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2 games on Wednesday night...

7pm, #19 Seton Hall at Xavier, CBS-SN.
9pm, DePaul at Creighton, FS1.

It's going to be close to 0-degrees outside, so get out the Snuggies and hot cocoa, and pile on the couch with any or all of the kidz/ wife/ girlfriend/ dog/ cat/ co-ed, and enjoy a perfect Big East doubleheader on CBS-SN and FS1.

Big game for the Pirates tonight! They have to show that they can win away from the friendly confines of the Rock! A road win here will be another confidence booster for my upstart Pirates! Here's hoping and praying for a 3-0 conference start!

I was wondering for a Xavier fans update on what to look for from X tonight. Unfortunately I havn't been able to watch many X games this year, but I would feel better if Whitehead was playing to guard Bluiett. Not to put down Desi and Manga, but I think Bluiett will do well with that matchup.

Excited to see if seton hall can prove itself on the road.

No school for the kids today in Omaha area due to cold and dangerous wind chills, although there shouldn't be any problems with the roads tonight. Classes don't begin for another week, so probably not many students around. CU normally allows HS students in free to sit in the student section over semester break, but might not be as many with the cold and the 8:00 p.m. start. Will be interesting to see how many show up at the Clink tonight. I am hoping for 12 to 13K, but it could easily be closer to only about half full. Might be one of those dead nights in the Clink with a listless crowd and more listless Jays team - or the Jays could be poised for a bust-out performance. If ever a team was poised to get upset at home by DePaul, this might be the night for it to happen. There is just no way to read this team right now, and the inability to make shots, even wide-open shots, makes the Jays vulnerable in every game.

I hope X can pull out a victory tonight, but I'm not very hopeful. If Xavier plays like they did against Georgetown, this should be a close game but Seton Hall probably wins. If Xavier plays like they did against DePaul it will be a blow out.

The Jays have dropped 3 in a row. The wind chill is going to be around -15 for tipoff. DePaul doesn't usually draw much interest. Students aren't back on campus yet either. It should be really interesting to see what the turnout and energy is like at the CLink. I'll be surprised if there are 13k in seats. Hoping the Jays can get back in the win column tonight, but DePaul is much, much improved and I see us struggling to contain Hamilton and Garrett Jr in front of a sparse crowd by CLink standards.

DePaul: 81
Jays: 77

It's going to be difficult for the Jays to stay out of last place in the league if they continue their play from the last three games. That hurts me to say. Hopefully, the other guys can pick up the slack and give Chatman some support, because he's been a stud all season and it would be disappointing to see a player who has contributed so much to this program end his career on such a low note.

I would be very surprised if Xavier lost tonight. Only the Hall and Nova won at Xavier last year. A win would make the Hall 3-0 over Xavier, in the last two years. That is hard for any comparable teams to do.

I'm expecting a lot of points scored in the SHU-X game. We all know that Xavier has the best offense in the Big East and that the three point shot is a major weapon for both teams (top 2 in the Big East in %). The good news for the Hall is that as good as Xavier is at shooting the 3, they're that bad at defending it.

X has a way of making good 3-point shooting teams great 3-point shooting teams, so who knows what will happen in that department.

Hopefully the fact the Hall is ranked, the revenge factor (2 losses to the Hall last year), and the residual embarrassment from the bed crapping against Depaul, are enough to keep the defensive intensity high for two halves of basketball.

However, X has had 4 close games this year and lost all 4 to inferior competition, so I would give the edge to the Hall if it's close at the end.

That being said, I expect X to win (I expect X to win every game)! Good luck!