Sat. March 7th games

[stever20]

Butler, a 68% FT shooting team on the season went 20-20. Wow!

Providence never should have let it get this close at home, on Senior Day. But given that it was a close game, those FTs were huge.

just saw on ESPN that 20-20 was the most FT that Butler has ever made in a game w/o a miss.... just amazing after the game on Tuesday vs Georgetown.

[RDinNY]

You can't blame nova for just taking layups and wide open jump shots. St. John's fans had been debating all week whether or not we should try and win this game or sit people to keep healthy for the NCAA tournament. Lavin chose the latter and fans have to live with getting embarrassed.

I think St. John's will take this experience and with a full team beat nova this Friday if we get by providence. If not, oh well, but there's really nothing to say about nova running up the score. Maybe they took some threes when they shouldn't have, but St. John's is the one that purposely threw a regular season game to rest their players. They have to live with those consequences.

Purposely threw a game? Really?

[FDS]

Some of you St. John's fans are acting pretty whiny about this running up the score business. It is pretty simple, if you don't want to get scored on, play better defense. The game is 40 minutes long and if you only showed up ready to play 20..., shame on you.

[RedStormHoops]

You can't blame nova for just taking layups and wide open jump shots. St. John's fans had been debating all week whether or not we should try and win this game or sit people to keep healthy for the NCAA tournament. Lavin chose the latter and fans have to live with getting embarrassed.

I think St. John's will take this experience and with a full team beat nova this Friday if we get by providence. If not, oh well, but there's really nothing to say about nova running up the score. Maybe they took some threes when they shouldn't have, but St. John's is the one that purposely threw a regular season game to rest their players. They have to live with those consequences.

Purposely threw a game? Really?

Branch and Obekpa both could've gone today. You know that. Without them there was no way SJU was gonna stay in this game 40 minutes. The beginning was fun with rysheed posterizing that nova kid but everyone should've know it wouldn't last. St John's showed they really didn't care about the game today. And it's fine, this game meant nothing. It's more important to be healthy for the tournament.

[RedStormHoops]

Some of you St. John's fans are acting pretty whiny about this running up the score business. It is pretty simple, if you don't want to get scored on, play better defense. The game is 40 minutes long and if you only showed up ready to play 20..., shame on you.

Well we were resting our guys because march madness is more important to than this game.

[ChestRockwell85]

St. John's is adorable! In 2 games Villanova has beaten St. John's by a combined 55 points. Yeah, we want another shot at you as well.

Also, I was at the game, our starters were out with 5 minutes left. Enough already. I can't remember the last time Villanova walk-ons got that many shots.

You want to blame somebody? Blame your coach and his recruiting. It is not our fault you have no depth. We have COMPLETELY owned you over the past decade and it's not about to change.

[MackNova]

St. John's is adorable! In 2 games Villanova has beaten St. John's by a combined 55 points. Yeah, we want another shot at you as well.

Also, I was at the game, our starters were out with 5 minutes left. Enough already. I can't remember the last time Villanova walk-ons got that many shots.

You want to blame somebody? Blame your coach and his recruiting. It is not our fault you have no depth. We have COMPLETELY owned you over the past decade and it's not about to change.

I'm just shocked I haven't heard the referees excuse yet. Every time St. John's loses, it's the refs' fault. Now, it's that St. John's didn't try to win.

That's the earliest I've ever seen the walk-ons get time under Jay Wright in a conference game. Nova's rotation is 8 guys, 1 depth scholarship guy, and a bunch of walk-ons. So someone has to play.

Nova is clearly the better team, and St. John's was shorthanded. No surprise we beat them for the 13th time in 14 tries.

[ChestRockwell85]

I am from New York so a bunch of my buddies are St. John's fans. The amount of text messages I got that displayed nothing but sour grapes was disgusting. "If we had Obepka....." We beat you by THIRTY SEVEN POINTS. If we give you 25 points, we still win by 12. I have been to like 5 St. John's games this year and have watched several others on TV, your boy Obepka is not a game changer and no way his presence would have made that much of a difference.

"Jay Wright is classless....." AGAIN.....AGAIN, Jay had the starters out with more than 5 minutes to go. That one Villanova walk-on had about 3 open 3s before he nailed one. I have NEVER seen Villanova walk-ons play as much as they did today.

St. John's fans, literally, it is something like 14 out of the last 15 games we have taken from you. St. Joseph's our little small town rival has given us tougher games and have beaten us more over the last decade than you guys.

[Bill Marsh]

Xavier down 1 at halftime.

Just was looking- the RPI to the minute is 44 for Xavier. Looking at the RPI- there's a HUGE gap between 48 and 49- 48 is Tulsa at .5816. 49 is Woffard at .5760. That's an incredible gap. Maybe X wedges in between if they lose today.

X won.

Tulsa's RPI doesn't include the loss to SE Oklahoma State. The committee will account for that and will drop Tulsa.

That's not what I was talking about- I was just showing how big of a gap there was between 48 and 49.

Tulsa is by no means out of it yet. They win tomorrow and get a win 1st rd of the AAC tourney, they're probably totally safe.. Or get 2 wins in the AAC tourney.

Tulsa is done. Put a fork in them.

[Bill Marsh]

Xavier down 1 at halftime.

Just was looking- the RPI to the minute is 44 for Xavier. Looking at the RPI- there's a HUGE gap between 48 and 49- 48 is Tulsa at .5816. 49 is Woffard at .5760. That's an incredible gap. Maybe X wedges in between if they lose today.

X won.

Tulsa's RPI doesn't include the loss to SE Oklahoma State. The committee will account for that and will drop Tulsa.

1 thing I find remarkable. You say you are a UConn fan, yet do not want someone from your own conference to make the tourney fiercely. Just crazy to me. Especially with a newer conference- Tulsa getting into the tourney would be a huge plus for the AAC.

I live in CT, I follow UConn, and have been a season ticket holder at times. Did some graduate work at UConn but didn't go there as an undergrad. I cheer for them most of the time. I'm more passionate about Providence and the Vkg East than I am about UConn.

I have no interest in the AAC and would like to see UConn get out of it ASAP. In fact, I hate the AAC as a conference. I frankly have no interest in football and think the sport should be eliminated as too dangerous. The football priorities of the AAC have ruined it's potential as a basketball conference, which is where my passion and interests lie.

The AAC took a completely wrong turn when it added Tulsa to replace Louisville. What they should have done was to add UMass instead and to then have brought in VCU to supplement the Navy presence in the Chesapeake region. That would have brought some rivalries to the East, thereby creating some interest for UConn fans, and would have upgraded basketball. By ignoring the East in favor of a small school from Oklahoma that does nothing for the conference and by failing to prioritize basketball, they have made this conference a complete yawner.

Anyone doubting the lack of priority on basketball should check out the OOC SOS. There are like 4-5 AAC schools with OOC SOS of 300+. They don't even try. Sad. Pathetic