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Thursday, November 21, 2024
College basketball’s first big day of the season was really almost all we could’ve asked for. From early morning to into the night, the day offered a number of outstanding games that might already get some people thinking March. Exciting finishes, back-and-forth games, offense, defense, big schools, little schools, fantastic inbound plays-you name it, you could find it on Tuesday.
Some of the names were the same, including that of the conference, and the tournament site was the same, too. But the Big East in 2013-14 was different.
Creighton ran out to an early lead, then had to hang on and pull out a semifinal win over Xavier to reach the Big East championship game.
Thursday was a day full of basketball in New York with two tournaments at two arenas across town from each other.
Xavier picked up a big win at St. John’s, one the Red Storm really needed. Robert Morris then came into New Jersey and used a late rally to knock off Fairleigh Dickinson.
Xavier is 15-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big East, which would appear to be a good place to be in. But they’re trending in the wrong direction at the defensive end, and that has head coach Chris Mack concerned.
Thursday had a lot of basketball in New York with the Atlantic 10 and Big East tournaments both having four games on tap. Here’s one person’s journey through a trip to both venues.
This year’s edition of Xavier isn’t quite up there with some others in the recent past. But the Musketeers started off a key stretch to end the regular season with a win at Rhode Island and hope that will propel them further with some home games ahead.
Xavier simply doesn’t look good, and the Musketeers certainly don’t look like the kind of team we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. They are now below .500 since the fight against Cincinnati, and find themselves in the once-unthinkable position of the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.
Syracuse is officially on the clock. As of Jan. 9, the Orange look an awful lot like the best team in the country. But considering that it’s still early January, that’s not terribly surprising. The question is whether Syracuse will still look like the best team in college hoops in […]
