Game #142. RTC Live is back in Newark for an interesting game between the semi-reeling Villanova Wildcats and always dangerous Seton Hall.

If rivalries are measured by duration and number of games played, when the Pirates of Seton Hall and the Wildcats of Villanova look to each other, they see long and strong rivals. In a series that predates the Big East, the Big 5 and even the NIT. The two teams will play their 100^th game Tuesday night in a series that dates back to February of 1921, Villanova’s first “season of record” in NCAA basketball. Seton Hall is only the second opponent to play Villanova 100 (or more) times, and Villanova is Seton Hall’s first 100 game opponents. The road this season has many twists and turns as both teams have taken a few bumps and bruises on the way. The Pirates lost Jeremy Hazell for nearly two months when the senior wing broke his wrist two games into the Pirates’ schedule. First year Coach Kevin Willard dismissed senior Keon Lawrence and Jamel Jackson earlier this week. Villanova lost freshman prospect JayVaughn Pinkston before the season began, and has limped along with the slow rehabilitation of freshman guard/forward  James Bell and the loss of senior Corey Stokes, who cannot shake a nasty case of turf toe he picked up late in January. These old rivals would like to get their season’s back on track. And the place to start is the Rock on Tuesday night. Join RTC Live for the 8:00 tip-off at the Rock in Newark, New Jersey as Villanova visits Seton Hall.

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Game #142: We head back to one of the great venues of the game for a late-season SEC match-up.

You don’t think guys like Dee Bost, Renardo Sidney and Ravern Johnson would relish a win at Rupp Arena, to be responsible for ruination of the second-longest home winning streak in college basketball, and the chance to play a spoiler role in the late-season SEC shakedown? Then you haven’t been following this conference at all this season. Kentucky is back home, and the Big Blue Nation is thankful for it. The Wildcats are well aware how every game, whether it ends in a win or a loss, is magnified at this time of year and they want to show the nation they’re still a bunch who will have to be taken very seriously in March. We can’t wait to see how UK defends Sidney, especially if John Calipari puts Terrence Jones on him for a trip or two. This is going to be a blast, and we’ll kick it off just before 7 PM ET. See you there.

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Game #141.  It’s an unanticipated A-10 battle at the top between Xavier and Duquesne in Pittsburgh this afternoon.

Welcome college basketball fans to snowy Pittsburgh for a match up between Xavier and Duquesne at the Consol Energy Center in what could very conceivably determine the #1 seed for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Both teams come into the game tied for the lead in the A-10 with Temple and Richmond right on their heels. Xavier has a significant height advantage in this one with seven players 6’7 and taller. Duquesne, who has relied on their speed and ability to distribute the basketball, will once again have to venture into the forest to get it done. Xavier will look to shut down Bill Clark and Damian Saunders for Duquesne, while the Dukes will look to take a page out of UNC Charlotte’s playbook by shutting down leading scorer Tu Holloway. Xavier has a storied history of making the tournament, so they will be comfortable with what is at stake in the A-10, while Duquesne will look to re-write history in their pursuit of getting to the Big Dance.

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Game #140.  The Hoyas are streaking toward the top of the Big East with Marquette coming to town for a Sunday afternoon matchup.

Georgetown has been the hottest team in the Big East since their 1-4 start in the league. The Hoyas’ Big Three of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark have returned to the form that had everyone think that they were one of the best backcourts in the country, but that hasn’t been the difference. Julian Vaughn, the Hoya’s center, has always been a shotblocker and a rebounder but over the last month he’s become a legitimate double digit scoring threat on the block. The other difference in this team has been the move of Nate Lubick into the Georgetown starting line up. Lubick is a bigger body and a better rebounder, while Thompson gives the Hoyas a scoring threat off the bench.  Marquette has been one of the most competitive teams in the Big East, but they haven’t been able to win close games against marquee competition. They are in pretty good position in terms of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the Golden Eagles could use a quality win to feel safe. Marquette matches up with the Hoyas very well. Both teams have a ton of backcourt talent, but Marquette’s forwards — Jae Crowder and Jimmy Butler — could be a matchup problem for Georgetown. They can match up with Vaughn on the interior, but Vaughn cannot cover them defensively.

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Game #139.  It’s a clash between two surprising teams not named Gonzaga for the conference lead in the West Coast Conference this evening.

Bay Area rivals Saint Mary’s and San Francisco square off in what may be the last good opportunity for someone to knock the Gaels out of first place in the West Coast Conference. Saint Mary’s is 9-1 and San Francisco 8-2 heading into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. Pacific game in San Francisco. A win tonight and Saint Mary’s will have a two-game lead over its nearest rivals with three conference games left on the schedule. An upset by the Dons would give them a tie for first.  Join us tonight for the action on RTC Live.

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Game #138.  RTC Live is back in Seattle for another Pac-10 tilt; can the Huskies continue to show the dominance at home that they lack on the road?

In five Pac-10 home games, the Washington Huskies have dominated its competition by an average margin of victory of 22.2 points.  The road has been a completely different story, though, as the Huskies have gone 3-4 in losing to some of the same teams they’ve rolled up at home.  Tonight represents one of those situations, as Stanford visits Edmundson Pavilion a mere month after having beaten Washington in Palo Alto, 58-56.  It was, in fact, the only team that the Cardinal defeated during a three-week period in mid-January.  Since that time Johnny Dawkins’ team has come back to win three of four, including  an impressive thirteen-point road win at Washington State on Thursday night.  The Cardinal sits at 6-6 in league play, while Washington at 8-4 still has designs on catching UCLA and Arizona for the Pac-10 lead.  Given the way the Huskies score in bunches in Seattle, Stanford is going to need to bring its absolute best defensive game to have a chance tonight.  Join us for all the action tonight on a west coast edition of RTC Live.

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Game #136.  RTC Live is back in the WCC for a key road game involving the conference-leading St. Mary’s Gaels against an old rival.

In a key battle to determine second place — and perhaps first as well — in the West Coast Conference, league-leading Saint Mary’s (8-1) takes on third-place Santa Clara (5-3) at Santa Clara. Santa Clara, which revived its season with an 85-71 upset of Gonzaga on Jan. 20, needs a win to stay close to San Francisco (6-2). Saint Mary’s needs to navigate two games in hostile environments — tonight’s in the Leavey Center and Saturday’s at San Francisco — to keep its hopes alive for winning the first regular-season title in Randy Bennett’s 10-year tenure.

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Game #137.  RTC Live makes its first trip to the Pacific Northwest for a key Pac-10 game for both Washington and California.

Coming into this season’s Pac-10 race, the storyline on these two teams were headed in different directions.  Both were NCAA Tournament participants last year, with UW heading to the Sweet Sixteen and Cal making the Second Round.  The difference was that Washington returned everyone except all-around star Quincy Pondexter, while Cal returned nobody except all-around role player, Jorge Gutierrez.  The Huskies were expected to run away with the Pac-10 regular season race, while the Bears were expected to be in serious rebuilding mode.  It hasn’t quite worked out that way.  Washington comes into tonight’s home game having dropped three perplexing games in a row, while Cal enters Edmundson Pavilion having won four of five.  As it is, Cal is only one game behind the Huskies in the Pac-10 standings, while Washington at 7-4 doesn’t want to give up any more ground to UCLA at 7-3 or Arizona at 9-2.  Tonight’s game should be a very interesting one, as both teams have considerable reason to give it their all in this one.  Join us on RTC Live for all the action tonight.

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St. John’s has yet another opportunity to knock off a highly ranked team tonight when the Connecticut Huskies invade Madison Square Garden. The Johnnies have already beaten West Virginia, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Duke, an impressive slate of victories that has them knocking on the door of their first NCAA berth since 2002. With nine losses on the year however, wins are needed if the Red Storm are to indeed make it to the NCAA’s. St. John’s lost by seven to UCLA last Saturday, a game in which the Bruins got to the foul line 41 times to just seven for the Red Storm. St. John’s is a team that relies on interior scoring and getting to the line for most of their points and that could be difficult again tonight. Connecticut is strong inside, doesn’t foul often and rebounds the ball extremely well, averaging 41 per game. As for the Huskies, they’re coming a 61-59 win at Seton Hall on Saturday, a game in which they trailed by double digits midway through the second half. The Huskies clamped down on defense and held the Pirates to nine points over the final 14 minutes of the game. Star guard Kemba Walker, mired in an extended shooting slump, will look to get back on track tonight against a St. John’s team that doesn’t defend the perimeter all that well. Walker made the triple that gave the Huskies the lead for good on Saturday but still shot 7-19 in that game. St. John’s has been drawing good crowds at the Garden of late and we expect it to be another fun atmosphere inside the World’s Most Famous Arena. Be sure to follow along with RTC Live during this important Big East tilt tonight from NYC.

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Game #134.  It’s another battle of top twenty teams in the Big East tonight at Notre Dame.  What else is new?

In a battle that possesses major Big East implications, Rick Pitino takes his the #15 Louisville Cardinals to Notre Dame, Indiana, to take on Mike Brey’s #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish are currently in sole possession of second place in the Big East, while the Cardinals sit in third place, only a half game behind. Homecourt has been extremely kind to the Irish all season, as they remain undefeated at the Purcell Pavilion. The Cardinals have had their share of road woes in conference play with losses at Villanova, Providence and Georgetown. Notre Dame enters following a hard-fought home victory over Rutgers on Sunday afternoon. Louisville enters coming off their own tough win- a Saturday struggle at home versus DePaul. Rick Pitino’s squad will have a major boost, as leading scorer Preston Knowles will return to the lineup following his absence Saturday due to an ankle injury. Mike Brey’s squad, winners of five in a row, are led by Big East Player of the Year candidate Ben Hansbrough and the emerging senior forward Scott Martin. Knowles and sophomore guard Peyton Siva will look to lead the Cardinals to a huge road win, but nothing will come easy as the Irish will likely feed off a huge home crowd. If ND is able to grab an early lead, then it is reasonable to assume that the Irish will be in great shape to capture their sixth straight victory.

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