Game #70.  RTC Live moves on to Pittsburgh for the back end of the Big East/SEC Invitational.

Welcome college basketball fans to Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center in what promises to be a great matchup between #3 Pittsburgh and #13 Tennessee in the SEC/Big East Invitational. Most of what college basketball fans have heard about Tennessee in the early going this year have been off the court regarding their coach, but many may not know that the Volunteers have already knocked off then #7 Villanova in the NIT Season Tip-Off finale a couple weeks ago, only to rocket up 11 spots in the national rankings. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has been near the top of the rankings all year. These teams have as many similarities as they have differences though. Tennessee will be the first team since Texas that has matched up similarly to Pittsburgh on the boards. The two main differences between them are that Pittsburgh distributes the ball more in terms of total assists and they turn the ball over less. The difference that might prove monumental in this game, even though it is stated as a neutral site, is the home court advantage for Pittsburgh. Get ready for the toughest battle Pittsburgh has had all year at the newest sport’s facility in town.

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Game #68.  RTC Live will be on hand tonight for Jimmer Fredette’s homecoming to Glens Falls, New York, in front of a packed house. 

Hometown hero Jimmer Fredette returns to the 518 area code in upstate New York to lead the BYU Cougars against the Vermont Catamounts in a neutral-site contest. Fredette led BYU to the second round of the NCAA tournament last March, and no doubt looks to capture a Mountain West conference title and another berth in the Big Dance this season. After amassing over 2,400 points in his high school career, Fredette is currently averaging 22.3 points per game and will no doubt strive to put on a show tonight in his hometown, back in the place where it all started. BYU has remained perfect thus far in its 2010-11 campaign, going undefeated in its first eight games. On the other bench, Vermont will no doubt look to rain on Fredette’s homecoming parade with an upset victory. To date, Vermont has amassed a 6-1 record heading into America East conference play. Vermont recently defeated area mid-major Siena, 80-76, back on November 13, and looks to be the frontrunner once league play begins.

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Game #67.  It’s our maiden voyage of the season to one of the better venues on the west coast, Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, as SDSU comes to town.

So far it’s been a dream season for Steve Fisher’s San Diego State Aztecs, sitting at 8-0 and on the cusp of the top ten after impressive wins over Gonzaga, St. Mary’s and Wichita State.  Three tough games to be sure, but SDSU would like to get a statement win over a power conference team to go along with that group.  Tonight’s game at California will provide such an opportunity.  A packed house is expected for the game, and the homestanding Bears will have to find a way to keep the crowd engaged when the three best players on the floor — Kawhi Leonard, Billy White and Malcolm Thomas — all play for the visiting team.  The truth is that with a completely revamped lineup from last year’s Pac-10 regular season champions, you never quite know what you’re going to get with Cal.  They’ve crushed New Mexico and defeated Temple, but lost to Notre Dame (in the infamous five-point half game) and Boston College convincingly.  We have a feeling that with an undefeated highly ranked team coming to town, the Bears will be ready for a fight.  Join us for what should be a great one tonight in Beserkeley. 

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Game #66.  RTC Live is back in Chestnut Hill for what has become a very interesting matchup as the early season has worn on.

This year’s edition of New England’s finest hoops rivalry gets underway tonight at 7 PM ET when Providence travels north to face Boston College at Conte Forum. While both teams were considered long shots to make the NCAA Tournament before the season, the Friars (9-1) and Eagles (6-2) are off to surprising starts. Providence’s #99 ranking in defensive efficiency is a dramatic improvement from last year’s squad and the Friars have early wins against Wyoming, Northeastern and in-state foe Rhode Island to show for it. The versatile duo of Marshon Brooks (21.4 PPG) and emerging star Vincent Council (17.1 PPG) lead the scoring attack in a crucial season for Keno Davis. Despite a shocking loss to Yale, Boston College has rebounded to beat both Texas A&M and California on a neutral floor and defeated Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Junior Reggie Jackson (18.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG) is one of the most gifted and exciting players in the ACC while first-year coach Steve Donahue also has senior cogs Joe Trapani and Corey Raji at his disposal. Join me tonight from Conte Forum for RTC Live to see if Providence can notch their first quality win of the campaign or if the Eagles protect their home turf and continue to build their own NCAA Tournament resume.

Ed. Note: We had some technical difficulties at Conte Forum tonight. We will have a full write-up tomorrow.

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Game #65.  RTC Live heads to an old familiar in the form of Louisville’s Freedom Hall, but the Cardinals of Rick Pitino won’t actually be there. 

Our next stop is at Freedom Hall on Wednesday night as Notre Dame (8-0) makes the trip to the Bluegrass for one heck of a road test against Kentucky (5-2). True, Freedom Hall isn’t Kentucky’s home court (nor is it Louisville’s, now), so one could say that that techincally makes this a neutral site game. Don’t kid yourself. They’ve actually turned the Freedom Hall floor blue and painted Kentucky’s logo at center court, and Louisville is loaded with UK supporters, too, so there’s nothing neutral about this. The Irish are playing excellent basketball and a win here would be a superb resume-builder come March, but Kentucky’s still stinging from the loss at North Carolina and could use a win against a ranked team to boost its confidence after dropping two of their last three and taking a hit in the polls; could a loss here send the team with the nation’s best recruiting class out of the Top 25? And they say early December basketball doesn’t mean anything. We disagree. The live blog window opens at 9:15 pm ET for this SEC/Big East Invitational contest. Read the rest of this entry »

Game #64.  RTC Live is proud to enter the hallowed halls of the Palestra for the first time as Big 5 rival Villanova makes a visit.

There’s no denying Penn is much improved this year after three difficult seasons, but beating Villanova in tonight’s Big 5 matchup at the Palestra will be a tall task for Jerome Allen and his Ivy League crew. Led by the dynamic guard trio of Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Maalik Wayns, Villanova (6-1) figure to be one of the top teams in the nation throughout the 2010-11 campaign. The Wildcats, however, are currently dealing with an internal issue as freshman Jayvaughn Pinkston was suspended for the entire season earlier this week for a campus fight. The Quakers, meanwhile, are above .500 at 4-3 but are coming off wins against less-than-stellar opponents UMBC and Army. Penn has not beaten Villanova since the 2002-03 season.

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Games #62-#63.  We’re back at MSG in midtown Manhattan for another great double-header of games.

Join us for one of the highlights of the non-conference slate tonight from Madison Square Garden as #4 Kansas takes on #18 Memphis and #6 Michigan State battles #14 Syracuse in the Jimmy V Classic. Memphis comes to NYC an unblemished 7-0, surviving three tests against Miami, LSU and Arkansas State. Josh Pastner‘s young but ultra-talented squad is led by freshman point guard Joe Jackson, scoring threat Will Barton, the versatile Wesley Witherspoon and skilled big Angel Garcia. They’ll take on a Kansas team fresh off two close victories against Pac-10 opponents Arizona and UCLA. The Jayhawks will receive a boost when heralded point guard Josh Selby becomes eligible on December 18, but for now Tyshawn Taylor is doing a fantastic job at point guard. Kansas is led by inside/outside threat and first team All-America candidate Marcus Morris and his twin brother Markieff. In the second game, Michigan State continues their hellacious non-conference schedule in a quasi-road game against Syracuse, who always bring a healthy contingent to NYC. It hasn’t been smooth sailing for either team in the early going. The Spartans performed admirably in a close loss at Duke, but have fallen to both Connecticut and the Blue Devils in the early going. Tom Izzo’s team is led by their backcourt duo of Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. Syracuse comes in undefeated, but each contest has been closer than the Orange hoped. Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine are the focal points for Jim Boeheim‘s offensive attack. Join us tonight at RTC Live for a star-studded and much anticipated doubleheader where we celebrate great basketball, and, more importantly, raise money for cancer research in honor of the great Jim Valvano and everyone impacted by this horrible disease.

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Games #60-61.  We’re back in DC for a solid double-dip of games at the Verizon Center.

Game #56. We’re headed to the Rocky Mountains for another first-time edition of RTC Live, this time in the shadow of the Continental Divide.

A slow start to the season has left many wondering if they were wrong about Colorado headed into their final season of Big 12 play. Many had picked the Buffaloes as a sleeper in the Big 12, but a 3-3 start with losses on the road to Harvard and San Francisco weren’t part of the plan. The good news for the Buffaloes is that they return to Boulder where they are 3-0 for a Saturday night contest against Oregon State.  For Oregon State’s part, the Beavers hold an identical 3-3 record and might actually lay claim to an even uglier set of losses. Both teams and both coaches will look to get their season’s back on track in a game pairing two teams that will go from Big 12/Pac-10 opponents to just Pac 10 opponents one year from now with Colorado joining the Beavers in the Pac-12.  Colorado is led by a talented pair of guards in Alec Burks and Cory Higgins, while Oregon State is paced on the interior by leading scorer and top rebounder Omari Johnson. Neither side can lay much claim to a tremendous advantage based on the early season struggles, but Colorado has better guard play and more in the way of a go to scorer. The play of Higgins and Burks early will be key to determining the outcome in this one.

[ed. note: our correspondent had trouble with internet connectivity tonight, so he has provided us with a recap below]

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Game #59. RTC Live is happy to visit Memphis for its first game at the FedEx Forum today.

Saturday’s Western Kentucky-Memphis game marks a homecoming for WKU senior Sergio Kerusch, who grew up in Memphis. Appropriately, Kerusch tweeted on Friday that “the gym will be filled and I won’t disappoint” in Saturday’s game, which tips at 7 p.m. CT. For the Hilltoppers (3-4) to have a shot at host No. 14 Memphis (6-0), they’ll need all they can get from Kerusch, the Sun Belt Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year. Both teams enter off mid-week performances they’d like to forget. WKU lost 82-62 at Vanderbilt, and it took overtime for Memphis to dispatch Arkansas State 78-71 on Wednesday. Oklahoma transfer Juan Pattillo leads the Hilltoppers in points per game (16.9) and rebounds per game (10.6). A trio of Tigers — Wesley Witherspoon, Will Barton and Joe Jackson — all average double figures for Memphis.  Join us this evening for RTC Live from the banks of the Mississippi River.

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