#10 Xavier @ #1 Villanova 1/10/18

[MarquetteRustler]

[gtmoBlue]

I may be wrong but X had already lost the game before they took to the court. They appeared unfocused and did not compete. It seemed they had something more important to attend to and the game was an inconvenience. Bluiett's 1st shot came at about 8:32 in the 1st half. As he goes, so does Xavier. I agree that something is going on with the team. No way Nova should have won by a 24pt margin. X is a much better team than they showed last night.

I was looking forward to seeing a showdown for sole possession of 1st place on Saturday. Now we'll be looking at a team on the rebound.

[MUPanther]

The Philly tree, needs to be explain to me. I believe there is about 6 D1 schools in Philly alone. All 4 major pro teams.

Question, how does a top 10 match-up get 12,000 in a 20,000 seat arena? Is there not enough Villanova fans to come out on a Wednesday night?

[GumbyDamnit!]

The Philly tree, needs to be explain to me. I believe there is about 6 D1 schools in Philly alone. All 4 major pro teams.

Question, how does a top 10 match-up get 12,000 in a 20,000 seat arena? Is there not enough Villanova fans to come out on a Wednesday night?

There are a couple of things at play IMO. First the city on a whole is still in NFL season. Where college FB is huge in many places across the country, the NFL dominates he eastern seaboard cities. So the casual fan is still looking forward to Saturday and the Eagles playoffs. Second, this is the winter break for the students. Nova is not a “Philly” school like Temple, St Joe’s or LaSalle where most students come from a 20 mile radius around the city. Nova students come from all over. So not sure if many of these kids were going to travel in for a game over break. Third,why is this game on a Wed night? This should have been on this Saturday at 1:00 that leads Fox into NFL football. And lastly I must admit that there is some complacency among the fan base. We’re spoiled a bit. No offense to X or the BE but this team will earn their stripes in the tourney (or not). I don’t think it’s right but my sense is that many Nova fans look at this team and just expect that we’ll take care of business during the conf slate. They’re just so consistent; they just keep answering that bell game in and game out. So that may have something to do with a little mid-season lull in attendance.

[MUPanther]

Thanks, for the info. I didn't know where Villanova students come from. I hear you as Philly is a NFL town, as the Packers lead the country in ratings. Milwaukee also rates in the top 10 in most NFL games. Shocking was Milwaukee was 52nd ranked in the Georgia/Alabama National Title Game, as Badgers football is pretty strong in the state of Wisconsin.