The Holy Land of Hoops

Huge game for both teams:

Xavier at St John's, at MSG, 7pm, FS1.

The winner is guaranteed to finish at least at .500 in conference.
I would guess that Obekpa and Sanchez will both be playing.

This one is going to be fun.

pretty close to a must win for both teams.
St John's with a loss would need to win both vs DePaul and @ Marquette
Xavier with a loss would need to win 2 of 3 vs Creighton, Seton Hall, and Villanova.
(plus both would need a BET win after they did that).

Is Jordan def playing (tragic deaths in the family over the weekend)? Such a shame but North Phill, where RJ is from, is like a war zone. If Jordan is in I see a 15+ pt win for SJU. Revenge. Team is sour from the Sat game. XU does not play well on the road. I would put XU's chances at around 10% tops.

This is it boys. Beat Xavier and all that is in our way from the tourney and 20 wins is DePaul without their best player. Lose and put a ton of pressure on ourselves. Gotta win at home.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Is Jordan def playing (tragic deaths in the family over the weekend)? Such a shame but North Phill, where RJ is from, is like a war zone. If Jordan is in I see a 15+ pt win for SJU. Revenge. Team is sour from the Sat game. XU does not play well on the road. I would put XU's chances at around 10% tops.

The kid is gonna play, it`s his only refuge from reality. He has going through so much.
But SJU has a great support system.
We question why these kids leave the local area, well we don`t know what their real lives are like at home.
Sometimes you just gotta gtfo and leave all the bs.
He`s becoming my favorite REDMEN this year.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Is Jordan def playing (tragic deaths in the family over the weekend)? Such a shame but North Phill, where RJ is from, is like a war zone. If Jordan is in I see a 15+ pt win for SJU. Revenge. Team is sour from the Sat game. XU does not play well on the road. I would put XU's chances at around 10% tops.

Even if Jordan is playing, is he going to have his head on straight? This isn't a small distraction, it's HUGE. Prayers to the family, this couldn't come at a worse time for St. John's. Not that there is ever a good time for something like this.

Westbrook36 wrote:

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Is Jordan def playing (tragic deaths in the family over the weekend)? Such a shame but North Phill, where RJ is from, is like a war zone. If Jordan is in I see a 15+ pt win for SJU. Revenge. Team is sour from the Sat game. XU does not play well on the road. I would put XU's chances at around 10% tops.

Even if Jordan is playing, is he going to have his head on straight? This isn't a small distraction, it's HUGE. Prayers to the family, this couldn't come at a worse time for St. John's. Not that there is ever a good time for something like this.

SJ has had awful luck recently with these late season issues

2011: SJ on the way to the NCAA's and Kennedy gets hurt right before. SJ widely picked to be an Elite 8 team loses in 1st round.
2013: SJ is clearly on the bubble and with 6 games left Harrison gets suspended as well as Pointer for getting in a fight. SJ loses most of the last games and makes the NIT instead.
2014: SJ is clearly on the bubble and likely 1 win away from a tourney berth (assuming we beat an undermanned DePaul at home). Obekpa gets hurt, Sanchez missed a game, and Jordan's family members are murdered.

Terrible timing whenever we seem to be in the hunt. Always.

I think St. John's bounces back in a big way tonight. Xavier hasn't beaten anyone of significance on the road. They are in real immediate danger here with 2 of their last 3 games against Creighton and Nova. Very intriguing game tonight but I think St. John's wins somewhat easily (8+).

And then the main event... Seton Hall at DePaul!

Good game so far, but I'm surprised to see St. John's giving up such easy baskets. Is Jordan available tonight?