Game #133.  RTC Live is at Cal to see surprising Pac-10 leader Arizona take on the equally surprising Bears this afternoon in Berkeley.

In a Pac-10 season that was essentially handed to Washington through the early going, Arizona has had something else to say about that conventional wisdom.  Coming into tonight’s game in Berkeley, Arizona is 8-2 in conference play while Washington is 7-3.  UW will play Oregon in Eugene this afternoon, and both teams have home-dominated schedules the rest of the way (Arizona with three; Washington with two).  If the Wildcats hope to keep a one-game lead until the rematch on February 19 in Tucson, today’s game is very important.  In typical Mike Montgomery style, Cal has overachieved its way to a 6-4 Pac-10 record at this point.  Behind Jorge Gutierrez and Allen Crabbe’s fine play, the Bears have not been a pushover despite losing all five starters from last season’s conference championship team.  Cal comes into this one having won four in a row, while Arizona is on the same number in its streak.  Something has to give today — will it be Derrick Williams again making his case as one of the top big men in the country; or will it be Cal reminding everyone that Montgomery gets the most out of his personnel year after year?  Join us this afternoon on RTC Live for all the action.

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Game #132.  RTC Live is back in north Jersey to see if Kemba Walker and UConn can get back on track after a rough couple of weeks.

Connecticut will look to avoid their third straight loss when they roll into New Jersey tonight to face Seton Hall. The Huskies lost two straight home games for the first time since 2007, falling to Louisville and Syracuse in a span of four days. They’ll try to right the ship on the road against a Seton Hall team that has struggled but has shown the ability to play with the big boys in the Big East. The Pirates are only 10-13 overall but did win big at Syracuse and have stayed in games with quite a few opponents until the final minutes. Jeremy Hazell is the leading scorer for Kevin Willard in his first season as the Pirates’ headman. Hazell missed 13 games earlier this season with a broken wrist and was the victim of a scary armed robbery attempt around Christmas. He hasn’t been the same since his return, averaging 15 PPG on 20.4% three point shooting. Kemba Walker, who was the early frontrunner for National POY, is in a slump of his own for Jim Calhoun’s club, shooting 30.7% from the floor over his last five games. The growth of freshman Jeremy Lamb has been promising, but Connecticut needs Walker to be on top of his game as we head down the home stretch of the season. Connecticut has dominated this series since the 1993-94 season. The Huskies have won ten straight games, 17 of the past 18 and 24 of the past 26 against the Pirates. Seton Hall’s last win over Connecticut was nearly ten years ago on March 3, 2001. Join us for RTC Live tonight and find out if the Huskies can get back on track and continue their domination of Seton Hall or if the Pirates can pull the upset and snap their streak of futility against Connecticut.

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Game #130.  RTC Live is back at BYU for another superb Mountain West matchup in Provo.

It is another episode of the Jimmer Fredette show on Saturday afternoon as BYU takes on UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels are looking to get back into the mix in the Mountain West. UNLV currently sits at 5-3, two games back of 7-1 BYU and SDSU. UNLV is on the right side of the bubble when it comes NCAA Tournament time, but a win in Provo could mean great things for their seed selection. In the two teams’ first meeting this season sophomore Anthony Marshall scored a season high 26 points for UNLV, but it was not enough as BYU won 89-77 in Las Vegas. In that game UNLV “held” The Jimmer to just 39 points. With UConn’s Kemba Walker fading Fredette is in the driver’s seat for the NCAA scoring crown, and with a couple more attention grabbing performances the National Player of the Year award is not out of the question either. Can Jimmer drop 40? 50? Or will UNLV steal the spotlight?

Note: BYU doesn’t allow live-blogging so our correspondent will provide updates at each television timeout during the game.

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Game #131.  RTC Live is back in Eugene with its interesting court design to see if the Huskies can get back on track after a shocking loss Thursday night.

The suddenly slumping Washington Huskies are coming into Eugene to face the now-hot Oregon Ducks in a fierce rivalry game. The Huskies have lost two games in a row  to regional rivals Washington State and Oregon State, while the Ducks have won four of their last six games to sneak back up to .500, while playing what is arguably their best stretch of basketball all season. The Huskies won the teams’ first matchup in Seattle nearly a month ago, but since that game, Washington and Oregon sport identical 4-3 records, and Oregon has since defeated all three teams to which Washington has fallen. The Huskies are led by diminutive guard Isaiah Thomas and British pivot Matthew Bryan-Amaning, arguably the most talented inside-out combo in the Pac-10. The Ducks are led by undersized redshirt senior power forward Joevan Catron, who is the team’s scoring, rebounding and emotional leader. Thomas gutted the Ducks for 20 points and nine assists in the teams’ first matchup, but had nine points on 2-for-11 shooting and committed seven turnovers against Oregon State on Thursday. Catron had 20 points and 10 rebounds in Seattle, and scored 17 points to lead the Ducks in their shellacking of the Cougars on Thursday night. The game is also a homecoming of sorts for Washington forward Terrence Ross, who eschewed his home-state Ducks for their hated rival Huskies and torched Oregon for 25 points in his first game against the team. Given the bad blood between the schools, a Kevin Love-like reception at Knight Arena would not be wholly unexpected. Join us Saturday afternoon to follow the rivalry game from Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

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Game #129.  RTC Live visits Boston College for this ACC matchup between two teams that need a win to stay at the top of the middle of the pack in the ACC.

With half of conference play behind us, the NCAA Tournament is right around the corner, and it’s safe to say there are plenty of at-large bids to be won.  Boston College and Virginia Tech are two schools with something to prove, as they fight to get off the bubble.  Despite playing a much more tasking nonconference slate, Virginia Tech has no quality out of conference wins (though Penn State is edging towards that category).  They do have a solid win at Maryland to hang their hats on, but an ugly loss at Georgia Tech that makes up for it.  Boston College actually has a pretty good resume with a win over Texas A&M on a neutral site that might be able to mitigate two losses to the Ivy League.  The problem is the Eagles’ losses are piling up after skidding to a one and four mark over their past five games.  Reggie Jackson has dropped from a quiet contender for ACC Player of the Year to just another player during the stretch.  The Eagles will need a more inspired effort from him going forward.  On the other side of the floor is another great guard, Malcolm Delaney.  He’s been terrific since Seth Greenberg started playing him off the ball more, and trails Duke’s Nolan Smith slightly in points and assists.  Containing Delaney and Jeff Allen for Boston College and keeping Jackson in his mini-slump for Virginia Tech will be the keys to winning this game, which is a must-win for both teams’ at-large hopes.

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Game #128.  RTC Live makes its first trip to the new Matthew Knight Arena on the campus of Oregon to see the Ducks take on Wazzu.

Washington State heads to Eugene for Thursday’s matchup on a completely different track than Oregon. The Cougars, led by Pac-10 scoring leader Klay Thompson, knocked off the Washington Huskies in Pullman on Sunday night, and sit fourth in the conference at 5-4. The Ducks are coming off of a split at the Bay Area schools, having won at Stanford for the first time in 25 years, but falling to reigning Pac-10 regular-season champs California. Washington State won the first game in Pullman, but this week is the start of the second half of the Pac-10 season, the last year in which the conference will play a double-round-robin schedule. Junior college transfer Faisal Aden, a native of Somalia, has made a huge impact on the Cougars this season, helping guide them from the conference cellar to NCAA Tournament bid contention. Washington State’s starting backcourt, featuring the 6’4′ Aden and 6’6 Thompson, will likely give fits to Oregon’s diminutive guard rotation, the tallest of whom are 6’1. The Ducks will have to attack the Cougars inside, with the now-healthy Joevan Catron and Jeremy Jacob teaming up with the hot Tyrone Nared to give Oregon quality interior play it has been lacking for most of the season. Join RTC Live Thursday night for its first game at Oregon’s new $200 million-plus Matthew Knight Arena, the most expensive on-campus arena in America.

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Game #125.  RTC Live visits College Park tonight for one of the classic rivalries in the modern game…

Game #126.  Syracuse is in the midst of its longest losing streak in some time as the Orange visits UConn this evening in snowy Hartford.

Tonight’s game in Hartford between Syracuse and Connecticut has big implications going forward.  First, most important (and obvious) is Syracuse is on a four-game losing skid that includes a 22-point beatdown in the Carrier Dome at the hands of Seton Hall.  While Syracuse is in no danger of joining the bubble anytime soon, their season prognosis is beginning to look like Texas’ epic collapse last season.  The Orange need to right this ship as soon as possible.  Connecticut is dealing with its own questions after a tough double-overtime home loss to Louisville last week.  Kemba Walker has starting coming back down to earth, but freshmen Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith have picked up the slack.  Still, there are lingering doubts about whether the Huskies are true Final Four contenders: most notably can the freshmen step up and deliver when Walker goes cold?  The hidden storyline revolves around the weather: like most of the country, New England was ravaged with snow, sleet and freezing rain the last couple of days, making travel a little dicey.  Normally that doesn’t hurt the home school too much because most arenas are on campus.  But this game isn’t in Storrs, so who knows how many fans make the trip?  With the homecourt advantage neutralized and Syracuse desperate for a win, there’s a very good chance for Jim Boeheim’s team to pull off the upset, especially if their zone can fluster Kemba Walker.

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Game #127.  RTC Live is in Bloomington tonight as the Hoosiers try to keep their forward progress moving against Minnesota on an icy evening.

Welcome to icy Bloomington, Indiana and to Assembly Hall.  Tonight’s matchup features the 20^th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-5, 5-4 Big Ten) vs. the Indiana Hoosiers (11-11, 2-7 Big Ten).  This game is a rematch of the 67-63 Barn Burner in Minneapolis in early January, a game that was narrowly won by Coach Tubby Smith’s Gopher squad.   Winners of their last two outings at Assembly Hall, Coach Tom Crean’s upstart Hoosiers will be looking for revenge.  The last time Indiana played at home, Crean logged perhaps his biggest win at Indiana, a 52-49 stunner over rival Illinois.  The Hoosiers followed up that win with a heartbreaking overtime loss to Michigan State.  With veteran Verdell Jones III unable to play in either game due to injury, others Hoosiers Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, and Jeremiah Rivers have stepped up.  Assembly Hall is starting to become a big home court advantage once again, making this game far from an automatic victory for the visitors from Minneapolis.  Minnesota will be looking to bounce back from a twelve-point loss to Purdue last Saturday.  The Gophers will no doubt lean on leading scorers Blake Hoffarber (14.0 points per game) and Trevor Mbakwe (13.6 points per game) to silence the rowdy Hoosier fans during this game.  Hoffarber is one of the best sharpshooters in the conference, shooting over 40% from three.  Mbakwe is matchup nightmare at forward, sporting an NBA body (6’8, 240 pounds) and smooth moves to match.   Catch all the action LIVE! on RTC Wednesday evening (weather permitting). 

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Game #124.  RTC Live is back in DC for yet another Big East battle between ranked teams. 

There may not be a hotter team in the Big East right now than the Georgetown Hoyas. After starting off conference play 1-4, the Hoyas have won four straight, including a 25-point blowout of Duke-killers St. John’s and a nationally televised road win against Villanova. While Chris Wright has struggled a bit of late (he didn’t score against Villanova), Austin Freeman has refound the stroke that made him the preseason player of the year in the conference. He went for 30 against Villanova. Throw in the ever-improving play of big men Nate Lubick and Henry Sims and the spark that Hollis Thompson has provided since his move to the bench, and Georgetown has proven that they are still a force to be reckoned with in this league — for now.  If Georgetown isn’t the hottest team in the conference, then Louisville probably is. The Cardinals had a terrific week, notching comeback wins against both West Virgnia and UConn, the latter coming in double overtime on the road. Rick Pitino has said repeatedly that the Cardinals don’t have a “star,” but Peyton Siva is making a strong claim for that role. He hit the game-winner against West Virginia and made a number of huge plays down the stretch to beat UConn. Both the Hoyas and the Cardinals love to shoot threes which should make for an entertaining, back and forth game tonight.

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