Game #86.  RTC Live heads to Assembly Hall in Bloomington as Indiana hosts the #2-ranked team in America.

Happy New Year, college hoops fans!  Welcome to Big Ten basketball and to Assembly Hall, home of the Indiana Hoosiers.  It has been a tale of two very different seasons for these clubs.  Coach Thad Matta’s Ohio State Buckeyes are undefeated, ranked #2 in the nation, and coming off a 100-40 laugher over Tennessee-Martin.  Leading the way for the frightening Buckeye starting five is All-American and Big Ten POY candidate Jared Sullinger, a 6-9 280-pound beast of a freshman.  Sullinger is a load inside and leads Ohio St. in scoring and rebounding (17.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG).  All signs point to Jared and his Buckeye mates having their way with the undersized Hoosier frontcourt, but Ws never come easy on the road in the Big Ten.  Coach Tom Crean’s young Indiana Hoosiers are a desperate team in search of a marquee win.  Entering this game with a record of 9-5 and losers of three straight to Northern Iowa, Colorado, and Penn State, the Hoosiers can turn their season and their tradition-packed program around if they can upset the talented Buckeyes.  During their recent skid, the Hoosiers have struggled to play at a high energy level for a full 40 minutes.  Indiana will be counting on their crimson clad home fans in this game to make Assembly Hall a hostile environment for the visitors from Columbus.  Which Big Ten squad will have a happy new year and which one will start drafting their resolutions for better conference play?

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Game #86. RTC heads back to UConn for the first time since Kemba Walker was a freshman, but this time we are headed to Hartford instead of Storrs.

Jim Calhoun will be looking for a strong response from his Huskies after they were exposed earlier this week at Pittsburgh. While Calhoun got his usual great offensive contribution from Kemba Walker the rest of the team was nowhere to be found. During and after the game Calhoun was particularly critical of his #2 offensive threat, Alex Oriakhi, who only had 8 points and 1 rebound after coming into the game averaging nearly a double-double. As for USF, it has been a rough season so far and they no longer have the threat of Dominique Jones going off to scare opposing coaches, but the Huskies should be careful in this one because the Bulls have given some very good teams all they could handle this season including a six-point loss at UCF and a two-point double overtime loss against BYU. So even though the Huskies will be heavily favored today, they should be careful to avoid a letdown here because things don’t get any easier for them as they have 8 more games against ranked opponents left on their schedule.

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Game #84.  RTC Live returns to the venerable Mac Court for one of Oregon’s final home games at the ancient arena.

Sean Miller’s Arizona Wildcats and Dana Altman’s Oregon Ducks will kick off their Pacific-10 Conference slates Thursday night at 10 p.m. EST in the penultimate game at 84-year-old McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore. The Wildcats (11-2) are led by star sophomore forward Derrick Williams, who is averaging 19.3 points per game this season, and scored 20 points in both of his team’s victories against the Ducks (7-5) last season. Williams is ranked as the 15th most efficient player by kenpom.com, primarily because of his effective field goal rating and free throw rate, which both rank in the top 15 nationally.  Oregon is led by redshirt senior Joevan Catron, the last vestige of the school’s 2006-07 Elite Eight run. Catron, who missed most of last season after a back injury, has shouldered the load for a team decimated by departures during the offseason, averaging 17.5 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game.  Arizona’s two losses have come against Kansas in Las Vegas and against BYU in Salt Lake City. However, the team lacks a signature victory, with its best victory a road win over North Carolina State. Arizona is one of the most efficient teams in the country, with the 13th-ranked offense and 35th-ranked defense nationally. Its greatest weaknesses are turning the ball over offensively and generating turnovers on defense.  The Ducks have had flashes of brilliance, but have struggled throughout most of the season. The Ducks won at home against UC Santa Barbara and had a 20-point second half comeback come up just short against Missouri, but they also have taken questionable home losses from San Jose State and Idaho, and enter the game with a two-game losing streak. Collectively, Oregon does not turn the ball over often, ranking 34th nationally in turnover percentage, but it struggles to make shots and defend on the perimeter. The Wildcats have won their last four meetings against the Ducks and lead the all-time series 42-32.

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Game #83.  RTC Live heads to the City of Brotherly Love for one of the best rivalries in all of college basketball.

The battle for Philadelphia bragging rights is on the line when Temple invades the Pavilion to take on Villanova tonight at 7 p.m. The two squads, which have combined to win or share every Big 5 title since Jameer Nelson and St. Joe’s won it in 2003-04, are far and away the cream of the city crop once again. The eighth-ranked Wildcats, led by high-scoring guards Corey Stokes (15.7 ppg) and Corey Fisher (15.5 ppg), can wrap up the Big 5 title tonight as they’ve already beaten Penn, La Salle, and St. Joe’s. This will be Temple’s first Big 5 game of the season but the No. 25 Owls are riding a six-game winning streak and are coming off a Big 5 crown of their own. Last year, Fran Dunphy’s Owls stunned then-No. 3 Villanova, 75-65, on their way to a perfect 4-0 city record. The winner of this year’s game will almost certainly win the quirky Philadelphia round-robin tournament — and also charge into the new year as perhaps the best team in their respective conference.

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Game #81.  RTC Live returns to the Rock for a little post-holiday hoops.

Seton Hall, staggered by their stunning second half collapse and subsequent loss, 69-65, to Dayton on Wednesday has only four days to reflect and regroup. The Pirates host their second Atlantic-10 opponent during Christmas Week — the University of Richmond.  The Spiders make their first trip to the Rock on Sunday, December 26 and, ready or not, the Pirates will have to pull themselves together, put Ferrakohn Hall’s abrupt transfer and Herb Pope’s latest ding behind them as they prepare for the runner-up in the 2010 Atlantic-10 Tournament and #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Seton Hall, laden with senior leadership found itself without an answer Wednesday when the Dayton Flyers shut down junior point guard Jordan Theodore, and Coach Willard, concerned with the rebounding imbalance (Dayton was far ahead) hesitated too long before putting fifth year senior Eniel Polynice back on the court, turning the ball handling responsibilities over to senior Keon Lawrence and allowing Theodore to roam the perimeter and find the seams in the Flyer defense. Richmond features seniors 2010 A-10 Player of the Year senior Kevin Anderson and forward Justin Harper, a long range specialist who will try to find clean looks from the perimeter and center Dan Geriot will face off with Herb Pope. Richmond wants to burnish their Tournament resume, and a road win against a BCS conference opponent will go a long way to offset losses to Iona and Old Dominion. Seton Hall, post season chances dwindling with each game, wants to enter Big East Conference play with a record north of 0.500. Join Rush the Court Sunday at noon (eastern time), as we live blog Richmond at Seton Hall from the Rock in downtown Newark, NJ.

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Game #80.  RTC Live is back at The Rock in north Jersey for an interesting A-10/Big East matchup tonight.

The University of Dayton Flyers, winners of the 2010 NIT at Madison Square Garden New York, return to the New York metropolitan area seeking win #10 of the 2011 season. They are led by senior forward Chris Wright, named to the Wooden Award Watch List for the second consecutive season last October and junior “bookend” forward Chris Johnson. The Flyers have a flashy new guard, freshman Jawan Staten, a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year honors in the Atlantic 10 Conference, to set the table for Wright, Johnson and senior center Devon Searcy and backcourt mate guard Paul Williams. They may be looking for that win in the wrong places though, as The Rock, in downtown Newark, NJ, is the home court of the Seton Hall University Pirates, a Big East team with senior leadership, a new coach and dreams of postseason glory. Pirate Coach Kevin Willard will counter the Flyers’ talented frontcourt with talent in the person of Herb Pope, Jeff Robinson and freshman Fuquan Edwin. The Pirates, despite the loss of all Big East Conference first team candidate Jeremy Hazell in early November has, after a stumble or two, made the adjustments and are on a three game winning streak. Join RTC Live as Dayton and Seton Hall clash at the Rock.

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Game #81.  RTC Live visits Western Kentucky for a game between two old rivals.

After playing its opening 10 games in the friendly confines of the KFC Yum! Center, the Louisville Cardinals finally leave the nest on Wednesday for an instate battle against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Tip is set for  8 p.m. ET. Louisville (9-1) is ranked No. 25 in the coaches’ poll, marking the first ranked team to enter WKU’s Diddle Arena since 1997. But while it would appear the Hilltoppers (5-6) have plenty to play for, they’ve yet to put the pieces together with what’s considered a talent-laden team. WKU enters having lost five of its last seven games despite having a trio of senior forwards: Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year Sergio Kerusch, Oklahoma transfer Juan Pattillo, and Steffphon Pettigrew, a fourth-year senior. Louisville coach Rick Pitino recently switched up his starting lineup, and it paid dividends in a blowout win last Saturday against Gardner-Webb. Wednesday’s game has already been announced a sellout.

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Game #79.  Back at MSG for a fairly interesting matchup between the nation’s best two conferences tonight…

In the final of the MSG Holiday Festival Northwestern will take on St. John’s. This is an important bubble game for both teams, but especially the Wildcats. There should be some furious action in this game. Last night Northwestern decimated St. Francis (NY) 92-61, while St. John’s struggled a little bit against Davidson and eventually prevailed 62-57 in the semifinals. Tonight it’s Big East vs. Big Ten for all the marbles. Come watch Steve Lavin, Bill Carmody, Dwight Hardy and John Shurna as the two teams battle it out for the title. The action starts at approximately 9:30 PM ET.

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Game #78.  RTC is back in the World’s Most Famous Arena for the Holiday Festival hosted by St. John’s.

The Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival gets started tonight when Northwestern takes on Northeast Conference power St. Francis (NY) at 7 p.m. The Wildcats are led by John Shurna and his 23.7 points per game and need every win they can get if they want to be in the conversation for their first ever NCAA Tournament berth. Northwestern is currently undefeated at 7-0. The Terriers are 2-0 in the NEC, 6-3 overall, and are rated number one in the conference according to Ken Pomeroy, but Akeem Bennett (16.3 PPG) and Ricky Cadell (16.2 PPG) are going to find it tough sledding against the Northwestern. We’ll be there live from The World’s Most Famous Arena tonight.

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Game #77.  A regional rival rekindles tonight as mid-major power Western Kentucky visits mid-major power Murray State.

Western Kentucky and Murray State will meet on Saturday night for the 148th time, and it could be the last for the foreseeable future. Murray coach Billy Kennedy told reporters earlier this week that the series wasn’t likely to continue past this season. WKU coach Ken McDonald refuted that, saying instead that official talks haven’t happened in regards to continuing the series. Either way, meeting No. 148 could mean a lot to the Racers (6-4) or the Hilltoppers (5-5) when the teams meet at 8:30 p.m. ET at Murray. Forward Juan Pattillo, WKU’s leading scorer and rebounder, has practiced this week but might not play, as McDonald said Pattillo is “going through some personal things that he has to handle right now.” Enter Teeng Akol, an Oklahoma State transfer who at 6-foot-11 is the tallest player on the Hilltoppers’ roster. Akol will be eligible for the first time for Saturday’s game. The Racers feature a balanced attack, as only two players average double figures, and at 12 points per game, guard Isaiah Canaan leads the team.

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