How big is November 8 for the Big East?

[TheHall]

I think it's kind of cool that we seem (at least for the moment) to want each other to do well. In the past I would actively root for Syracuse to lose every game.

That'll change once the BE season starts, but for now it's in the best interest of the BE to do well in OOC play.

Cuse fans are the absolute worst so I completely understand why everyone would root against them. Same goes go for Notre Dame.

Well put.

[Bill Marsh]

Would be huge to take this one, since we won't have another national headlining game until December vs. Cuse which we are likely to lose.

Why are we likely to lose? Because they`re big bad cuse?
If SJU is the team I expect them to be then we could beat them.

But go ahead and fear them, I don`t

Do I think we have a chance? Sure we do...especially with our deep lineup we finally have a chance. Do I think it's likely we beat them? No. It would be considered a huge upset if we win that game. Cuse is a top 10 team. They have also won something like 13 of the last contests against us...in a row. They use MSG as their home court so it's a home game for them. You don't fear them? That's a little odd, considering most of us fear Wisconsin and they are only #20. Cuse is a perennial top 10 team and always pounds us especially. I think most of us fear them knowing we haven't won against them in what a decade or so? We can absolutely win the game, but we just can't seem to keep up with them in all the recent matchups I remember. Hopefully the streak ends. If we can somehow take down Wisconsin, take care of business against our cupcakes, and somehow beat Cuse, we will head into Christmas time as a top 15 team. That would be the perfect Christmas gift, but I'm not sure this team is consistent enough to be a top 25 team all year. We will be ranked if we beat Wisconsin on Friday...just that simple. If not we probably won't be unless we beat Cuse. It's about time we start winning these national statement games.

Yes, it will be considered a huge upset, but that's because of history, not because of where the two teams are right now. Consider this . . .

With 3 games to go in the regular season last year, Syracuse was 9-6 in conference play and St. John's was 8-7. Not a whole lot of difference between the two teams at that point in the season. However, St. John's suspended it's leading scorer and lost 5 of it's next 6 games while Syracuse got hot and went to the Final Four. Big difference in how they both finished. But I have to ask whether Syracuse was all that much better.

Syracuse has a ton of talent. They always do. CJ Fair is a stud who can do it all; he's obviously headed to the NBA. But their next 3 scorers, next 2 rebounders, and steals leader from last year are all gone. Triche left with a ton of experience. Carter-Williams took those long arms with him, that were responsible for all those steals and made the 2-3 more effective than usual. He was a terrific PG, but they may be able to replace that. I don't see how they replace what he brought on defense. Southerland was their 2nd best 3-point shooter and really their only threat besides Fair, given that Triche had an off year.

MSG is not Syracuse's home court. They don't practice there and they play very few games there. It's not easily accessible to their fan base 250 miles away. This year especially they will turn out a lot of alums because they won't be making an appearance in the Garden in March. But I don't see that canceling out St. John's home court advantage there. It shrinks it, but St. John's still has an advantage.

We still don't know what this St. John's team is because despite the potential, we haven't seen it yet. OTOH, we don't know what this Syracuse team is either because they've lost 4 players from their 9 man rotation and this is not the same team that went to the Final four. If St. John's wins this game, it should not be considered an upset. St. John's has as much talent as Syracuse right now and their players almost all played together last year, which can't be said for Syracuse. Throw out the rankings. Right now I would see this game as a toss up.

[MUSeashells&Balloons]

good news for georgetown

Oregon sophomores Dominic Artis and Ben Carter will be suspended for multiple games -- including Friday's season-opener against Georgetown -- because of a violation of NCAA rules, according to a report from DuckTerritory.com.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... uspensions

[homebrew101]

If God forbid we were to go 0 and 3 on Friday night, friggin' ESPN wouldn't have a field day, they'd have a field"Month" with those opening night results.

There are more than 3 Big East teams playing on the 8th. Although I guess if we lose the big games, Marquette crushing Southern probably won't do much to balance the situation.

Warrior fan here and don't put 'crushing Southern' in the bank that easily, they came close to beating Gonzaga in the tourney last year

[stever20]

If God forbid we were to go 0 and 3 on Friday night, friggin' ESPN wouldn't have a field day, they'd have a field"Month" with those opening night results.

There are more than 3 Big East teams playing on the 8th. Although I guess if we lose the big games, Marquette crushing Southern probably won't do much to balance the situation.

Warrior fan here and don't put 'crushing Southern' in the bank that easily, they came close to beating Gonzaga in the tourney last year

lol that is true. Though Gonzaga had no excuse being a 1 seed in my opinion.

[Jays26]

Though Gonzaga had no excuse being a 1 seed in my opinion

Try telling that to a Shocker fan!

[marquette]

Warrior fan here and don't put 'crushing Southern' in the bank that easily, they came close to beating Gonzaga in the tourney last year

It's never wise to look past an opponent, but Gonzaga was the most overrated team in the country last year. That said, my post was more of an attempt at humor than a prediction. It seems I failed.

[stever20]

Warrior fan here and don't put 'crushing Southern' in the bank that easily, they came close to beating Gonzaga in the tourney last year

It's never wise to look past an opponent, but Gonzaga was the most overrated team in the country last year. That said, my post was more of an attempt at humor than a prediction. It seems I failed.

It's funny- because I think you actually made a really good point. Gonzaga only beat them by 6(no matter how overrated we think they were, they were still a good team last year). They're projected to be in the middle of the battle for the SWAC title this year.

[TheHall]

PC's Bob Driscoll tweets how important Nov 8th is:

"T minus 25 hours before the Friars go national on Fox Sports 1 to 93 million homes at the DUNK in Providence RI. Be there. #Go Friars"

https://twitter.com/PCBobDriscoll/status/398569068057604096

[hoyahooligan]

Yeah Southern Lost 4 seniors off the team last year 3 of them are big big losses.