The Holy Land of Hoops

The Big East, the nation's most exciting, competitive conference, has 3 games today...

Jackson State at Marquette, 1:30pm.
#23 Xavier vs Dayton, 4:30pm, ESPN-2, Advocare Invitational, Lake Buena Vista FL.
Providence vs #3 Michigan State, 10pm, ESPN-2, Wooden Legacy, Anaheim CA.

Marquette has been playing great ball, and should handle Jackson State. With J-State I'm always reminded of "Sweetness", alma mater of the late Walter Payton, one of the true gentlemen of the sports world. He was the entire offense of the Bears for 6 or 7 years during their years with weak QB's Avellini-Phipps-Avellini-again, the Brian Baschnagel years, Roland Harper, single-handedly led them to wildcards in 77 and 79... lost at Dallas 78 to 0 or something... amirite Chicago fans, DePaul fans... Walter was an amazing electric runner with his high-stepping and holding the ball with one hand. Always classy in victory or defeat. After the Pats got walloped 46-10, i consoled myself by thinking, hey at least Walter Payton got his ring.

#23 Xavier has been a juggernaut this year. Just destroyed Southern Cal on Friday, up 27 at the half . I hope the Song Girls still stayed bouncy on their feet.. it seems like once a week i have something to say about them (the Song Girls that is). Dayton brought a huge group of fans to the tourney, and got past a tough Monmouth team, the second best team in New Jersey. As a fan, I'm glad this matchup happened. Not sure i can watch it live cuz my mother in law is in town and doesn't like handing over the remote.

Late game at 10pm or so has the Friars facing up against #3 Michigan State. Another gravy game, no lose situation for PC. Win and we rocket up the rankings. Lose and we should still be ranked. If the refs let Kris Dunn play, then it should be an entertaining game. Bullock and Bentil need to stay out of foul trouble too. Great experience for the Friar freshmen. Will be a tough one, but Ed Cooley has had an extra day to gameplan. I like Izzo, good guy. I haven't seen State play much yet this year. The Spartans are wearing their throwbacks this year.

I think i talk too much...!

Go Big East...!

2-1 would be a good day, 3-0 would be fantastic!

billyjack wrote:The Big East, the nation's most exciting, competitive conference, has 3 games today...

Jackson State at Marquette, 1:30pm.
#23 Xavier vs Dayton, 4:30pm, ESPN-2, Advocare Invitational, Lake Buena Vista FL.
Providence vs #3 Michigan State, 10pm, ESPN-2, Wooden Legacy, Anaheim CA.

Marquette has been playing great ball, and should handle Jackson State. With J-State I'm always reminded of "Sweetness", alma mater of the late Walter Payton, one of the true gentlemen of the sports world. He was the entire offense of the Bears for 6 or 7 years during their years with weak QB's Avellini-Phipps-Avellini-again, the Brian Baschnagel years, Roland Harper, single-handedly led them to wildcards in 77 and 79... lost at Dallas 78 to 0 or something... amirite Chicago fans, DePaul fans... Walter was an amazing electric runner with his high-stepping and holding the ball with one hand. Always classy in victory or defeat. After the Pats got walloped 46-10, i consoled myself by thinking, hey at least Walter Payton got his ring.

#23 Xavier has been a juggernaut this year. Just destroyed Southern Cal on Friday, up 27 at the half . I hope the Song Girls still stayed bouncy on their feet.. it seems like once a week i have something to say about them (the Song Girls that is). Dayton brought a huge group of fans to the tourney, and got past a tough Monmouth team, the second best team in New Jersey. As a fan, I'm glad this matchup happened. Not sure i can watch it live cuz my mother in law is in town and doesn't like handing over the remote.

Late game at 10pm or so has the Friars facing up against #3 Michigan State. Another gravy game, no lose situation for PC. Win and we rocket up the rankings. Lose and we should still be ranked. If the refs let Kris Dunn play, then it should be an entertaining game. Bullock and Bentil need to stay out of foul trouble too. Great experience for the Friar freshmen. Will be a tough one, but Ed Cooley has had an extra day to gameplan. I like Izzo, good guy. I haven't seen State play much yet this year. The Spartans are wearing their throwbacks this year.

I think i talk too much...!

Go Big East...!

Billy Jack, you are one great writer. I always enjoy reading your posts.

TBH, I am shocked that the Friars are doing as well as they are. Other than Dunn & Bentil, they really didn't bring a lot back. While they brought in some nice recruits and brought bac Bullock,noneofthemate exactly impact players who would e expected to step in right away to fill the shoes of the crew that left. I think the early season success s a real tribute to Dunn and Bentil. It was expected of Dunn. But Bentil has been special. Not only does he rebound and get his share of points, but he picks up steals and assists as well. His all around game is rely impressive.

I've watched a ton of big east games this year. I'm trying to get in tune with every team and every roster because I know my johnnies aren't gonna be playing in March. Providence/Arizona was probably the most enjoyable game I've seen thus far.

Every year in college basketball there's a handful of guys maybe 3-4 in the nation that are so good they are must see TV. It's not just anybody. Okafor or Towns didn't have that. Just because they went early in the draft doesn't mean they had it.

No, I'm talking about Kemba Walker, Steph Curry when he took Davidson to the elite 8. Those were guys who were so good and so entertaining you had to watch. Kris Dunn is simply incredible. Providence can go deep into March with a player like that.

Bill Marsh wrote:

billyjack wrote:The Big East, the nation's most exciting, competitive conference, has 3 games today...

Jackson State at Marquette, 1:30pm.
#23 Xavier vs Dayton, 4:30pm, ESPN-2, Advocare Invitational, Lake Buena Vista FL.
Providence vs #3 Michigan State, 10pm, ESPN-2, Wooden Legacy, Anaheim CA.

Marquette has been playing great ball, and should handle Jackson State. With J-State I'm always reminded of "Sweetness", alma mater of the late Walter Payton, one of the true gentlemen of the sports world. He was the entire offense of the Bears for 6 or 7 years during their years with weak QB's Avellini-Phipps-Avellini-again, the Brian Baschnagel years, Roland Harper, single-handedly led them to wildcards in 77 and 79... lost at Dallas 78 to 0 or something... amirite Chicago fans, DePaul fans... Walter was an amazing electric runner with his high-stepping and holding the ball with one hand. Always classy in victory or defeat. After the Pats got walloped 46-10, i consoled myself by thinking, hey at least Walter Payton got his ring.

#23 Xavier has been a juggernaut this year. Just destroyed Southern Cal on Friday, up 27 at the half . I hope the Song Girls still stayed bouncy on their feet.. it seems like once a week i have something to say about them (the Song Girls that is). Dayton brought a huge group of fans to the tourney, and got past a tough Monmouth team, the second best team in New Jersey. As a fan, I'm glad this matchup happened. Not sure i can watch it live cuz my mother in law is in town and doesn't like handing over the remote.

Late game at 10pm or so has the Friars facing up against #3 Michigan State. Another gravy game, no lose situation for PC. Win and we rocket up the rankings. Lose and we should still be ranked. If the refs let Kris Dunn play, then it should be an entertaining game. Bullock and Bentil need to stay out of foul trouble too. Great experience for the Friar freshmen. Will be a tough one, but Ed Cooley has had an extra day to gameplan. I like Izzo, good guy. I haven't seen State play much yet this year. The Spartans are wearing their throwbacks this year.

I think i talk too much...!

Go Big East...!

Billy Jack, you are one great writer. I always enjoy reading your posts.

TBH, I am shocked that the Friars are doing as well as they are. Other than Dunn & Bentil, they really didn't bring a lot back. While they brought in some nice recruits and brought bac Bullock,noneofthemate exactly impact players who would e expected to step in right away to fill the shoes of the crew that left. I think the early season success s a real tribute to Dunn and Bentil. It was expected of Dunn. But Bentil has been special. Not only does he rebound and get his share of points, but he picks up steals and assists as well. His all around game is rely impressive.

College Basketball teams simply cannot be defined purely by what is on paper. This is a very physically and mentally tough Friar squad that is led by a generational star. They believe in each other and they believe in their coach and he believes in them. He was literally telling them at each timeout the other night to ignore the officiating and that they were going to win. I can see why people doubted them, it's hard to know how a team will come together, now we know about this Friar squad anyway. They will test every team they play.

Can u imagine if PC wins? They will be top 15 team, Kris Dunn will be the lead NPOY candidate and poor ESPN will only have one more PC game to televise the rest of the year (URI on ESPNU).

Mack wearing a Big East pullover for this game and I absolutely love it.

Is that Bill friggin' Murray wearing a Xavier hat behind the bench?

bmorex wrote:Mack wearing a Big East pullover for this game and I absolutely love it.

I was hoping someone saw that. I thought it was great!

ChestRockwell85 wrote:Is that Bill friggin' Murray wearing a Xavier hat behind the bench?

Yes. His son is an assistant coach at X.