1. A Big 5 game on a Sunday night. According to former Big 5 Executive Secretary Paul Rubincam, this was the first time two city series teams met at that point in the week.
2. A Big 5 game with 194 combined points. We got that tonight too, as Villanova used a 23-7 run early in the second half to pull away from Temple for a 101-93 win in front of 7,720 at the Liacouras Center.
It was 42-39 'Nova at the half, as Temple shot 8-for-16 from three in the first 20 minutes but only 4-for-12 from outside thereafter. The Wildcats made 11 of their 10 attempts from beyond the arc for the game: 6 of 11 in the first half and 5 of 9 in the second.
Dionte Christmas had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds -- he was one of three Temple players to score 20 or more points -- but the line of the night goes to Scottie Reynolds. He's been quiet the last few games, but he exploded for 20 second-half points as part of this total:
Name |
Min |
FG |
FT |
3pt |
OR |
DR |
TR |
A |
S |
TO |
Blk |
PF |
Eff |
Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S. Reynolds |
37 |
8-12 |
7-7 |
4-7 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
38 |
27 |
3. A Big 5 team that wins 13 City Series games in a row, because until tonight no team had ever done that before. So congratulations to Villanova for setting that record.
Jay Wright and Fran Dunphy both talked about that bit of history after the game. Click here to listen to Villanova's postgame press conference and here to listen to Temple's.
I'll let you all debate the fact that the game wasn't sold out, mainly because I have to work at 6 a.m. and I can't really say I'm looking forward to it...
Comments (4)
Great job getting the inside word from Paul R!
What is Herky doing with himself these days??
Posted by Big 5 Fan | December 10, 2007 11:03 AM
Posted on December 10, 2007 11:03
Comcast didn't care enough to pay more than a nominal fee to broadcast it to the Philly metro area. The Inquirer didn't care enough to post one pregame article. There should be no surprise that fans didn't care enough to fill the Liacouras Center.
Posted by looking italian | December 10, 2007 7:36 PM
Posted on December 10, 2007 19:36
I agree with the principle, but I will say that because the game was on ESPNU, Comcast couldn't take it. Some sports allow concurrent local and national broadcasts on some occasions (the NBA, MLB and Major League Soccer all come to mind), but only the ACC does that in college basketball. And they only do it for one Duke-Carolina regular-season game and the conference tournament.
We'll see how the CSTV regional deal works with CSN and CN8...
Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/pretzel/nav-commenters.gif)
|
December 10, 2007 7:42 PM
Posted on December 10, 2007 19:42
I won't pretend to be an insider. But I'll bet that this wasn't a case of the A-10 setting this game aside for a network that reaches a sliver of the market where both schools are located. For Villanova-Temple, Comcast's 3M households in Philly are more valuable than ESPNU's 20M households nationwide.
My guess? This game was originally in CSTV's hands, and that the goal was to get the game on Comcast at a price above production costs. Comcast didn't blink - as they haven't for five years, first with ESPN (Big East), and now with CSTV (A-10). CSTV could have picked up the production costs and put it on its national channel (comparable to ESPNU in terms of households both nationally and in Philly). Or it could have swallowed the broadcast rights, saving money but keeping the game off TV. But either ESPNU offered a nickel more than Comcast, or CSTV didn't want to take the heat for having zero households for Villanova-Temple. So the game got dumped on ESPNU. CSTV made a small marginal profit, and the game was watched by one college hoops nut in Great Falls, while those in Philly without Verizon FIOS or premium satellite packages were shut out.
The CSTV regional deal? About the same level of exposure as two years ago, when the A-10 was giving the games away to Comcast. Villanova-St. Joe's was not part of the deal; as of now, that game is on CSTV's national channel. And Bruno resigned the day after the deal was announced. Doesn't seem like it worked out too well.
Posted by looking italian | December 11, 2007 1:34 PM
Posted on December 11, 2007 13:34