(3) Wednesday Big East Games 11/13/19

[MUPanther]

To the Xavier fan, I have respected you guys since you came here. Xavier has been one of the best and most consistent teams in the conference. Legit program. As for PC, I'm sorry but you guys almost never live up to your hype and I'm really rooting for you. PC has a cool coach who is funny and charming, but when it comes time to win big games PC always no-shows. Good recruiting, not much payoff. Make tourney but out immediately. No idea what happened to Nova but it seems they are like Creighton from their early Big East days...chuck and pray. When it works, you look great. When they don't fall, well...you lose and bad sometimes.

Mullin, I love Jay, wouldn't want another coach, but the chuck and pray method has been our strategy for some time now. "Shoot 'em up and sleep in the streets." Lucky for Jay he has had guys able to make it work for some time.

No excuses for last night, we didn't bring it, but the fact OSU was lights out did not help. Think they hit 4 straight 3s to get going. We did that to Kansas in the Final 4 in 2018. Sometimes when you throw an early knockout punch it is hard for the other team to bounce back. Unfortunately we were the other team last night.

I will always trust Jay. You sort of wonder. Ohio State was battle tested last week vs Cincinnati on FS1. Villanova was off for 8 days. The same was said for Purdue playing Texas last Saturday night on FS1. MU was also off 8 days. Rust was on MU. The difference was MU, settled in and playing at home.

[MullinMayhem]

My fear is that games like the Nova one, PC who should've surely beat Northwestern, etc. help solidify opinions that the F5 schools are still clearly above the Big East. The big state schools seem to have a different caliber of player...many have very good big men. We are more guard-oriented. For all you guys saying not to bring UConn back, yesterday was an example that when Nova isn't dominating and in the top 10 all year going deep in the tourney, our conference looks much more weak. We talk up PC like they're a top 25 team and they lose to a bad Northwestern team. Some people were saying PC would compete to finish in the top 3. They just made us look pretty bad as a conference. I hope this was just a farce and we are on our way to a very good conference year, but results like the other day make the F5 fans puff their chest and look down on us with a "told you so" glare.

[Novachap]

Oh good Lord. Will you listen to this crap? A bit salty after last night, but this is crazy.

Nova will not dominate like it has in the past, but the team regrouped after a beat down by Michigan last year (who had just a little motivation after Nova had thumped them, with 4 players that left for the NBA, you know for the National Championship) and then went on and won both the regular season and the BE tournament.

OSU, at home, a really good team with more games under their belt against a very young team in their second game absolutely and unequivocally kicked our butt, it happens. Will Nova win the BE? My guess is no--not having the senior leadership is key to this program, but my guess is they will make the tourney (yes a low standard for us), be a team that few want to play come March after their growth in a pretty intense and complicated system, and have what many teams would love to have for a year, but for Nova- like last year, consider it a "down year". ... All this stuff about launching 3 pointers, disjointed offense, an AAU team, etc. wow. For years, that has been the philosophy, and you know something? it works. Will we get the tar beat out of us? Hell yes... see Oklahoma 2015 / 2016. Will Nova recover? hell yes... see Oklahoma 2015 / 2016. This is a year Nova fans will have to have patience and maybe even accept double digit losses, but they will still be a tough out for anyone.

Xup... You may recall, you launched the first shots in the "playful" banter about how X was going to curb stomp Nova and the league. Did you expect us to sit on our hands given the history of the league? X has been given a ton of respect by many--particularly myself, both here and on your site, but you have been the 2nd best in the conference in terms of Tourney appearances and conference wins (by a wide margin). It is is a very good program. Passionate fan base and what I believe is a really good base in Steele --- hopefully he stays long term.

Win the BE tourney, sweep us a few years in a row, make multiple final 4's and win 3 NCs and in your words, "we will kiss the ring". Glad you enjoyed last night and it gave you some enjoyment. I get it must be tough living in UK country as an X fan...but jesus, get a grip man. Enjoy your team this year, don't stress out like you were against Missouri, you guys are good, have experience, etc. When shots start to drop they will be very good. Last thing, I get the GQ Jay thing is an easy target and can be annoying and clearly it irks you. There is a little more there than a suit. 6 time BE Coach of the Year and 2 time National Coach of the year. Is he fallible, hell yes. Incredibly tough on his players and can be really stubborn, but again, it works when you look at the body of work. The FACT of the matter is, there are only a couple of programs in the Basketball universe that wouldn't trade for him in heartbeat. Duke, Kentucky, MSU and Kansas (although not so sure on that one) would sit pat... anyone else, well you get it. So, yes, go ahead and make fun of the suits, be jealous of his coverage but he has been THE principal reason the BE is not a mid major conference.

Anyway, this week only shows how wide open the league is this year. Hell at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if DePaul wins it with only 11 wins with such parity.

OK, rant over.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Curb stomped. No other way to put it. Reminded of that OU game in ‘15-‘16. There are some games you just too your hat and move on. With a young team trying to gel this will happen. They hit shots. Not sure how Gillespie has become the whipping boy. Kid missed a month with 2 injuries. We’re spoiled. He’s not Brunson; I get it. But he’ll be fine. The guy who didn’t show up was Saddiq. Really poor game from him.

The positives?
1.Cole Swider has unlimited range. If we’re a chuck and duck team I want him chucking. 6’9” sharpshooters don’t grow on trees.
2. Our D always improves over time. One of the most underrated things about JW is his acumen as a defensive coach. That’ll come around.
3. Young kids are getting experience that will pay off in March.
4. We have a dynamic HS All-AMERICAN on our bench. Antoine will help.

Now to our X fans...most of you are good BB fans. You have pride in your program, as you should. X has a great program; they’ve been historically relevant over multiple decades. I am a very passionate fan of my Alma Mater. So if I feel that another fan base is trying to troll or bad-mouth Nova I will respond. The X trolls on here remind me of the Cuse fans a bit in the sense that they over estimate the importance of their program in the college BB universe. Whatever. I will root for X to do well. Shared success for BE teams is important.

[Savannah Jay]

All this stuff about launching 3 pointers, disjointed offense, an AAU team, etc. wow. For years, that has been the philosophy, and you know something? it works. Will we get the tar beat out of us? Hell yes... see Oklahoma 2015 / 2016. Will Nova recover? hell yes... see Oklahoma 2015 / 2016.

This is where my mind went last night...on 12-7-15, Nova lost to Oklahoma 78-55. On 4-2-16, Nova drubbed Oklahoma 95-51 and won an even bigger game 2 nights later.

Don't think i'd hit the panic button just yet (or ever) as long as the coach is Jay Wright.

[adoraz]

To those overreacting- yes it was a bad night. We were expected to go 2-1 and instead went 1-2. However, a couple days ago DePaul were big underdogs and won and a ranked Xavier beat Missouri. We also are undefeated in ALL the non-Power games.

Chill out. We're 4-3 vs the Football 5 and undefeated vs the rest of the cupcakes (I believe we're the ONLY conference that can say that). It's been a great start to the season and most Power conferences would love to have our record.

If you're a Providence or Nova fan frustrated by the results last night, I can obviously understand that. For everyone else? No.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

.
October 24, 2019: In the Atlantic 10 Conference Preseason Coaches and Media Poll, St. Joseph’s was picked to finish in 13th place – the Hawks’ worst preseason prediction since joining the A10 in the 1982–83 season.

November 10, 2019: Old Dominion stomps St. Joseph’s 82-69.

St Joe's @ UCONN, 7:00 PM, CBSSN (UCONN -15)

Our future program, UConn, is getting clocked at home by St. Joe's--50-27.

Uconn made a valiant effort, as they were able to cut a 27-point deficit down to three. St. Joe's didn't wilt and ended up winning by nine.

Saint Joseph's Holds Off UConn 96-87 – Associated Press – November 13, 2019

The Hawks opened the game with a 14-0 run. While UConn missed its first nine shots, St. Joe's hit five of its first seven.

UConn is 6-3 all-time against St. Joe's. This was the first meeting between the two schools since the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. UConn won that game 89-81 in overtime, beginning their run to a fourth national title. Coach Dan Hurley said the Huskies have to get the culture back to where it was in those days. "Obviously we've got a lot of work to do," Hurley said. "I've got a ton of work to do. Man, we've got a long way to go."

[Xudash]

To the Xavier fan, I have respected you guys since you came here. Xavier has been one of the best and most consistent teams in the conference. Legit program. As for PC, I'm sorry but you guys almost never live up to your hype and I'm really rooting for you. PC has a cool coach who is funny and charming, but when it comes time to win big games PC always no-shows. Good recruiting, not much payoff. Make tourney but out immediately. No idea what happened to Nova but it seems they are like Creighton from their early Big East days...chuck and pray. When it works, you look great. When they don't fall, well...you lose and bad sometimes.

Mullin, I love Jay, wouldn't want another coach, but the chuck and pray method has been our strategy for some time now. "Shoot 'em up and sleep in the streets." Lucky for Jay he has had guys able to make it work for some time.

No excuses for last night, we didn't bring it, but the fact OSU was lights out did not help. Think they hit 4 straight 3s to get going. We did that to Kansas in the Final 4 in 2018. Sometimes when you throw an early knockout punch it is hard for the other team to bounce back. Unfortunately we were the other team last night.

That is how I saw it Chest: the Buckeyes came out blazing. You guys were fighting to find your footing through that onslaught.

[kayako]

2015 Oklahoma game, I can't compare it to what happened last night. That game was just a case of shots rimming out all night (4 for 32!). Last night Nova was simply overmatched.

[scoscox]

Lots of angst on this board today