Rivalry Week

Grrr, it's rivalry week on ESPN. Being rivalry week, I was curious if this was actually a good week for rivalries, or if it was just because Duke vs. UNC, other games be damned. You know, like if they had a rivalry week in baseball it would be whenever New York and Boston were playing, no matter if Milwaukee was playing Washington or Minnesota was playing Texas, the only thing that would matter is the Yankees/Sox, since ESPN believes those are the only teams that anybody in America cares about.

So I took a look, day-by-day, to see which games were actually big time rivalries, televised on ESPN or not:

MONDAY:
Villanova vs. St. Joe's - "The Holy War", greatest name for a game ever
Missouri vs. Kansas - "Border Showdown", horrible name
Gonzaga vs. St Mary's - not a historical rivalry, but the top 2 WCC teams. Half point.

TUESDAY:
Michigan vs. Ohio State - more well known in football, but still counts
Florida vs. Tennessee - another football one, but again, still counts
Butler vs. Valparaiso - both Indiana teams, probably some kind of rivalry here

WEDNESDAY:
Duke vs. UNC - The rivalry of all rivalries, "The Battle of Tobacco Road"
Miami (FL) vs. Florida State - football teams hate each other

THURSDAY:
West Virginia vs. Pitt - "Backyard Brawl"

SATURDAY:
Southern vs. Grambling - "The Battle of the Bands"
Iowa vs. Minnesota - I consider this a rivalry

SUNDAY:
Arizona vs. Arizona State


Meh. They did ok I guess, especially by getting the Holy War, Backyard Brawl, Battle of the Bands, and Kansas/Missouri in there the same week. Some other decent rivalries as well. They're missing some good games, like Penn/Princeton, Indiana/Purdue, Kentucky/Louisville, Cincy/Xavier, and all the Pac 10 ones other than Arizona to name a few, but I guess you can't be perfect. Should be a fun week, no matter what.


UAB +1 @ Southern Miss (L)
VA Tech +2.5 @ NC State (L)
Ohio State -14 vs. Michigan (L)
South Florida +19 @ Georgetown (W)
Drake +4 @ Illinois State (W)
Texas A&M -6 @ Iowa State (W)
Purdue -11 vs. Penn State (W)
Butler -4 @ Valpo (L)
Florida +9 @ Tennessee (L)

Yesterday: 2-2
Season: 287-256