The Holy Land of Hoops

Another big game tonight in the Big East.

Villanova @ Xavier 7:00 p.m. FS1

Xavier with a chance to pretty much lock up a tourney bid, Nova with a chance to clinch the regular season Big East title.

Can Xavier play the way they did against Creighton? Anything less and I think Nova rolls.

Second straight sellout for Xavier, standing room only tickets being sold again. I don't expect the same environment as Saturday but still should be good. Not having Stainbrook will hurt, but he doesn't match up well with Nova anyway, the only problem is, neither does Stenger or Farr who will have to pick up the extra minutes. Going to need a huge (and foul trouble free) game from Jalen Reynolds as well as another Creighton-like performance from J-Mart.

I expect a comfortable Nova win and hope I'm proven wrong.

Too bad Stainbrook is out, hopefully X is hot from 3.

Well, that's why they play the games. We'll just have to see what we're about to see.

In this case, respecting that Nova is used to playing in tough places, Nova will be playing in a tough place tonight.

WOW now that was a flop. Three free throws for that?

Can't believe there's not more discussion on this one. Xavier having tough. It'd sure be fun if the top seed wasn't determined until the final day of games. Let go X!

Bell struggling to find his game that last week or so. But it's nice to have a deep bench. Let's hope he finds his groove in the 2nd.

I haven't really been nervous heading into any game this year except for the 2 Creighton games. This and the road Providence game were the two toughest games we've had in 6 weeks. It's been a privilege watching Nova play all year minus two games. This has been the most fun team I've had to root for in any sport in a long time.

People keep asking me who Villanova's best player is. Depending what day it is, I can give you 4 different answers.

Xavier missing a lot of threes that could get it in this game. Nova can't put X away. Ball seems to be bouncing Xavier's way. Xavier gets a 3-point play right there after some great Nova hustle (and a missed out-of-bounds call).

I wish Nova would feed Pinkston more in the post.