Doc

Six wins should be enough. Five wins may even do it, if we keep picking off the other bottom feeders. Unfortunately, we play most of them on the road and so the Bulls will either need to pull off a few upsets at home, or win down the stretch on the road against teams also fighting for their lives. The Rutgers win over SHU was bad only if your goal is to finish 15th. We're aiming for 12th or better, and so any ground made up on those 3 and 4-loss teams is a good thing. A win over a higher-level team like Marquette would go a long way in a three-way tie if head-to-head is tied, since the next tie-breaker is record versus top team, then down the line.

Doesn't look like there will be TV for this one. I'm making the drive to South Bend early Sunday morning to watch the drama unfold in person. If you hear an unexplained game stoppage on the radio, it's probably the ref telling me to sit down and shut up, much like what happened at a women's game a couple of years back.

I remember that rain game too -- my horn-hat took a beating that night but managed to make it all the way through. The score was closer than it should've been if I'm not mistaken, something like 14-0. I'll have my Bulls car flag flying this afternoon as I make my way to Birmingham from St. Louis. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Only 17 undefeated teams left, and two of them are playing ranked teams tonight. Go Bulls, beat the Spiders and keep the streak going. I'll be eagerly watching the ESPN ticker tonight, since I don't think we get any Full Court games until conference play begins.

TAMU-CC lost to Oklahoma State last night, leaving USF with the longest stretch without tasting defeat. Time to plan for that parade! Only 29 unbeatens remain, and only eight schools left with both men's and women's teams undefeated.

Paying homage to Denny Green: "The Mountaineers are who we thought they were!"

Expecting a loss should never be a reason to stay home. The team's record shouldn't factor into the decision. Last season, USF was something like a combined 1-12 all-sports when I made an appearance, but yet I keep making the trip. Haven't seen a football victory in person since 2002 against Memphis, a game we nearly lost on the final play. My other fetish involves the Arizona Cardinals who are a pitiful 3-21 when I show up, but I'll be there to watch them in St. Louis this Sunday. . .

78 It would just be one ticket for me, and probably only staying for the game, not even overnight.

You guys take care of Louisville and Pittsburgh, and I'll take care of DePaul and George Washington. There, that should do it. . . correct me if I'm wrong, neither men's nor women's B-ball has even made top 25 before, right?

Creepy? Thanks, man. I've been called worse, by better.

Nice pics! Thanks for posting them. I think I see the top of my horns in one of them! Yeah!!!

Who said I'm leaving the SunDolls? I do like your use of the words "SunDolls" and "behind" in the same sentence though.

Hmm, George Washington and Arkansas still have to deal with me in Saint Louis. You better believe that if they are still ahead of us come gametime, I'll be on my most vicious behavior when they take on the Lady Billikens. They play in a 1920s-era gymnasium where I can stand about a foot-and-a-half off the sideline and yank down a visiting player by her ponytail if she gets too close and the ref isn't looking. . .

OK, anyone got gurlybull's number then?

A little off topic but I guess it's as good a place as any to ask: Why don't you guys play the fight song the way it was meant to be played, before it was changed to 6/8 time? The lyrics actually fit the pre-1999 version and sounded much less dainty than the current song. And if you insist on keeping this version, any thoughts on where I could get an audio clip of the original version (I know they still played it in a radio ad until just a few years ago)? Thanks, and keep up the excellent work!

Hey, I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any time. As mentioned above, these are the close games we lost last year, against good & bad opposition. Probably a good thing I didn't see the game, although the ESPN ticker totally screwed this one up, showing a questionable 67-59 Bulls' lead and not updating the score (but showing it was in OT) until well after it went final. . . not many nails left on my fingers. Looks like only 36 unbeatens remain, and with the Bulls safely in the clubhouse until next week, expect that number to drop a bit before we take the court again. There are still a few small-conference pretenders to weed out, and a few more big boys to likely go down in the ACC-BigTen challenge. Maybe low to mid 20s left before the Richmond game, and with a win, perhaps some ESPN talking head will mention us on some list and give us some positive exposure. As for TAMU-CC, I was there in Springfield, MO last season and saw them hand our team a bad beatdown. Very under-rated, and I believe they now hold the nation's longest winning streak (five wins to end last year, and undefeated so far this year). Only they and our Bulls can still trace a winning streak to last season. For those not keeping score at home, here are the final three dozen unbeatens by my count: LaSalle, Clem, MD, NCSt, UVA, WF, UConn, Marq, Pitt, USF, Syr, Ill, OhioSt, IowaSt, Mizzou, Nebr, OklaSt, TAMU, UCF, USM, Butler, NIU, Ohio, WichSt, NewMex, SDSt, RobMorris, Oregon, UCLA, Wash, WashSt, Alab, Ark, TAMU-CC, FresSt, Nev. Five at risk Tuesday night. . . Yes, this IS my hobby, sad to say.

No way. Not a fluke. Although that run at the Big East title last year will be hard to duplicate down the road, given that the conference is so much deeper than anyone could have anticipated. Six-and-a-half teams that could beat you on any given day.

Now let's see if we can get everyone who showed up on campus last night into the stands for our B-ball game against Stetson! With the Gators biting the big one against Kansas, we're down to only 41 unbeatens! And while we're at it, let's get those same fans to show up for our women's basketball games too. No question that they deserve it every bit as much!

If you think our commercials are bad, what about that Big East promo? It's a total disgrace! Watching it, you would think our conference only had the three teams shown. How about representing all school equally? At least the old C-USA spots had the good sense to give all members face time.

If the title game goes OSU-Mich, couldn't the Rose Bowl then select Notre Dame to play USC? I know it's a rematch, but it's still Notre Dame money and Notre Dame publicity. If so, then the Sugar Bowl picks next, so I guess it doesn't help our cause that it's in the middle of LSU country. Any chance they would pick Louisville over LSU and a rematch vs the SEC champ? Wishful thinking on my part, I guess.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It must have been awesome being there to see it unfold in person, considering how great it was just watching it from a small TV in a sports bar with no sound. A truly remarkable victory. That's too bad about the WVU fans at the game. Most Big East football fans I've encountered on the road (UL, UC, UConn, Pitt, and even WVU) have been extremely polite, although I guess it's much easier to behave oneself after a victory. The biggest break had to have been the weather. We've all seen what happens when the mercury drops and it was something like 8 degrees, windy, and snowy for Thanksgiving last year in Morgantown. Well, have a safe trip home and perhaps we'll cross paths at the bowl game.

Good one, Sheriff! But I'm NOT a gynecolgist. If I knew what those ESPNU guys were saying, I would have shown them my go-go-gadget finger. Our basketball winning streak is a winning streak, or non-losing streak if you prefer -- no losses since March 1. And with the Fightin' Greenbergs going down tonight, we're left with only 58 unbeatens. The countdown continues!

Ha!! Yes I kept the L-Ville cup to add to my Big East collection. Haven't seen the tape. I got pretty excited after that TD and I guess that comes from watching too many AZ Cardinals games where TD-onside kick-TD-onside kick-TD combos are usually required in garbage time. One of these days I'll see it actually happen. . .

. . . that's if you go by time since last loss rather than number of wins. By my count, only 11 schools in D-1 finished last season with a victory (national champ, NIT champ, and nine others without conference tourneys or who didn't qualify for one), and eight have already gone down to defeat this year. Only Florida and TAMU-CC have gone longer without a loss. Also, for what it's worth, with Georgia Tech's impending loss tonight, the number of unbeatens will dwindle to just 60. Several more to go down before we take the court again. Still on that list: UCF, Greenberg's Hokies, upcoming opponents Richmond, MoSt, TAMU-CC, Wake Forest, and six other Big East schools. What does this mean? Well, about 8 years ago we took a winning streak in to mid-December and got some national attention before Tennessee knocked us off at home in OT. It didn't, however, get us any votes or any extra conference wins. Still, I'll take any positive spotlight over those "only team to not win a conference game. . ." tags they were flashing on the ESPN ticker last year.

Have already ordered my MSG tickets, but no plane ticket. . . of course I'm driving to Hartford and NYC come March whether our teams are there or not. For what it's worth, the Sagarin ratings currently have us ahead of six Big East schools. Non-conference record doesn't play into tie-breakers, but I'd rather beat the likes of FIU and SC St. than have losses to Wofford and Jackson St.