Just five games on the schedule involving New York area teams and all three Big East schools will be playing. Columbia hosts Longwood and Hofstra takes on Farmingdale State in games that the home teams should win with relative ease. The Lions took DePaul down to the wire on Tuesday night but their issues at the foul line did them in. Hofstra has already played a pair of ranked opponents (Kansas and Connecticut), performing much better in their 76-67 loss to the Huskies on Tuesday.

Oregon Hoop Rankings 2003

Monmouth's trip to Jersey City will get the majority of the area's attention due to the fact that it's being played at 6 AM. Fire up the coffee, toast a bagel and enjoy that one as it looks to be a hotly-contested game. As for the games being played at conventional times, Hofstra takes on Connecticut in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off with a trip to MSG on the line. Yves Jules and Charles Jenkins combined for thirty-six in their 68-63 win over Yale Monday night. But they're going to have their hands full with the trio of Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson. 

Defending NEC champion Robert Morris is back on the road following their opening game loss at Syracuse, this time visiting Penn State in a game that tips at 7:30 PM. The Nittany Lions, defending Postseason NIT champions, are led by All-Big Ten guard Talor Battle and all he did in their season-opening win over Penn was rack up 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Ed DeChelis' team doesn't have a senior on the roster and the amount of talent they lost from last season's team resulted in the Big Ten coaches picking them to finish last in the conference.