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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Game #76.  RTC Live returns to Philly for this regional rivalry taking place downtown this evening.

The Blue Hens of the University of Delaware invade the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Philadelphia tonight to take on the Wildcats of Villanova University. Delaware, expected to compete with Colonial Athletic Association powers Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth for the CAA title this season, matches their 5-2 record, which includes a five game winning streak, against Villanova’s 8-1 record tonight. Each squad will feature outstanding guards as the Blue Hens, led by senior guard Jawan Carter, a Tatnall Prep star who played a year at Saint Joseph’s University on City Line Avenue before he transferred to Delaware and freshman point guard Devon Saddler who has averaged 9.4 points and 4.1 assists per game through his first seven collegiate games, will match skills and energy with Wildcat guards, Corey Fisher, a senior who can play the point and off guard positions, and Maalik Wayns, a sophomore “Philly guard” out of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School. Join RTC Live at 7:30 tonight for this Battle of the Guards.

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Games #74-75.  RTC Live heads to Anaheim for an interesting double-header of west coast powers.

RTC Live returns to Anaheim for the Wooden Classic, the 17^th annual edition of this event, but the first without its legendary namesake, where a quartet of western teams make up a solid schedule. The matinee features Long Beach State and St. Mary’s, a couple of teams expected to at least challenge for their regular season conference titles, although both teams still have a lot to prove. The Gaels have posted an 8-2 record thus far, but have come up short in their two biggest tests of the season (against BYU and San Diego State) with their best win over St. John’s looking a little less impressive by the day. LBSU has again played a brutal schedule, at this point considered the toughest in the country by KenPom, but have only had middling success on their way to a 5-6 record, with a win over Iowa their best outcome balanced against losses at North Carolina, Utah State, Washington and at home against San Diego State. The Niners gave North Carolina a good run their last time out behind a career-high 31 from junior forward T.J. Robinson, and he could be in for an interesting matchup with SMC junior forward Rob Jones, who has led his team in scoring in each of the last four games, including two straight double-doubles. In the main event, UCLA faces #16 BYU in a good test for the Cougars. While Anaheim is just 40 miles from the UCLA campus, and the Bruins are certain to have more fans at the game than any of the other teams, UCLA fans just don’t travel well (especially on what is supposed to be a rainy weekend in the Southland), so this won’t be a de facto home game for Ben Howland’s squad. However, if UCLA can find some kind of way to slow BYU’s Jimmer Fredette (much easier said than done, but the bulk of this task will likely fall to Malcolm Lee, with plenty of other Bruin eyes keeping track of the All-American candidate at all times), they could cause matchup problems up front. While BYU does feature a string of big guys up front, UCLA’s frontline of Tyler Honeycutt, Reeves Nelson and Joshua Smith could give the Cougars trouble. BYU head coach Dave Rose will want to see his team get out in transition early and often, and it will be interesting to see Howland’s response, as he has claimed a desire to see his team up the tempo from recent years. But likely the best chance for the Bruins to keep this one close is to ugly things up and turn this into a rockfight. Should be an interesting day of basketball in Anaheim, and we’re hoping you’ll drop in and join the conversation, starting at 11:45am PST.

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Game #72.  A slow start to the season has people wondering when the Gonzaga Bulldogs will finally play up to their potential. Losses to San Diego State, Kansas State, Illinois, and Washington State have Gonzaga sitting at 4-4 heading into to South Bend to take on #23 Notre Dame. Good news for Gonzaga is that Notre Dame is coming off their first loss of the season- a 72-58 loss Wednesday to the Kentucky Wildcats. During that loss, Notre Dame’s offense went ice cold in the second half after a sizzling start highlighted by Ben Hansbrough’s 18 first half points. Prior to Wednesday’s loss, Notre Dame stood at 8-0, which matched their best start to a season under the tutelage of coach Mike Brey. Senior guard Steven Gray and junior big man Robert Sacre lead the Bulldogs in a matchup that should be very entertaining and hard fought. The Irish counter will be led by senior guard Hansbrough and senior forwards Tim Abromaitis and Tyrone Nash. The key to the game for the Bulldogs will be to contain Hansbrough and the Fighting Irish’s potent three point shooting attack. The key for the Irish will be to contain Steven Gray and cause him to defer to his less experienced backcourt mates. The first ever matchup between these two schools will end with one team getting back to the winning ways and the other searching for answers to early season struggles.

Game #71.  In a battle of two of the best teams west of the Rockies, Arizona and BYU face each other in the “neutral” venue of Salt Lake City.

It is a “neutral” court show down in Salt Lake City as the BYU Cougars are taking the 20-minute drive up I-15 to face the Arizona Wildcats at the home of the Utah Jazz, Energy Solutions Arena. Arizona is 8-1, fattening up on some low level D-I teams and losing their only true test at Kansas 87-79. Sophomore forward Derrick Williams is the do-it-all man for the Wildcats. He leads the team in points (20.2 per game), rebounds (7.6), steals (1.3), and blocks (0.9). The Cougars are fresh off their 86-58 victory over Vermont in the Jimmer Fredette classic.  Fredette has been drawing NBA scouts wherever he goes, because he has range that stretches well beyond the NBA arc.  Join us tonight for what should amount to a great intersectional matchup.

Reminder: BYU does not allow live blogs during the game so we will post a quick update at every media timeout in accordance with their rules.

BYU 14, Arizona 8 – 15:41 1st half. Strangely this game at Energy Solutions Arena lacks the big game feel that BYU can bring at home. Fredette continues to steal the show for BYU. He has seven points already, and is getting wide open looks. Sean Miller already had to burn a timeout for Arizona to settle the team down. They have six points from Derrick Williams including one incredible ally-oop that drew applause even from the BYU faithful.

BYU 20, Arizona 10 – 11:57 first half. Arizona is working a lot of double teams at Fredette but it has yet to matter, he already has 11 points. For BYU long term I still think they need guys like Kyle Collinsworth and Brandon Davies to continue their development as reliable post players to take some heat off Jimmer and Jackson Emery. So far they are doing enough to keep Arizona honest and that’s exactly what they need. Arizona needs to work for some better shots, settling too much for long jumpers.

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Game #73. The Harvard Crimson host in-town rivals Boston University at Lavietes Pavillion.  Harvard is off to a quick 6-2 start with losses to George Mason and Michigan, while the Terriers come in with a 4-6 record.  The Terriers have won their last six games at Lavietes, but the Crimson lead the overall series 33-26.  Both teams sport very impressive freshman guards: Boston University has the quick D.J. Irving, while Harvard has the touted Canadian sharpshooter Laurent Rivard (who averaged 18 points a game in last week’s games against Fordham and Michigan).  As for upperclassmen, Harvard’s Christian Webster and captain Keith Wright are the team’s high scorers, both averaging over 15 points a game.  On the Terrier side Jake O’Brien and John Holland are the players to watch: both are capable of putting up points in a hurry and Holland has averaged over 17 points a game so far this season.  This should be a fast, exciting game.  Both teams are athletic and thrive in transition.  The key for Boston University will be to contain Harvard’s Keith Wright especially, as he’s taken over several games already for the Crimson.  Unfortunately for the Terriers, Harvard has a relatively balanced attack.  But limiting Wright in the post and not giving up open threes will be crucial for the Terriers if they want to extend their Lavietes streak to eight games.  On Harvard’s defense, they need to contain Irving and keep him from penetrating too often.  He’s incredibly explosive and can really spark an offense.  This should be a great game between two teams that should be in the hunt of conference championships–and the automatic NCAA bid that comes with it–come March.  The game tips off at 2 PM Eastern.

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