A Game Fueled By Hate: The Crosstown Shootout Was Awesome, Everything That's Perfect About College Basketball

I can't stress this enough. Cincinnati/Xavier is a damn near perfect rivalry. It's fueled by hate, you have the whole '3 miles away from each other' that gets brought up all the time. You have two programs trying to make a jump who gauge everything on this game. But this game delivered. It was perfect college basketball. Fifth Third was loud as shit, it was sloppy, dumb plays and then massive moments. Obviously none bigger than the final shot: 

Couldn't draw up a more wide open look. Now, I assume every UC fan thought this was going in. That's how this rivalry has been lately. This was the game that Wes Miller had to win. It's not Ryan Day and Michigan, but 3 losses in all of his games for Wes Miller doesn't exactly sit the best with fans. He got it, thanks to a bunch of made shots down the stretch. Xavier had UC on the edge before a missed Freemantle dunk led to a UC run. There's a reason former players are doing victory laps: 

There's a reason in the postgame interview Dillon Mitchell was talking about this being the most fun thing he's ever been in while he's played college basketball. It's what a rivalry should be. It's a city rivalry. It's something that people in this city take to heart and will let everyone know where they stand. It's rare that a rivalry feels like it delivers every year, but this does.