How about that UL game??

[XU-PA]

Was a great game, superb effort my XU, and an insane game by TUDY!!!!

Tough loss, but I'll take losses to a pair of top ten programs over a couple of BS wins over lame ducks. This will pay benefits come tourney time, and you can only get better by playing against better teams.

[X-band '01]

I for one am glad that Xavier will never see Bingham and McCoughtry in a Louisville uniform again.

I still haven't gotten a chance to see the game in its entirety yet, but it is encouraging to see this team slowly start to find its chemistry. LSU, on the other hand, is more beatable than in recent years, but will Xavier be able to sneak out of there with a W like they did against Indiana? There are still some name opponents left on the schedule after LSU (Michigan State, UK, UGA), but I just hope it's not too much of a meat-grinder at this point.

[coasterville95]

I was at the UL game, I decided to redeem the mens season ticket holder free admission vouchers, and were rewarded with aisle seats in row G of 109. Thanks to the fan that intercepted me on the way to the turnstiles to inform me that I had to exchange the vouchers for actual hard tickets at the box office. We didn't do so hot with the NCAA Pack The House Challenge at just over 2,000 in a 10,000 seat arena.

Kudos also to the friendly staff in West concessions that helped me carry lunch down to our seats and then refused to take a tip. I tell ya, the times you actually WANT to tip somebody they don't take it. Oh, and the souvenir cups this year are really cool, full color design with the court in the background, and basketball players and even a volleyball player around the edges. The Blob, Musketeer holding the giant X flag, and even the Extreme Fans who paint up are to be seen.

Anyway, on to the game. For about the first 29 minutes or so they played neck and neck basketball, neither team really doing particularly well in my opinion. Then again, we were going toe to toe with a highly ranked team, and had just come off a great run in the preseason WNIT, so I wasn't complaining. In fact, I had thought before hand, "If they get to go to the finals on Sunday, I wouldn't be surprised if they played their bench and rested their starters, I mean why wear out your team on the eve of a potential WNIT title by making them play then fly to Madison Square Garden right afterwards.

I will say I saw some very animated coaching, particularly on the other bench. Sit down, spazpants. Unfortunately it started slipping away in the last ten minutes, I mean we had a "It's not over till it's over" attitude, but just couldn't seem to get that last needed run.

The CYO trophy presentations gave a great sense of civic pride, and I loved the "So you think you can dance" time out - imagine about 100 children on the court dancing to YMCA. It's stuff like that you just can't do at a men's game.