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BC
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off the top of my head those are on campus arenas that are better than CA in the northeast.

CA is a glorified HS gym and the Garden isnt the selling point they make it out to be, especially when there are 5,000 there for a Big East game during the week because we are playing the second game of the "Fox Sports Double Header"

And with the donors this school has they can raise the funds if they wanted to, the athletic department is completely lost when it comes to this and evolving with the rest of collegiate sports,
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Only a couple of the above are in the 10K category and all are very new venues. However, 4 of those 6 usually are half filled. Conte has been a ghost of its Big East past but with the addition of the old Big East teams interest should spike. I was thinking more like Maryland, Pitt, UConn that can rival most college mega arenas. However, even UConn plays its biggest games in Hartford as we do at MSG. The difference is winning program and recent history. We have lost an entire generation of kids because we have been associated with a losing culture. It starts at the top. We finally got rid of a crooked priest. Now we need to clean house in the athletic department, starting with the AD.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
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Can't argue that but the wins have been few against teams that count. I think it is ironic that Lavin has his best year at MSG with Norm Roberts recruits.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
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Why does everyone continue to believe that MSG is the greatest place on earth? I just don't get it....


Sure, its a nice place to play, and its exciting when we win. But do you really believe that its better than Rupp or Cameron Indoors or Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)?
 
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MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
Click to expand...

Why does everyone continue to believe that MSG is the greatest place on earth? I just don't get it....


Sure, its a nice place to play, and its exciting when we win. But do you really believe that its better than Rupp or Cameron Indoors or Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)?
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It's a billion dollar facility.

The only people who don't appreciate MSG for what it is are spoiled NY natives.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
Click to expand...

Why does everyone continue to believe that MSG is the greatest place on earth? I just don't get it....


Sure, its a nice place to play, and its exciting when we win. But do you really believe that its better than Rupp or Cameron Indoors or Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)?
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As a college basketball arena, certainly not. But as the world's most famous arena in the heart of the world's greatest city and center of the universe. maybe a little, nah, a lot. St Johns isn't going to grow it's fan base catering to guys who know the names in your post. They're going to grow by winning in the center of the universe. When MSG is packed there's lots of casual fans. Very few of them would venture out to campus, if that's what you're getting at.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
Click to expand...

Why does everyone continue to believe that MSG is the greatest place on earth? I just don't get it....


Sure, its a nice place to play, and its exciting when we win. But do you really believe that its better than Rupp or Cameron Indoors or Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)?
Click to expand...

I agree. MSG is cool when were winning and the fans have incentive to go to games. But when we are having just an OK year, it is half full, and brings in many fans from the opposing team. Syracuse and Georgetown fans are merciless at the garden to the point where it almost feels like a neutral site. I love going to games at MSG but to be honest I would kill to see a St. John's rivalry game in a packed out, renovated, on campus arena where there ARE NOT and abundance of the opposing teams fans. Of course it is only a dream. There is simply no space or means to build such a thing.
 
MSG is our biggest recruiting tool and it is convenient for almost everyone. When we win, the Garden is the best venue in the world.
Click to expand...

Why does everyone continue to believe that MSG is the greatest place on earth? I just don't get it....


Sure, its a nice place to play, and its exciting when we win. But do you really believe that its better than Rupp or Cameron Indoors or Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)?
Click to expand...

MSG isn't the greatest place on earth, but it's our best option for the foreseeable future.
That's the bottom line. I agree with you that a better oncampus arena would be great. But it's not going to happen. The money isn't there. Its questionable if the space is there. And the logistics of parking etc would be a mess.

Could the upgrades to CA have been more extensive? that's a different story...
But I think by far our best option is to continue to play our better games at MSG, and play lesser opponents on campus.
 
Gotta put a good product on the court. Think of what MSG was like Lavins first year against Pitt and Duke. And what it was like during the Mullin years SJU vs Georgrtown @MSG.
 
I watched this game in Kentucky. The whole bar was going nuts and I heard dozens of comments about how amazing the Garden was. Things like "Rupp is great, but Madison Square Garden is magical." They all kept talking about Mullin and Berry and how they wished St. John't would get back to the glory days.

[video]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlbjXu1FuE[/video]
 
UConn
BC
Rutgers
UMass
Fairfield
Hofstra

off the top of my head those are on campus arenas that are better than CA in the northeast.

CA is a glorified HS gym and the Garden isnt the selling point they make it out to be, especially when there are 5,000 there for a Big East game during the week because we are playing the second game of the "Fox Sports Double Header"

And with the donors this school has they can raise the funds if they wanted to, the athletic department is completely lost when it comes to this and evolving with the rest of collegiate sports,
Click to expand...

Only a couple of the above are in the 10K category and all are very new venues. However, 4 of those 6 usually are half filled. Conte has been a ghost of its Big East past but with the addition of the old Big East teams interest should spike. I was thinking more like Maryland, Pitt, UConn that can rival most college mega arenas. However, even UConn plays its biggest games in Hartford as we do at MSG. The difference is winning program and recent history. We have lost an entire generation of kids because we have been associated with a losing culture. It starts at the top. We finally got rid of a crooked priest. Now we need to clean house in the athletic department, starting with the AD.
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Actually, UConn regularly plays many of their biggest rivals on the campus. Gampel is actually a very solid arena, and I think 25 years old at this point. They also recently built a brand new facility for the men's and women's basketball team which should be another great recruiting tool.

Got me thinking, how much of a recruiting tool is Taffner Fieldhouse? I've obviously never been inside.
 
MSG games get much more media attention than CA games and the more media the better. The problems with MSG are;
1) SJU haven't had teams that attract the average fan for quite a while and the Garden less than half full is depressing
2) the current Big East has very few must see games
3) MSG schedules more and more doubleheaders with national teams
When SJU is playing Prov., Creighton or Marq. this year MSG should have scheduled a first game with Manhattan,Fordham,Iona etc. This would add some 5,000 to the crowd and make for a much better environment. Those teams seem to be taboo with MSG. I don't know when the doubleheaders stopped but even the SJU-GEO game in 85 was part of a doubleheader. This game was the biggest draw in SJU history. I was offered two hundred dollars for each twenty dollar ticket I had that night and my teen age boys talked me out of selling?
 
A home court that is an advantage.
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i wish the garden was like that
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STJ has had some nice wins at MSG the past 4 or 5 years.
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Most with considerable amount of opposing fans.
MSG will never give us a true home court. All these teams that play games in NBA arenas have too many seats to fill and they are located in big cities with transplant grads all over the place.
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The best case scenaio would be to have a 10,000 seat on campus arena and play one or two games like Duke and another big non conference opponent at MSG every year.

Even the "big" games for us at MSG dont come close to sell outs, and with a majority of the fan base that attends games living in Queens and Long Island, it would be more convenient for them to go too.

Of course, this idea is to sensible and undertaking something this big isnt something this athletic department is capable of....its ok to dream though.
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That was Manetta's goal when he was AD
 
People keep talking about us not drawing the casual fan. Who cares about the casual fan. Why can't we draw 19,000 hard core fans? People who will support the team win or lose.
 
I watched this game in Kentucky. The whole bar was going nuts and I heard dozens of comments about how amazing the Garden was. Things like "Rupp is great, but Madison Square Garden is magical." They all kept talking about Mullin and Berry and how they wished St. John't would get back to the glory days.

[video]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlbjXu1FuE[/video]
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Goose bumps and a smile every time I watch that clip...brings me back to MSG and memories of not wanting to leave
 
People keep talking about us not drawing the casual fan. Who cares about the casual fan. Why can't we draw 19,000 hard core fans? People who will support the team win or lose.
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Good luck with that. From what I can tell every class does add about 50 new hardcore fans. Maybe in 100 years . . .
 
I watched this game in Kentucky. The whole bar was going nuts and I heard dozens of comments about how amazing the Garden was. Things like "Rupp is great, but Madison Square Garden is magical." They all kept talking about Mullin and Berry and how they wished St. John't would get back to the glory days.

[video]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlbjXu1FuE[/video]
Click to expand...

Goose bumps and a smile every time I watch that clip...brings me back to MSG and memories of not wanting to leave
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That was the culmination of a great stretch of ball played by those seniors. Damn did they deserve it. Now lets get behind this group 100% and be there when they do the same.
 
Providence beat Navy easily tonight: 88-51

Nova in a bit of a dog fight with bucknell at the moment: 33-26 at the half

Syracuse plays Cali on ESPN2 starting in about 20 minutes for anyone that wants to watch a future opponent play a decent team

Saint Mary's looks to stay undefeated against Denver, they play at 10 EST.
 
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