Full disclosure, as I mentioned to MM52 last night at the Amex Lounge (mjmaherjr had stepped away), I knew we had a game last night but it wasn’t until about 2 in the afternoon who we were playing. I did know Bobbleheads were being give. Out because my buddy wanted to get there early to get one nut didn‘t know it was a Rick Pitino Bobblehead so you can see my mind has not been on the team lately.
Here are some random thoughts on the game itself and other things related to it:
1. Someone posted on this thread that the attendance was 6,005. In the Pitino Fox Sports interview they mentioned that Bobbleheads were being given to the first 4,000 fans. At halftime there were at lest two tables full of Bobbleheads between the Amex Club and Section 103. I told someone I would take the under if 4,000 was the mark. They might have sold 6,005 tickets but 6,005 sure as hell didn’t show up.
2. Pitino had a game plan and I feel he knew in the first half barring injury or foul trouble, who he was going to bring in and in what order. I doubt either Dunlap or Wilcher are in the doghouse, he just had other plans for guys to make earlier appearance. With Rick it depends on matchups, pairings and who is going well.
3. The lack of love for UBS as a venue is 100% unwarranted. It is a beautiful arena with great sightlines for basketball. That being said, this game should have been played at CA. Several of us Long Islanders did want games there and me personally I would not mind having a game or two there a season, but not conference games.
St. John’s fans are creatures of habit with a habit of looking to find the negative in anything and will just not warm up to Barclays or UBS. And that’s despite Barclays having numerous public transportation options (even more in closer proximity than MSG). Parking at MSG is probably on par with parking at UBS but the number of people who drive to MSG is small in comparison to how many would drive to UBS. LIRR does throw in extra trains at large events (just like NYC Transit after Yankee, Met games) and but a St. John’s game doesn’t qualify.
I heard from a reliable source there will be no more conference games and possibly no more games period, there in the near future.