NBCSports: Top 25 Non-Conference Games

[milksteak]

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/ ... nce-games/

1. Kansas vs. Duke
2. Michigan State at Duke
3. Kentucky at Louisville
4. Kansas at Kentucky
5. Michigan State vs. Kentucky
6. Virginia at Villanova
7. UCLA at Kentucky
8. North Carolina vs. Kentucky
9. Michigan State vs. Arizona
10. Louisville vs. Indiana
11. Kansas vs. Indiana
12. Wisconsin at Creighton
13. Arizona vs. Gonzaga
t-14. North Carolina at Indiana
t-14. Syracuse at Wisconsin
15. Washington at Gonzaga
16. UConn vs. Syracuse
17. Valparaiso at Oregon
18. Indiana vs Butler
19. Villanova vs. Notre Dame
20. Purdue at Louisville
21. Villanova at Purdue
22. Northern Iowa vs. Xavier
23. Oregon at Baylor
24. Arizona vs. Texas A&M
25. Florida State at Florida

[stever20]

how do they have some of these games ahead of Georgetown @ Syracuse? In a day where they'll be honoring Pearl Washington. That's way more interesting than FSU/Florida for example.

[milksteak]

how do they have some of these games ahead of Georgetown @ Syracuse? In a day where they'll be honoring Pearl Washington. That's way more interesting than FSU/Florida for example.

That was the first game I was disappointed to not see on the list.

[xusandy]

Xavier vs. Cincy - the Crosstown Shootout, with both teams on most top 25 pre-season predictions, does not make the list! But X vs. mid-major Northern Iowa does make the list? Enough said re the credibility of this little piece of ignorance. I did not read further.

[Omaha1]

Xavier vs. Cincy - the Crosstown Shootout, with both teams on most top 25 pre-season predictions, does not make the list! But X vs. mid-major Northern Iowa does make the list? Enough said re the credibility of this little piece of ignorance. I did not read further.

I llike UNI... they are sort of "Creighton lite". Mac and Jacobson are best friends and it's well documented that Doug had signed his NLI with UNI before dad got the job at Creighton. And for what it's worth, I think UNI has been considerably better than Cincinnati over the past decade or so.

[whiteandblue77]

Xavier vs. Cincy - the Crosstown Shootout, with both teams on most top 25 pre-season predictions, does not make the list! But X vs. mid-major Northern Iowa does make the list? Enough said re the credibility of this little piece of ignorance. I did not read further.

I llike UNI... they are sort of "Creighton lite". Mac and Jacobson are best friends and it's well documented that Doug had signed his NLI with UNI before dad got the job at Creighton. And for what it's worth, I think UNI has been considerably better than Cincinnati over the past decade or so.

I agree with Sandy on this 100%. Must be a writer from cedar rapids or something. Doesn't matter what's going on with the polls, the Crosstown Shootout is always jaw-dropping (and Jaw cracking, lol). One of the best games in all of CBB. (they also spelled us the Blue Jays, lame).

[David G]

Xavier vs. Cincy - the Crosstown Shootout, with both teams on most top 25 pre-season predictions, does not make the list! But X vs. mid-major Northern Iowa does make the list? Enough said re the credibility of this little piece of ignorance. I did not read further.

I love this game, but for those outside the region and for those without ties to either program, the intrigue and flavor of it has changed quite a bit.

Up until the time Bob Huggins left Cincinnati and the program completely crashed into a mountain, it had a great story line. Cincinnati was one of the better programs in the country, and Xavier was good, but not a regular fixture in the rankings like Cincinnati was. It had kind of a David v Goliath feel to it. What made it interesting is that Xavier usually won, and it was usually this very close and exciting game. It would be like watching Davidson (or whoever) beat Duke or North Carolina several years in a row, and every game was close, exciting, and down to the wire.

But, now things have flipped. Xavier is now the alpha program, and Xavier still wins most of the time. This game hasn't been close or exciting for the past several years.

To put it another way, the game used to have a David v Goliath feel and Xavier, like David, was likable and it was fun to watch. Now that Xavier is the alpha program, Cincinnati just isn't likable and that feel that made it national appealing just isn't there anymore. I know it's still a huge deal to the city and to the region, but nationally it's not must watch TV anymore unless you're a junkie like me.