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Games To Watch - 12/7/07

December 7, 2007  |  By Benjamin Miraski

Friday nights are interminably slow and scanning tonight's slate, there is only one game worth watching. So let's spend most of today looking at last night's games.

First, let's look back at last night's watch game. Valpo did manage to hold Todd Brown of Wright State to 5 for 16 shooting and only 12 points. They weren't able to outrebound the Raiders, but they did manage to eek out a 5 point win in a tough road game. So the MRI got that one wrong, but it was 51-49 for Wright State, so I am not too upset on that one. Overall the MRI got about 80% right last night, a big up from earlier in the week.

In Philadelphia, the Big East/SEC Invitational continued. On Wednesday night, it was two games in Alabama, SEC country for sure, of which the Big East took home both. Last night, the series got a split, but it looked like having the "home court advantage" wasn't going to work out at all for the Big East. In the early game, South Carolina took out Providence, a team that started early, and has stumbled this week. In the late game, LSU ran out to a 21 point lead but couldn't hold on. Villanova stormed back in the final three minutes to win on a shot with about six seconds left.

I admit to giving up on Villanova in that one. I turned to the it during commercials of the Bears - Redskins game, and saw just how badly the Wildcats were playing. At one point, the Nova guards were shooting 4 for 30 in the game, and that was late in the second half. There was no reason to believe that a comeback was going to happen.

So count me as shocked when I woke up this morning and saw that Nova had come back to win 68 - 67. That is the mark of a team that knows how to win. It should be a scary sign for those in the Big East if Villanova can muster that sort of effort and give their all to win like that. Granted, this was against LSU, which is nowhere close to the LSU of the Final Four two years ago, but that is still a win that Villanova can look at and say "This is our season. We want to win."

And finally, in a game that sets back basketball about 50 years, Samford beat Jacksonville State, 41 - 34. The teams shot a combined 30% from the floor. There were only 27 baskets in the entire game! They should give the money back to the 1427 fans that actually came to the game.

OK, enough of that. On to tonight.

Posted December 7, 2007 11:00 AM

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