Sabel's Haus

Once it was one of the best college basketball rivalries in the country. Cincinnati was at one time voted the best town in the nation for college basketball.

Tonight will be the 76th time the two teams have met but the rivalry has lost its luster a little over the last couple years. It's probably because UC has had some down years the past three or four seasons.

There was "the handshake" game where UC lost in 1994 and former UC coach Bob Huggins refused to shake the hand of then Xavier coach Pete Gillen. Needless to say, that's what this game has always been about. Both teams hate each other. The UC campus is only up interstate 71 maybe three miles.

And this game has been close for a very long time. The last time either team has won this game three years in a row was when UC did it in 1990-'93.

On paper, UC should win this game tonight. The rivalry though has taught us one thing. Never say something should happen. And the players know how big this rivalry once was and still is.

I covered a game a couple weeks ago when UC played Texas Southern. One of their assistant coaches was former Bearcat and NBA star Nick Van Exel. He told the UC players in the handshake line after that game to beat Xavier.

It's not just him though. Mick has said in the past that former players will call or come to practices during the week.

But tonight's game is big for UC apart from the rivalry. UC is 5-1 and is ranked No. 19 in the AP and USA Today poll. Meanwhile Xavier is reeling at 5-3 and in need of a win. Xavier will be fine though once they gain some experience and start playing their A-10 schedule.

UC only gets stronger tonight too as Ibrahima Thomas is now eligible. Mick has expressed excitement all year in Thomas. He's a 6-foot-11 junior transfer from Oklahoma St. that can apparently stroke the three ball. He'll only make UC better from here on out. He'll need a few games to get some experience back but once he learns to play (in games) with the rest of the guys, UC will be dangerous.

The Miami (OH) game:

The 63-59 final score doesn't seem all that impressive against a MAC team like Miami (which by the way is only about an hour north of UC's campus.) However, Miami isn't a bad team. They only lost to Kentucky by two points on a buzzer beater from John Wall.

So we'll see tonight. I'll be getting to the Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier U at around 6 p.m. tonight. Game starts at 7 p.m. (these are eastern times of course)

Be sure to follow my tweets from the game. I'll also throw up a post game and halftime blog about the game.