Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Four games on Monday in the Big East, as we start Thanksgiving week, one of the best college hoops weeks of the season.

Monday Nov 20th, 2017:
Marquette vs VCU, 2:30pm, ESPN-2, in Lahaina HI, Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
Molloy (Div-2) at St John's, 6:30pm.
Creighton vs #23 UCLA, 7pm, ESPN-U, in Kansas City, CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
Hampton at #15 Xavier, 8:30pm, FS1, Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, played in Cincinnati.

Nice slate of games.

Marquette facing a weaker VCU team than in past years. Good chance for a Warrior win. What's with the "Maui Jim Maui" Invitational semantics anyway? Should call it the "Maui Invitational sponsored by Maui Jim". Speaking of which, I've never tried their polarized sunglasses. The game of course is on Maui, in the village of Lahaina... can anyone name the old song whose lyrics include references to both Providence and Lahaina...?

St John's hosts Molloy College of Div-2. The Lions are based in Rockville Center in Hempstead in Nassau County. So a short ride to Queens. Apparently we have some notable people from Rockville Center... would you believe Joan Jett, but not sure about the Blackhearts... the great Sandy Koufax... legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro... heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson... Yankee GM Brian Cashman, currently on the hot seat... Billy Idol, imagine that... Henry Hill, the guy from Goodfellas... Howard Stern... and of course, Friar legend Billy Donovan, and our brother Jay Wright, the best dressed and living legend on the Main Line. By the way, Molloy has a quidditch club.

Creighton is looking for their second road win over a ranked team within the course of a week. UCLA is dealing with some suspensions due to the great decision to shoplift in China. Not sure if the game is at Pauley Pavilion [EDIT: this game is being played in Kansas City... thanks to Jet915 for the information], but in past years i thought they played this tourney at Cal State Fullerton til the final at the Staples Center. On a family trip this past summer i had the pleasure of walking around and inside Pauley. Great sightlines, tons of banners and retired numbers in the rafters.

Xavier is at home to Hampton of the MEAC. That's the final game of a potential 4-0 night for the Big East.
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Creighton game is in Kansas City. Should be at least a few thousand Creighton fans there.

NABC's (Coaches) CBE (College Basketball Experience) HOF Classic ( former Guardians Classic amongst others) has been in Kansas City since its' inception in 2001 or 2002. Creighton has played in and won it the event twice (2002 & 2004, Korver years).
I can't recall the name of the Fullerton/Staples Ctr event, but we've played in it once.

The repentant shoplifting frosh were not expected to be a factor anyways. Frosh Jaylen Hands, Kris Wilkes, (5-stars) and the returnees (Welsh, Holiday, etc.) are the players. (It's sick how "Helmet Head" can recruit such high level players that losing two 4-stars and a 3-star to suspension has no-to-minimal effect on the overall team.)

billyjack wrote:
Creighton is looking for their second road win over a ranked team within the course of a week. UCLA is dealing with some suspensions due to the great decision to shoplift in China. Not sure if the game is at Pauley Pavilion [EDIT: this game is being played in Kansas City... thanks to Jet915 for the information], but in past years i thought they played this tourney at Cal State Fullerton til the final at the Staples Center.
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You're confusing this tournament with the Wooden Legacy tournament. They do early rounds at CS Fullerton, and then the final day is at the Honda Center(home of the Anaheim Ducks).

Why is anyone in the Big East scheduling a D2 school?

Thanks guys for the clarification... right, i was thinking of the Wooden tourney that PC played in 2 years ago.

Has anyone thought of the song with lyrics that includes both "Providence" and "Lahaina"?

pki1998 wrote:Why is anyone in the Big East scheduling a D-2 school?

Good Question. Ask it again in Feb. when Creighton takes on mighty Bemidji Sate. The season ticket holders are really looking forward to that one. It becomes a question of scheduling a D-2 school with no impact on RPI or scheduling a low D-1 school with a negative impact on RPI. Creighton's solution was Bemidji State. In my opinion, there has to be a better solution!

D2 games allow teams to improve without the RPI hit of playing a junk D1 team. Much better for your RPI. Lots of teams do it.

Why do people still pretend the RPI has that much weight? It just doesn't. The only reason it even gets discussed is in relation to your opponent's RPI (Top 50 / Top 100 wins). Do we really care that much about buttressing our opponent's resumes to waste everyone's time on the court and everyone's money in the stands?

Eagles - Last Resort.