The Holy Land of Hoops

St. John's gets a second chance at Providence after losing a close game in New York. Given the way that St. John's has been playing lately, I expect another close game despite PC's home court advantage. I'm going with Providence by 4-5 points.

The Butler-Marquette matchup figures to be another good game. Both teams have been playing well. I'm figuring Marquette by 6-7 points.

All SJ fans need right now is a 7th loss by 4 points or less. I'd rather get blown out by 30 than lose by 4 or less each game with false hope. I just don't see PC beating us for the 4th or 5th straight time especially after we totally gave the last game away in an embarrassing ending. They are a good team and will be at home, but on paper we should handle them. Being swept by PC would be a disaster. If we win at PC we set up a potential HUGE matchup with Creighton at MSG. Not expecting to win that one, but if we do that puts us at 15-9 and 5-6 and suddenly we have a real chance again. Don't want to get ahead of myself but if this team wants it, they can definitely take the last at-large spot if they close games and get a few upsets along the way.

Lavinwood wrote:All SJ fans need right now is a 7th loss by 4 points or less. I'd rather get blown out by 30 than lose by 4 or less each game with false hope. I just don't see PC beating us for the 4th or 5th straight time especially after we totally gave the last game away in an embarrassing ending. They are a good team and will be at home, but on paper we should handle them. Being swept by PC would be a disaster. If we win at PC we set up a potential HUGE matchup with Creighton at MSG. Not expecting to win that one, but if we do that puts us at 15-9 and 5-6 and suddenly we have a real chance again. Don't want to get ahead of myself but if this team wants it, they can definitely take the last at-large spot if they close games and get a few upsets along the way.

PC was up by 14 or so in the first half, and our depth issue contributed to the game pulling tight. I don't think St John's ever led by more than 3 maybe the entire game? They trailed most of the game and never had a lead of more than one possession. In the end and OT we dodged some huge bullets and were lucky to get the big win. But it's not like we were down 20 and made some ridiculous comeback, like us at Marquette or SJU at Creighton. Anyway, I do think SJU and GU both have the ability to go on a run here in the 2nd half of the schedule. For tonight, I think it's 50-50 and I can see SJU picking up the key win.

Would be nice to get some revenge on Butler. We'll see how it goes. Good luck bulldogs.

Good luck to the Golden Eagles as well. Hoping for a Bulldogs win, but I have a feeling after they really did themselves in at Hinkle (Butler did have something to do with that, but probably not everything), Marquette is probably going to have something to prove.

Here's the Butlerhoops preview of the game:
http://butlerhoops.com/blog/know-your-f ... art-deaux/

Go Dawgs

billyjack wrote:

Lavinwood wrote:All SJ fans need right now is a 7th loss by 4 points or less. I'd rather get blown out by 30 than lose by 4 or less each game with false hope. I just don't see PC beating us for the 4th or 5th straight time especially after we totally gave the last game away in an embarrassing ending. They are a good team and will be at home, but on paper we should handle them. Being swept by PC would be a disaster. If we win at PC we set up a potential HUGE matchup with Creighton at MSG. Not expecting to win that one, but if we do that puts us at 15-9 and 5-6 and suddenly we have a real chance again. Don't want to get ahead of myself but if this team wants it, they can definitely take the last at-large spot if they close games and get a few upsets along the way.

PC was up by 14 or so in the first half, and our depth issue contributed to the game pulling tight. I don't think St John's ever led by more than 3 maybe the entire game? They trailed most of the game and never had a lead of more than one possession. In the end and OT we dodged some huge bullets and were lucky to get the big win. But it's not like we were down 20 and made some ridiculous comeback, like us at Marquette or SJU at Creighton. Anyway, I do think SJU and GU both have the ability to go on a run here in the 2nd half of the schedule. For tonight, I think it's 50-50 and I can see SJU picking up the key win.

Our freshmen team led by Harkless won by 30 pts against a veteran laden PC team with Brooks a few years back. Then we lose a nail biter. I think we have lost the last 4 vs. PC going back a few years. No offense but I don't think PC is the type of team consistent enough to hold a team down for any longer than that. The teams that can literally hold us down for decades at a time are Cuse, G'Town, etc. but with PC anything can happen. You guys have a great guard in Cotton, but if he has even a slightly off game it puts PC in a very weak spot. Either that or if he gets in foul trouble. That's why depth is an issue for PC. After Cotton your options become much lower in quality. Of course other quality players, but not anywhere near as threatening as Cotton. SJ is too talented to give another game away to PC. Whatever happens though, win or lose, I want a blowout. I'm sick of close games. I don't need my heart palpitating inside the final 2 minutes every game. Playing away is not as hard as people make it. SJ went to Hinkle and whipped em. Then SJ went to Creighton and it took a last second 3 and a 40 pt night from McDermott to send us home. I don't think the Dunk is as intimidating as those places and I expect SJ to handle their business. It's too late for moral victories or what ifs. Johnnies need to either put up or shut up. We need this game so we can ride the wave with Creighton coming to NYC. That will set up a very fun matchup with real implications for us.

The last time you beat us was us shooting ourselves in the foot over and over after passing up 3 or 4 chances to win. It was literally 3 stooges basketball letting Hooper get the inbound and allowing himself to get tied up and turn it over. That will never happen again. The time before that we lost to PC last year...but guess what? There was no Harrison aka our best player. I think the Johnnies are pathetic if they don't win this one. You aren't getting a limping team anymore with no Harrison from us or no Melvin from DePaul. You will get us full force today.

Lavinwood wrote:

billyjack wrote:

Lavinwood wrote:All SJ fans need right now is a 7th loss by 4 points or less. I'd rather get blown out by 30 than lose by 4 or less each game with false hope. I just don't see PC beating us for the 4th or 5th straight time especially after we totally gave the last game away in an embarrassing ending. They are a good team and will be at home, but on paper we should handle them. Being swept by PC would be a disaster. If we win at PC we set up a potential HUGE matchup with Creighton at MSG. Not expecting to win that one, but if we do that puts us at 15-9 and 5-6 and suddenly we have a real chance again. Don't want to get ahead of myself but if this team wants it, they can definitely take the last at-large spot if they close games and get a few upsets along the way.

PC was up by 14 or so in the first half, and our depth issue contributed to the game pulling tight. I don't think St John's ever led by more than 3 maybe the entire game? They trailed most of the game and never had a lead of more than one possession. In the end and OT we dodged some huge bullets and were lucky to get the big win. But it's not like we were down 20 and made some ridiculous comeback, like us at Marquette or SJU at Creighton. Anyway, I do think SJU and GU both have the ability to go on a run here in the 2nd half of the schedule. For tonight, I think it's 50-50 and I can see SJU picking up the key win.

Our freshmen team led by Harkless won by 30 pts against a veteran laden PC team with Brooks a few years back. Then we lose a nail biter. I think we have lost the last 4 vs. PC going back a few years. No offense but I don't think PC is the type of team consistent enough to hold a team down for any longer than that. The teams that can literally hold us down for decades at a time are Cuse, G'Town, etc. but with PC anything can happen. You guys have a great guard in Cotton, but if he has even a slightly off game it puts PC in a very weak spot. Either that or if he gets in foul trouble. That's why depth is an issue for PC. After Cotton your options become much lower in quality. Of course other quality players, but not anywhere near as threatening as Cotton. SJ is too talented to give another game away to PC. Whatever happens though, win or lose, I want a blowout. I'm sick of close games. I don't need my heart palpitating inside the final 2 minutes every game. Playing away is not as hard as people make it. SJ went to Hinkle and whipped em. Then SJ went to Creighton and it took a last second 3 and a 40 pt night from McDermott to send us home. I don't think the Dunk is as intimidating as those places and I expect SJ to handle their business. It's too late for moral victories or what ifs. Johnnies need to either put up or shut up. We need this game so we can ride the wave with Creighton coming to NYC. That will set up a very fun matchup with real implications for us.

The last time you beat us was us shooting ourselves in the foot over and over after passing up 3 or 4 chances to win. It was literally 3 stooges basketball letting Hooper get the inbound and allowing himself to get tied up and turn it over. That will never happen again. The time before that we lost to PC last year...but guess what? There was no Harrison aka our best player. I think the Johnnies are pathetic if they don't win this one. You aren't getting a limping team anymore with no Harrison from us or no Melvin from DePaul. You will get us full force today.

Brooks was not on that team. In fact, I don't think there was one senior, and there was one junior in Council. Second, I understand based on many of your recent posts that you don't think Providence is legit going forward this season, which is completely valid for an array of reasons. However, your argument that SJU going win because of some recent streak is, well, silly. I predicted St. John's to win the Big East this year based on the talent you mention. Due to a lack of coaching, that doesn't look likely. Lastly, the only reason SJU was in the game late at Creighton was due to Creighton taking their colletive foot off the gas after being up by 18 with 10 min to go, crowd included. That's more of a negative to them than a positive to SJU being able to play on the road. Hopefully PC packs in a zone and makes SJU earn it from outside since just about all of SJU's point came inside the paint last game. Good luck tonight, but not really.

PC really needs to win this game. St. John's has zero top 50 wins and has no chance at an at-large but are playing very well of late. If PC loses this game, they are probably on the wrong side of the bubble. Any chance the Dunk will be packed today or is weather gonna be an issue?

Bill Marsh wrote:The Butler-Marquette matchup figures to be another good game. Both teams have been playing well. I'm figuring Marquette by 6-7 points.

^ Apparently did not watch the Marquette-St. John's game on Saturday.

Oh, Buzz....your basketball team...woof... http://t.co/3zYxDFWy4D

Jet915 wrote:PC really needs to win this game. St. John's has zero top 50 wins and has no chance at an at-large but are playing very well of late. If PC loses this game, they are probably on the wrong side of the bubble. Any chance the Dunk will be packed today or is weather gonna be an issue?

Pretty early to say we have no chance.