Weekend of 2/8 and 2/9, BE (3 Games, BU-GU, PC-XU, CU-SJU).

[senditinjerome]

ESPN Sports Center has spent 20 minutes on a college football player coming out of the closet. Nothing wrong with that, but why spend all this time on that? Just goes to show ESPN thinks that anything in college football is more interesting than college hoops and especially Big East hoops. They opened up with the story, went to recap the Cuse game and some women's games, now it's back to the same opening story the Mizzou player coming out. Anyone else thinking to themselves "ENOUGH!"? This has nothing to do with politics, it's just the amount of coverage ESPN is giving this. Still nothing on the CU/SJ game 40 minutes into SC. Is this really a bigger story than an unranked team starting 0-5 beating the #12 team and entering the tournament bubble conversation? Jeez.

Are you kidding? This is the lead story on the front pages of CNN, Huffpost, Drudge, etc...This is a national/international story that transcends sports. 20 years from now, this Creighton/St. John's game will just be in some dusty old record book, but what this kid is doing is game-changing for the gay community.

[RedStormNation]

ESPN Sports Center has spent 20 minutes on a college football player coming out of the closet. Nothing wrong with that, but why spend all this time on that? Just goes to show ESPN thinks that anything in college football is more interesting than college hoops and especially Big East hoops. They opened up with the story, went to recap the Cuse game and some women's games, now it's back to the same opening story the Mizzou player coming out. Anyone else thinking to themselves "ENOUGH!"? This has nothing to do with politics, it's just the amount of coverage ESPN is giving this. Still nothing on the CU/SJ game 40 minutes into SC. Is this really a bigger story than an unranked team starting 0-5 beating the #12 team and entering the tournament bubble conversation? Jeez.

ESPN really picks and chooses the stories they want to push. It's not about relevant sports news. When college football gets more coverage for a player's personal life off the field than a relevant Big East game with possible tourney implications in March, you know they have gone off the deep end.

EDIT: A full cycle of Sports Center just went through. Not even the slightest mention of the #12 Creighton vs. SJ game at MSG. Lol…you really can't make this stuff up. But hey, let's spend an hour talking about a college football player's personal life and Marcus Smart attacking a fan. How many more ways can they put it? It's like they are trying to put a microscope to irrelevant things. Instead of talking actual sports they are talking about off the field/court issues. It has never been this bad.

I've noticed this of late too....not SC because I stopped watching that about 5 years ago when it started deviating from the nightly sports highlight show. But the ESPN.com website won't have anything on it for many of the games. Cbssports.com had nothing at all on their front page Friday night when Doug went for 32. If a POY candidate in one of their conferences had 32, it would have been the banner story. Before now I assumed that lack of these things was a function of being a Valley team. Guess I was oblivious to how political their motives were on sites I went to for sports news.

Absolutely right. After the break from ESPN it has opened my eyes as well. When SJ was one of the youngest teams in the country the past 2 years not in serious competition when they were all freshmen, we got more air time than now. ESPN covers the top 25 on the top of their ticker for scores. Then they don't cover our game? Really? It's not like this was a SJ vs. DePaul game at Carnesecca on campus. This was a premier matchup between the #12 team in the country with the POY vs. a resurgent SJ with tournament hopes at Madison Square Garden! This is the Big East! I knew ESPN would spend less time on us since marrying the ACC and losing us to Fox, but I never realized they'd go to extreme lengths to ignore us. They played the Mizzou football player coming out THREE times in the 1 hour show! The Marcus Smart story was mentioned at least 3x as well! These are stories that shouldn't garner more than a 30 second snippet each.

Cuse is their new darling. Oh do they love them. The #1 Cuse team beating a totally irrelevant unranked Clemson team at home was a huge story. So Cuse does what they are supposed to do, and it's a massive story still. But SJ upsets the #12 team at MSG going from 0-5 to in the mix for 3rd place in the Big East and a spot on the bubble but that doesn't even get a mention? Our women's team will be ranked tomorrow and I bet you they totally ignore them as well. Sadly, the only way a Big East team will get any air time on ESPN anymore is if you play an ACC/Big Ten front runner. ESPN is absolutely treating our conference like a mid major with no national implications.

Our fans used to say that Lavin helped get us air time on ESPN in years past. Now I realize the only reason we got any air time is because our games were on their network. How do you consider yourself the worldwide leader in sports and not show the only Big East game on TV tonight where an unranked team won vs. #12? It's not #25, it's not 2 unranked teams. It's 12! IMO you have to really actively try to ignore something like that. In terms of what I saw on SC tonight our game was the 3rd most relevant thing. 1st was the olympics…2nd was the MSU vs. Wisc game…after that I think our game was next in importance. But instead a player coming out and a player shoving a fan have become akin to Tebow mania.

EDIT: This in no way is meant to disrespect the gay community…I totally support his coming out. But IMO actual sports should be what matters on ESPN. Not personal issues. ESPN is becoming more like CNN. They are totally changing what their objective used to be like MTV and the History Channel.

[WaitingPatiently]

SC has become Good Morning America for sports. They show highlights of a couple games that matter for them. They then throw in some human interest story about an athlete. They stop half-way through an hour show to recap what was covered in the first 30 minutes. Apparently their target audience is too stupid to follow along for a whole hour.

I was a religious SC watcher when they showed highlights from every game in every sport in the hour. The anchors had personalities and entertained with their humor. Now during baseball season you'll get highlights from about 5-7 games...twice. It's like the other 7-8 didn't happen. And the anchors no longer have personality. They're too corporate line toting.

I really think this is an area FS1 could clean house. Keep the Fox Sports Live show they have now with the hot chicks and former athletes discussing things, but either before or after have an hour show with the two Canucks ripping through highlights of every game in the pro sports and all the relevant games in college. Basically have what SC used to be.

[RedStormNation]

There was a time when every single ranked game was covered. No matter what conference. Chris Berman would give color commentary and they'd play nothing but game recaps for most of the hour. You are 100% with the GMA comment. They are now like a talkshow. Maybe the View will be airing on ESPN in the near future.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I've seen people condemn SJ fans for being jerks to Creighton fans (and rightfully so) and now I'm seeing people also condemn SJ fans for being good sports after the big win. Which is it ? Only anger I'm seeing is from PC and Nova fans. Come on guys.

If you are referring to my comments RSN I'd like you to take the time and please point out the exact words that I used that we're disparaging to SJU or "angry." Honestly what is your issue dude?

You said CU has classy fans and that "C-7 fans can learn a thing or two from them". Clearly a dig at SJ fans given your track record. At least have the courage to admit you are putting down a fan base when you do it.

"Clearly a dig at SJU fans?" RSN I have no desire to get into a pissing match with you but the fact that you can infer all of that from me making a positive comment about CU fans is astonishing. I am not one to mince words so if my intention was to throw a dig at SJU fans I would have just said SJU fans instead of C7 fans. And please enlighten me on my "track record." My comment was solely based on the fact that about a dozen Jays fans came on right after the game and congratulated SJU on the win and had nothing negative to say. I was impressed enough to comment about it. Contrast that with comments like: "the refs were out to screw us, "your team was lucky" and "we' gave you guys that game," type of comments that I've read from (many) fans in here after games. Again, get over yourself. The basketball world does not revolve around Queens, NY. It is Ok to make a comment in support of another program or fan base when deserved that has nothing to do with SJU.

Sorry that I did not include SJU specifically in my comment, so let me amend that to make you feel better. Excellent win for your Johnnies. I am ecstatic that they are figuring out how to use all of their talent and seem to have turned their season around. The BE needs as many good teams as possible and let's all hope SJU can go on a run deep into March. There. I really hope these comments reflect positively on my "track record." I wouldn't want that to get tarnished.

[redmen9194]

Why do we care so much about espn? I'm more concerned about winning games and showing up in the New York Post andDaily News. Forget ESPN.

[cu blujs]

Now that's what I'm talking about! Fun, nerve-wracking game with lots of twists and turns. Lots of game making plays and near-misses both ways. Could easily have gone either way right down to Harrison nailing a clutch three and Manigat missing the three with 26 seconds left. Best thing is - although I am sure the same sports writers who kept Ohio State and Wisconsin in the top 15 even after they dropped 2 and 3 games in a row to lower ranked or unranked teams will once again overreact and knock CU back to 22 or 23 in the polls - we in Omaha don't have to start wringing our hands about whether this means we have to win out or win the conf. tournament to get in the dance. And for their consolation prize, the fellas get a photo-op with Bono!

Sure I was dissapointed after the game, particularly given the chances we had to sneak in to MSG and steal that game, but its a whole different kind of dissapointment then watching us drop a game at WSU or Indiana State that we could have won.

[RedStormNation]

Why do we care so much about espn? I'm more concerned about winning games and showing up in the New York Post andDaily News. Forget ESPN.

Really because they are the gold standard in sports nationally. If you want to be known nationally, ESPN is the ticket. Not saying no one knows our schools...of course most do. But even just a 30 second recap of a game can get the program brand out there. Tons of people watch SC but unfortunately FS1 isn't at the point yet of having people lay in bed or sit on the couch watching it as their first choice for sports. People watch ESPN just for the hell of it flipping through the channels to see what's on. FS1 is different because it's very specialized. People usually only tune in on FS1 to see 1 specific game. If you work for ESPN, how can you not think #12 Creighton vs. SJ at MSG has no relevance? That's what they said by not showing any clip or reference. As I said, it's not like it's 2 unranked teams or 1 unranked team vs. the #25 team. This is our highest ranked win since 2011 when we beat all those top 10 teams. Last year we beat #20 Notre Dame and #16 Cincy. The year before that we beat (I think) #23 Cincy.

The fact that they knew it was very relevant and actively chose not to cover it is what bothers me.

[RedStormNation]

Now that's what I'm talking about! Fun, nerve-wracking game with lots of twists and turns. Lots of game making plays and near-misses both ways. Could easily have gone either way right down to Harrison nailing a clutch three and Manigat missing the three with 26 seconds left. Best thing is - although I am sure the same sports writers who kept Ohio State and Wisconsin in the top 15 even after they dropped 2 and 3 games in a row to lower ranked or unranked teams will once again overreact and knock CU back to 22 or 23 in the polls - we in Omaha don't have to start wringing our hands about whether this means we have to win out or win the conf. tournament to get in the dance. And for their consolation prize, the fellas get a photo-op with Bono!

Sure I was dissapointed after the game, particularly given the chances we had to sneak in to MSG and steal that game, but its a whole different kind of dissapointment then watching us drop a game at WSU or Indiana State that we could have won.

Agreed it was a great game that could have gone either way just like the first game. Either team could have swept easily. I think it was a very fun split though. You guys get the last second 3 in game 1 and we take game 2 at MSG. Can't complain. I hope they don't overreact and knock CU down to the 22-25 range...I feel like they should still be 17th or 18th. Knocking them down to being borderline ranked would not only disrespect CU, it would disrespect St. John's. We are the hottest team in the conference and people knew we could be quite good before the season began. This is not a bad loss by Creighton by any means. And by the way, we don't have to win out or win the conference tourney. We need to end up at least .500 in conference so that's 4-3 in our last 7. 5-2 would put us at 10-8. If we go 5-2 that gives us a 20-11 record with a ranked win over #12 Creighton and solid wins vs. Marquette and PC. I think there's a chance we get in with that alone without even winning a BET game. 10-8 and 20-11 with a signature win and a few other rock solid wins is quite good. Now for the other scenario if we finish 4-3, that puts us at 19-12 and 9-9. In this scenario we will need a BET win or two. But if 2 of those 4 wins come against Nova and G'Town/Xavier then I think there's a chance we can get in with 19 and no BET wins. We would have an insane SOS, RPI, and 2-3 signature wins and other solid wins. The key will be knocking off at least 1 more of Xavier/G'Town/Nova. Taking the Nova game would put us on the right side of the bubble and I'd be shocked if we didn't get in assuming we took care of business with Butler, SHU, DePaul, etc.

[BEwannabe]

Why do we care so much about espn? I'm more concerned about winning games and showing up in the New York Post andDaily News. Forget ESPN.

The fact that they knew it was very relevant and actively chose not to cover it is what bothers me.

ESPN isn't not reporting the event by chance they're doing it purposely. ESPN isn't going to do anything to promote NBE or FS1.