Games #191-192.  The Granddaddy of all conference tournaments tips off with a couple of solid bubble-related afternoon games today.

2:30 pm.  Boston College vs. Wake Forest.  Listen, folks, Wake Forest is bad. Maybe the worst team in all the BCS conferences. They’ve only won a single game in the ACC and that was against lowly Virginia.  Boston College was the season ending match-up for Wake and they lost by 16 points. Boston College has every advantage in this match-up and needs to beat Wake. After a promising start to their season, Boston College slumped and truly needs a strong showing in the tournament to make an unambiguous case. A win against Wake Forest won’t mean anything to Boston College except a chance to keep proving themselves. A loss likely means the end of Boston
College’s hopes for dancing. For BC,  Reggie Jackson remains the straw that stirs the proverbial drink on an offense that remains the tenth best in all of college basketball. Solid offensive contributions from Joe Trapani and Corey Raji will probably spell the doom of a Wake Forest team that seems incapable of stopping anyone. Wake Forest can only hope to counter with solid offensive efforts by genuinely skilled freshman, Travis McKie and the quietly sweet-shooting senior, Gary Clark, who is posting a true shooting percentage that’s north of 65%. Still, Wake Forest’s offense is still putrid and the worst in the ACC. This should be a blowout, but never underestimate the delight that some teams take in playing the spoiler.

9:30 pm. Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech.  Does anyone remember when the Hokies nearly beat Purdue in overtime? Actually, does anyone remember when they nearly beat Duke? Virginia Tech really is a good team, but they have got to be one of the more schizophrenic teams in college basketball. I know that injuries have decimated the team and there isn’t a lot of margin for error, but this tradition of bubble uncertainty is ridiculous. As always, Virginia Tech needs a strong showing in the ACC Tournament to make their case, and in Georgia Tech, the Hokies got an odd draw. The two teams split the home and away series exchanging blowouts: First Georgia Tech won by 15 and then Virginia Tech won by 25. I know that Virginia Tech is probably hoping for a repeat of the latter, but GT has finished the season surprisingly strongly, handling their last two games against Wake Forest and Miami with ease, while the Hokies slumped through the final stretch. Still, Virginia Tech has to be the favorite to win this game with offensive whirlwind Malcom Delaney leading the way and the rest of the team playing some seriously tough defense. On the other hand, though Georgia Tech’s season has largely been disappointing, this is a team with veteran leadership in Iman Shumpert and Daniel Miller. This is a team that did, after all, manage to stick it to an unsuspecting North Carolina team. That said, the team has virtually no good three-point shooters, despite a willingness to bomb away from long range. They hardly ever gets to the line. Hell, the team is bad at shooting two-pointers too. The Yellow Jackets do play defense, however, and is the third best team in the nation in getting steals. If they can hold the line and get some easy baskets off of turnovers, they might have a chance to send Virginia Tech back into the bubble limbo they know so well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Games #185-188.  RTC Live is in Vegas for a big-time afternoon of MWC basketball in the desert.

While the Mountain West Tournament started on Wednesday night with the 8/9 game between TCU and Wyoming, the meat of the matter kicks off Thursday with an interesting set of quarters beginning at noon in Vegas. BYU will get things started in the morning by facing TCU, a matchup which the Cougars should have little trouble with. The second quarterfinal of the day between Colorado State and New Mexico may be the most interesting one. The loser of that game is almost certainly NIT bound (at best), while the winner gets a crack at BYU in the semifinals where a win would go a long way towards getting them back into the NCAA at-large conversation. In the evening, we’ve got San Diego State and Utah kicking off at 6pm PST, followed by UNLV, playing in front of a largely partisan and raucous home crowd, against Air Force. It should be the beginning of a fun three days in Vegas, and we hope you’ll stop in to chat about some good MWC hoops.

Read the rest of this entry »

Games #183-184. The Big Ten Tournament gets underway in Indy and RTC Live will be there courtside for all of the best action.

RTC rolls into Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament and the bracket wastes no time in diving into the realm of bubble ramifications. 9-seed Minnesota needs to win a couple of games at the very least, and they’ll kick this event off against 8th-seeded Northwestern, with the winner getting the privilege of facing #1 Ohio State tomorrow at noon. Half an hour after the 8 vs 9 game concludes, we’ll have #7 Michigan State vs #10 Iowa as the Spartans try to pad that win total enough to impress the Selection Committee. Will that Tom Izzo post-season magic suddenly appear? Marquette likely played its way into the field of 68 last night by beating West Virginia, and that makes every single game vital; MSU and Minnesota can’t expect to drop first-round games and still bet let into the Dance, a fact of which we’re sure they’re well aware. It all starts at 2:30 PM ET. Two games, one RTC Live window! That’s a good deal at any time of year, so we hope to see you there.

Games #179-180.  The Jayhawks and Wildcats hit the hardwood in Kansas City to take on two winners of Wednesday’s opening round matchups.

12:30 pm – Kansas vs. Oklahoma State. After winning the Big 12 for the seventh straight season, the Kansas Jayhawks received a first-round bye in the conference tournament and now draws the Oklahoma State Cowboys. OSU ended any realistic chance of Nebraska making the NCAA Tournament with a 53-52 victory on Wednesday. Bill Self’s team is a sure thing for a number one seed, but must keep up its momentum if it wants the tournament’s top overall spot. KU won the first meeting in blowout fashion, 92-65, in Lawrence two weeks ago, but Travis Ford’s team is eager to play spoiler.

3:00 pm – Kansas State vs. Colorado. The second game will pit Kansas State against Colorado. The Wildcats have used a month-long surge to return to its preseason status as a team that no one wants to play in a tournament situation. The Buffaloes need a high-profile win to strengthen their case for a tournament bid, and while Kansas State is hot, Colorado beat them in both regular season meetings. We’ll also be treated to a matchup of high-level individual scorers with Jacob Pullen and Alec Burks sharing the court.

Read the rest of this entry »

Games #189-190.  Three days in, and we’re finally to the Big Easts quarters in MSG today.  You’ll struggle to find as many good early NCAA matchups.

12 pm.  UConn vs. Pitt.  Can any Big East fan forget the battles these two programs had in the early 00’s in the Big East Tournament? This season’s matchup should be just as entertaining. The first time these two played, Pitt was at full strength and UConn was still basically a one-man show. As a result, the Panthers won by 15 at home. This time around, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb are both playing some of their best basketball of the season, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel has finally found his shooting touch, and Alex Oriakhi is being, well, Oriakhi. Throw in the loss of Talib Zanna to a broken thumb, and there is no reason that we can’t get a good old fashioned Big East battle.

2:30 pm.  St. John’s vs. Syracuse.  The Johnnies lost one game at the Garden in Big East play, and that came to Syracuse. Its a little bit counterintuitive when you think about it. St. John’s has big guys that can crash the glass and versatile, play-making forwards that can sit at the high post and find open men. The issue is that St. John’s lacks effective perimeter shooters. Dwight Hardy is, for all intents and purposes, it. St. John’s looks like they may be regressing back to the mean after a sizzling finish to the regular season. Syracuse is an enigma. The key today? Which Scoop Jardine and which Kris Joseph show up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Game #178: RTC is in Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament for the second consecutive year. This week’s coverage from Sprint Center begins with an opening round matchup between bubbling Colorado and Iowa State.

The season comes down to this week for Tad Boyle’s Colorado Buffaloes. With a non-con schedule bereft of quality wins, Colorado’s been in a game of catch-up since conference play tipped off. Some big victories (Texas, Missouri and a sweep of Kansas State) made the statement that they can get it done, but losses to Iowa State and Baylor could leave the Buffalo faithful sweating it out on Sunday unless their team can make some noise this week. Guard Alec Burks, playing in front of a hometown crowd, has plenty of motivation to carry the Buffs to the Big Dance in its final season as a Big 12 member.  Iowa State, meanwhile, stumbled through conference play after starting 13-2 in Fred Hoiberg’s first go-round at the helm, but closed out the regular season on a high note. The Cyclones won two of its last three, including a 95-90 win over Colorado in the final week of the season, and are anxious to duplicate their success. Grab a beverage, some snacks, and pull up a seat for RTC Live!

Read the rest of this entry »

Games #176-177.  RTC Live is back at MSG for a couple of 2d Round matchups that are NCAA Tournament worthy.

12 pm.  UConn-Georgetown.  Georgetown is in an awkward situation. With Chris Wright out with an injury — he’s expected to be back for the NCAA Tournament but its still unclear if that will happen — the Hoyas are looking to prove not just to the committee, but to themselves that they can play without their point guard. In two and a half games without him, Georgetown’s offense has been anemic, as Wright is apparently their sole source of offensive creativity. As far as UConn is concerned, every game is the same thing — when the Huskies get big games out of some of their non-Kembas, they can play with or beat anyone in the country.

9 pm.  West Virginia-Marquette.  Let’s put aside the fact that Marquette can all but lock up a trip to the NCAA Tournament with a win, because worrying about the bubble in this atmosphere can ruin it. The Mountaineers and the Golden Eagles play as hard as any two teams in the country. As Buzz Williams said last night, West Virginia wants to turn this game into a “rock fight”, but Marquette is more than capable of handling themselves in a physical battle (have you seen Jae Crowder’s shoulders? He’s built like a wrestler). WVU is not a team that blows people out, and Marquette is notorious for their late-game dramatics. This could be a lot of fun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Game #175.  Ancient Ivy League rivals meet in the Palestra to determine if there will be a playoff on Saturday for the title.

Rivals Penn and Princeton have both won 25 Ivy League titles, so it’s almost fitting that only Penn stands in the way from Princeton capturing No. 26. With a win tonight at the historic Palestra, the Tigers would earn a share of the Ivy crown and a spot in a one-game Ivy playoff vs. co-champ Harvard to determine the league’s auto bid. For Penn, winning its final game of the 2010-11 season would secure a .500 overall record and a tie for third place in the league — but more important it would send its biggest rival to the NIT while giving Harvard its first NCAA berth since 1946. In other words, for one night, the only people rooting for Penn harder than Quakers fans will be Harvard supporters.

Read the rest of this entry »

Games #173 & 174.  A couple of interesting first round games for your Tuesday pleasure live from Madison Square Garden.

12 pm.  UConn vs. DePaul: Hard to believe that a team that spent much of the season in the top ten can fall all the way to ninth in their conference tournament, but they have. The Big East is that deep. UConn is going to have a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than they are in the Big East Tourney. The issue that has been plaguing the Huskies is that they cannot beat a sloughing defense. Kemba Walker struggles when he doesn’t have the space to penetrate, and on the nights when UConn doesn’t have one of their role players become a secondary scorer, defenses are able to pack in their defense and force the UConn point guard into tough shots. DePaul will be without their best player, freshman Cleveland Melvin, who also happens to be a former UConn commit, so UConn should be able to roll through this first round matchup.

9 pm.  Marquette vs. Providence: Marquette is the only team in the Big East still on the bubble, putting them in an interesting situation. As of today, they are probably on the right side of the bubble, albeit barely. A loss to Providence in the first round would probably push them onto the wrong side. In all actuality, if the Golden Eagles want to feel safe, they probably need to win two games in the Big East Tournament. It also needs to be noted that Providence has the Big East’s best scorer in Marshon Brooks. Brooks, however, is a one man show. When he gets it going, he can put up some sensational numbers, like the 43 he had against Georgetown and the 52 he had against Notre Dame. But when his teammates struggle, defenses can collapse on Brooks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Game #172.  The WCC title still goes through Gonzaga, as St. Mary’s and the Zags match up again in the Championship Game for the third season in a row.

Midway through the West Coast Conference regular season, it appeared that St. Mary’s had taken the mantle from stalwart Gonzaga as the “it” team in the league.  The Zags were reeling after a home loss to the Gaels, the first such loss in a decade and a half which followed up road Ls at San Francisco and Santa Clara.  Randy Bennett’s team, on the other hand, was sitting pretty at 6-0 and seemed on a course with destiny to win its first outright WCC title in a long while.  Didn’t happen that way.  After that game in Spokane, Mark Few’s Bulldogs got it together and ran off nine conference wins in a row; the Gaels, perhaps feeling the pressure of playing from ahead, stumbled in losses at Portland, at San Diego and at home against the hated Zags.  Needless to say, unlike last season, both schools are perched precariously on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament — there is a high likelihood that tonight’s loser will not get invited to the Big Dance next weekend.  There’s a decent likelihood that both will be.  It’s difficult to say, but both squads will bring everything they have to make sure that they’re not the team sweating through the next six days waiting to hear from about their future from a bunch of Indianapolis fat cats.  Join us tonight for what promises to be a battle extraordinaire from two teams that really don’t like each other very much.

Read the rest of this entry »