(POST GAME) (MSG) Connecticut, Sun., Feb. 13, 12 Noon, FOX

I was very skeptical of Nyiwe being a Big East player but thought he gave us some very nice minutes today. Hope he returns next year as he is a solid backup big.
 
Duke of Earlington post=457612 said:
Beast of the East post=457599 said:
Amaseinyourface post=457595 said:
MarkRedman post=457594 said:
I really believe that we lose many close games because, when the chips are down, we do not collectively as a team have a very high basketball IQ and make a lot of unforced errors and/or use poor judgment.
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Agree 100%. And we don’t have guys who are particularly good at putting the ball in the basket. Who on this teams best skill is going to get their own shot? No one. Well it might be Smiths best skill but he hasn’t been able to do it at this level.
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Biggest difference to me this year is julian doesn't have the swagger of a get on my back and I'll carry the team type of player this year
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He doesnt have the ability to do that.  He can knocks shots down when hes open but thats about it.  You cant give him the ball and get out of the way and he will score.  He has 0 ability to create seperation or beat anyone off the dribble.  He was singled up on Sonoga at one point and had to pass it because he couldnt beat him.  Anyone top player should be licking their chops getting sonoga one on one on the perimeter. 

Getting on him for stuff like “not wanting it” is wrong.  He does want it.  Hes just not capable of it.
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One thing I do NOT do is get on our guys. Simply put last year he played with the confidence of a go to guy, who could deliver in big moments. To me, he's more than capable of that, but perhaps has lost his confidence in addition to some nagging injuries.
 
I posted previously in this thread that I believe that Joel Soriano's development has progressed well, and one or more posters replied that they thought that I was criticizing him.

No.  I do believe that Soriano is a much-improved player during recent games when compared to his play in November.  Soriano is developing into a pretty good Big East center.

As hard as it may be for some to believe, you can complement St. John's players on Redmen.com

.
 
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RedStormNC post=457627 said:
MSG is a great recruiting tool for big time recruits but At the mid 3* level Anderson generally recruits and attracts, MSG might not mean too much because we don't win with that talent level.

It's especially bad optics on TV, when seats behind the bench (MSG & CA) are left unfilled too. Thats happened a lot. So the season ticket holders are likely not showing up consistently either.

we are now 12-15 at msg since 2017. 6 of those wins came to mid to low majors and big east cellar dwellers. It’s a neutral court at best for us. I’m not sure what the answer is aside from better players/coaching. 
 
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NCJohnnie post=457635 said:
I was very skeptical of Nyiwe being a Big East player but thought he gave us some very nice minutes today. Hope he returns next year as he is a solid backup big.
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If he and Stanley had scorers around them, they would probably be the kind of players who make the good teams great.

Unfortunately, their lack of scoring only heightens this teams big weakness.  Makes it worse,in a way.

Now, they're only freshman, and can certainly get better in the offseason, but man I wish they could score.  Of course, I feel that way about almost everyone else on our team.
 
JohnnyFan post=457618 said:
Beast of the East post=457579 said:
Crowd was great today.  Probably 60-40 st johns and nearly all game outcheered uconn fans.

I met a grad student from sju who bought tix next to mine who said his dad is a big supporter of sju and was friends with Belson.  Nice guy



 
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I am sorry, but playing a home conference game in front of a 60-40 crowd should not be acceptable.  I agree that St. John's fans were great today, but so were the UConn fans.  The strong "Let's Go Huskies" chant in the closing minutes was embarrassing.  It can't feel good for our guys and it's something a recruit should never witness.

If we have any self respect, next year we will move this game to UBS or CA.  We need to stop checking our pride at the door for money.  Move the game back to MSG when we're winning and can attract enough fans to flip the dynamic.
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 I don't know if any BE schools wanted them back in conference but it made economic sense. They buy Garden tickets but it's not their fault, it's on our fans who don't come out. If attendance was 9000 I'm guessing the ticket purchase after our season tix was equal. If we sold 3000 sju tix at msg, gonna guess we'd sell half that at ubs. At that point would be better to play on campus.

I share your frustration about MSG is not a true home court for us.

Bottom line is our program needs revenue and philanthropy.
 
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From the Hartford Courant—Madison Square Garden was filled with a healthy amount of UConn fans, and at one point in the second half a, “let’s go Huskies” chant broke out.“It felt good to hear them make a 3, and then I came and made a 3,” Martin said. “It was like the same crowd; it got loud again. So, I was like, wow, guess they’re going for us in the Garden. It felt good in the Garden and to perform in front of fans. Last year, we played in the Big East Tournament with not as much fans, but today it felt great.”
 
Paultzman post=457636 said:
Hurley hire stuff

https://twitter.com/nypostsports/status/1493020546904297481?s=21
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We should have hired Pitino back in 92 with Calipari, donovan, and Jay Wright as assistants. When pitino left elevate Calipari, and hire danny Hurley as assistant. When cal left elevate jay wright. If jay left elevate billy donovan and if billy left elevate hurley. We would by now have 6 or 7 ncaa championships, plenty of sneaker money for recruits, enough hookers to use as freebies for students coming to games, and enough cash to buy indulgences for puritanical alumni.
 
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Fun day behind the woodshed, with the added bonus for Jets fans to see a lot of Namath during the Super Bowl, reminding us of how long it’s been…
 
Knight post=457656 said:
From the Hartford Courant—Madison Square Garden was filled with a healthy amount of UConn fans, and at one point in the second half a, “let’s go Huskies” chant broke out.“It felt good to hear them make a 3, and then I came and made a 3,” Martin said. “It was like the same crowd; it got loud again. So, I was like, wow, guess they’re going for us in the Garden. It felt good in the Garden and to perform in front of fans. Last year, we played in the Big East Tournament with not as much fans, but today it felt great.”
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IMO, the Garden is our biggest impediment to winning right now.

How many teams talk about how much the Garden feels like home to them?  Nova has said it, Seton Hall has said it, Providence has said it, now UCONN, and that's not even when they are necessarily playing against us.  One coach in this league even has his number retired at the Garden.  How could he not love coming to the place?... Plus, these teams only come to the Garden once or twice a year, so it's a special event for them.  There's no way we're going to get anything but their best efforts.

For our guys, it kind of gets old.  When you play at MSG as often as we do, it can't help but get stale after awhile, especially when not winning. That's why I believe, while a lot of kids admit that playing at MSG is why they ultimately decide to come here, it could also play a big factor in the transfer rate.  They realize they can play there anyway, either in the Big East Tournament, or some early season event.

Also, I don't think playing conference games at CA does us much good either.  Beyond the bad look, coaches are smart enough to con their teams into believing they were insulted by not getting a game at MSG.  Even if that's not true, as long as their players believe it, they will play a little harder.

The answer, as I have said for a few years now, is to play all our home games at UBS Arena.  This would be an especially good option, if we could get a deal like Seton Hall has at the Rock, and curtain off the upper bowl.  That would create a real home court advantage.  We would also probably have more flexible scheduling options.  Seems like every game we play at MSG is at noon on a weekend.  Likely, that's because, between the Knicks, the Rangers, Billy Joel, and other events, that's the only time they can squeeze us in.  At UBS, we'd only be competing primarily with the Islanders (I know there was an issue with that Kansas game this year, but it was resolved quickly). Even weeknights would probably be better for the Manhattan commuter crowd than CA is (we don't get many MSG weeknight games - usually just one per year).

It's also in a better location for most of our fans, than Carnesecca Arena is (it actually is not for me, but this is not about me, it's about what's best for the program).  We'd have to do some negotiating about the $40 parking though, no way that can stand.

It seems to me, when people say we should stay with MSG, it's only because of "tradition."  If so, it's time to throw that tradition away.  If it's because it helps with recruiting, well, it doesn't help with player retention, so the benefit probably does not outweigh the cost.

We have another option now.  It's time to use it, or at least leverage it to try and get a better deal out of MSG, although I don't know if that can be done.


 
 
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