…the Gauntlet Begins.

We are in the midst of the “eye” of the college hoops hurricane…the lull over the Yule Holidays. Still full from the Christmas Feast and winding our way thru the football bowl grind.  Just a few folks talking ’bout basketball and especially about the Big East as the conference season begins…  However the Big East message boards, Holyland of Hoops, and individual university boards have geared up and are humming.  A few of the major media pundits are talking hoops, here’s their take.

CBSSports/Norlander – http://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/why-is-no-one-talking-about-the-big-east-and-its-four-legit-final-four-teams/

Big Muddy makes CBS Top 10 Frosh List – http://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/freshman-rankings-st-johns-ponds-joins-top-10-which-ucla-uk-still-control/  

NBCSports/Rob Dauster – Predicts Jays roll til at Xavier… http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/12/28/the-undefeateds-when-will-each-of-the-six-remaining-lose/

NBCSports/Terence Payne – Conference Resets http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/12/26/college-basketball-conference-reset-the-big-easts-best-players-and-biggest-story-lines/

ESPN/Andy Katz –

Need to get attention to start conference play? @BIGEASTMBB@bigten got it right for @NovaMBB@BadgerMBBhttp://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18359618 …

5:13 PM – 27 Dec 2016

How college basketball can compete with bowl season – ESPN Video

ESPN basketball writer Andy Katz looks at the early conference schedules for Villanova and Wisconsin and shows why those teams have the key matchups to draw viewers.

66 Retweets 1212 likes

Omaha World Herald/Jon Nyatawa – Has a series of current articles on the Jays.

www.omaha.com/Creighton

FanRagSports/Jon Rothstein – Analysing the top 8 conferences

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein Dec 26

Who are the favorites, contenders, and sleepers entering league play? Find out in The Rothstein Files @FanRagSports:

https://twitter.com/i/cards/tfw/v1/813385010195660800?cardname=summary_large_image&autoplay_disabled=true&forward=true&earned=true&lang=en&card_height=344&scribe_context=%7B%22client%22%3A%22web%22%2C%22page%22%3A%22profile%22%2C%22section%22%3A%22profile%22%2C%22component%22%3A%22tweet%22%7D#xdm_e=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com&xdm_c=default2251&xdm_p=1

0 replies16 retweets24 likes  

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 7h7 hours ago

Wednesday’s games to watch: UVA at Louisville, Seton Hall at Creighton, Iowa at Purdue, PC at Xavier, Cincinnati at Temple, UCLA at Oregon.

3 replies35 retweets77 likes

Christmas Eve: Nearing Midnight In New York ~ 

The Christmas trees are almost all sold
And the ones that are left go cheap
The children almost all over town
Have almost gone to sleep.

The skyscraper lights on Christmas Eve
Have almost all gone out
There’s very little traffic
Almost no one about.

Our town’s almost as quiet
As Bethlehem must have been
Before a sudden angel chorus
Sang PEACE ON EARTH
GOOD WILL TO MEN!

Our old Statue of Liberty
Looks down almost with a smile
As the Island of Manhattan
Awaits the morning of the Child.

– Langston Hughes

We are languishing in the “eye” of the College Hoops season.  Happy Holidays to all from Bluenotes2.