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The second afternoon game on Thursday should have a packed house with a lot of red (and black) in the crowd.

St John's (5) vs Providence (4), 2:30pm, at MSG.

The winner may punch their NCAA ticket, depending on other results.
The teams split during season, each winning on the road.
The last time these guys were on the court together, a controversial dunk attempt and hard foul led to some bad blood and a technical... a little Matt Burst or Mark Brust, or whatever his name was, type attitude at the Dunk.
SJU has played great ball at MSG.
PC won their BET title 20 years ago this month. Rob Phelps was amazing.

I think PC punches their ticket with a win, but I really feel the Johnnies probably need to beat Nova too.

billyjack wrote:The second afternoon game on Thursday should have a packed house with a lot of red (and black) in the crowd.

St John's (5) vs Providence (4), 2:30pm, at MSG.

The winner may punch their NCAA ticket, depending on other results.
The teams split during season, each winning on the road.
The last time these guys were on the court together, a controversial dunk attempt and hard foul led to some bad blood and a technical... a little Matt Burst or Mark Brust, or whatever his name was, type attitude at the Dunk.
SJU has played great ball at MSG.
PC won their BET title 20 years ago this month. Rob Phelps was amazing.

Good luck today Billy!

NJRedman wrote:

billyjack wrote:The second afternoon game on Thursday should have a packed house with a lot of red (and black) in the crowd.

St John's (5) vs Providence (4), 2:30pm, at MSG.

The winner may punch their NCAA ticket, depending on other results.
The teams split during season, each winning on the road.
The last time these guys were on the court together, a controversial dunk attempt and hard foul led to some bad blood and a technical... a little Matt Burst or Mark Brust, or whatever his name was, type attitude at the Dunk.
SJU has played great ball at MSG.
PC won their BET title 20 years ago this month. Rob Phelps was amazing.

Good luck today Billy!

Thanks Redman, you too brother...!
I can't get out of work to watch the game...! I'm gonna have to break out my transistor radio in my cubicle, then watch it taped later tonight...

Understandably, the Friar fanbase is on pins and needles right now. A win doesn't guarantee an NCAA bid for the Friars, but it gets the pretty darn far down the path. This is the first time realistically in 10 years that they are one win from an NCAA birth. Maybe in 2008 (Weyinmi / McDermott senior year) they had a chance with one more win, but I think realistically they were two away that year.

St. John's is a tough matchup, given their frontcourt's size; PC's offensive strength is hitting the offensive glass, and they will have to beat taller, more athletic big men to get those loose balls. Neither team shoots well so it may come down to which guard pairing of Fortune/Cotton or Harrison/Jordan gets hotter.

Most of all, I just want to see my Friars compete in a BET game. They have one win in the last decade in the BET, against an atrocious DePaul team. Most of the time, including both of Cooley's first two trips to the BET, they have been blowout losses. This PC team has shown good fight all year, but they may be wearing down with all the minutes their starters play. Feeling cautiously optimistic if only because I think they are a mentally tougher team than SJU and Cooley is a better Xs and Os coach than Lavin.

billyjack wrote:

NJRedman wrote:

billyjack wrote:The second afternoon game on Thursday should have a packed house with a lot of red (and black) in the crowd.

St John's (5) vs Providence (4), 2:30pm, at MSG.

The winner may punch their NCAA ticket, depending on other results.
The teams split during season, each winning on the road.
The last time these guys were on the court together, a controversial dunk attempt and hard foul led to some bad blood and a technical... a little Matt Burst or Mark Brust, or whatever his name was, type attitude at the Dunk.
SJU has played great ball at MSG.
PC won their BET title 20 years ago this month. Rob Phelps was amazing.

Good luck today Billy!

Thanks Redman, you too brother...!
I can't get out of work to watch the game...! I'm gonna have to break out my transistor radio in my cubicle, then watch it taped later tonight...

Lucky for me this just happened to be my day off this week! hahaha

gofriars08 wrote:Understandably, the Friar fanbase is on pins and needles right now. A win doesn't guarantee an NCAA bid for the Friars, but it gets the pretty darn far down the path. This is the first time realistically in 10 years that they are one win from an NCAA birth. Maybe in 2008 (Weyinmi / McDermott senior year) they had a chance with one more win, but I think realistically they were two away that year.

St. John's is a tough matchup, given their frontcourt's size; PC's offensive strength is hitting the offensive glass, and they will have to beat taller, more athletic big men to get those loose balls. Neither team shoots well so it may come down to which guard pairing of Fortune/Cotton or Harrison/Jordan gets hotter.

Most of all, I just want to see my Friars compete in a BET game. They have one win in the last decade in the BET, against an atrocious DePaul team. Most of the time, including both of Cooley's first two trips to the BET, they have been blowout losses. This PC team has shown good fight all year, but they may be wearing down with all the minutes their starters play. Feeling cautiously optimistic if only because I think they are a mentally tougher team than SJU and Cooley is a better Xs and Os coach than Lavin.

I was at that game! We got blown out by Marquette in the next game. Shared some beers with some Providence alum who were taking a 2 hour lunch to catch the game. hahaha

Should be a great game. SJ is terrible in big game situations especially in the BET historically, but this year we've played well there and we have gone 10-3 in our past 13 games. PC is due for a bid at some point they will make a run and this might be it.

Anything can happen really. Here's to no injuries and may the best team win.

No offense meant to Providence, but how much fun would a Seton Hall-St. John's semifinal be at Madison Square Garden. Both regular season games were decided by 1 point, and it would be an excellent opportunity to reignite what has recently been a pretty stale rivalry. I'm pulling for the Johnnies.

Man, this game suddenly shot to an even higher level! The winner has the inside track to the championship game (no offense, SH fans).

Unfortunately, a win over SHU for either of these teams won't move the meter as far with the committee as a win over Nova would have. Worse, a loss to SHU could keep the winner, especially if it is SJU, out of the tourney --- they may need one more.