Summer School Valedictorians: The NIT running thread

Surely not many people saw it, but what a game last night with Virginia Tech outlasting Duquesne, 116-108, in double-overtime. Great crowd in Blacksburg, very loud, very into the game. Duquesne nearly stole it away, coming from 13 down to lead by 3 in the final 30 seconds. Dukes senior Aaron Jackson scored 46, 40 coming after halftime, showing why he should have been A-10 Player of the Year, all due respect to Ahmad Nivins of St. Joe's. A.D. Vassallo had 33 for the Hokies.

The end of regulation and first overtime were helter-skelter, back-and-forth, throughly entertaining. Too bad it was on ESPNU and few people outside of Blacksburg saw it. It did lead SportsCenter this morning, which says something, I guess, about what kind of game it was.

 

ESPNU is available in places other than Blacksburg.

 

Just sayin', it's not available in very many places, at least not through the wonderful Comcast conglomerate that many in my region live under. Not even in the sports tier package.

And I wasn't referring to it being on ESPNU only in Blacksburg. I was referring to the fact that ESPNU is still an obscure channel for many, and that those not at the game didn't have a great opportunity to watch.

However, there probably aren't many people out there interested in a Duquesne-Va Tech basketball game anyway other than alums and fanbois like myself (Duquesne '00).

 

It's not available in a ton of places, Sonner. Certainly not on my cable system. I watched it last night on Channel Surfing. Duquesne is going to be real good here in the coming years. Very young team.

 

Yeah, I know. I was just being a bit of a smartass. My bad.

Speaking of ESPNU, a bunch of us Mason fans got together at a friend's house to watch the NIT game the other night. We picked this one guy's place because of his kick-ass setup in his townhouse. Anyway, I was stunned to learn that he has to pay an extra $12/month for ESPNU on DirecTV. That channel should be on the most basic of packages -- everywhere.

 

Just switched over from commercials during the NCAA games to catch a little New Mexico-Notre Dame. The Irish are just pounding the Lobos and Steve Alford.

Any beating Alford gets is fine with me.

 

Isn't Notre Dame vs. Alford kind of like Darth Vader vs. Attila the Hun?

Hard to pick one to root for.

 

Nice to see the Alfords pissed that one away.

Saw that way too many times in his years at Iowa.

 

Anyone - and that includes a starting five of Jay Bilas, the Shamwow guy, Ann Coulter, Dr. Phil and Rod Blagojevich being coached by Hugo Chavez - becomes Luke Skywalker in my eyes when they play against Steve Alford. What a fucking overrated asshole.

 

Love the inclusion of the Shamwow guy! Very nice.

"It's made in Germany. You know the Germans make good stuff."