The last time Northwestern (10-2) and Michigan State (10-3) met the Wildcats pulled out a stunning 70-63 victory on the road. Of course the two leading scorers in that dramatic upset were Kevin Coble and Craig Moore, neither of whom will be on the court this afternoon. Instead the Wildcats are led by point guard Michael Thompson – one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten, forward John Shurna and freshman Drew Crawford. #11 Michigan State was supposed to be the class of the Big Ten this season, but the Spartans have struggled a bit early in the season against good competition. They come into the game 10-3 on the season and are led by all-everything point guard Kalin Lucas – who has earned the ire of his coach Tom Izzo – along with two excellent forwards in Raymar Morgan and Draymond Green. #25 Northwestern lost its Big Ten opener in a thrilling game against Illinois, so the Wildcats need to bounce back against a Michigan State team that is making their conference debut. It should be an excellent game, and we hope to see you drop by.

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Hello everyone, we’re back from the holiday break and heading into New Years week with a pretty good match-up in Chapel Hill, NC, tonight between Rutgers and UNC.  This game will be simulcast on ESPN2 tonight, but we hope that you’ll join us for an interactive experience like no other while you’re watching the game on television.  The Heels come into tonight’s game sitting at 9-3, a record that makes UNC seem worse than they are considering that the three losses were to #2 Texas, #3 Kentucky and #5 Syracuse (two of which were road games).  Roy Williams is working through a number of new faces in his lineup but there’s clearly a bevy of talent at his disposal and we fully expect his team to be at or near the top of the ACC standings by March.  As for the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Fred Hill’s team comes in at 9-2 but even he will admit that their schedule has been less than impressive thus far (#346 according to KenPom).   Things aren’t looking up with the recent news that sophomore forward Gregory Echinique (13/8) will miss the remainder of the season with an eye problem, but the one player Hill has at his disposal who is capable of dropping thirty on any defense in America is Mike Rosario.  The 6’3 sophomore guard had a great summer overseas, and he comes into this game averaging 18/5 while shooting 38% from deep.  Given UNC’s lackluster three-point defense this season (34%), Rosario is definitely someone to watch tonight.  We hope you join us for another exciting edition of RTC Live, this time from one of the great venues in all of college sports, the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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There’s only one game on Saturday of Christmas weekend, but it’s a great matchup.  #6 West Virginia, coming in at 8-0 with a 20.4 scoring margin so far this season, will visit The Rock in north Jersey to play the much-improved Seton Hall Pirates in an early Big East tilt that will be simulcast on CBS.   Bob Huggins is getting great offensive production from his corps of talented forwards, Da’Sean Butler (16/6/4 assts), Kevin Jones (15/7) and Devin Ebanks (11/7/2 blks), but it is the defense and rebounding (what else?) of Huggins’ team that is making the difference this year.  The Mountaineers so far this year have been forcing turnovers on over a quarter (27%) of their opponents’ possessions and they own the offensive glass, getting over 44% of available rebounds on that end of the floor (second only to Kentucky).  Seton Hall is off to its best start in years, coming in at 9-1 with wins over UMass and Cornell.  Jeremy Hazell has lived up to expectations so far, dropping 20/4 each night, while transfer Herb Pope has been exceptional on the inside, contributing 14/12 while also (perhaps more importantly) staying out of trouble.  This should be a great holiday weekend game from Jersey, so join us for RTC Live tomorrow afternoon.

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Both Wake Forest and NC State enter ACC conference play as relative unknowns: sure, the Demon Deacons beat Gonzaga in Spokane, but what are we to make of their double-digit homecourt loss to William & Mary that same week? Similarly, NC State’s victory over Marquette on the road was noteworthy, but their less than impressive victory in their last game over Elon, one of the weakest teams in the nation, has Wolfpackers scratching their heads. Wake enters Sunday’s game at 7-2, riding on the back of Al-Farouq Aminu (15.9 ppg, 10.4 rpg). Ishmael Smith has increased his production for the Deacs, but the true compliment to Aminu this season has been freshman guard C.J. Harris’ shooting, bringing 12.4 ppg while shooting 53% from the floor. State will rely on Tracy Smith and his 18.3 ppg and 9.4 rpg to go toe-to-toe with Wake Forest’s Aminu. In the end though, offensive rebounds could be the factor in this matchup: neither team has shot the ball well this season, Wake is the tallest team in the nation and rebounds accordingly, while NC State has been below average on the defensive glass. Both Dino Gaudio and Sidney Lowe are under pressure from the fanbase to produce after underperforming last year. For both teams, a win in Winston-Salem would be a good place to start for proving they belong in the top half of the ACC.

Northwestern attempts to continue its miracle season on Saturday against Stanford. Yes, the Wildcats have never been to the NCAA Tournament, but an 8-1 record has caused the dream to live on in Evanston this season. Welsh-Ryan Arena is hosting two schools noted more for their academics than their athletics. Stanford has struggled to a 5-4 record this season, but the Cardinal are coming off a close loss to Oklahoma State earlier this week. Forward Landry Fields is a do-everything forward that can light up the scoreboard, he leads Stanford with 22.9 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game. Northwestern has been bombing opponents out of the gym lately by dropping a plethora of threes. Outstanding junior guard Michael Thompson leads the team in scoring at 17.2 points per game, but it’s a balanced attack that gets the job done for the Wildcats. You could watch this exciting game on the Big Ten Network, but no matter what you should follow along here for an entertaining look at the game and the post-game press conference.

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If you’re in the east, you’re probably socked in by snow, and we all know what goes great with a foot of snow:  college hoops, of course!  On Saturday we have one of those games that looks intriguing the moment the schedule is released.  Xavier (6-3) makes the trip to Indy to take on Butler (7-3) for a game that should be interesting for a couple of reasons.  Xavier has to avoid the post-Crosstown Shootout letdown to which Cincinnati fell victim.  Butler, having been the mid-major poster boy for a long time now, knows the value of every win (especially over major conference foes) and what it can do for your post-season resume’.  The TV coverage on ESPN2 starts at 2pm, and we’ll start the live blog a few minutes beforehand.  Join us to interact with our man on the scene and your fellow hoop junkies.  See you then.

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Hello again everybody, it feels like it’s been a long layoff since we last did an RTC Live, but truth be told, it’s only been three days.  Still, by our count, this will be our 49th RTC Live game of the season, and we’re only about five weeks strong.  Tonight we’ll be heading to a new venue (for us), Stanford’s Maples Pavilion, for the eleventh game of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, which so far the Big 12 has dominated by a score of 8-2.  Both of these teams come into tonight’s game with question marks.  For the home team, Stanford has played up and down all season, losing games at San Diego and vs. Oral Roberts, yet taking the now-unbeaten and super-talented Kentucky Wildcats to overtime in the Cancun Challenge (a game that Stanford should have won).  Senior forward Landry Fields is their do-it-all player, coming into this game averaging 23/8/3 assts/3 stls per game as a high-volume contributor in both minutes and shots.   Sophomore guard Jeremy Green has become Johnny Dawkins’ second option, coming into this one averaging 15/4 and over three treys a game this year.  As for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys come into this game at 8-1 overall, but they lost their only true road game badly at Tulsa two weeks ago.  James Anderson is the foil to Landry, averaging 20/7 from the wing and featuring a vast array of athletic moves that create scoring opportunities.  That matchup should be an interesting one all night.  Maples is not an easy place to play when the fans are engaged, so this one (simulcast on FSN) should be a great environment for some December college hoops.  Join us for all the action tonight. 

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For just about any college basketball fan, It’s one of those games that you find on the schedule and immediately circle.  If you’re from the Cincinnati area and you’ve got a dog in this fight, then it’s even more important.  Since the 1927-28 season, these two teams have come together every year in a tradition known as — say it with me — the Crosstown Shootout.  Cincinnati owns a 47-29 lead but Xavier has won seven of the last ten.  Jordan Crawford and Jason Love battle in the hopes of getting Xavier into the Top 25 and increase their role on the national stage, while Lance Stephenson, Yancy Gates, and Cashmere Wright try to move the Bearcats up the polls now that they’re back on the scene.  There’s no love lost between these two programs and this is certainly a game both of these teams would love to have on the tournament resume.  We’ll be there starting at 6:45 pm ET, so tune in the game and join us as well!

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It is a place where dreams happen. It is the home of Hoosiers. It is a basketball treasure tucked safely away in the Heartland of America at Butler University in Indianapolis, protected from boosters and alumni who crave a modern arena with all the trappings of money and power.  It is Hinkle Fieldhouse: Home of the Butler Bulldogs.  Butler will host big-time foe Ohio State Saturday afternoon at the historic old barn, dubbed by some as a venue designed as if God Himself wanted a basketball  arena.  The Bulldogs seek to move back into the national conversation after several losses in the past few weeks, while Ohio State looks to recover from a devastating injury to National Player of the Year candidate Evan Turner.  There’s been talk around the country that the formerly nationally-ranked Bulldogs are in a no-win situation with this game.  If they beat the Buckeyes – well, they should have, goes the thinking.  After all, they’re at home and OSU is without its superstar, Turner.  If they lose to OSU, well, that’s not good either.  One thing we can say with assurance is that Butler head coach Brad Stevens is undoubtedly shooting for the first “bad” option over the second one, as right now, Butler needs nonconference Ws any way they can get them.  And if Ohio State manages to go into Hinkle and steal a win without the spectacular Turner scoring, rebounding and assisting, then the Buckeyes will be viewed even better by the NCAA Selection Committee when he (hopefully) returns in February.  Join us  this afternoon at Hinkle for what could fairly be described as an important December game for both of these teams.

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Before the season started, the Wooden Classic in Anaheim appeared to feature four probable NCAA Tournament teams in a double-header that oozed with potential — #13 Georgetown vs. #16 Washington in the first game, followed by Mississippi State vs. UCLA.  That was before the local draw UCLA crapped the bed in the 76 Classic during their last trip to Anaheim, and Mississippi State lost to the two Rs — Rider and Richmond.  Still, the season is only a month old, and there’s reason to believe that both UCLA and MSU will get it together to make a push back toward the Big Dance before it’s too late.  UCLA had a solid showing  in a loss against #1 Kansas in Westwood last weekend, and there’s enough talent here that it’s just a matter of time before Ben Howland figures out his team and maximizes his personnel.  Mississippi State dominated DePaul in their last outing, which may not sound like much, but the Blue Demons had played fellow SEC teams Tennessee and Vanderbilt very tough in two previous losses.  There’s one thing we know for sure about this game, though, and that’s the fact that local Fairfax product Renardo Sidney will not be making a homecoming debut for the Bulldogs — which is unfortunate.  As for the early game, it will feature Georgetown’s first visit to the west coast in eight years, and the Hoyas will be looking to build on their strong showing at MSG in the Jimmy V Classic earlier this week by feasting on the smaller Huskies’ frontline and shutting down the inside (#3 in FG% defense).  Washington, on the other hand, will attempt to save some Pac-10 face within the league’s regional footprint by knocking off an unbeaten Big East foe.  This will not be an easy task, as Georgetown is getting superb production from its starters, including the kind of all-american numbers (15/11) from Greg Monroe that everyone expected from the talented center.  It should be a fun afternoon on a rainy day in Anaheim (yes, it actually rains in SoCal!), and we hope you’ll take some time out of your weekend to spend it with us.

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