Big E Hoops Weekend - One year later, Syracuse Prevails

Exactly one year ago this morning, Daily Onions sat groggy-eyed in the Pittsburgh Airport having just completed Big E Hoops Weekend. In a span of 72 hours, we saw Robert Morris defeat Monmouth in Moon Township, West Virginia knock off Purdue in Morgantown, and Pitt take down Syracuse on Big Monday. Three days, three basketball games, and three alma maters (Monmouth, WVU and Syracuse). Not sure the basketball gods will ever line up a schedule like that for us again, but glad we took advantage of the opportunity (relive the whole weekend here).

One year later, Syracuse once again matched up with Pitt on MLK Day. Like last year's game, Syracuse entered the game undefeated (18-0 last year, 19-0 this year). Unlike last year, Pitt, who is used to being at the top of the conference, entered the Carrier Dome winless (0-5) in the Big East.

Waiters and Cuse looking back at rest of Big East (Syracuse.com)

Syracuse scored the first 13 points of last night's game (if you remember, Pitt opened last year's game on a 19-0 run, then Cuse answered with a 17-0 run of their own), and eventually pushed the lead to 14 at one point in the game. Pitt made a push in the 2nd half, and got as close as 4. After a Syracuse timeout, the lead was back up to 10 in no time. Syracuse improved to 20-0, their best start in school history.

The Orange have been known to get off to hot starts in the past several seasons, leading to an overrated top 5 ranking.

Well this year is different. This Syracuse team is good. Really good. As I write this, Duke Vitale is saying that Syracuse won't lose a game this regular season. I might agree with him. If you look at the Big East, the perennial frontrunners like Louisville and UConn have proven to be inconsistent. Cuse will face both of those teams on the road this year. Other road games left on the schedule include Notre Dame (Orange usually play well in South Bend), Cincinnati (potentially a little nervous for this one), St. John's at MSG (actually a Cuse home game), Louisville (when was the last time Syracuse played well here), Rutgers (Rice and Co. knocked off Florida and UConn at the RAC), and UConn (Saturday night Gameday game in Storrs).

My prediction...Syracuse finishes the regular season with 2 losses (at UConn, at Louisville). Yes, you can read between the lines and I do not think Syracuse will lose a game at home this year. Before we make any predictions about the Big East tournament, we'll see how things shake out elsewhere.

Happy 100th!! Top 10 Posts in Daily Onions History

It's a big day today with lots of reason to celebrate. Yes, Christmas is only 5 days away, and yes Hanuka starts tonight, and yes there is a very important birthday today, but most importantly, today marks the 100th post in Daily Onions history!!

We figured there is no better way to celebrate number 100, then by looking back and reminiscing about where this blog has been over the past 99 posts. Here are the Top 10 posts in Daily Onions history, counting down from 10. (click the link to open story in a new tab)

10. Unit, Corps, God, Country- Daily Onions dives in to the Op-Ed world with its thoughts on BYU's Brandon Davies being suspended for breaking the school's Honor Code. Bonus - anytime you can work a quote from A Few Good Men into a column, it's a must - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/03/unit-corps-god-country.html

9. ONIONS Exposed- What would a college basketball blog be without a contest for March Madness. This post goes 1 on 1 with the 1st Annual Daily Onions Show Us Your Onions Winner - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/onions-exposed.html

Photo: SI.com

8. Memorable Melo- One of our favorite college basketball players (for obvious reasons), puts up an epic performance for a different orange and blue in last year's NBA playoffs - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/memorable-melo.html

7. Mach3 Fact Shaving- Remember when the biggest scandal involving Syracuse basketball was a bad rumor about point shaving? http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/02/mach3-fact-shaving.html

6. LeBron Best in Show...Right Now- We are very lucky that we included the words "right now" in this title, because after the Eastern Conference Championship, LeBron truly was on top of the game. Then we all know what happened in the finals. Go Mavs! http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/lebron-best-in-showright-now.html

5. State of the Onions Address- If your blog title resembles Union, the State of the Union address is a perfect time to piggyback with your own speech your constituents...with Raftery and Gus presiding, obviously. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/state-of-onions-address.html

4. Gimme Jimmer: Running Diary- Daily Onions had Jimmer Fever last year (hopefully we'll catch it this year too), and we documented every minute of one of his games at BYU. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/gimme-jimmer.html

3. Big E Hoops Weekend Recap- This could be number 1 on the list. Three days, three basketball games, three college alma maters. It doesn't get any better than that. Relive one of the greatest sports weekends. Thank you Basketball Scheduling Gods. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/survive-and-advance-big-e-hoops-weekend.html

Photo: New York Times

2. Why Blog? Why Onions? You never forget your first. This was the first ever post of Daily Onions, which explains why we got started in the first place. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-blog-why-onions.html

1. One Shining Moment- Do you remember where you were when this happened? One of the defining moments in the past year. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-shining-moment.html

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to having you around for the next 100 posts!

Survive and Advance - Big E Hoops Weekend Recap

That title is normally saved for post season tournament play in college basketball, where all that matters is that you survive the game and move on to the next one. Well, I think the same can be said for Big E Hoops Weekend. In a long, run-on sentence, here is a recap of the weekend: We came, we saw, we conquered, we watched hoops, we watched football, we danced, we ate, we drank, we dougied, we won, we lost, we played some hoops of our own, we stimulated the mind at a museum, we acted as if we were in college again, we laughed, we cried, and we dominated. In the words of the late Jim Valvano, "If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." Well we did that for 4 straight days, and it was really something special.

Now a quick look back at the three college basketball games we caught live.

Brandi with Bob Morris

Bob Morris 60, The Mouth 57 - Due to (thanks to?) the Steelers playoff victory win against the Ravens, we arrived for the second half of this NEC matchup. Cost of admission was free, and approximately 150 people were placed throughout the stands. Highlights of this game included sitting two rows behind the Monmouth bench, catching some flack from the "Colonial Crazies," seeing the looks of shock on the Monmouth coaches and players when they realized they had a 9-person cheering section (as well as two signs - "The Mouth is in the House" and "Take it to the Mouth"), a successful alley-oop completed by Monmouth, and the purchase of 4 soft pretzels and 3 boxes of popcorn for only $10.50. Despite the Mouth falling by 3, it was an exciting start to the hoops start of the weekend.

Welcome to WVU - good luck finding your seats

West Virginia 68, Purdue 64 - In a semi-gold rush filled concrete jungle, aka The Coliseum (where it takes you 20 minutes to figure out their seating sections), the Mountaineers outlasted the 8th ranked Boilermakers from Purdue. When John Flowers and Kevin Jones are each knocking down a couple of threes in the final ten minutes of the game, you know things are going  WVU's way (not to mention the Turkish Hook from Deniz Kilicli). Purdue's JaJuan Johnson was fun to watch, as he put up 26 points and 7 rebounds. One downfall to the game included the fact that Gus Johnson was broadcasting the game for CBS, and we were not able to hear his calls first hand. The West Virginia home crowd was great down the stretch of the game, which was close the whole way. Purdue had a great look at a 3, which would have tied it with about 5 seconds left. We were a little disappointed to see the WVU student section "storm" the court after the victory. If you are 9 months removed from the Final Four, I don't think you should storm, especially when you are actually favored (ya know, that whole gambling/lines thing) by 3.5 points. Granted Purdue was ranked #8, but they had lost their previous game on the road in Minnesota. Bottom line, act like you've won games like that before. Overall, our trip to Morgantown was a success, as we even toured the campus, watched the Pats get dismantled by the Jets at a local bar after the game, and ended the night with a DP Dough.

The Peterson Events Center is a pretty damn tough place to play.

Pitt 74, Cuse 66 - I've seen a lot of basketball games in my life, whether it be as a player, coach, broadcaster, fan, spectator, whatever it might be, BUT I have never seen a half of basketball like what we saw at the sold-out Peterson Events Center Monday night. (12,995 was a record sell-out for them, aka the lower bowl of the Carrier Dome). Saying 4th ranked Pitt jumped on 3rd ranked Cuse early is an understatement. They opened the game 19-0, and Jim Boeheim had to burn two timeouts within the first five minutes.  I didn't think Cuse was going to score. With every missed Syracuse shot and Pitt make, the Oakland Zoo and Co. (including Pitt alum Larry Fitzgerald) got louder and louder. Without their leading scorer Kris Joseph (concussion), Syracuse looked scared from the start. Finally, Scoop Jardine hit a three pointer eight minutes into the game.  Cuse was on the board, and they didn't stop there. The Orange countered the Pitt 19-0 run, with a 17-0 run of their own. Then Pitt went on a 7-0 run to answer....then Cuse went on a 7-0 run. So with 1 minute left in the half, the score was 26 - 24, all scored in runs. Trading baskets didn't start happening until the final minute of the half, as Pitt grabbed the 31-27 lead.

Syracuse came out much better in the second half, and finally tied the game with about 13 minutes to play in the game. That tie only lasted a few seconds as Pitt answered right back with a 3. Syracuse would cut it to 1 point again a few seconds later, but from there it never got closer than 4 points down the stretch.  A little run by the Panthers (which included a few questionable calls against the Cuse) would push the lead up to 10. No more runs left for the Orange. With that said, if you are a college basketball fan, the Peterson Events Center is a great place to see a game, especially a Big East matchup of top-ranked teams. The Oakland Zoo student section is very good, despite their uneducated, "Overrated" chant in the final few minutes (the worst chant in sports).

On the positive side of things, Syracuse got great games from two of their freshman CJ Fair and Dion Waiters - probably their toughest game as a college player thus far. That will definitely help Cuse as the season progresses, but they clearly missed Joseph.  His status for this weekend's game with Villanova is still unknown.

And with that, Big E Hoops weekend came to a close. All the "local" home teams won, and Daily Onions was 2 for 3 on our predictions. We are hoping the basketball scheduling gods help us out again next year, as it looks like this is a weekend we'd definitely like to repeat.

Big E Hoops Weekend Preview: Game 3 - Syracuse University vs. University of Pittsburgh

We've finally reached previewing the final game of Big E Hoops Weekend. Not sure if we'll still be standing, but if you can't get excited for this match up, you don't deserve to be a college hoops fan. Added bonus, Bill Raftery, the inspiration for this blog might be in the house calling the game on Monday. I'll take that lingerie on the deck anytime.

'Cuse is In the House, Oh My God

Official Name: Syracuse University

Daily Onions Name: 'Cuse

Location: The CNY

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Orange (Orangemen)

Famous non-sports alumni: Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States (Law School); Bob Costas, Sean McDonough, Mike Tirico, Dick Stockton - sports broadcasters; Dick Clark, TV personality; Actor/Model Taye Diggs; former Miss America and Actress Vanessa Williams; Aaron Sorkin, TV writer.

Famous sports alumni: Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets (?); Donovan McNabb, Washington Redskins (?); Jim Brown, Greatest Athlete Ever; Ernie Davis, first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.

You might know them because….they have a fluffy orange guy named Otto running around on the sideline as their mascot, or because they play their basketball games in the Carrier Dome, which seats 34,000 plus, or because they are a pretty damn good basketball team year in and year out.  Head Coach Jim Boeheim has been there since the Declaration of Independence was signed and has close to 850 victories all-time. He also completely out-kicked his coverage with his wife, Juli.

This year’s team: After losing 3 of the starters from last year's Sweet 16 season, "experts" said the Orange would be a top 5 team in the Big East and ranked in the teens of the top 25. Well, the Orange are currently ranked #4 in the country and are one of four remaining undefeated teams in the country. They are led by "I'm Sorry" Rick Jackson, who rolls out of bed into a double-double. Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph carry a lot of the load on offense for the Cuse, as well as sophomore guard Brandon Triche.

Roster Check:Triche's uncle, Howard, played for Boeheim in the 80s. Howard was the guy that Keith Smart was shooting over to give Indiana the national title in 1987. Freshman center Fab Melo is from Brazil, and despite a lot of hype coming into the season, he's been less than Fab thus far.

Best Player: Rick Jackson has been a beast so far this season and does a lot down low for the Orange. However, if the Cuse wants to make a deep run in March, Kris Joseph (last year's 6th man of the year) needs to be the go to guy and make big shots.

Pitt Happens

Official Name: University of Pittsburgh

Daily Onions Name:Eat Sh*t Pitt

Location: Steel City, USA

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Panthers

Famous non-sports alumni: Actor Gene Kelly; Orrin Hatch, US Senator; Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Famous sports alumni: Da Coach, Mike Ditka; Dan Marino, NFL Quarterback; Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

You might know them because….they've battled for the Big East championship over the past several years....they are known for their physical play and well-respected coach, Jamie Dixon....their home court, The Petereson Events Center has been sold out since it opening during the 2002-03 season, and features the Oakland Zoo student section.

This year’s team: Ranked #5 in the country, the Panthers are 16-1, with their lone loss coming to Tennessee (ya know, when Tennessee was "good" earlier this season). The Panthers are led by the three-headed monster of Ashton Gibbs (17ppg), Brad Wanamaker (13ppg), and Gilbert Brown (12 ppg). Pitt likes to put 'em on the glass, as they are 6th in the nation in team rebounding (back to the playing physical point), and they also like to share, as they lead the nation in assists per game.

Roster Check:The Panthers have two J.J's on their team, and 60% of the roster comes from the NY/NJ/PA area.

Best Player: While Gibbs might be the Panthers leading scorer, Wanamaker has a better all around game. With that said, these two as well as Brown can all shoot from outside, and will look to find holes in the Cuse's 2-3 zone, with the big men cleaning up the mess inside.

Daily Onions Prediction:Syracuse won in NYC on Wednesday, then traveled back to Syracuse to play Cincy tomorrow, before then heading to Pittsburgh for the Big Monday matchup. Pitt won at G'town on Wednesday, and hosts Seton Hall on Saturday. Pitt should be better rested, and have a definite home court advantage. Another thing they have though, is Ramy Nammour in attendance. Ramy, the Monmouth Man (its like a "Michigan Man") on this trip, is a Pitt killer. He's seen three Pitt games live, and Pitt has lost all three of them (Pitt at WVU in Football in 2003, Pitt at Cuse in basketball in 2003, and Tennessee vs. Pitt in basketball earlier this year). With that in mind, we are going Syracuse 65 - Pittsburgh 62 in a good one.

Back to the WVU-Purdue game prediction. WVU dropped a bomb on Providence last night and Purdue lost at Minnesota.  We are riding the momentum here, WVU 61 - Purdue 56.

Be sure to check back over the weekend as we chronicle all the highs and lows of Big E Hoops Weekend!

Be Our Guest.....Blogger

Daily Onions aims to please its audience and we like to invite reader participation. With that in mind, it is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce our first ever guest blogger, Brady Smith. As the Director of Player Personnel for Big E Hoops Weekend, Brady breaks down everything you need to about this weekend's roster. Without further adieu, Mr. Brady Smith...

WHEW!! Let’s get this thing started already.

In the most anticipated January weekend since snow was invented, the Big East Hoops Weekend WHEW Crew will take on the Steel City in a most unlikely of scenarios. Say it with me now

…Three games, three alma maters, lots of balls, one dream.

I certainly never thought that my beloved Mountaineers, the Mouth-hawks, and the Orange people would ever play three random games … against three separate teams … within an hour of each other … on the same damn weekend … AND the majority of our friends can make it.

The third best part about this weekend is that it breaks up an otherwise dreadful winter month of snow, slush and that God-dammit-there’s-street-salt-everywhere feeling. The second best part is the awesome sweat-ball  that we’ll see, obviously. (Editors note: you haven’t truly seen sweat ball unless you have witnessed a pick-up hoops game in Brady’s driveway)

But easily the number one best part of this weekend is the incredible people involved: the Big E Hoops Weekend Whew Crew. 

Mr. Daily Onions has done a phuh-nominal ahh-rugala job of summarizing the event and giving us some strong game previews.

So you’ve heard and will hear plenty about the actual basketball teams. Now here’s a couple tidbits about OUR starting lineup, in alphabetical order:

Big E Hoops Weekend Preview: Game 2 - Purdue University vs. West Virginia University

As you can see, the quality of the games increase as Big E Hoops Weekend goes on, and we shift from the NEC to a Big Ten - Big East match up on Sunday afternoon.

Boiler Up

Official Name: Purdue University

Daily Onions Name: Purdon’t

Location: About 130 miles from Chicago, Indiana

Conference: The Big 10/11/12 or Legend/Leader?

Mascot: Boilermakers

Famous non-sports alumni: Neil Armstrong, astronaut; Seven Nobel Prize winners; Founder and CEO of C-Span, Brian Lamb.

Famous sports alumni: John Wooden, greatest coach ever; The Big Dog, Glenn Robinson; Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints Quarterback.

You might know them because….A perennial Top 25 team, the Boiler Makers used to be coached by Gene Keady, who had quite the hair situation going on, on top of his head. The clever student section even called themselves the Gene Pool. The past two seasons, Purdue has lost their best player Robbie Hummel to ACL injuries.

This year’s team: Coached by highly respected Matt Painter, in his 6th year, Purdue is currently ranked #8 in the country. The Boilermakers are at Minnesota on Thursday night before making the trip to WVU. To date, they are 15-1, 4-0 in conference, however they have not played anyone in the Top 25. The next two games should be great tests on the road.

Roster Check:Purdue depends on their two seniors to do much of the heavy lifting. Guard E'Twuan Moore averages 19ppg, 6rpg, 3apg, while forward JaJuan Johnson is a 19ppg and 8 rpg guy that shots close to 50% from the field. Keep your eye on Ryne Smith, a 6-3 guard that can hit from anywhere.

Best Player: JaJuan Johnson is pretty fun to watch. The 6-10, 221 lb string bean forward is one of the most versatile players in the college ranks. He can pretty much score from anywhere on the court, gets to the free throw line 6.5 times per game, and also blocks 2.5 shots per game on the defensive side of the floor. If the Mountaineers don't control Johnson, they'll have a tough time winning.

Almost Heaven

Official Name: West By God Virginia University

Daily Onions Name: WVU - Dub-V

Location: Dirty, West Virginia

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Mountaineers

Famous non-sports alumni: Emmy Award winner, Don Knotts; Lady Gaga's mom; John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems.

Famous sports alumni: Jerry West (NBA Logo); Pac-Man Jones, NFL cornerback and someone that likeded da scrip club; Andrew Luck’s Dad, Oliver (current WVU AD); Rod Thorn, President of Philadelphia 76ers.

You might know them because….you got Pittsnogled a few years ago in the NCAA tournament. Or you followed the Mountaineers run to the Final Four last year, led by senior Da'Sean Butler. Unfortunately Butler was injured in the semi-final game against Duke, and we all had to witness one of the more awkward moments in college basketball between Bob Huggins and Butler. Or you've hugged the person next to you in a bar while singing John Denver's Country Roads.

This year's team: After losing Butler and underachieving Devin Ebanks from last year's Final Four team, it was hard to tell what the Mountaineers would be this year. They struggled at times and have lost to Minnesota, Miami, St. Johns and Marquette - all games they very well could have won. Their biggest win of the season came on Saturday, when they went to Georgetown and out-grinded the Hoyas, winning by 6. Bottom line for the 'Eers, they lack the go to guy that they had the last two years with Butler. Kevin Jones was their top returning player, but he is the perfect #2 or #3 option on a team, not necessarily the #1 option. Luckily, they've had senior guard Casey Mitchell step up to take on most of the scoring (averages 17.6ppg), and he can shoot it from behind the arc.

Roster check: Senior guard Johnnie West is the son of WVU legend and NBA Hall of Famer, Jerry West. Guard Joe Mazzula is still on the team, even though it seems like he's been there for 8 years. Starting point guard Darryl Bryant, goes by "Truck".

Best player: From a pure scoring, take the shot at the end of the game standpoint, I think you go Mitchell.  From an all-around standpoint, a guy that you want on the court for all 40 minutes to do anything you need him to do, give me Kevin Jones.

Daily Onions Prediction: We are going to hold off on the actual game prediction until Friday, as we want to see how WVU and Purdue fair in their games tomorrow night. Some things that we can guarantee: Coach Huggins will be in his black pull over jacket and black pants, and if the Mountaineers do indeed win, there is a good chance we'll be having a few drinks with Hugs at a local watering hole after the game.

Coming Thursday/Friday: Preview of the main event - Syracuse vs. Pitt, and a guest blogger joins Daily Onions.

Big E Hoops Weekend Preview: Game 1 - Monmouth vs. Robert Morris

We are in the final days of preparation for Big E Hoops Weekend. To make sure every one is completely up to date with who plays when, and what person went where, we are going to breakdown each of the games we'll see in person this weekend, with everything you need to know to get through the hoops overload.

What About Bob?
Official Name: Robert Morris University (not to be confused with Robert Morris University in Chicago)
Daily Onions Name: Bob Morris

Location: Near Pittsburgh, PA

Conference: Northeast Conference (NEC)

Mascot: Colonials

Famous non-sports alum: Robin Sanders, US Ambassador to Nigeria.

Famous sports alum: Kevin Colbert, GM of Pittsburgh Steelers; Hank Fraley, NFL offensive lineman

You might know them because... Bob Morris was a 15 seed in the NCAA tournament last year, and gave Villanova everything it could handle in the first round game, losing by 3 in OT. Last year’s coach, Mike Rice, is now the head coach at Rutgers.

This year’s team: First year head coach Andy Toole, 30, is the youngest head coach in D-1 basketball and looks like he could be the youngest person on the roster. Daily Onions worked a few basketball camps with Toole (good guy) a few years back during his time with Hoop Group. Thus far this season, Bob Morris is 6-9 overall, 2-2 in the NEC (winning by 1, losing by 2, losing by 5 in OT, and winning by 3). They play FDU on Thursday as their last tune-up before Saturday night.

Roster Check: Bob Morris might be a simple name, but their roster includes Karon, Coron, Yann, Velton, Treadwell, Lijah and Deion.
Best Player: Russel Johnson averages 13 ppg and 7 rpg.


Watch Your 'Mouth
Official Name: Monmouth University
Daily Onions Name: The Mouth

Location: Bruce Springsteen, New Jersey

Conference: Northeast Conference (NEC)

Mascot: Hawks

Famous non-sports alumni: Anthony Beltempo, creator of MTV’s Jersey Shore; two contestants on Survivor; Jack Lawless (attended for a semester) before joining the Jonas Brothers as their drummer.

Famous sports alumni: Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys WR (and one of Kim Kardashian’s former flings); Christie Rampone, US Women’s National Soccer Team captain

You might know them because…they actually have won a game in the NCAA tournament – the play-in game vs. Hampton in 2006. Head coach Dave Calloway was a counselor at a basketball camp I attended when I was just a little onion. He’s been at Monmouth for 14 years and has gotten them to the NCAA tournament 3 times.

This year’s team: 5-11 overall and 1-3 in the NEC.  They hosted Villanova on Dec. 22 and lost by 40.

Roster Check: The Hawks have a Phil Wait (from England) and an Ed Waite (from Florida) on this year’s team.

Best Player: Ed Waite averages 10 ppg and 6 rpg.

Daily Onions Prediction: Despite having distinguished alum Ramy Nammour, and his guests, in attendance, the Hawks can't overcome the Colonials experience and depth. Bob wins 68-61, making this the second most important sports victory in the city Saturday night (see: Steelers, Pittsburgh).

Coming Wednesday: Preview of Sunday afternoon's West Virginia vs. Purdue game.

Three Days, Three Games, Three Alma Maters

 Let the countdown to Big E Hoops Weekend begin.  You may be asking what is this Big E Hoops Weekend Daily Onions speaks of? Pull up a chair, its pretty cool.

Cuse Is In the House, Oh My God

As I’ve mentioned, I went to Syracuse University. Many of my closest friends that I grew up went to West (by god) Virginia University. Another one of my best friends went to Monmouth University.

Somehow, someway, the basketball scheduling gods have aligned and look what they’ve done. 

Saturday, January 15^th – Monmouth University (yep, they have a Division 1 basketball program) at Robert Morris University (in Pittsburgh, basically)

Sunday, January 16^th – Purdue at West Virginia University (in Morgantown)

(Big) Monday, January 17^th – Syracuse at Pittsburgh (in Pittsburgh)

Almost Heaven.

For those of you scoring at home, that’s three college hoops games, in three days, featuring the schools that my closest friends and I attended, all within an hour and a half of each other. 

Home base for the weekend will be the Palace of Brady and Brandi Smith in the Steel City. Final roster for the weekend is still being determined, but it looks like we’ll be going at least 6 deep.

What is this? The Monmouth Logo.

As we approach that epic weekend, Daily Onions will not only take a look at the teams participating in the games, but we’ll also highlight the people making the trip.

And I know you are all wondering….and the answer is yes. Daily Onions will have a running diary of all (well, maybe not all) the weekend’s activities. Stay tuned….just 28 days away.

Daily Onions Note: Check back later today for Daily Onions Christmas List!