(MSG) Duke, Sat. Feb. 3, Noon, FOX/570AM

I'm a relatively new fan, having started following them after college/enrolling at SJU for grad school in 2012. So I started cheering for them during the Lavin years.

I have to say, this was the BEST win I've experienced. A close second would be @ Syracuse during Lavin's final year, which got us into the rankings and eventually the tournament. However, Syracuse wasn't ranked and that game didn't get even a fraction of the attention this one did nationally. I mean, this game is STILL the top story on ESPN NCAAM.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/

College basketball is all about the upsets. The most exciting part of March is seeing Duke fall to a 15 seed. This game had the best script possible for a February game. I'd go as far as to say I rather go 0-18 in the BE and beat Duke than go 5-13 and lose to them. Because unless one of those 5 wins were against Nova/X, not many would notice. Duke is Duke. The atmosphere was insane with it being split. Absolutely can't beat it in terms of big time exciting upsets. Really, everything about the game was perfect. 100% perfect. We all wish we were entering with a better record, but for most the nation our 11 game losing streak made the win even sweeter

It's funny, as much as we hate the ACC, our 4 most exciting wins the past 6 years were against ACC teams. @Syracuse in 2014-15. Vs Syracuse in 2015-16. @ Syracuse in 2016-17. Vs Duke in 2017-18. Duke was no doubt the best win. Syracuse was always overrated and we beat some better Big East teams, but the Syracuse games helped energize the fanbase.

Thanks ACC! 4-0 the past 4 years despite being heavy underdogs!!!

Amazing job by the team. Everybody very, very, very, very badly needed this one.
 
I heard the Fox announcers say we have the 5th toughest strength of schedule. Did anyone else hear that?
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Our SOS is now 3.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/rpi/_/groupId/4

Our RPI amazingly is 82 right now despite a losing record.

I don't think ANY fans should be expecting NIT after starting BE play 0-11, but with that kind of an RPI it isn't out of the question. If we are able to get 3-4+ more wins, maybe just maybe we'll get in.

So despite the season seemingly being lost and most people looking towards next year, we at least can continue cheering and hoping they can pull off a few more wins and possibly make the NIT. Unfortunately, I may have read the NIT requires a winning record, but could be wrong about that.

Of course, we can also hope they win the BET (even less likely lol, but there's still hope at least). Still more exciting basketball to be played and this win proved we can beat anyone.

Personally, I'd be happy with a couple more Ws this year and keeping most of the roster in line for next year. Thank God we all have this win to savor. Would've made the next 9 months a lot more painful had we lost.
 
liked your posts Adam :D

BTW the ESPN link says we have the 5th toughest schedule
(we are playing hard with our understaffed bench! what 1 or 2 more decent players would mean
wow)
 
liked your posts Adam :D

BTW the ESPN link says we have the 5th toughest schedule
(we are playing hard with our understaffed bench! what 1 or 2 more decent players would mean
wow)
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Thanks! I've enjoyed reading your optimistic posts over the years.

The link looks like our SOS is 3 (third column- you can also click on SOS to rank them), just checked again.

It is:
#1 Vanderbilt
#2 Temple
#3 SJU
#4 Kansas
#5 UNC

But regardless, our SOS is really, really good. Only going to get better after Wednesday.
 
First chance I've had to post after the win on Saturday....I was running errands Saturday morning for my Super Bowl party so I was recording the game. I was just praying we wouldn't get blown out on national TV.....I couldn't help but check the score at halftime and saw we were down 7.....I thought that was pretty respectable....I got home....shut my phone off since I was on delay and settled in to watch the 2nd half.....I was beside myself.....I kept waiting for the inevitable Duke run which came but we pulled it out.....by the time I turned my phone on, I had at least a dozen texts from friends, fellow alums, coworkers, etc. all congratulating SJU....it's amazing how the level of interest gets turned up when you're playing Duke.....I'm really hoping this is a watershed game that helps turn the season around a bit but more importantly, sets us up for the next few years with recruits and with (hopefully) Mullin leading us.....

one last thing....came into work this morning and was asking my staff how much they loved the super bowl on saturday...they all looked at me with puzzled expressions and then realized i was talking about the SJU game......i'm still glowing!!

 
My son was looking at the Duke’s roster before the game started and mentioned they had a kid from White aplains. I figured it was a walk-on but looked to see it was Jordan Tucker who played at Stepinac before his family moved south and he went to a prep school. Of course we did recruit him but we dropped us off the list. I had forgotten that he had signed with Duke after they lost out on Knox Who signed late with Kentucky.

Found out Tucker left the program at the end of 2017 (it might have been reported here but I missed it) due to lack of playing time (2games played out of 14). I don’t really know what he was expecting. I always felt he and his family thought he was better than he actually was like a one and done type. Where I thought he was a good but not a leave early type of player.
 
My son was looking at the Duke’s roster before the game started and mentioned they had a kid from White aplains. I figured it was a walk-on but looked to see it was Jordan Tucker who played at Stepinac before his family moved south and he went to a prep school. Of course we did recruit him but we dropped us off the list. I had forgotten that he had signed with Duke after they lost out on Knox Who signed late with Kentucky.

Found out Tucker left the program at the end of 2017 (it might have been reported here but I missed it) due to lack of playing time (2games played out of 14). I don’t really know what he was expecting. I always felt he and his family thought he was better than he actually was like a one and done type. Where I thought he was a good but not a leave early type of player.
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Transferred to Butler
 
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