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Unless your residence this summer has been under a rock (it hasn't, has it? If so, sorry for being so insensitive) you may have noticed that Xavier is no longer in the venerable Atlantic 10. Gone are February nights at Fordham, Duquesne's annual attempt at relevance, and, blessedly, that stupid hawk at St. Joe's. Now, Xavier is in the big time and this Friday is perhaps the first major indication of that.
Should you tune to Fox Sports One (219 on your DirecTV box) tomorrow night at 9pm, you'll see the Big East Tip Off Party. Hosted by Rob Stone, Bill Raftery, and Tarik Turner, the show is essentially going to be a two hour tour of the various opening festivities from around the conference. Featuring prominently will be Coach Mack with a live interview, and the highlights of Musketeer Madness.
That's hardly all though. With the benefits of playing in a name conference also comes the circus. Musical performers B.o.B and others will perform live. DJ Nick Cannon will also appear, reprising his most famous role as that B-list dude who married Mariah Carey. According to the press release, there's more "including scrimmages by the men's and women's teams, skills contests, Coach Willard's head-to-head showdown with competitive hot dog eating sensation Takeru Kobayashi and musical guests at select campuses." Yes, all of that is how Xavier open basketball season now.
It's a new world.