SEC/Big East Invitational

[jdm2000]

I did not realize this was an annual event. Looks like it's pretty small.
This year's matchups:

Vandy v. South Florida
Tennessee v. Marquette

(both games in Nashville)

Mississippi State v. Cincinnati
Ole Miss v. Louisville

(both games at US Bank arena)

They actually did this last year, too. Georgetown beat Alabama and West Virginia beat Auburn (both games in Birmingham), while Villanova beat LSU and Providence lost to South Carolina (both games in Philly).

This has got to be the least compelling of the interconference matchup series. Though I kind of like the idea of playing doubleheaders at somewhat neutral courts.

[jdm2000]

Vandy hammers South Florida in the first game.

In the second game, Tennessee is up on Marquette by 4 with about 16:00 left.

I don't think Marquette has nearly enough size to be a serious threat this year. They have some decent guards, but man are they small.

[XUglow]

Ole Miss is hurting. AK has lost 2 starters for the year already. MSU is too young this year. I look for a Big East sweep in Cincy.

[GoMuskies]

This is basically an SEC vs. C-USA challenge. Weird.

[jdm2000]

Yeah, they mentioned last night that the four teams from the BE were all teams that joined in 2004/2005, while the four teams from the SEC are all original members.

I can't believe that was an intentional thing, but who knows?

[XUglow]

Because there are 12 and 16 teams, they decided on 2 double-headers each year. The SEC teams will have a game in the series every 3 years, and the Big East teams will have a game once every 4 years. That doesn't seem like a good way to do a series to me, but they didn't ask my opinion on the matter.

[jdm2000]

Bearcats beat Miss. State by 12.

I hadn't planned on it, but I'm definitely going to watch at least the beginning of the L'ville/Ole Miss game, to see the crowd reaction in light of today's events.