional rivals Washington State and Oregon State, while the Ducks have won four of their last six games to sneak back up to .500, while playing what is arguably their best stretch of basketball all season. The Huskies won the teams’ first matchup in Seattle nearly a month ago, but since that game, Washington and Oregon sport identical 4-3 records, and Oregon has since defeated all three teams to which Washington has fallen. The Huskies are led by diminutive guard Isaiah Thomas and British pivot Matthew Bryan-Amaning, arguably the most talented inside-out combo in the Pac-10. The Ducks are led by undersized redshirt senior power forward Joevan Catron, who is the team’s scoring, rebounding and emotional leader. Thomas gutted the Ducks for 20 points and nine assists in the teams’ first matchup, but had nine points on 2-for-11 shooting and committed seven turnovers against Oregon State on Thursday. Catron had 20 points and 10 rebounds in Seattle, and scored 17 points to lead the Ducks in their shellacking of the Cougars on Thursday night. The game is also a homecoming of sorts for Washington forward Terrence Ross, who eschewed his home-state Ducks for their hated rival Huskies and torched Oregon for 25 points in his first game against the team. Given the bad blood between the schools, a Kevin Love-like reception at Knight Arena would not be wholly unexpected. Join us Saturday afternoon to follow the rivalry game from Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

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Game #129.  RTC Live visits Boston College for this ACC matchup between two teams that need a win to stay at the top of the middle of the pack in the ACC.

With half of conference play behind us, the NCAA Tournament is right around the corner, and it’s safe to say there are plenty of at-large bids to be won.  Boston College and Virginia Tech are two schools with something to prove, as they fight to get off the bubble.  Despite playing a much more tasking nonconference slate, Virginia Tech has no quality out of conference wins (though Penn State is edging towards that category).  They do have a solid win at Maryland to hang their hats on, but an ugly loss at Georgia Tech that makes up for it.  Boston College actually has a pretty good resume with a win over Texas A&M on a neutral site that might be able to mitigate two losses to the Ivy League.  The problem is the Eagles’ losses are piling up after skidding to a one and four mark over their past five games.  Reggie Jackson has dropped from a quiet contender for ACC Player of the Year to just another player during the stretch.  The Eagles will need a more inspired effort from him going forward.  On the other side of the floor is another great guard, Malcolm Delaney.  He’s been terrific since Seth Greenberg started playing him off the ball more, and trails Duke’s Nolan Smith slightly in points and assists.  Containing Delaney and Jeff Allen for Boston College and keeping Jackson in his mini-slump for Virginia Tech will be the keys to winning this game, which is a must-win for both teams’ at-large hopes.

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If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Pre-Game Analysis

• #3 Kansas at Nebraska: “While the faces have remained the same, some things have in fact changed about Nebraska since the first meeting in Lawrence. Or perhaps it’s more a matter of Nebraska has actually shown the ability to win a few games and be who they claimed to be on paper prior to the Big 12 season beginning. The Huskers are now 15-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference. Are they the most difficult matchup for the Jayhawks, hardly. What they do though is ugly it up and play defense. A few have circled this one as a potential stumbling block. “(Rock Chalk Talk)
• Colorado at #11 Missouri: Previewing the rematch of a Big 12 game that the Buffs won earlier this year by 13 points. (Rock M Nation)
• West Virginia at #12 Villanova: A big game for both teams as the short-handed Mountaineers try to stay on the top half of the Big East and the Wildcats try to keep pace with Pittsburgh atop the conference. (Villanova by the Numbers)
• Providence at #17 Georgetown: Breaking down a big game for the Hoyas if they hope to keep pace with the rest of the contenders in the Big East against a Providence team that has racked up some big wins over the years. (Casual Hoya)
• #19 Syracuse at USF: The Orange are coming off a big win at UConn, but will need to win another game on the road to build momentum if they want to move back up the Big East standings. (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• #24 Illinois at Northwestern: “I have braced myself for an upset loss to Northwestern on Saturday. Not because I don;t think the Illini are better than Northwestern, they showed that last month, but because the trends of this season all point toward the Illini playing poorly against lesser talented teams away from the Assembly Hall. The Illini are 3-6 in games played outside of Champaign Illinois, with the three wins coming against Gonzaga in Seattle, Maryland in New York, and at Iowa. The Illini have lost every road game since Iowa, and have been held below their season scoring average in every game. Its no coincidence we have also caught every team in absolute desperation mode, where the teams have absolutely needed a win to keep their season from going completely off the rails, we have caught teams on their biggest promoted home games of the year, and are viewed as a big enough name to rush the court on, but a vulnerable enough opponent to have it happen to us three times.” (Hail to the Orange)
• St. John’s at UCLA: Previewing Steve Lavin’s return to Los Angeles and a big game for both teams. (Bruins Nation or Rumble in the Garden: Part 1 or Part 2)
• Wake Forest at Maryland: After their loss at home against Duke the Terrapins look to rebound against a significantly weaker opponent. (Testudo Times: Part 1 and Part 2)
• Alabama at Tennessee: “The biggest opportunity of Tennessee’s season will unfold over the next eight days:  today’s home date with league leading Alabama, followed by road trips to Lexington and Gainesville.  It’s not make-or-break – recall that last year the Vols went to Lexington and Nashville in the same week and lost by a combined 30 points.  That dropped us from 6-2 to 6-4,  but the Vols followed up by winning five of their last six and then made the Elite Eight.  The season won’t be over if things go poorly in the next eight days, but if Tennessee wants to win the SEC, there’s no bigger opportunity than beating the league leader and winning on the road in Rivalry Week. We thought Alabama would be the final turn of a four game victory lap against the SEC West, but they’ve become the beginning of a much longer and much more difficult home stretch.” (Rocky Top Talk)
• Michigan at Penn State: Previewing the Wolverines trip to play the Nittany Lions. (UM Hoops)

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

On paper, this isn’t the best weekend of games. However, this is college basketball where anything can happen. You just never know what could happen and it may end up being a thrilling couple of days, anyway. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

West Virginia @ #12 Villanova – 12 pm Saturday on ESPN (****)

Yet another big game in the Big East features two teams tied for third place at 6-3 in league play. The winner will tie second place Notre Dame, just a game and a half behind first place Pittsburgh. West Virginia has won seven of nine games and rebounding has been a big reason why. The Mountaineers have not been out-rebounded by an opponent since a New Year’s Day game at Marquette, plus their defense has been solid. West Virginia has scored only 58 PPG over their last four games (three of them without leading scorer Casey Mitchell) but has held opponents to an average of 50 PPG over the same stretch, culminating in holding Seton Hall to 44 points on Wednesday. Bob Huggins’ team is #5 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage but will have to bring their A-game on the glass against Villanova. The Wildcats rank 20^th in keeping opponents off the offensive boards and were led by the interior duo of Antonio Pena and Mouphtaou Yarou in their most recent win over Marquette. They combined for 32/15 and have been huge factors this season as Jay Wright isn’t counting exclusively on his guards to win games anymore. Although West Virginia has rebounded the ball extremely well of late, they still rank only #291 in opponent’s offensive rebounding percentage, allowing teams to grab 35.6% of their misses. Villanova will likely miss a lot of long range shots against West Virginia’s #2 ranked three point defense (allowing 27%) so offensive rebounding will be important for both teams, especially the Wildcats, in this game. Coach Huggins used 6’7 John Flowers on Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell in their last game and he successfully shut down the Pirates’ gunner. Might we see the same thing on Villanova’s Corey Stokes? It’s a good possibility, though Flowers may be needed inside more often to double Pena and Yarou. Flowers leads the Big East in blocked shots and needs to have another good defensive game against a Villanova team that can score in bunches. The Wildcats score 25.6% of their points from the foul line and attempted 33 free throws against Marquette. Villanova is very difficult to beat when they get to the stripe because they shoot 78% and get there so often. Dribble penetration from Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns leads to good looks inside and plenty of free throw opportunities. West Virginia has to do a good job defending the dribble drive and Kevin Jones will be a key player in doing so. Jones is a taller player who, along with Flowers, will form the second line of defense if the Wildcat guards are able to get into the lane. Jones is also a warrior on the glass, going for 13/12 in his last game. With the status of Casey Mitchell still uncertain, West Virginia will have to stick to typical “Huggy-ball” more than ever, and that’s physical defense and great rebounding. Villanova is 16-0 when they score at least 70 points but only 2-4 when they fail to do so. With the way West Virginia is rebounding and playing defense right now, it’s very possible that this game could be in the 50’s or 60’s. We’re going to go with the upset and take the Mountaineers on the road in this game.

#10 Kentucky @ Florida – 9 pm Saturday on ESPN (****)

With a win on Saturday night, Florida can really create some separation between themselves and Kentucky. With a win against the Wildcats, Florida will hold a two and a half game lead over UK and remain ahead of Tennessee, a team they beat on the road already. Quite simply, a win here puts Florida in a commanding position in the SEC East. Of course, that won’t be so easy against the nation’s fourth ranked team in eFG% defense. The Gators have won 9 of 11 games but Kentucky will be their toughest test since a meeting with Ohio State back in November. The Wildcats are coming off a loss at Ole Miss earlier this week, a game in which they committed 18 turnovers and didn’t defend the three point line well at all. Freshman point guard Brandon Knight had six of those turnovers and needs to do a better job tonight. Young teams can’t turn it over and expect to win on the road no matter how talented they are and Kentucky is finding out the hard way. With a 2-4 record in true road games, the Wildcats need to grow up quick if they want to play deep into March. Knight needs to create shots for himself and others, taking advantage of UK’s 40% shooting from deep. With Doron Lamb shooting the ball very well recently, Kentucky has plenty of threats to win this game. A key battle in this game will be at the forward spot as Kentucky’s freshman Terrence Jones goes up against Florida senior Chandler Parsons. Jones averages 18/9 and had 22/12 at Ole Miss while Parsons has been on an absolute tear on the glass of late. Controlling the boards will be critically important in a game that could be all about pace. The Gators would like to slow the game down and work in the half court while the Wildcats are comfortable at a quicker pace. To keep the tempo in their favor, Florida has to win the rebounding battle and make shots. The Gators are #10 in offensive rebounding percentage but the matchup between Jones and Parsons, as well as Vernon Macklin and Josh Harrellson at the center position, will likely determine who controls the glass in this game. If Harrellson can shut down Macklin (Festus Ezeli of Vanderbilt did a good job of this in the last game), the onus will be on Parsons to carry the Gators yet again. With Erving Walker hitting only 7 of his last 33 threes (21%), Florida will work the ball inside even more than they already do. The Gators get 56.8% of their points from two point range but will face the #4 interior defense in the country. Kentucky allows opponents to shoot only 41% from two point range while Florida is making 50.5% of their two point shots. This should be a physical game and whoever controls the interior will likely come out on top. Despite their road woes, we think John Calipari’s team will be ready to play tonight and hand the Gators their fourth home loss, disappointing the big crowd sure to be at the O-Dome for ESPN Game Day.

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