Connecticut (MSG), Sat., Feb. 3, 12 NOON, FOX

What does that have to do with the level of competition they went up against? Iona had an A-10 caliber roster in one of the weakest conferences in basketball.

Princeton beat two top 25 teams to get to the Sweet 16 last year btw.
I am a big Princeton basketball fan and have followed them closely since my sister attended there in the early mid seventies. I loved Pete Carril and his approach to the game was really a thing of beauty! Last year's sweet sixteen Princeton run was so exciting and is why I love watching the tournament.

That said, since it was not mentioned and for what it is worth, Pitino's Iona team played Princeton on a neutral court last season and beat them 70 to 64.
 
Coaches often call fans attending games as "our 6th man". I can't think of any greater example of that being later today at the Garden.

How we fans "play" could have a major impact on the result of the game. If we are loud, supportive, and refuse to be drowned out or silenced especially if/when UCONN gets on a roll, it may just translate into bursts of adrenalin and superior play by our guys.

We often slam our guys after a loss as "not being ready to play". Today, the same applies to us as "sixth man". Be ready to play, folks. This is our home, and the really important thing about home is that we can't let anyone into our home to ransack it.

There is no arena in the world where the chant of "DeeFense Deefense DeeFense" shook the rafters thunderously and spurred the home team more than at MSG. The chant may have been invented here, and if not invented, cetainly perfected.

Let's bring it tomorrow, fellow 6th men. It may nor msy not result in a win, but New Yorkers more than anyone else, and maybe Queens folk more than anyone else, live by the creedo of leaving it all on the floor.

LGFJ!!! L-G-F-J!!!
Maybe a new chant.
 
Coaches often call fans attending games as "our 6th man". I can't think of any greater example of that being later today at the Garden.

How we fans "play" could have a major impact on the result of the game. If we are loud, supportive, and refuse to be drowned out or silenced especially if/when UCONN gets on a roll, it may just translate into bursts of adrenalin and superior play by our guys.

We often slam our guys after a loss as "not being ready to play". Today, the same applies to us as "sixth man". Be ready to play, folks. This is our home, and the really important thing about home is that we can't let anyone into our home to ransack it.

There is no arena in the world where the chant of "DeeFense Deefense DeeFense" shook the rafters thunderously and spurred the home team more than at MSG. The chant may have been invented here, and if not invented, cetainly perfected.

Let's bring it tomorrow, fellow 6th men. It may nor msy not result in a win, but New Yorkers more than anyone else, and maybe Queens folk more than anyone else, live by the creedo of leaving it all on the floor.

LGFJ!!! L-G-F-J!!!
Maybe a new chant.
Couldn't be said any better.
It's our house. It's our turn.
 
My concern is this…I don’t think they blow out UConn. If they’re going to win it’ll be a close game and unfortunately it’s been hard to trust this team to win close games against good teams. Outside of coaching (I’ll still take Pitino over Hurley any day when it comes to in game coaching) they have every other advantage. Including a track record of getting the win down the stretch. So I’m having a hard time envisioning a W here.

I’ll be watching and rooting like hell though so hopefully the guys play a complete 40 minutes and prove me wrong. Go Johnnies
 
Looked at Ticketmaster. Virtually no remanning tickets to purchase. Still a couple hundred or so on the resale market including the two next to mine. Hoping for a St. John's fan to buy them but not counting it.
 
Karaban, Spencer & Diarra have all shot it well from three (39% or better) and above 80% from the line. Newton & Castle have not been high percentage from three (32 & 28%). If Karaban doesn't play, we will have an advantage in depth as they mostly play 8 guys in competitive games.
Connecticut does tend to foul a lot (like us), maybe we can get a few favorable calls at MSG today, but I'm not counting on it.
 
Going to this hyped game with my son reminds me of one particular game where Marcus Hattan hit two free throws to beat Duke. Hoping to leave the game today with that same feeling and another great memory. Go Johnnies. 😎👍
Enjoy and make lifetime memories. I remember when I used to take my step-daughter to games back in the late nineties and every time Eric Barkley would shoot she would scream "Barkley, NOOOOO!!!". I used to laugh so hard at that. (She didn't like his shot selection.)
 
Everyone had enough time to dust themselves off after the Xavier game.

Hope everyone had a restful sleep, an enjoying a good breakfast, and loading up on caffeine because we have to bring it today. All of us.

And to my brethren in Section 114, I am expecting us to lead by example today. Let’s do this!

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I'm not basing it on results or potential but just that it's a bunch of parts thrown together haphazardly at the last minute that lacks the tools required to execute the coaches plan (CRP) or lack thereof (CCM).
I mildly disagree with haphazardly put together team .

Initially , RP grabbed or tried to grab as many of his Iona Players he could . The 2 most wanted were Jenkins and Clayton jr .
He hit the mark with Jenkins but , didn’t get Clayton jr , probably his most wanted player . tThen he went after Dingle and Ledlum .
Initially getting neither . Ledlum chose Tenn and Dingle kind of waited until later in the Signing period .

Slazinski, Cruz, Ayo followed .
Then , Alleyne , Taylor,Luis , Eligibor , Conway .
The 2 Frosh recruits are Dunlap and Wilcher .
Brady opted out of ND and Wilcher opted out of NC later on .

Ledlum opted out of Tenn, probably because the Vols are loaded and he probably wasn’t going to get much PT . So he came to us late and triggered Slszinski to transfer to WVU .

It’s a debatable point as to whether Slazinski would have been a key contributor on this team . He had shooting skills that Ledlum doesn’t but , Ledlum is a better rebounder .

Pitino didn’t get Mgbako , from the same school as Wilcher and he’s just starting to make a impact at IU. He likely would have been a good addition .

I think Pitino was over sold on both, Dingle and Ledlum as being key pieces . Thought they were going to replicate their Ivy numbers . It hasn’t happened .

I do think most of the key Playets entering the portal last year were pretty much already committed by the time RP was hired .

Thus year’s portal is probably going to be the same . Our staff knows who the key players are but, can’t publicize just yet . Until end of season .

I’m certain RP will get most of the Players he wants . From the Portal and a couple from HS .

He will have a lot of spots available as we lose all the 5 th year players . He knows what he needs for next year .

Will we lose players to the Portal ? I don’t think any of us know that for sure at this point .
 
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