Is it the end of the holiday Festival . . .?

T

tim23red

Member
 I was a young lad when I watched STJ beat Duke in the ECAC Holiday Festival (3rd Place Game) that got me hooked on the game. I always looked forward to the tourney - While it was lost luster with bad teams (ours and others coming in) I had always hoped for it to return to some glory. Last year against Fordham and the one day special should have told fans its might be over but now something worse - Syracuse is playing Temple in the Gotham Classic at MSG on 12/22. Have we lost the Garden now too?
Yes I know Duke is coming in this year - but who else?
 
 I think the Garden has made poor decisions with the Holiday Festival. This past year there wasnt even a championship game. Just two games. I propose that instead of reducing the teams they increase the number of teams to 8 (I think at one point they actually had 16). They could have local teams like st johns, wagner, fordham, columbia, and some bigger name teams from other conferences Syracuse or Pitt which will soon represent ACC, a big ten or big twelve team or an SEC team or Mountain or PAC 10- you dont need all the conferences represented but they can alternate each year. I might point out that with Pitt and Cuse leaving the BE and probably wanting to have some games in the Garden they would play alternating years or every 3 years in the festival if the Garden needed them. Dont forget teams like Duke or No Car. I really think they can do it especially with the shift in leagues going on. I dont think the people in the Garden have the vision
 
 I think the Garden has made poor decisions with the Holiday Festival. This past year there wasnt even a championship game. Just two games. I propose that instead of reducing the teams they increase the number of teams to 8 (I think at one point they actually had 16). They could have local teams like st johns, wagner, fordham, columbia, and some bigger name teams from other conferences Syracuse or Pitt which will soon represent ACC, a big ten or big twelve team or an SEC team or Mountain or PAC 10- you dont need all the conferences represented but they can alternate each year. I might point out that with Pitt and Cuse leaving the BE and probably wanting to have some games in the Garden they would play alternating years or every 3 years in the festival if the Garden needed them. Dont forget teams like Duke or No Car. I really think they can do it especially with the shift in leagues going on. I dont think the people in the Garden have the vision
Click to expand...
 
Don't think they want to spend the money to bring those teams in because it hasn't been drawing well and the real big time schools prefer Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and other such tournaments where they get to play 3 extra games on their schedules.
 
 I think with Lavin resurecting SJBB . This tourny could and should be braught back to its former glory..
 
syracuse and pitt should be frozen out of the garden for any "holiday" festival..along with west virginia, miami, boston college and virginia tech.

i would have loved to have seen an eight game festival with all solid locals taking part. st john's doesn't want it..so forget it.

it's a shame how far the tournament has fallen. in 1986, three of the final four teams took part. we beat louisville and they went on to win the national championship.
 
 I think the Garden has made poor decisions with the Holiday Festival. This past year there wasnt even a championship game. Just two games. I propose that instead of reducing the teams they increase the number of teams to 8 (I think at one point they actually had 16). They could have local teams like st johns, wagner, fordham, columbia, and some bigger name teams from other conferences Syracuse or Pitt which will soon represent ACC, a big ten or big twelve team or an SEC team or Mountain or PAC 10- you dont need all the conferences represented but they can alternate each year. I might point out that with Pitt and Cuse leaving the BE and probably wanting to have some games in the Garden they would play alternating years or every 3 years in the festival if the Garden needed them. Dont forget teams like Duke or No Car. I really think they can do it especially with the shift in leagues going on. I dont think the people in the Garden have the vision
Click to expand...
 

Dee you are like the little retarded brother of these boards. Nobody would ever call you for a double-dribble.
 
it's a shame how far the tournament has fallen. in 1986, three of the final four teams took part. we beat louisville and they went on to win the national championship.
Click to expand...
 

It was the Preseason NIT, not Holiday Festival.
 
the Fesitival when it stated in the 50' was great--with the best teams (Dayton, Holy Cross , etc ) and 3 factors that
slowly make it into a second hand tournament
1. the decline of the east bb teams ( many Catholic programs )
2. I was told by "insiders" that MSG did not pay the teams very well.
3. The rise of many festivals all over the country.
 
it's a shame how far the tournament has fallen. in 1986, three of the final four teams took part. we beat louisville and they went on to win the national championship.
Click to expand...
 

It was the Preseason NIT, not Holiday Festival.
Click to expand...
 

that's correct...thanks for reminding me..
 
 marillac i dont call you or anyone else on here names and never have so maybe you should watch what you say
 
i never remember the MSG Holiday Festival being anything other than 4 teams over two nights, usually back-to-back nights, right around Christmas.

They brought some of the best teams in the nation here, like UCLA, Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas, Princeton, St. John's and others when they were in their hay day. A lot of times it was the Johnnies first real test of the season.

It all changed and at some point, they went minor league on us, then the Johnnies got bad, so it didn't really matter.

I wish they would go back to 3 high profile national teams with us in the mix, and, with Coach Lavin, we will be deserving, let's do back-to-back nights, between Christmas and New Year's, and I'd love to have a full Garden with St. John's beating Kentucky or Duke!!!! 
 
syracuse and pitt should be frozen out of the garden for any "holiday" festival..along with west virginia, miami, boston college and virginia tech.

i would have loved to have seen an eight game festival with all solid locals taking part. st john's doesn't want it..so forget it.

it's a shame how far the tournament has fallen. in 1986, three of the final four teams took part. we beat louisville and they went on to win the national championship.
Click to expand...
 

Great post! A tournament filled with 8 local teams will pack the Garden.BUt like you said, St Johns has to be the flagship team and get involved. Maybe Lavin will some guts and endorse this
 
What I don't understand is that at the same time as the Holiday Festival has been losing significance, other random college BB games are popping up on the garden's schedule in November and December.

The 2k Sports classic, the preseason NIT, Jimmy V, Champions Classic, etc etc

There were a slew of pre-conference play games held at MSG that we weren't a part of. Clearly teams like UK, UNC, Duke etc want to schedule games in NYC ... why aren't they being recruited to play in the Holiday Festival, rather than the Autozone Classic or whatever sponsor held the Duke-Washington game?
 
What I don't understand is that at the same time as the Holiday Festival has been losing significance, other random college BB games are popping up on the garden's schedule in November and December.

The 2k Sports classic, the preseason NIT, Jimmy V, Champions Classic, etc etc

There were a slew of pre-conference play games held at MSG that we weren't a part of. Clearly teams like UK, UNC, Duke etc want to schedule games in NYC ... why aren't they being recruited to play in the Holiday Festival, rather than the Autozone Classic or whatever sponsor held the Duke-Washington game?
Click to expand...
 

All boils down to the tournament organizers. More money backing those other ventures.
 
All those other MSG tourneys are cornerstones of ESPN's big college basketball preseason launch sure to get big time media exposure as well.

Most of the other tourneys also have national TV coverage on one network or another, Holiday Fest hasn't even in years when there were good teams.
 
syracuse and pitt should be frozen out of the garden for any "holiday" festival..along with west virginia, miami, boston college and virginia tech.

i would have loved to have seen an eight game festival with all solid locals taking part. st john's doesn't want it..so forget it.

it's a shame how far the tournament has fallen. in 1986, three of the final four teams took part. we beat louisville and they went on to win the national championship.
Click to expand...
 

Great post! A tournament filled with 8 local teams will pack the Garden.BUt like you said, St Johns has to be the flagship team and get involved. Maybe Lavin will some guts and endorse this
Click to expand...
 

Yeah, I don't think so. This year how many people were there for STJ, Fordham, Rutgers and Stony Brook? You'd have to drop Rutgers since you couldn't have two BE teams in the same tourney so you'd replace them with Manhattan, Iona, LIU, St Francis and Hofstra I assume? That's going to fill up the rest of the seats with their rabid fan bases? I sincerely doubt it, especially after four teams are eliminated the first day.
 
 In the good old days , there was always a prominant program in addition to SJU. IE. UNC, Michigan.etc. It is indeed true everybody wants a game at MSG. It helps their NY recruiting, and it is the mecca of college BB.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top