Men's Hoops Update From The Palestra

The men's basketball team plays Saint Joseph's tonight at the historic Palestra on the Penn campus. The game will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and 55KRC-AM.

Xavier has not played a game in the Palestra since the 1980-81 season when Bob Staak and the Musketeers lost to La Salle, 65-60, on December 10, 1980.

The Musketeers got a chance to practice this afternoon at The Palestra. Among those in attendance were two of the three announcers for tonight's game, Jon Sciambi and Tom Brennan, and the ESPN2 producer Rick Willenzik. In addition to get plenty of background information and prep from Tom Eiser, Brennan spent considerable time talking to Xavier Athletic Director Mike Bobinski about his role on the NCAA Basketball Selection Committee and about the process itself. The third announcer for tonight, Doug Gottlieb, arrived this afternoon on a flight because he had to do SportCenter this morning. He'll be rushing out after the game as well because he has a flight out tonight so he can be back on set for SportsCenter tomorrow.

That's some great exposure in front of some guys that will be doing plenty of studio work as we approach and work our way through March Madness.

For the record, the Xavier practice today is the second time Xavier has practiced at The Palestra since joining the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Musketeers got snowed in by a few feet of snow after beating La Salle on January 6, 1996. Instead of playing Temple on the night of Jan. 8 on national tv, the Musketeers played on the afternoon of Jan. 9 without tv and very few fans. The only practice they could get in was at the Palestra, which was across the street from their hotel (Penn Tower). It was like an Alaskan Adventure watching the team make its way a couple blocks through the snow. Fortunately, the weather is much better today in Philadelphia.