Tonight we return to one of the hallowed buildings of our sport.  Rupp Arena sits at the edge of what is right now a snowy downtown Lexington, but we bet it’ll be warm inside, because the importance of this one is surely not lost on either squad.  Alabama is fourth in the SEC West but only a game and a half behind Arkansas (yes, Arkansas), and Kentucky is only a game ahead of Vanderbilt and Tennessee in the stacked SEC East.  These guys know that every win is vital, especially heading down the stretch.  We’ll be having a little bit of extra fun with this, too; DeMarcus Cousins is one of the most efficient players in the nation, largely because he’s fantastic at taking contact (of which he takes a LOT) and getting to the line for a traditional three-point play.  We’ll be counting those for DeMarcus tonight.  Interestingly, Alabama hasn’t trailed at halftime in any of their SEC games this year, so we’ll see what Kentucky thinks of that.  This one starts at 9 PM ET on ESPN-U, and we hope you’ll tune us in and tell us what you think.  See you then!

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The winner of this game tonight could be looking at moving up to a share of first place in the Big Ten tonight.  Illinois also needs a win to solidify their tournament status.  The Badgers always play tough at the Kohl Center, and are 13-0 in Madison this year.  Illinois is more of an offensive-oriented team, but the Badgers are usually able to slow down the pace and bring the score into the 50s or 40s.  Wisconsin ranks fifth in the country at 56.2 points per game, and are in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

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DC may be sitting under two feet of snow, but we at RTC threw on our snow boots, busted out the parka, and took the rocket sled out to the Verizon Center for today’s match-up between Villanova and Georgetown. The Hoyas have had an up-and-down two weeks. Two weeks ago during Big Monday, the Hoyas got smacked by Syracuse. A week ago, Georgetown returned the favor to Duke. Then on Wednesday, Georgetown ran into the buzzsaw that is Dominique James, dropping to 6-4 in the league. Villanova, on the other hand, has cruised to a perfect 9-0 record in Big East play, but they have yet to hit the meat of their schedule. Today kicks off what is going to be a brutal February, as Nova will play Georgetown, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pitt on the road this month.

But that’s down the road. Today’s game will be determined on the perimeter. Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Corey Stokes are known names in this league, and Maalik Wayns is well on his way to being the next great Nova guard. But the Hoyas have their own trio of talented back court players in Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Jason Clark. When talking about Georgetown, the first name that is always brought up is Greg Monroe, but he may not be the Hoyas’ most important player. When Chris Wright scores in double figures, Georgetown is undefeated. When he doesn’t, they are 1-5. Villanova is improved on the defensive end with Reggie Redding in uniform, but Georgetown’s disciplined and patient offense is a tough one to defend.  Ask Duke.

Should be a heckuva game today. Drop by and join in the conversation!

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Since Utah State entered the WAC in the 05-06 season this has been the league’s premier rivalry. Every year since at least one of these teams has owned a share of the WAC title. Nevada is struggling by their high standards this season (5-3 in conference), mostly due to a lack of depth. For what the Wolfpack lack in depth however, they make up in star power with PG Armon Johnson and do-everything forward Luke Babbitt both looking like 1st team All-WAC performers so far this season. Johnson is second on the team in scoring (15.9 PPG) and can get to the rim at will and dishes the ball as well as anyone in the conference (5.4 APG, first in the WAC). Babbitt does just about everything else for Nevada. He’s in the top 20 nationally in scoring (21.4 PPG) and also leads the team in rebounding, steals, FG%, and FT%. Utah State will counter with a balanced line-up, that includes five players averaging at least 10 points a game during their current 7 game winning streak, which included a 79-72 win in Reno. During that game the Aggies wore down Nevada with their depth, and Tai Wesley forced Babbitt to play a lot of post defense which isn’t his specialty. Since this rivalry renewed neither team has been able to complete the season sweep of the other, can the Aggies pull it off? Join us at RTC Live to find out.

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These two teams have perfected the art of wining close games lately, with the Spartans winning back to back road games by one point.  Wisconsin lost a nail biter against Purdue on Thursday, but has had recent comebacks in the closing minutes against Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State.  The Kohl Center is one of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball.  Wisconsin’s slow style of play does not make for the most exciting games, but if they take the Spartans down to the wire, The Grateful Red will make for quite an atmosphere.  The Badgers have not lost at home this year, but this may be the best team Wisconsin has seen all year.

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Yes, it’s Groundhog Day, but you’ve probably never seen this before, Northwestern is on the NCAA bubble. Tonight’s game starts a stretch of “must wins” for the Wildcats that will take them through this week and quite possibly the rest of the Big Ten regular season. Don’t be tricked into thinking Northwestern isn’t a contender by their 3-6 conference record as this game against Michigan is NU’s 10th straight Big Ten game this season against a team that made the 2009 NCAA Tournament field. (Yup, that’s all of them.) The Wildcats pulled off the upset at Michigan on Sunday, January 10, after trailing by as many as 17 points. The Wolverines have since recovered and are 4-5 in conference and trying to sneak back into the postseason picture if they can pull off some big upsets down the stretch. It should be a good one. John Templon will have all the action from Welsh-Ryan Arena starting 15 minutes before the ridiculously early (made for TV on Big Ten Network) 6 p.m. tip. Join us!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to RTC Live from the West Coast Conference, where the big bad Gonzaga Bulldogs visit the University of San Francisco Dons tonight.  We’ll be interested to see how the Zags respond from their extremely lackluster performance at Santa Clara on Thursday night, where it took a 22-4 run late to finally take control and win the game.  Of course, Mark Few’s team is led by the talents of Matt Bouldin (17/4/4 assts) and Elias Harris (16/9), the latter of whom is already being talked about as a first-rounder in the 2010 NBA Draft.  USF, on the other hand, is suffering a rough season on the Hill.  At 7-14 and 2-4 in the conference, there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about other than the two-time defending WCC scoring champ, Dior Lowhorn.  This year he trails St. Mary’s Omar Samhan and Pepperdine’s Keion Bell in that statistic, but we know that he can blow up for 25+ on any given night.  Gonzaga is the clear favorite tonight, but they also were on Thursday and they had to have a tremendous second half to get out of Santa Clara with a win, so the same thing could happen again tonight.  Join us on RTC Live to find out.

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Portland brings a three-game winning streak into Santa Clara’s Leavey Center Saturday night to face a Broncos team coming off an almost-but-no-cigar effort against Gonzaga (L 71-64). Portland lost its own nail-biter to the Zags earlier this year, so won’t have any sympathy for a Santa Clara squad trying to improve its cellar-dwelling 1-5 WCC record. Portland at 4-2 trails Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga in the standings and can’t afford to fall further behind.  Join us on RTC Live for another intriguing night in the West Coast Conference.

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Welcome to another installment of RTC Live, coming to you courtside from the Verizon Center. We have a doozy on our hands as the Georgetown Hoyas host the Duke Blue Devils. How big of a game is this? President Barack Obama will be in attendance. If our suspicions are correct, it is because he is a big fan of RTC and heard we would be covering the game, but I digress. Duke has had their fair share of struggles of late, but at the end of the day they are still just a game out of first place in the ACC. After dropping a game to NC State on the road, the Devils bounced back nicely with wins over Clemson and Florida State. The one thing box score junkies will have noticed is the rapidly decreasing minutes of freshmen Mason Plumlee and Andre Dawkins. As Coach K makes his annual rotational cuts, it has meant more time for the Blue Devils’ big three. Could weak legs become a factor again this season?

Georgetown has a big three of their own, and with the lack of depth on their roster, it has resulted in heavy minutes for Greg Monroe, Chris Wright, and Austin Freeman as well. The most interesting stat for this year’s Hoyas comes in the form of Mr. Wright. In the Hoyas four losses, he is averaging 6.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, and just 1.3 turnovers. In their 15 wins, those numbers jump to 16.8 ppg, but only 3.5 apg and 2.9 turnovers. With the offense running through Monroe, Georgetown needs Wright and Freeman to be the guys that can score. And thus far, they have done a pretty good job.   When its all said and done, this game has no importance other than seeding come tournament time. Duke and Georgetown will both be looking for a two-seed, and a win here could go along way towards that goal for both sides. So sit back, leave a comment, and enjoy what is sure to be a heckuva game.

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The California Golden Bears hope to make it a sweep of their Oregon Pac-10 foes and hold on to first place on Saturday morning with an 11 a.m. Pacific tip-off against the Oregon State Beavers. Cal dominated the Oregon Ducks 89-57 on Thursday night, while OSU was being humbled 59-35 at Stanford, so the Beavers are looking for redemption and Cal for stability in the volatile Pac-10. Rush the Court will be there to cover the action live – join us for all the action here.

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