Soft Pretzel Logic

Big news here on the blog to start what is always the best week of the college basketball season.

First, I'm proud to announce that for the second year in a row, I'm headed to Atlantic City to liveblog the Atlantic 10 tournament. I'll be there all four days, bringing you updates from all the games at Boardwalk Hall.

There will also be audio and video features, including postgame press conferences and possibly game highlights. Stay tuned.

Second, our big NCAA Tournament pick' em game is now set up. Expert pickers include myself, Dick Jerardi of the Daily News and Jeff McLane of the Inquirer, with more to come soon.

Click here to register.

I've also set up a Soft Pretzel Logic pool for us to play among ourselves for bragging rights. It ain't much, but it's something. Click here to join.

Lastly, this week's College HoopsCast is now available for your listening pleasure here.

Joe Juliano joins me to break down of all this week’s big conference tournaments, including an in-depth look at the Atlantic 10 and Big East tournaments.

What do St. Joe’s, Temple and Villanova have to do to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee? How many bids will the A-10 and Big East get?

Plus a discussion of all the other big tournaments this week, from the ACC to the Pac-10, and a look around the mid-major tournaments that could have just as big an effect on local teams’ postseason hopes.

And I argue for why some conferences shouldn’t have tournaments at all.

By the way, in a sure sign of just how bad the cold I've had the last few days is, I made a mistake on the show. I said that the Big 5 and Drexel haven't been shut out of the NCAA Tournament since 1997; it is, in fact, 1977.

Download it here.

It's the first week of March, so Mike Jensen and I had a lot to talk about, including:

-- The impact of Sunday night's Temple-St. Joseph's game on local NCAA Tournament hopes

-- The vital numbers for St. Joe's, Villanova and Temple: do any of them have strong enough resumés to make the Big Dance?

-- Whether the Atlantic 10's weighted conference schedules will result in the conference only getting one team into the NCAA Tournament

-- Who should win Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, and whether anyone deserves Big 5 Player of the Year

-- Cornell's Ivy League title, and Penn senior Brian Grandieri's final games at the Palestra this coming weekend

-- And a rundown of all this week's big local and national games, including Stanford at UCLA on Thursday and North Carolina at Duke on Saturday.

Download it here.

This week, Joe Juliano joins me to discuss a whole host of topics, including:

-- How Villanova's loss to Marquette derailed their NCAA Tournament hopes

-- La Salle's four-game win streak and how it has thrown the Atlantic 10 into chaos

-- Whether the Atlantic 10's strategy of weighting conference schedules relative to how good the teams are is backfiring. Richmond, Temple and La Salle are in contention for byes, while Dayton and Rhode Island have played themselves out of NCAA Tournament contention

-- What St. Joe's and Temple need to do to make the postseason ahead of their big showdown at the Palestra on Sunday night

-- Who should be ranked No. 1 in the nation after Tennessee's win at Memphis

-- And a rundown of all this week's big local and national games.

Download it here.

Today, Joe Juliano joins me to discuss:

-- Villanova's tough loss last night
-- Malcolm Grant (which hopefully we won't have to deal with too much anymore after today?)
-- Whether the Wildcats can make the Big East tournament
-- The St. Joe's-Xavier game
-- Temple's overtime win against UMass
-- And all the big games locally and nationally this week.

Also, I didn't see the Jay Wright thing but I've heard about it a few times now. Just because I didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen, but sort of like with Malcolm Grant, I'd rather not go talking in depth about things I don't know anything about.

But since I got linked to on my friend Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog today, I'm going to return the favor and steal the YouTube embed he posted of the end of last night's game.

Download it here, and be sure to subscribe if you haven't already.

This week, Joe Juliano joins me to discuss the big win for St. Joe's over Villanova, Temple's win over George Washington and Penn's 2-0 start in Ivy League play.

We also talk about the big national and local games this week, including Duke-North Carolina and Villanova-Georgetown.

Download it here.

This week, Mike Jensen joins me to discuss:

-- All the big talking points from the St. Joe's-Temple game
-- The poor performance by Villanova's defense against Notre Dame
-- Candidates for Big 5 Player of the Year
-- Penn finally starting conference play
-- The national games of the week

Of note, we're going to hold next week's show until Tuesday so we can recap the Holy War. Because of that, Mike and I preview the game today. One of the big things we talk about is the fact that the game is on CSTV, so a lot of people probably won't get to see it.

I want to hear from you about whether you have CSTV, and if not, whether you'll be able to watch the game. Post a comment or send me an email.

Also, those of you who subscribe via iTunes might have noticed that we have a new podcast feed. Now you can get individual episode metadata for each new file, instead of having them all look the same as they did on the old feed.

So I'm going to start putting the postgame press conferences I record on the feed. Let me know what you think.

Download it here.

Today (I was actually off work yesterday for the holiday), Mike Jensen and I discuss:

-- Temple's wins over Xavier and Saint Louis
-- The attendance at the Liacouras Center for the Owls' win over the Musketeers, and whether it matters
-- Whether the Owls can beat St. Joe's come Saturday
-- Villanova's win at Syracuse
-- La Salle's three-game winning streak
-- And nationally, a shakeup at the top of the polls, including what effects it will have on the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Download it here.

This week, fellow track enthusiast Joe Juliano joins me to discuss:

-- Villanova's loss at Cincinnati;
-- St. Joe's' wins over Massachusetts and Richmond;
-- Temple's loss at Charlotte;
-- Drexel's continuing struggles;
-- The upcoming La Salle-Penn game on Tuesday;
-- And the rest of the week in local and national college hoops, including all the big games and the outbreak of bad basketball that seems to be plaguing the nation of late.

Download it here.

Today, Mike Jensen joins me to discuss Villanova's win over Pitt, Temple's game against Duke on Wednesday and all the other big local and national games this week.

I'd go into more detail but it's way too nice outside. Sorry.

It's a really slow news day, so why not download the latest episode of the College HoopsCast. Joe Juliano and Mel Greenberg join me to discuss the latest college basketball news, including:

-- Drexel's win over Rider last night and their game against St. Joe's at the Palestra on Monday;

-- The Hawks' trip to Siena tonight;

-- La Salle at Villanova tomorrow;

-- Temple and Penn traveling to Florida for games against the Gators and Miami, respectively;

-- Some big national games of late, including last Saturday's Georgetown-Memphis game and the upcoming start of conference play;

-- And a roundup of the local and national women's scene, including Temple's record-setting 16th straight Big 5 win last night against Penn.

Download it here.

On this week's show, Mike Jensen and I discuss:

-- Temple's win over Drexel in depth, including whether Temple's defense or Drexel's lack of offense was the bigger factor in the game.

-- Why Hartford played so well at Villanova -- and why the Hawks' Philly ties have a lot to do with it.

-- La Salle's trip to Puerto Rico, where they'll face hosts Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, DePaul and Mississippi.

-- And the national scene. Louisville's loss to Purdue on Saturday has some ramifications for Villanova, and there are some big games this week including Pittsburgh vs. Duke in New York and Georgetown at Memphis.

Listen to it here. This week, Mike Jensen joins me for a discussion of:

-- Last night's Villanova-Temple game

-- Villanova's big comeback win over LSU

-- Two more losses for St. Joe's

-- Another bad loss for Drexel

-- North Carolina's tough road stretch, and how that affects Mike's weekly AP Top 25 ballot

-- The resurgent Atlantic 10, which now has big wins including Dayton at Louisville and Rhode Island at Syracuse

-- The impact of A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno, who will retire at the end of June 2008.

I know the Hawks fans have been discussing that latter point a good bit, so let me know what you think of what we said on the show.

I finally got this week's podcast up on the site. You'll notice that the sound quality is a lot better; I did some tweaking of the recording equipment and am pleased to say that I no longer sound like I'm talking into a tin can.

You'll also notice that the file size of the mp3 in the podcast feed is a lot bigger; I'll work on fixing that for next week.

Anyway, this week I was joined by Mike Jensen and Joe Juliano. We discussed a lot of things, including:

-- An in-depth look at the Penn-Villanova game

-- A discussion of just how deep this Villanova team is

-- Drexel's really bad week

-- The impact of St. Joe's playing three games in three days, and how close the Hawks are to being ranked

-- Whether Temple will look past Thursday's game against Towson to Sunday's game against Villanova

-- La Salle's trips to Bucknell and Morgan State this week (yes, I realize we haven't talked about the Explorers in a while)

-- Penn's big game against North Carolina tomorrow night

-- All that star power the Tar Heels have, including Wynnewood native Wayne Ellington and stud point guard Tywon Lawson

-- And the national games of the week: Memphis vs. USC in New York tomorrow night and Kentucky vs. Indiana on Saturday.

Also, here's some good stuff to read:

-- Mike Jensen and Mike Kern on the BCS matchups

-- Mike Jensen on Wayne Ellington's homecoming

-- The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore's in-depth analysis of the football coaches' poll, which might just leave you seriously questioning its legitimacy

-- ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski's plea for a football playoff

-- and Storming the Floor's update on the whereabouts of former Temple big man Anthony Ivory (scroll down a bit, but read the other stuff too).

Ryan writes:

Has anyone else felt like that their teams have been a victim of a Jim Burr call. Such as the call against Villanova durning the NC State game last Sunday night. This guy may need to retire soon.

I'll leave the straight answer to that question to you all, but I will say the call that I presume you're referring to -- the foul with 0.4 seconds left that sent Gavin Grant to the line for the game-winning free throws -- was really dumb.

I asked Mike Jensen about it on today's College HoopsCast and he agreed.

In addition to Villanova's trip to Orlando, we talked about:

-- The freshman guards leading Drexel and Penn this year
-- Visits to Philadelphia this week by some of the top mid-major teams in the country: Ball State and Gonzaga at St. Joseph's, Ohio at Temple and Creighton at Drexel
-- The Hawks returning to action after a 10-day layoff
-- and some of the big games on the national scene lately, including Arizona-Kansas, Xavier-Indiana and North Carolina-Ohio State.

Plus, I got exclusive interviews with Virginia guard Sean Singletary and his mother, Jacqui, after the championship game of the Philly Classic.

Speaking of the Philly Classic, I'll share some of my thoughts on it after the jump.

The new College HoopsCast is now up. In it, I talk to Mike Jensen and Joe Juliano about a range of topics, including:

-- Temple's dramatic collapses against Providence and the College of Charleston (and almost Marist)
-- Villanova's win over Bucknell, and their trip to Orlando this week for the Old Spice Classic
-- Drexel's game at Virginia tonight, which is being played as I write this
-- Penn's early season struggles
-- and whether or not the Philly Classic will succeed.

Click here to listen to it.

I would have posted it a lot earlier, but I had to cover the Jimmy Rollins MVP press conference.

Also because of that, I will deal with this week's football crunchy numbers -- and some very good questions from Fred -- in the next post.

After a 251-day summer hibernation, the Palestra reopens its doors tonight for its 81st season of college basketball.

There is little doubt that Villanova, Saint Joseph's and Temple are (in approximately that order) the three most significant programs in the region. And I say that knowing that Drexel is running neck and neck with Villanova in the readership survey, and that none of the other teams are close.

But the heart and soul of the game in this city resides in an Ivy League school's arena on 33rd Street, under the arched roof of a place whose claim to being "college basketball's most historic gym" is more than just hyperbole.

So while the Owls' game at No. 7 Tennessee tonight features the most glamorous of all the local teams, and while Villanova begins its season tonight at home on the Main Line, it seems appropriate to me that tonight's clash between Penn and Drexel should be at the top of the marquee.

After all, we haven't often seen a city rivalry game be a season opener, especially in recent years. No, Drexel isn't in the Big 5, but when the Big 5 Classic was played there was an unofficial rule that City Series games weren't supposed to be scheduled before the Classic's annual spot on the first Saturday in December.

Today's College HoopsCast is up, featuring the Inquirer's Mike Jensen. He's in Knoxville today to cover the Temple-Tennessee game, and you should definitely read his story on the last time these two teams played. Also be sure to read the Daily News' roundup-style preview of Penn, Drexel, Temple and Villanova.

Voting in the poll continues. Penn and La Salle made some moves but it's definitely a two-horse race now, between Villanova and Drexel.

Drexel 689
La Salle 138
Penn 134
Temple 34
Saint Joseph's 178
Villanova 745
Somebody else 35 (still all unspoken for)

If you're going to the Pavilion tonight, enjoy it. Let's see how much Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher play.

If you're going to the Palestra, look for me. I might liveblog it; I haven't decided yet.

And if you have ESPN360.com or a satellite dish that carries FSN South, you'll be able to see Temple-Tennessee.

Above all, enjoy the start of the season. We've been waiting long enough for this, haven't we?

It all starts tomorrow, finally. For today, we have a few things.

-- Today's College HoopsCast features Inquirer women's basketball writer Mel Greenberg, as well as an exclusive with ESPN.com bracketologist and St. Joe's radio analyst Joe Lunardi.

-- Elsewhere in the podcast universe, ESPN.com's Andy Glockner (a Penn alumnus) heeds our cry here on the blog and calls out Pat Forde for never having been to the Palestra.

And should Mr. Forde come across this blog, I will be glad to offer tips on where to eat and drink in the neighborhood, as he is known to be fond of that sort of thing.

-- Speaking of Forde and his neck of the woods, you take a guess as to what folks in Lexington, Ky., are feeling like today after Gardner-Webb knocked off Kentucky last night. Sounds from that story like they're doing their best impression of us here in Philadelphia.

-- The latest poll results, but remember voting continues through Saturday morning:

Drexel 644
La Salle 20
Penn 70
Temple 30
Saint Joseph's 144
Villanova 671
Somebody else 34 (and still, none of them say who their team is)

Be sure to check out today's headlines on the right side of the blog, including the Inquirer's Penn preview and a great piece on former Temple coach Wayne Hardin, who was in charge of the Owls the last time they were good.

And the football crunchy numbers, which I've just been too busy to work on until now:

24. Penn State -- home win against Purdue (32)
45. Rutgers -- road loss vs. Connecticut (11)
75. Delaware -- home win vs. James Madison (87)
110. Villanova -- road loss vs. Richmond (81)
132. Temple -- road loss vs. Ohio (112)
139. Delaware State road win vs. Winston-Salem State (190)
172. Lehigh -- road win vs. Colgate (159)
189. Lafayette -- home win vs. Bucknell (228)
199. Penn -- home win vs. Princeton (207)
242. La Salle -- road loss at Wagner (216)

Nothing much to see here this week, but I'm quite amused at how highly ranked Connecticut is even with one loss. Boise State is 28th and Hawai'i is 40th, and I would say both are better teams. The next four teams after UConn, by the way, are Auburn, USC, Virginia Tech and Michigan.

The Top Ten comparison:

If the AP could call the mayor's race within half an hour of the polls closing last night, I think we can safely say Penn has been knocked off its perch as the most-supported team here on the blog.

The current results:

Drexel 404
La Salle 10
Penn 53
Temple 28
Saint Joseph's 107
Villanova 467
Somebody else 7

But the poll will remain open until Saturday afternoon, so keep voting.

Today's College HoopsCast is up, featuring interviews with Drexel's Bruiser Flint and Penn's Glen Miller.

Which brings me to this comment posted by Fred:

JT:

Has it really gotten that bad with the Penn students that they dont turn out for the Princeton game?

I am amazed with the lack of interest in the Penn student body for anything related to athletics.

The FB crowds seem sparse (I think they "announced" 12K for the last home game). And now the interest level has been diminished for the big basketball game.

Are the students really that disinterested? Bored? Are there other more attractive options on campus?

Are students strapped for spending money? (I would think not)

Are marketing and promotional efforts not working?

I think this is quite disappointing, considering that Penn traditionally fields very good teams in both sports (recent football problems aside).

Wow.

I hope the Penn fans on here will chime in with their views on this but I will say a few things. First, as I said yesterday, Princeton being really bad makes a huge difference. The whole buzz around the game was that it was always for the Ivy League title, and that's gone.

For example, I was at the 2003 game and it was jammed to the rafters. That year, both teams were very good -- Penn had Ugonna Onyekwe et al., while Princeton had won the title in 2001 and tied for it a year earlier.

A year later, I believe the Palestra game was over Penn's spring break, which severely diminished the atmosphere. Then John Thompson III left, Joe Scott came in and down the Tigers went.

But I will also say this. Fred asks whether the promotional efforts aren't working. From my experiences on Penn's campus, I've rarely all that much promotion in the first place. Drexel hangs a banner over Market Street; Temple has the marquee on the Liacouras Center, though that is certainly in a prime location. But it's been a while since I've seen promotional material on Locust Walk.

Again, I want to hear from the Penn folks on this, but I get the impression that there isn't much of that in general.

And by the way, check out all those stories in the headline list on the right side of the blog. Today's offerings in both papers are very good, especially Ed Barkowitz's national college basketball preview in the Daily News.

The new College HoopsCast is up, featuring interviews with Temple's Fran Dunphy and La Salle's John Giannini.

If you guessed it would run on the same day as the Inquirer's Temple preview, you'd be right.

And since it's election day, don't forget to vote in the readership survey. 183 votes have been cast so far, which is already way more than the total of 138 votes in last season's poll. So thanks very much for that.

Drexel 1
La Salle 9
Penn 36
Temple 23
St. Joe's 70
Villanova 37
Somebody else 7 (and still none of them have spoken up about what their team is)

I have to say, I've been waiting for that kind of a tally. I knew that the St. Joe's fans would show up sooner or later, and lo and behold they have.

By the way, the Hawks get a mention in the Forde Yard Dash basketball preview edition. It is one heck of a piece, and not just because of the Ashley Judd references.

Apparently, Mr. Forde has never paid a visit to the Palestra. Well that surely ought to end this year, shouldn't it? I'm not saying that you all should blast his inbox, but I have a sneaking suspicion that an offer of a trip to the New Deck Tavern after a game on 33rd Street might sweeten the pot.

And you might want to keep in mind that even though Forde thinks St. Joe's has a shot at the Sweet 16, his parent company is broadcasting the Holy War this year. It is on CSTV.

But ESPN does have the North Carolina-Penn game, and here's betting the Tar Heels have a better shot of pulling him in than any of our local teams.

Oh well.

At last, we have our first College HoopsCast of the season. And even better: there will be a new podcast every day from now until Friday.

Today's featured interviews are Jay Wright and Phil Martelli. Click here to listen.

We also have our first Bracketology of the season. Villanova gets an 8-seed and goes to Little Rock, Ark., to play Stanford; the winner gets Memphis. What a fun trip that would be... right.

St. Joe's gets a 12-seed and goes to Tampa to face Arizona. As in, the same site of the Hawks' nail-biting, last-minute loss to Auburn in the 2003 Tournament.

The last time Villanova and St. Joe's both made the Tournament was 1997, which was also the last year the Philadelphia area got three teams in the field.

But Lunardi doesn't project that happening this year. He has Cornell winning the Ivy League and Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason representing the CAA.

(Though when it comes to history repeating, it's worth noting that the Hawks made the Sweet 16 that year while the Wildcats only made the second round. That could certainly happen in this bracket.)

Penn State, believe it or not, is the sixth team out. It could be interesting to see whether anyone reacts around here if the Nittany Lions' basketball program wakes up this year.

The A-10 gets two teams: the Hawks and 7-seed Xavier, which goes to Birmingham, Ala., to face Washington.

But it's not just the northern teams who are getting sent south. D.C. is the northernmost venue, and it's still south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

And before you ask:

Washington: 38°53'22.24"N
Denver: 39°44'23.86"N
Omaha: 41°15'38.45"N

The other venues are Anaheim and Raleigh. The latter is where Georgetown ends up, because the Hoyas are the host institution in the nation's capital. Duke and Michigan State are the high seeds there.

Finally, don't forget to vote in the poll. The latest results:

Drexel 0
La Salle 4
Penn 22
Temple 18
St. Joe's 2
Villanova 9
Somebody else 7 (but none of them left a comment to say who their team is)

Penn can't possibly win this thing again, can it?

Yep, that's right. The best college basketball podcast in Philadelphia comes back next week with five episodes to preview the new season. There will be a new show each day Monday to Friday, including interviews with all six of the region's Division I coaches and expert analysis from the Inquirer's college basketball writers.

I would have written more today, but I got called to another assignment... interviewing Michael Nutter? Yeah, really. Shameless plug, I know, but it's worth watching.

This week's episode of the show is now ready for your listening pleasure.

It's a preview of the Final Four, with a look at all the chalk and all the big money teams that have made it to Atlanta. We break down the matchups and Mike gives his picks. Then we take up the John Thompson III-Fran Dunphy discussion that's been going on the blog.

It's also the last show of the season with Mike. I'll probably do one for the women's final four with Mel Greenberg on Wednesday and that will be it.

To all of you out there who've been listening, my sincere thanks. Mike and I really do care that people are downloading the show.

This week's show is now available for your listening pleasure. On it, Mike and I look back at how Villanova, Penn and Drexel got bounced from the post-season, including what the Wildcats' offense will look like next year and whether the Quakers and Dragons got a fair shake from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

Then we preview the Sweet 16, and take a stop at each regional venue to break down the games and pick some winners. All I'll say is that we disagree on half of them.

Also, if you've missed any past episodes, you can download them all by going here.

This week's College HoopsCast is ready, and it's a very special edition of the show. I spent this morning at the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Tourney Tipoff Breakfast, where all of the City Six men's coaches and a slew of big names in the local sports media gave their opinions on this year's NCAA Tournament.

The good people at Coaches vs. Cancer of Philadelphia let me record the entire panel discussion, and it's presented almost in its entirety on the podcast. I edited out just a few minutes at the start, where some awards and grant checks were presented, and a few at the end where there was a prize raffle.

Please understand this, though. I mentioned this morning that it's worth spending your money to buy today's Inquirer and Daily News. But the place where your money should really go is Coaches vs. Cancer effort. Seriously. Is there a better cause that we can all get behind, no matter what school you support, than finding a cure for cancer?

I didn't think so.

So please, if you have some money to spare, go to the Coaches vs. Cancer of Philadelphia home page, and give a donation. After raising $700,000 last year, the program's goal this year is an even million dollars.

I don't always like shilling for stuff, but if there's one thing it's worth doing for, this is it.

Amid all the other work I've been doing the last few weeks, Mike and I had just enough time to put together this week's show.

This week,we look back at Drexel's loss in the CAA Tournament and debate whether Penn's Mark Zoller or Ibrahim Jaaber should win Ivy League player of the year -- or whether they both should. Then they look ahead to the local teams playing in the Atlantic 10 and Big East tournaments, and discuss some of the other major conference tournaments taking place this week.

Oh, and please go vote in the poll if you haven't yet. La Salle still doesn't have any votes, and I really would feel weird if Penn wins this thing by a big margin.

The new show is up. This week, we ponder where St. Joe's and Temple are going in this last week before the A-10 Tournament; look ahead at two big games for Villanova; preview Drexel's trip to the CAA Tournament; and discuss whether the Ivy League ought to have a tournament of its own: Here's a hint: we agree that it shouldn't.

On the national scene, we discuss who the top team in the country is. I'm a bit skeptical of Ohio State, but Mike has them at the top of his ballot, and he makes a good case.

This week's show is now ready for your listening pleasure.

Mike and I start by looking back at the weekend, with a tough loss for Villanova and a big win for Drexel. Then, with Temple's Dionte Christmas and Penn's Mark Zoller lighting up the scoreboard, we try to pick an All-City team. And finally, we look ahead to the big games locally and nationally this coming week.

In the national segment, Inquirer women's basketball writer Mel Greenberg makes a special guest appearance to talk about the women's game. Mel and I talk about the favorites to win the national championship, the best player in the women's game and the state of two local teams on the national stage: Rutgers and Temple.

Have a listen, and feel free to let me know what you think by emailing me or posting a comment.

This latest College HoopsCast is now available for your listening pleasure.

On this week's show, Mike and I start off talking about big wins for Villanova, Temple and Drexel.

Then we look ahead to three big local rivalry games this week, starting with Penn-Princeton. Quite a few Penn fans asked me over the weekend to do something about this game, and Mike and I discuss why the Tigers aren't the power they used to be.

We also consider a couple real big games on Wednesday night in the Atlantic 10. St. Joe's and George Washington battle for a first-round bye in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle has a must-win game at home against city rivals Temple.

In the national segment, you might recall that a few weeks ago Mike and I gave some props to the Pac-10 as the nation's best conference. Well, the ACC is making a serious run at that title right now, so we discuss which one's better. And is it possible that Duke might not make the NCAA Tournament?

All that and more on this week's show.

Mike Jensen just told me that he got an email complimenting him on the College HoopsCast. Which means there are listeners! Hooray!

Of course, if you haven't listened yet, well, why are you waiting? This week, Mike and I talk about the Holy War and a bunch of other good stuff. Check it out and let me know what you think by emailing me or posting a comment.

The new College HoopsCast is up. This week, Mike Jensen and I look ahead to tomorrow night's Holy War between Saint Joseph's and Villanova. We also discuss Drexel and Penn's struggles of late, and reflect on Herb Magee breaking the all-time Division II wins record at Philadelphia University.

In our national segment, we talk about how wide-open the top 25 is this year, and Mike should know because he votes in the AP poll every week. And we close things out with a local angle on the biggest rivaly in college basketball: Duke and North Carolina.

Do check it out, and let me know what you think of it either by emailing me or posting a comment.

(I haven't gotten any comments since I switched to TypeKey, and I promise it's not that difficult to set up!)

The new College HoopsCast is finally ready for your enjoyment, by clicking here or by downloading the latest episode in iTunes.

This week, Mike and I break down Villanova's loss to Pittsburgh and Drexel's loss to Virginia Commonwealth. As I mentioned yesterday, we held the show an extra day so we could include the 'Nova-Pitt result.

Then we consider whether St. Joe's can win the A-10 -- and whether Temple will even make the A-10 Tournament?

And we close out with a special feature. This past Thursday at the Big 5 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I interviewed two of the members of the class of 2007: Jen Zenszer and Diana Caramanico. I also spoke with two close friends of the third inductee, the late John McAdams: former Big 5 Executive Secretary Dan Baker and veteran AP college basketball writer Jack Scheuer.

The new College HoopsCast is finally ready. This week, Mike and I take a long look at the Villanova-Texas and St. Joe's-Xavier games. Then we look the week ahead locally, headlined by Temple at Penn and Virginia Commonwealth at Drexel. Our national segment this week is on the Pac-10, which might well be the best conference in the country. And we profile Arizona's Mustafa Shakur, a Philly native who is doing very well out in Tuscon.

By the way, there are two pretty good games on national TV tonight. On ESPN2 at 7, the top-ranked Duke women play at No. 4 Tennessee. Then at 9 on ESPN, Oklahoma goes to Oklahoma State for the Bedlam game. Yes, the Sooners are having an off year, but the atmosphere for that game is always worth watching -- especially in Stillwater.

If you missed last week's show, you can you can drop this link in the "Subscribe to Podcast" window in iTunes or whatever other podcast software you use.

On this week's show, we look back at a tough weekend for the local teams -- as I said in Newsstand, everybody but Penn lost. On the bright side, though, we discuss Syracuse coming back into form and Mike highlights the depth of the Colonial Athletic Association. For our national feature, we discuss the ACC. It was a wild week on Tobacco Road, as Duke lost two conference games for the first time in a decade and North Carolina lost at Virginia Tech.

We also highlight Philly natives Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington, the Episcopal High natives now playing at UNC and Duke respectively. Mike was down there last month and he got to see both players in person.

And finally, we look ahead to the week's main local and national games. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention two this coming Saturday: Drexel goes to Delaware at noon and Temple hosts Rhode Island at 2 p.m. Apologies.

By the way, two other things about Virginia Tech that I didn't get to mention on the show. First, you have to put that win at Duke in the context of last year's game between the two teams at Cameron -- yes, the one where Sean Dockery hit a buzzer-beating three to win it and the Cameron Crazies rushed the court.

Second, the Hokies' win over Carolina wasn't the first time coach Seth Greenberg upset a top-ranked team coached by Roy Williams. In 1993, Greenberg's Long Beach State team went into Allen Fieldhouse and beat the Williams-coached Jayhawks. The man clearly knows something.

I'll have more to say about this next week, but the Inquirer's weekly college basketball podcast is back for another season. It's myself and Mike Jensen, and we might have a few other guests along the way as well.

This week, we talk about the St. Joe's-Temple game, Villanova beating Georgetown, and Drexel's hot streak. We also focus on Ohio State star Greg Oden, whose Buckeyes played (and lost) that big game at Wisconsin last night.