Game #107.  RTC Live heads to UConn for a blockbuster game involving two of the nation’s and Big East’s best teams.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!  Kicking off a huge day of college hoops is a game between #7 Villanova and #9 Connecticut in Storrs.  Both teams got off to tremendous starts this season.  Connecticut sports an incredible resume with wins over Kentucky and Michigan State on a neutral floor and Texas on the road.  Villanova enters today’s game with only one loss (at home against Tennessee), albeit against a lighter schedule.  Player of the year candidate Kemba Walker runs the show for Jim Calhoun, but don’t sleep on Alex Oriakhi either.  Walker has been phenomenal–he’s averaging over 25 points a game–but Oriakhi is almost averaging a double-double.  Villanova sports a terrific backcourt trio (which is no surprise to anyone following Jay Wright’s teams) in Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns.  But when Villanova is at their best, they get Antonio Pena and Mouphtaou Yarou involved.  Yarou got in some quick foul trouble against Maryland, and you could see the Wildcats struggle.  Look for both of these teams try to establish an advantage inside, and I predict the winner down low will also win the game.

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Game #107.  It’s been a mere week since they last played, but we’re back in MSG for another edition of this one.

#11 Notre Dame and St. John’s square off for the second time in eight days as Coach Mike Brey brings his Fighting Irish to Madison Square Garden in New York City for a noon tipoff Sunday. Winning the first game 76-61 in South Bend, IN, last Saturday, Notre Dame looked to the scoring trio of Ben Hansbrough, Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin to jump on the Johnnies early and never let Steve Lavin’s squad into the game.  Notre Dame is a notoriously poor road team, however, and so far this season they are playing down to their reputation, going 0-2 in conference road games (at Syracuse and at Marquette), and 0-3 when counting the semi-away game at Kentucky, the only other game played in a hostile environment this season.  A winning road record is, for Notre Dame, a prerequisite if the Irish are going to make a serious run at the conference elites this season. After an unexpectedly hot 3-0 start that included two road wins, St. John’s has hit an 0-2 (at Notre Dame, vs. Syracuse) stretch in their conference schedule. After an up-and-down run through their non-conference slate, many were lowering their expectations for the Red Storm season. Justin Brownlee and Dwight Hardy have blended with the Storm’s veteran nucleus of DJ Kennedy, Paris Horne and Justin Burrell to bounce back for the opening sequence in the conference. Can the Johnnies engineer another turnaround? Join RTC Live at Madison Square Garden Sunday January 16 at noon when St. John’s hosts Notre Dame in this crucial Big East game.

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Game #104.  RTC Live makes its first trip to Long Island for a key CAA game this afternoon.

Picked to finish 5^th in the CAA, Hofstra has taken the league by storm in the early going under the guidance of first year head coach Mo Cassara. The Pride are undefeated in 2011, and will look to keep that streak going against preseason favorite Old Dominion. After losing their season opener to Georgetown by just three points, ODU won nine of their next 10 games. Since then, however, they are 2-3 with a gut wrenching five point loss at Drexel. Standing at 3-2 in the league, ODU can ill afford to drop another game at this stage of conference play, especially to Hofstra as a loss would put them three games behind the Pride (6-0 vs. 3-3). As for the game itself, the Monarchs do not play the most aesthetically pleasing brand of basketball, but if you are a fan of in-your-face defense then ODU is for you. Surrendering less than 60 points a game, ODU will certainly look to contain Hofstra’s stud guard and potential NBA player Charles Jenkins who is a scoring machine and arguably the league’s best player. The senior from Queens averages 23.5 points a game which is tops in the CAA and fifth nationally. Limiting Jenkins’ production will be no easy task, but if there was a defense in the CAA that could do it, it may be ODU’s.

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Game #105.  RTC Live heads to DePaul as the struggling Blue Demons take on Kemba Walker and UConn.

The Kemba Walker show comes to Chicago to take on DePaul in an afternoon matinee contest on Saturday at 1 p.m. central. Connecticut (13-2) comes into the game at Allstate Arena with Walker averaging 25.3 points per game this season. He’s getting help from a number of places for the No. 9 Huskies as well. Sophomore Alex Oriakhi averages 10.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. The Blue Demons are led by two dynamic freshman in Cleveland Melvin, who originally committed to Jim Calhoun before landing in Lincoln Park, and Brandon Young. Those two are the future of a struggling DePaul team that is 6-10 overall and 0-4 in the Big East. Still, Oliver Purnell’s dynamic pressing system always gives the Blue Demons a chance as they’ve been close into the second half in each of their last three Big East games against Georgetown, West Virginia and Seton Hall. Come see if the Blue Demons can pull the monster upset at home.

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Game #101.  Undefeated Syracuse visits MSG tonight with the potential that they’ll actually be the road team as the Johnies continue their ascent up the Big East standings.

Fourth-ranked and undefeated Syracuse invades Madison Square Garden tonight for the second time this season as they face upstart St. John’s. Syracuse thumped Michigan State in this building last month in the Jimmy V. Classic in front of a partisan quasi-home crowd. The Orange (16-0, 3-0) are coming off a tougher than expected win at Seton Hall on Saturday, a game in which they shot just 47% from the free throw line and were out-rebounded by the smaller Pirates 43-30. St. John’s had their five game winning streak snapped by Notre Dame in convincing fashion on Saturday night as the Irish won by 15 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Despite the loss, the Red Storm sit at 10-4 overall and 3-1 in Big East play, right behind Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Louisville at the top. The upset win over Georgetown last week has sparked even more interest in Steve Lavin’s program in a city desperate for a college hoops winner. One thing to watch tonight is the atmosphere in the Garden. Syracuse travels well and has lots of fans in New York City so expect a lot of the Orange faithful to make it into the building even though it’s a home game for St. John’s. With snow in the forecast for part of Wednesday however, it’s anyone’s guess how the crowd shakes out. Join us tonight for RTC Live to find out as we bring you what should be an exciting matchup from the hoops Mecca.

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Game #102.  The Hoyas are in a near must-win situation at home tonight against a top ten team intent on rolling to a Big East title.

Georgetown is reeling. They’ve lost three of their last four games, including a home game on Saturday against West Virginia. The problem? Two things — Georgetown has had trouble executing on the offensive end and they’ve struggled to rebound on the defensive end of the floor. When you are struggling on the offensive end of the floor and struggling on the glass, the last team in the country that you want to play is Pitt. They are a deliberate, physical basketball team, and while they are not quite as good defensively as their reputation would make one believe, they are a team that makes it difficult for you to “run your stuff,” so to speak. They also happen to be the most efficient offensive team in the country, in large part because they lead the nation with a 46.9% offensive rebounding percentage. Georgetown is going to need Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Jason Clark to wake up offensively if they are going to win tonight.

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Game #100.  RTC Live hits it century mark this season with a trip to Evanston where the Wildcats are in do-or-die mode.

Sunday’s game features two struggling Big Ten teams that are desperately looking for wins in conference. Indiana is 9-7 (0-3 in the Big Ten) after losing a close game to Minnesota in its last one and Northwestern is 9-4 (0-3) and coming off a blowout loss at in-state rival Illinois on Thursday night. Tom Crean and Bill Carmody both desperately want victories to quiet the choruses that are very loudly questioning their decision-making and tactics. While Northwestern is a slight favorite in the game, the injury status of John Shurna, who is playing on a badly sprained ankle, should even things out and make for a highly entertaining contest. Follow along with the entire game from Welsh-Ryan Arena starting tonight at 6 p.m. central time.

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Game #99.  Unbeaten Cincinnati gets it toughest test of the season as it travels to take on Villanova on the Main Line this afternoon.

One of the more important early Big East Conference match-ups this week will pit #25 Cincinnati against host #7 Villanova on Sunday at noon. An accidental blockbuster, few fans of either school (or the mainstream media) circled their calendars when this match-up was posted, the game’s significance has snowballed as each team has put together impressive unbeaten streaks. Cincinnati, led by solid nucleus of upperclassmen including junior forward/center Yancy Gates, senior Rashad Bishop, junior wing Dion Dixon, senior forward/center Ibrahima  Thomas and redshirt sophomore point guard Cashmere Wright has gone through the first 15 games of their 2011 slate undefeated. If there was a marshmallow or two in their schedule, most likely the reason AP and Coaches Poll voters just moved them into the Top 25, few can argue the way the Bearcats disposed of Dayton (68-34), Oklahoma (66-56) or Xavier (66-46) was in any way soft. Villanova will counter with their own nucleus of veterans, sophomore center Mouphtaou Yarou, sophomore point guard Maalik Wayns, senior forward/center Antonio Pena, senior off guard Corey Fisher and senior wing Corey Stokes. This is the fourth conference game where both teams are ranked. Each team played and won on Thursday night, Cincinnati pummeled Crosstown Shootout rival Xavier by 20 points, 66-46, while Villanova downed the South Florida Bulls in the Sun Dome 83-71. Join RTC Live Sunday at noon, as Cincinnati meets Villanova at the Pavilion on Villanova’s campus.

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Game #98.  St. Mary’s goes on the road in the WCC where things are always dangerous tonight.

RTC Live is headed to Malibu for its first-ever game at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse, as the Waves host red-hot St. Mary’s in a Saturday evening matinee. The Gaels and their head coach, former Pepperdine assistant coach Randy Bennett, roll into Malibu sporting a 13-2 record after handling Loyola Marymount easily, 98-75, in their Thursday night West Coast Conference-opener. Six Gaels scored in double figures, while the team as a whole posted an impressive 70.3 effective field goal percentage. WCC Player of the Week Mickey McConnell led the way with 21 points (on 8/9 shooting, including 3/4 from behind the arc) and eight assists, while Rob Jones added 20 points and nine rebounds and Matthew Dellavedova chipped in another ten points along with nine assists. For Pepperdine (7-11, 1-0), they’ve posted two-straight 20-point victories, including a 75-55 win over San Diego in their first WCC contest. Junior guard Lorne Jackson busted out with a career-high 26 points, just one game after becoming the first Wave since Doug Christie in 1991 to post a 20-point and 10-assist game (Jackson had 23/10 against Seattle). The WCC’s leading scorer, Pepperdine’s junior guard Keion Bell, has missed the Waves’ last two games with an ankle injury, and is still questionable for this game with St. Mary’s, a definite concern for head coach Tom Asbury, as the Waves will need all the help they can get. One area Pepperdine could hope to exploit is SMC’s potential weakness on the defensive glass. Against LMU on Thursday, the Gaels only rebounded 50% of the available defensive rebounds, so if Wave senior forward Mychel Thompson can get to work on the glass (where he has grabbed ten rebounds in each of the last two games and 5.8 per game on the season), perhaps Pepperdine can break SMC’s six-game win streak in this series.

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Game #97.  The suddenly relevant Johnnies travel to Notre Dame on this evening to try to keep their perfect Big East record intact.

Steve Lavin’s St. John’s squad comes into South Bend with a 3-0 record in the Big East with wins versus West Virginia, Providence, and Georgetown. One month ago, this start could not have been predicted due to the Red Storm dropping early games versus lowly St. Bonaventure and Fordham. Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish squad stands at 2-1 in the Big East with wins versus Georgetown and Connecticut and a loss at undefeated Syracuse. Fighting Irish seniors Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough will look to lead the offense and offset the loss caused by a hamstring injury to senior forward Carleton Scott. The Red Storm attack will be led by senior guard Dwight Hardy and senior forward Justin Brownlee. If Notre Dame’s thin frontcourt of Abromaitis, Tyrone Nash, and Jack Cooley can effectively guard the post then the Fighting Irish would have to be viewed as favorites in this key early conference matchup.

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