Game #48.  Mid-major power Creighton heads to the Chicag0 area to take on Northwestern, a team trying to load up on quality wins early.

Get out the Thanksgiving leftovers one more time and have a feast with more hoops.  There is a great matchup on Sunday night between the Creighton Bluejays and the Northwestern Wildcats.  Both teams could be NCAA contenders this season with many projections having them in the NCAA’s “First Four” expanded tournament.  Creighton is sitting at 4-1, their only loss coming to Iowa State on a three pointer that should not have counted, while Northwestern is sitting at 3-0 and haven’t played a game in over a week after their defeat of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  They have their own distractions with more Kevin Coble drama. Join us live at Ryan-Welsh arena Sunday evening for the 7:30 match up. Whether you get the Big 10 Network or not,  get the sights and sounds of the game that the cameras do not pick up as we will be there courtside.  Follow along or leave your comments.  Either way, it should be a competitive and entertaining evening.

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Game #45.  It’s a crosstown rivalry between Brew City schools and RTC Live is happy to visit Milwaukee for the first time.

This Saturday night, Marquette and Milwaukee will meet for the 38^th time for an 8 p.m. showdown at U.S. Cellular Arena. And in all 37 previous encounters between these city-sharing rivals, Marquette has emerged victorious. This year’s edition comes with a new wrinkle, though: for the first time in the series, Milwaukee is the home team. With a large blue and gold contingent expected at the Cell, a raucous atmosphere is certainly expected. It’s been a rocky start to the season for Rob Jeter’s Milwaukee Panthers. They embarked on a wild road swing to begin the campaign, salvaging a 1-2 record in a four-team event in Portland. A convincing road win over Niagara and a gutty 65-63 triumph over Northern Iowa followed, but the Panthers fell to 3-3 with a disappointing home defeat the hands of Western Michigan on Tuesday. Milwaukee relies primarily on talented big man Anthony Hill and sharpshooting wing Tone Boyle for their scoring, but the efficiency of junior college transfer Kaylon Williams at the point is vital to an upset tonight. With MU missing big men Joe Fulce and Davonte Gardner, Hill could have an easier time operating in the post. Marquette began their season with four home wins before heading to Kansas City for the CBE Classic. The Golden Eagles hung with mighty #1 Duke before falling short to the Blue Devils and followed that up with a 66-63 loss to #18 Gonzaga. Marquette is led by versatile forward Jimmy Butler (22/6 vs. Duke and Gonzaga), but it’s the three-point shooting of Darius Johnson-Odom (20% this year) that must heat up for Buzz Williams’ squad. Keep an eye on whether Milwaukee employs a zone to stop Marquette’s dribble penetration, the strategy Gonzaga employed to slow down the Golden Eagles guards on Tuesday. Join us tonight for RTC Live from Marquette at Milwaukee to see if the Golden Eagles can claim their 38th straight win over the Panthers.

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Games #43-#44. Back in AC for an ACC/Big East Challenge of a different sort.

The Legends semifinals produced two terrific games as Syracuse and Georgia Tech won two very closely fought contest. They will compete for the Legends Classic championship at 7:30 tonight at the historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Fab Melo may be a work in progress, but Kris Joseph, Rick Jackson, and Baye Keita are feeling very good after beating Michigan 53-50, and are ready to go. The young Orange backcourt will have to beat the veteran trio of Brian Oliver, Iman Shumpert and Mfon Udofia. For Georgia Tech, freshman Danny Miller gave the Jackets just enough in their 71-61 win over UTEP, but he will have to do better against Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph.

Michigan and UTEP get a second chance at redemption as they clash for third place at 5:30 today. UTEP’s Julyan Stone and Randy Culpepper talked about leadership in the postgame press conference. Against the inexperienced charges of Coach John Beilein they will get a chance to show they get it. Coach Beilein said playing the next day is better than spending days looking at film and practicing for the next game. Michigan versus UTEP barely 24 hours after the semi-inal tip-off will test Beilein’s theory. Join us at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for the consolation game and finals of the Legends Classic.

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Games #41-#42.  We’re headed to AC for a little blackjack, craps and hoops with the semifinal round of the Legends Classic in store.

Each of the teams coming into Atlantic City this weekend to play in the Legends Classic has a tie or two to the New Jersey/Philadelphia/New York region. UTEP will bring first year head coach Tim Floyd to direct a veteran squad that won the CUSA regular season title in 2009-10 and participated in the NCAA tournament last March. Led by senior guards Randy Culpepper, who has averaged 19.0 points and 3.3 assists per game this season and Christian Polk, who has averaged 15.0 points and 4.3 assists per game will be complemented by senior forward Jeremy Williams, who has averaged 12.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season. For Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, the trip to Atlantic City is a return to the area where he worked as an assistant on Steve Lappas’ Villanova teams in Philadelphia, and went on to head the Siena program in Albany, NY, before moving to Atlanta and coach the Georgia Tech team. The Yellow Jackets will be led by junior guard Iman Shumpert who has averaged 15.3 points and 3.3 assists per game this season and sophomore forward Brian Oliver who has averaged 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds this season. The Miners and Yellow Jackets will meet in the first semifinal game at 5:30 pm on Friday, November 26.

Michigan’s head coach John Beilein has coached teams up and down the east coast, from Le Moyne just outside of Syracuse, NY, to the University of Richmond in Virginia. During his stint at the Big East’s West Virginia Beilein clashed annually with Michigan’s opponent in the second semifinal game, Syracuse University. Beilein’s unique four-out one-in motion offense will go up against Jim Boeheim’s legendary 2-3 zone defense. The Wolverines will showcase nine players who average more than 10 minutes per game this season, five of whom average more than 20 minutes. Sophomore guards Darius Morris, who has averaged 14.7 Points and 8.1 assists per game and Tim Hardaway, Jr., who has averaged 14.3 points and 2.3 assists per game this season, form, along with red shirt freshman forward Jordan Morgan, who has averaged 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season will try to crack the 2-3 Orange zone. The Orange, led by juniors Rick Jackson, a forward who has averages a double-double 13 points and 13 rebounds per game and guard Scoop Jardine who has averages 12.8 points and 7.5 assists this season will have to figure out how to break Michigan’s 1-3-1 zone defense. Preseason Freshman of the Year Fab Melo, along with well regarded freshman guard Dion Waiters, a Philadelphia native, should see minutes.

Join Rush the Court for the 5:30 tip-off of these two Top 25 match-ups.

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Games #39-#40.  Back in Anaheim with Mickey and Friends for the semifinal round of the 76 Classic.

It’s Friday of Thanksgiving week, and while you could join the rest of the lunatics out braving crowded parking lots and jam-packed stores, you being the faithful college basketball fan,  you’re hanging out on the couch and catching up on your hoops-watching time while working your way through your turkey-day leftovers. If that’s the case, you may as well join us as we take in the 76 Classic all day long. We’ll start with the first semifinal (Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State) at 11:30 am PST and wrap up the night with Murray State and UNLV somewhere around 8:30 pm PST, but we’ll be here the whole day long breaking down the action from courtside. The Hokies coasted through their opening round game with CS Northridge, while Oklahoma State had to put in a full day of work to handle DePaul, behind 27 outstanding points from senior forward Marshall Moses. But the Cowboys figure to have their hands full with a strong Virginia Tech backcourt on Friday and will need to get more out of their starting backcourt who were a combined 2/17 from the field against DePaul. In the nightcap, Murray State’s backcourt will also have the spotlight firmly upon them as they will have to hold up under UNLV’s non-stop defensive pressure to give the Racers a chance to advance to the championship game. In between the two semis, we’ll keep in touch regarding the consolation games, so we’ll hope you’ll join us for a long and exciting day of basketball out west.

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Games #37-#38.  Back at MSG for the Preseason NIT consolation game and finals.

Game #36.  RTC Live moves on to Anaheim for the 76 Classic, site of the first-ever credential that the site received a long two years ago.

You’ve had your turkey, you’ve done the family thing, you’ve given your thanks. Now settle back and join us for the final opening round game of the 76 Classic in Anaheim, a battle between UNLV and Tulsa for a chance to advance to the semis on Friday. The Rebels already have a big win under the belt this season, having knocked off Wisconsin in Las Vegas last weekend, and with senior guard Tre’Von Willis returning from suspension and with juniors Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback already on top of their games in Willis’ absence, Lon Kruger’s club has got to be considered a favorite to advance at least to the championship game of the tournament. In their way stands Tulsa, off a couple sneaky good wins over Oral Roberts and Missouri State. With skilled big man Steven Idlet and senior scoring guard Justin Hurtt leading the way, the Golden Hurricane pose a serious challenge for the favored Rebels. We hope you’ll fight through the post-feast daze to hang out and talk about a good early season matchup we all can be thankful for.

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Game #35.  We’re back in Maui for a championship game that was perhaps unexpected, but should still be rocking the Lahaina Civic Center off its foundation.

Coming into the 2010 Maui Invitational, it was supposed to be a battle between Spartans and Dogs for the championship of the island tournament.  Well, that’s the beauty of tournament hoopin’ — teams have to play their way into the next round by actually winning games (well, sometimes).  So we’re left here in Lahaina with two somewhat unexpected entrants: Jim Calhoun’s UConn Huskies led by a mercurial guard who has seemingly realized his superb potential; and John Calipari’s too-young-to-know-better Kentucky Wildcats, a group of long, athletic athletes who hustle that have impressed everyone that’s gotten a chance to watch them so far.  Sometimes tournament basketball throws you a loop and you end up with a game you never expected (or perhaps looked like the Consolation Game), but with the two wily veterans on the sideline — a pair that isn’t especially fond of the other — it should be another great afternoon here in the islands as RTC Live will be back courtside.  Join us for what promises to be another fantastic matchup.

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Games #33-#34.  It’s back to the World’s Most Famous Arena for the semifinal round of the Preseason NIT.

Villanova comes into this one at 4-0, although their path has not been as easy as their margins of victory would indicate. Bucknell and Boston U. both gave the Wildcats a fight, all while they are dealing with a suspension to star freshman JayVaughn Pinkston. Villanova’s attack is centered around their backcourt, and while Corey Fisher has yet to really catch fire this season, Maalik Wayns looks like a potential superstar. UCLA will be the first real test for this Villanova team. The Bruins come into this one at 3-0 and a bit under the radar. The front line of Reeves Nelson (19.3 ppg), Tyler Honeycutt, and Joshua Smith is underrated and Lazeric Jones is an upgrade over Jerime Anderson at the point. The question mark is going to be Malcolm Lee. He rolled an ankle against Pepperdine, and his status (as of this writing) is still uncertain.

The nightcap is between Tennessee and VCU. Tennessee is a bit of a question mark this season. They have some talented and versatile players in Tobias Harris, Scotty Hopson, and Cam Tatum. All three are capable scorers with length and athleticism. But Brian Williams still is not in shape at center and the combination of Melvin Goins and Trae Golden has not exactly yielded terrific point guard play. VCU may play in the CAA, but don’t be fooled — this is a very good basketball team. Joey Rodriguez is the best point guard you’ve never seen play (18.3 ppg, 10.3 apg, 2.0 TO’s in three games), Jamie Skeen is a power forward transfer from Wake Forest, Ed Nixon is as good a defender as you will find on the perimeter, and Bradford Burgess and Brandon Rozzell are terrific complementary scorers. I’ll go as far as to say that I think VCU will win tonight.

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Game #32.  RTC Live is back in the Beehive State for another huge intrastate rivalry game.

In the basketball crazy state of Utah every intrastate game is hotly contested. This match up between Utah and Utah State got even juicer when Utah State head coach Stew Morrill dropped the bombshell that they will not be meeting next season because Utah can’t fit the Aggies in their new Pac-12 schedule. This means that a rivalry 102 years old and that has seen 232 games (Utah leads the series 132-90) may not be played again for some time. The Utes head into the Spectrum lead by swing man Will Clyburn, a junior college transfer who is averaging over 20 PPG in his first season with Utah. The Aggies counter with Tai Wesley who despite battling foul trouble all season is still averaging over 16 points a game. Wesley will be challenged to score and stay on the floor by Utah’s size and length on the front line. The Aggies have won six straight in this series in Logan and will be looking to extend that to seven before the series goes into and indeterminate hibernation.

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