Big East/SEC Invitational

I had hopes a few years ago when the Big East and SEC announced that they were going to start an annual series of non-conference games between the leagues. However, this invitational works nowhere near as well as the gold standard set by the ACC/Big-10 Challenge or even the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Classic series. On Tuesday, South Florida fell to Vandy and Marquette lost to Tennessee at the Sommet Center in Nashville. Tonight, I was in attendance as the Big East evened up with the series with victories by UC over Mississippi State and Louisville over Ole Miss at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

I am a big advocate of playing college basketball games on campus or in any full, partisan venue. Tonight, (no official attendance numbers have been released yet) there could not have been more than 6000 actual fans at the Bank, which can seat 17,000 for basketball. I have seen a bunch of games at the Bank, and with the exception of North College Hill-Oak Hill Academy (#1 vs #2 high school teams in the nation in Feb. 2007-the game was of NBA quality), the building has never had a great vibe or anything close to a full house. The place was evenly split between Bearcats an Cards fans, but the Cards fans were far more vocal than the Bearcats supporters. If anyone saw the coverage on ESPN, they could have entirely empty sections behind both hoops and maybe 3 of the 36 upper deck sections with people. Considering the fact it was a Thursday night doubleheader with lackluster matchups and the cheapest tickets cost $28, it was surprising that any non-hard core supporters showed up.

The first game got off to a quick but slopping start from both the Bearcats and Bulldogs. #32 for Mississippi State, Jarvis Varnado, kept the Bulldogs close until Deonta Vaughn got going for the Bearcats in the final four minutes of the first half. Vaughn scored 14 points as part of a 20-2 run that gave the Bearcats a 47-29 lead heading into the half. Mississippi State tried to claw their way back into the game cutting the lead into the single digits, but they never posed any true threat in the second half. Another solid but no spectacular win for the Bearcats, but clearly a step in the right direction with the first win of the season over a BCS (I know its college basketball, but you get the point) school. However, Mick Cronin's offensive strategy still bugs me since it does create anything it just hopes that someone will make a move to get open. It is so simple and a good team like Xavier hammered the Bearcats offense.

On the other hand, the nightcap presented two different and more effective, entertaining offenses. After punching a cabbie last night, Ole Miss let former UC Interm Head Coach Andy Kennedy coach tonight, and he came out to a very warm applause from the Bearcats fans who stuck around. Louisville came out on all cylinders after a rough opening four minutes. Then, Louisville came out with the signature Rick Pitino full court press and opened the lead up to 19 after a 19-2 run. At that point, Louisville looked like an NBA team playing a good high school team that had no idea what had hit them. However, Andy Kennedy and his Ole Miss Rebels had a point to prove, and held Louisville to 6 points over the last 9 minutes of the half. The Cards were missing wide-open looks and their overall advantage in athleticism and size seemed to vanish. The Rebels playing sound, fundamental basketball got the lead down to 4 at the half, including a 25-foot fadeaway 3 at the buzzer.

At the beginning of the second half, it appeared as though Louisville was going to pull away as they got the lead up to 56-46. Again, the Rebels fought back and even managed to briefly grab the lead at 63-62 with 7 to play. However, the Cards were more resilient tonight, and ended the game on a 10-1 run to emerge from the Bank victorious. It was only their second win in their last seven games on a neutral court, and they almost let one slip away tonight. They head on a plane tonight to Phoenix to play Minnesota in the Stadium Classic on Saturday afternoon. Tubby and his Gophers will be ready for the Cards, and do not be surprised if the Gophers sneak one out in the desert.

While the games were not bad tonight, I hope that with the help of ESPN, the series can be expanded to include more teams and to venues with larger crowds and more passion. There is no reason this series cannot equal the ACC/Big-10 event, and I hope it does in the future. It is also interesting to note that all 4 of the Big East teams that played in this year's invitational were part of Conference USA until 2005. This series did not get a chance to improve the superiority of the Big East, but with a larger series, the Big East could end any debate about being the best in the nation for college basketball.