Congrats Providence

[dmac80]

Great Job PC, I dont think anyone had you guys anywhere near the top of the conference at the start of the season. I do recall some folks wanting Ed out at the start of the season. Looks like his job is pretty safe. Good luck in the Tourney.

Huh? No one up in PC wanted Ed out, he was already highly regarded but now a legend in Friartown.

Anyway thanks to all for the love. PC has really played with heart and soul as their t shirts say and it all flows from Coach Cooley down. I'm excited because he's been a pretty amazing recruiter so far and now he can sell more than just a vision.

[NJRedman]

Congratulations Friars!

[cu blujs]

Congratulations Friars. Thanks for letting the Jays make it look interesting for a couple of minutes there at the end. Do some damage in the tournament.

[Omahanian]

This morning as I reflect once again on last night's championship game:

1. I am even more impressed by and happy for the Friars. What an uphill battle all season long and you just kept prevailing.

2. I am still impressed with how the crowd sounded on TV. Atmosphere sounded just electric. Would be interested in hearing from BET fan veterans in how you thought the crowd atmosphere last night compared to previous BET championship games.

3. I don't know what they said to each other, but I thought the post game embrace by the too coaches looked like it might have been a meaningful and respectful conversation.

and 4. Just to give you Friar fans a little more to savor with your win . . . The loss still stings this morning! No shame or surprise or anything like that. We lost to a great team and more so to some great people. But it still stings . . . Sort of feels like January 19.

BUT . . . This afternoon when the selections and seedlings are announced, it' s back to licking our chops at the possibilities. Roll Jays. Roll Friars. Roll Wildcats. Roll Musketeers.

[marquette]

Congrats to Providence! I couldn't be happier for you guys! Now X, PC, VU, and CU go crush it in the tourney!

[EMT]

I thought the crowd was amazing last night. I'd say the fans did a great job and MSG brass had to be impressed. It'll never be the same crowd without local juggernaughts UConn and Syracuse but in yeRs when they were knocked out, you could always find an easy ticket.

Props to Creighton for traveling well and to the fans of a 4,000 student school. I'd say we had at least 4,000 fans there.

[LeMoyne00]

As a veteran of 21 Big East Tourneys -- the Creighton fans coming so far in mass was nice, and the atmosphere of them verses the New York crowd cheering on the old guard was fun last night. My wife was in heaven with the PC win, after the harrassment she had suffered on Friday night from some Creighton fans -- some of them were near us again last night as we all had tourney pass seats.

That said, she and I both noticed a serious void though... the passion of a lot of the casual fans just wasn't in it, lots of people checking their phones for the other scores, and I know MSG is dark and the crowd looks good on tv, but there were A LOT of empty seats, something I have rarely ever have seen on championship day at the Garden.

I was guessing last night with my wife that there was 16k and the box score says even less (15,290), which means there were almost 5,000 empty seats for the Championship game. Louisville's last two Big East Championships had over 20k (20,057 in 2012 & 2013); while UConn's 2011 and 2010 West Virginia's championships had 19,375 (prior to bowl changes in the renovation plan). So attendance is a bit of an issue down 25-33% depending on the sessions, but thanks to the greatness of the facility and the event staff the imagery/atmosphere produced by the Garden was top notch and I think everyone had a good time.

[adoraz11]

As a veteran of 21 Big East Tourneys -- the Creighton fans coming so far in mass was nice, and the atmosphere of them verses the New York crowd cheering on the old guard was fun last night. My wife was in heaven with the PC win, after the harrassment she had suffered on Friday night from some Creighton fans -- some of them were near us again last night as we all had tourney pass seats.

That said, she and I both noticed a serious void though... the passion of a lot of the casual fans just wasn't in it, lots of people checking their phones for the other scores, and I know MSG is dark and the crowd looks good on tv, but there were A LOT of empty seats, something I have rarely ever have seen on championship day at the Garden.

I was guessing last night with my wife that there was 16k and the box score says even less (15,290), which means there were almost 5,000 empty seats for the Championship game. Louisville's last two Big East Championships had over 20k (20,057 in 2012 & 2013); while UConn's 2011 and 2010 West Virginia's championships had 19,375 (prior to bowl changes in the renovation plan). So attendance is a bit of an issue down 25-33% depending on the sessions, but thanks to the greatness of the facility and the event staff the imagery/atmosphere produced by the Garden was top notch and I think everyone had a good time.

15k?? Wasn't part of the contract with MSG that the tournament had to be sold out? Not sure how this works though.

[Bluejay]

As a veteran of 21 Big East Tourneys -- the Creighton fans coming so far in mass was nice, and the atmosphere of them verses the New York crowd cheering on the old guard was fun last night. My wife was in heaven with the PC win, after the harrassment she had suffered on Friday night from some Creighton fans -- some of them were near us again last night as we all had tourney pass seats.

That said, she and I both noticed a serious void though... the passion of a lot of the casual fans just wasn't in it, lots of people checking their phones for the other scores, and I know MSG is dark and the crowd looks good on tv, but there were A LOT of empty seats, something I have rarely ever have seen on championship day at the Garden.

I was guessing last night with my wife that there was 16k and the box score says even less (15,290), which means there were almost 5,000 empty seats for the Championship game. Louisville's last two Big East Championships had over 20k (20,057 in 2012 & 2013); while UConn's 2011 and 2010 West Virginia's championships had 19,375 (prior to bowl changes in the renovation plan). So attendance is a bit of an issue down 25-33% depending on the sessions, but thanks to the greatness of the facility and the event staff the imagery/atmosphere produced by the Garden was top notch and I think everyone had a good time.

15k?? Wasn't part of the contract with MSG that the tournament had to be sold out? Not sure how this works though.

I'm a little late to this because of traveling back to Omaha, but congrats Providence. You kicked our backside pretty good in the first half and we just couldn't recover.

As to the attendance issue outlined at the end of the quoted post, some of the fans of the other schools really need to pick up their attendance. Where were all the fans from the eastern schools? From what I read, Creighton was the only school that sold its required allotment?!? I was shocked that I didn't see more fans from some of the schools that are a heckuva lot closer. Should we move the tournament back to a Thursday start so that there are more games on the weekend?