Both Butler and Siena are setting themselves up to be bracket busters in a few weeks, but for one Saturday they will face each other at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The host Bulldogs have mowed through Horizon League play with a spotless 17-0 record and are on a 16-game winning streak overall. Their opposition in this made-for-TV event is Siena. The Saints scored a first round NCAA victory a year ago against Ohio State and are the class of the MAAC. A recent loss to Niagara, however, has left their NCAA at-large chances in some doubt if they don’t win their conference tournament. Butler is playing for a seed, while you’d have to figure that a Siena win in a tough road environment such as this would secure their place in the field of 65.  Join us on RTC Live to analyze and discuss the action. 

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The Harvard students changed from white shirts to black shirts at halftime.

Too bad for the Crimson faithful the ploy didn’t transfer to the hardwood.

Cornell maintained a nine-point halftime lead into a nine-point road victory at a raucous Lavietes Pavilion Friday night to hold a lead atop the all-important Ivy League regular season standings and firmly re-establish their status as the top team in the conference. Despite a remarkable 32 of 34 from the line and 48% shooting from the Crimson, Cornell used trademark three-point shooting, strong rebounding and timely scoring from Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale to eek out a victory in quite possibly the most challenging game on their Ivy slate.

Cornell Moving Toward March

The matchup was billed as a duel between the two best players in the conference- Wittman and Harvard’s point man Jeremy Lin. Lin was his usual stellar self- 24 points, 7-12 FG and 10-11 FT- but it was Wittman who stole the show with an array of clutch NBA-distance treys that stymied multiple Crimson rallies. The most importance sequence of the game came near the midway point of the second half when Harvard cut a 17-point Cornell lead to five until Wittman and Dale answered the call one more time with consecutive dagger threes that killed any remaining Harvard hope.

Cornell coach Steve Donahue remarked after the game how terrific the atmosphere was in Cambridge tonight. One could sense the urgency in the air from both sides with the Ivy League not fielding a year-end conference tournament to decide the league’s auto berth. This puts a giant magnifying glass on the regular season results and the players, coaches, fans and students all realized tonight just how crucial of a contest this happened to be.

Donahue made sure to commend a young Harvard team on their effort. Lin is their leader and anchor, but the Crimson rely on three freshman- Kyle Casey, Christian Webster and Brandyn Curry– for a good chunk of their production. Donahue correctly pointed out how vital Cornell’s experience was tonight in terms of both poise and confidence. He singled out Wittman as someone that played with a toughness and confidence unmatched by any other player on the floor for both sides.

Wittman admitted after the game there was a “lack of urgency” before the stunning upset at Penn last Friday. He said the Big Red absolutely has to bring it every night in the Ivy League and Dale remarked that it feels good to get an opposing team’s best shot every time during league play, similar to Gonzaga in the WCC or Butler in the Horizon. Dale also singled out the importance of getting out to a lead so fighting back on the road was not a necessity.

On the losing end, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker was proud of his team for their commendable effort but the Crimson just could not contain Wittman and Dale to pick up the stops in clutch situations. He was straight to the point in his assessment: Cornell just did things better. Lin also made sure to say this was the best atmosphere he’s seen at a home game in his four years as a member of the Crimson.

Too bad the home team could not deliver for the white-then-black-clad fans screeching, whistling, blowing horns and stomping their feet for 40 solid minutes Friday night.  Then again, this was Cornell. They are on a mission to reach the NCAA Tournament as the class of this league. And it does not appear anyone will stop them from achieving that very goal, at least on this night.

– Zach Hayes

RTC Live is back for a rare Friday night edition. Normally we “take the night off” given the relatively light slate, but tonight is a special occasion. Tonight the unofficial playoff for the Ivy League title and first official NCAA tournament bid commences when Cornell travels to Cambridge, MA to take on Harvard.

When these two teams met on January 30th, it was one of the most highly anticipated Ivy League match-ups in years. Cornell came in 17-3 having won 15 of 16 with its only losses coming against Seton Hall (10 points) and on the road against a pair of top-5 foes in Syracuse(15 points) and Kansas (5 points). Harvard came in 14-3 having won 7 straight with its only losses coming on the road against Army (3 points), UConn(6 points), and Georgetown (16 points). Many were expecting one of best games of the season featuring a match-up of Ivy League Player of the Year favorites Ryan Wittman and Jeremy Lin. Wittman and the Big Red lived up to their billing, but Lin and the Crimson apparently forgot to bring their game with them to Ithaca as they were embarrassed 86-50 while Lin managed to outscore Wittman (19-11), but committed a season-high 8 turnovers (of the team’s 25) with only 1 assist. With Wittman having a relatively quiet game the Big Red were led by seven-foot senior center Jeff Foote, who had 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. Following the blowout, it appeared as if the two teams were headed in opposite directions as the Crimson lost their next game to a surprisingly good Princeton team before bouncing back with 3 straight wins. The Big Red appeared poised to run the table in the Ivy League before stumbling in a shocking loss at Penn before bouncing back to win a hard-fought game at Princeton the following night. All this left the Ivy League with 3 teams sitting near the top of the conference: Cornell at 7-1, Princeton at 6-1, and Harvard at 6-2. The game is being billed as the biggest in the history of Harvard basketball (please, no snickering) and the athletic department is going to try to use a “Fade to Black” theme where the fans wear white shirts in the first half then taking them off to reveal black shirts in the second half [Ed. Note: Another benefit is layering for the New England winter night.] while the audio system will play Jay Z’s “Run This Town” and AC/DC’s “Back in Black” before the start of the 2nd half when the fans will reveal their black shirts in an attempt to throw off the Big Red (who happened to almost win at Kansas, which we think would be slightly more daunting than the visual “hallucination” of having the fans in the stands change their shirts from white to black at halftime).

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RTC Live is back at the Verizon Center again to bring you coverage of another dandy in the Big East as Syracuse heads south to take on the Hoyas in what might be the Big East’s best rivalry.

Georgetown has been wildly inconsistent this season, mixing big wins over Villanova and Duke with losses to South Florida, Cincinnati, and Rutgers. Syracuse has been a conundrum of late as well, as they have struggled against teams like DePaul and Cincinnati before finally dropping a game to Louisville at home last week. The issue for Georgetown has been leadership. They don’t have a true point guard. Chris Wright has been great at times this season, but he is a scoring point guard. He’s not the kind of player that is going to take control of a team when they are struggling. As a result, when the Hoyas get behind, their offense as a tendency to devolve into players going 1-on-1, which is not their strength. They are at their best when they run that Princeton system and take the open looks they get off of it. Syracuse, on the other hand, has just been off their game. The Orange are not a great half court team offensively. They don’t have many great scorers. They are at their best when they can force turnovers and get easy shots in transition on a secondary break. They have great passers and great decision makers when the numbers are in their advantage.  Georgetown got smacked by Syracuse last month at the Carrier Dome, but Greg Monroe was in foul trouble. If Georgetown can limit their turnovers and utilize Monroe’s ability in the high post to pass and score, they should be able to pick apart the Cuse zone.

It should be another fun one tonight. So drop by, leave a comment, and enjoy another Big East battle.

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If you’ve been following the WAC all season then you know this is the game we have been waiting for. Louisiana Tech came into the conference season with just two losses against a pretty weak schedule and there were questions about just how good they were. They answered those questions with an opening weekend sweep of the old guard in the WAC, beating Nevada by six and then smoking Utah State by 22. Since then, the Bulldogs have slowed down a little, but still come into tonight’s rematch in third place in the WAC, sporting an 8-3 conference record. Meanwhile the USU Aggies came out of that weekend with their tails tucked between their legs, getting edged by New Mexico State followed by the aforementioned beatdown from Louisiana Tech. Since that January 4 matchup, however, the Aggies have yet to lose, running off ten straight victories with eight of them coming by double digits. The key to the earlier meeting in Ruston was Louisiana Tech’s defense. The Aggies shot a miserable 3-13 behind the arc, something they usually excel at (currentl second in the nation in 3pt% at 43% and an even better 46% in WAC play). For the Aggies the key will be getting good inside play, especially from leader Tai Wesley going against the WAC’s best defensive big man in Magnum Rolle, and they will need to keep shooting well from behind the arc to take the pressure off the big guys (look for Brian Green shooting a blistering 71% from deep in conference games). The Bulldogs will need Rolle to control the boards and get someone besides Kyle Gibson (averaging 21 pts a game) and Rolle (just under 15 pts a game) to contribute to the scoring load (Jamel Guyton had 17 in the first matchup between these two). A win for the Bulldogs would put them right back into the thick of things for the conference title, but a loss would all but eliminate them from the race. Can the Bulldogs pull the upset in front of 10,270 screaming Aggie fans? Stay up late and tune into ESPN2 tonight at 9 pm (MST) and follow along to find out. 

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Over the past two weeks, the Big East Conference race has become a latter day version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  The three teams topping the conference since early January have each lost (at least…) one game in the past two weeks. Connecticut head Coach Jim Calhoun took a medical leave of absence on January 20, and the Huskies struggled in their next seven games, logging a 3-4 record under Associate Head Coach George Blaney. Coach Calhoun returned, but the Huskies played their worst game of the season in a 60-48 loss to Cincinnati. Coach Calhoun brings his enigma to the Wachovia Center to play the #4 ranked Villanova Wildcats, winners of their last two games and sole owners of first place in the Big East. Player of the Year candidate Scottie Reynolds, fresh off of a 22 point performance Saturday against Providence, will lead a potent back court offense against the Huskies’ own well-regarded back court of Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson when the two clash Monday night. Connecticut, whose conference record sits at 4-8, needs a signature win in conference, preferably on the road. Their backs are against the wall. Villanova has led the conference from their first game, but seems ill at ease as they wear the mantle of leadership. The Wildcats stumbled at Georgetown on February 6, falling back into a tie with the Orange. Syracuse however, lost again on Sunday, ceding Villanova sole ownership of first place…for the time being.  Join us Monday night at the Wachovia Center as Villanova defends its first place standing against the University of Connecticut.

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Stanford tries to keep its undefeated home record intact (5-0) today against the Washington Huskies. The Cardinal needed all its Maples Mojo on Thursday to overcome an 18-point first-half deficit and upend Washington State 60-58, and will be facing a Washington team desperate to hold on to Pac-10 title hopes after losing to Cal 93-81 on Thursday to fall to 6-6 in the conference. Game time is 5 pm Pacific and RTC Live will be there for our third trip to The Farm this season.  We hope to see you there!

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On Saturday February 13, Coach Keno Davis brings his Providence College Friars, a team led by senior guard Sharaud Curry but powered by freshmen, sophomores and JUCOs, to the Wachovia Center in downtown Philadelphia to play the #5 ranked Villanova University Wildcats in the 85th meeting between the two schools. Coach Davis runs the most up-tempo offense in the conference, and since Villanova is second behind Providence, expect at least one of the teams to break the century mark in a game that will mix long-range shooting with outlet passes and breakout buckets. The skies over Philadelphia, a city buried under nearly four feet of snow from two separate mid-winter storms in the last eight days, should be clear, but the forecast inside the Wachovia Center is for a blizzard of field goal attempts from both teams. Join us at 2 pm, as RTC goes inside the Wachovia Center for Villanova and Providence.

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Welcome tonight to Assembly Hall as we come to you from cold and recently snowy Bloomington, Indiana, home of the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana will take on visiting Ohio State, who currently stands in second place and one game back of Michigan State in the Big Ten with a conference record of 8-3. The visiting Buckeyes have been playing very well lately behind the leadership of Evan Turner, arguably a front-runner for national player of the year honors. This 6’7 point guard is not only a stat sheet stuffer who is almost averaging 20/10 per game. Ohio State has been dominating the Big Ten, winning their last 7 games. The Hoosiers are near the bottom of the Big Ten with a 3-7 conference record, struggling of late, losing two close ones to Illinois and Purdue before being blown out by Northwestern on the road. The Hoosiers are led by sophomore guard Verdell Jones III, who has been averaging 24 PPG over the past 3 games and 18.6 overall in the Big Ten. IU has been inconsistent at home this year, but much more consistent during Big Ten play, having almost taken down Purdue in their most recent matchup. Ohio State beat Indiana by 25 in their first game in Columbus, so let’s see if the Hoosiers playing at home can make this a much more competitive game.

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