I’m guessing I’m not supposed to advocate for a fight in a college basketball game. So let the record show that I am not advocating for Cincinnati and Xavier to fight, and instead would just be pretty excited if there were a fight, and would spend a lot of time watching videos of it and reacting to it in this space. But I’m not advocating for a fight. Not me.
Regardless of whether Cincinnati and Xavier roughhouse today, it’s worth watching. It’s one of college basketball’s greatest rivalries, and there’s a decent chance, as far as these chances go, that we’ll see a rematch in the second round of the NIT (their proximity to one another and both teams’ general mediocrity makes them frequent neighbors in our NIT Bracketology). Buckle up.
Elsewhere:
- Oklahoma and TCU open conference play, and they’re doing it against one another. The in-league NIT-impacting showdowns are already roaring.
- Seton Hall continues their NITour, visiting Penn State in a high-stakes nonconference affair.
- DePaul and Iowa State commiserate about being bad teams in good conferences, with each desperately seeking a win, very much like an animal not knowing when its next meal will come.
- Missouri has a chance to right the ship, playing a Wichita State team in a state of chaos. A loss would go a long way for the Tigers.
- Pepperdine tries to make a case for their at-large inclusion, going down to San Diego. Even if they lose, it’s a pretty drive. Must be nice.
- Keep an eye on the Louisiana Tech/LSU and UCF/Michigan games. Lot of hope there for the home teams if they can pull off losses.
- Lest you were missing Mick Cronin, his UCLA Bruins host Cal today. You have to like UCLA’s chances generally, so a win shouldn’t hurt them or anything, but a blowout would be kind of fun because it’d get everyone saying “You know, UCLA is pretty good,” setting them up to reel when UCLA loses a disaster of a game to Washington State or someone later this winter.
- SMU beat Dayton in a thriller yesterday. Dayton turned the ball over 19 times. Not to be outdone, SMU missed 22 shots inside the arc. Really beautiful stuff.
- BYU got one big win yesterday, taking down Utah State in Logan. Would they trade this victory for having beaten Coastal Carolina on the gridiron? Absolutely not. (As an aside, the WCC NIT race is the biggest college basketball storyline nobody—except you and me—is talking about. Look at all those idiots).
