#TWITBE Ep. 9.6 - Guests Souley Boum, Mike Anderson and Andy Katz

This Week In The BIG EAST Radio Show, distributed by Westwood One, continues its ninth season with guests Xavier graduate guard Souley Boum, St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson and FOX Sports Analyst Andy Katz.

The sixth episode of TWITBE reviews the past week of BIG EAST basketball, taking a deep dive into the league’s top contenders for the regular season title. As the home teams continue to dominate, the top four teams in the standings–Marquette, Xavier, Providence and Creighton–are currently 8-0 against each other on their home floors, in addition to being a perfect 27-0 combined at home in overall conference action. 

The BIG EAST Spotlight is on Xavier guard Souley Boum, who runs the point for the BIG EAST leading Musketeers. Ranking at the top of the BIG EAST with a 4.6 assist-turnover ratio in league play, tied-for-second at 5.7 assists per game and seventh with 15.7 points per game, Boum discusses his growth from starting his career at San Francisco, competing at UTEP and now leading the charge at Xavier. With the ability to defend, dish, drive, and shoot, Boum is drawing well deserved national notoriety.

The BIG EAST Focus shines on St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson, ahead of the Red Storm’s showdown with No. 20 Providence at Madison Square Garden Saturday at Noon ET on FOX. Outside the everyday tasks of teaching and coaching, there are many outside factors affecting coaches these days. Recruiting, the transfer portal and NIL are making the profession more challenging by the day. Anderson provides his take on his team and the day-to-day life of being a BIG EAST head coach.

FOX Analyst Andy Katz gives a view on the national perspective. March Madness is officially just around the corner, but there is still much to decide in terms of regular season and conference tournament champions. In addition, the process of seeding the NCAA Tournament field will be particularly difficult this season with the strengths of conferences such as the BIG EAST, Big 12 and Big 10. Katz takes the time to break down the top conferences and teams with an eye toward the Big Dance. 

The episode’s “Who’s Hot” segment features the return of “Blast from the Past”, rewinding the tape to just a season ago, February 15th, 2022. Villanova’s do-everything guard Collin Gillespie went off for a career best 33 points in an 89-84 win at Providence. The win paved the way to a strong end of the year finish for the Wildcats and Gillespie, with the latter earning BIG EAST Player of the Year, the Dave Gavitt Trophy winner as Most Outstanding Player in the BIG EAST Tournament, as well as a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The returning hosts for This Week In The BIG EAST (#TWITBE) are John Rooke, a longtime BIG EAST play-by-play voice, and Kevin McNamara, BIG EAST radio host, columnist and author. Rooke and McNamara give a comprehensive look at the teams, coaches, players and storied tradition of the top basketball conference in America in each episode.

To join the conversation and send questions to Rooke (@JRbroadcaster) and McNamara (@KevinMcNamara33), use #TWITBE on Twitter. Fans may submit questions to be featured on the show. 

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This will air Saturday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. ET on Sirius 138 XM 201 Online 964 leading into the St. John’s broadcast of Providence @ St. John’s.