Is early season lack of attendance concerning?

You’re not all there are you? The tone of Tony D and other posters in this thread is total condescension to Tulsa based largely on conference. You can’t then point to them playing big time programs like Cincy, Wichita State, Memphis, and even Houston as a negative. They’ve finished 12-6 or better in conference four times in the last five years. They’ve only finished lower than .500 in conference play once since 2006 and that was an 8-10 record. They are as good or better than us in almost every objective measurement over the last 30 years.

Kenpom has program success rankings for every program starting with the 1997 season. SJU is 75th and Tulsa is 86th. So they are pretty similar. To say they are as good or better in almost every objective measurement is more nonsense from the guy who thinks everybody else talks in extremes too much.

Also, they didn't make the tournament in seasons in which they went 14-4 and 12-6 in the AAC so being condescending towards their conference has some merit.

Hopefully today’s win will build momentum that is actually sustain for not just one season but for multiple seasons. There are a lot of great story lines that can make some great New York Stories.

-This coach and this team have chips on their shoulders and their looking to prove people wrong.

-The Knicks (as usual) are terrible, and this is a great opportunity for SJU to bring some great magic to the Garden, especially during January and February.

-This is a working class, blue collar team. Most of the Big East Teams maybe better than SJU,  but can they out grind this team. If SJU can make a team grind, this will always have a chance.

I’m not saying this team has any shot of making the tournament, but a few upsets, making the NIT, and even winning a game can payoff in the long run.

The potential for this team to be endearing to a City starving for good basketball is palatable. Hopefully SJU does this finally does something g different and capitalize on the opportunity.

(2) KenPom is a joke

I agree with most of this but this city isn't going to rally around an NIT team in February and March.

(1) Do your understand what the word almost means? It’s a concession that there are some facts that run contrary not a challenge to find exceptions.

(2) KenPom is a joke and he even writes that ranking programs is not easy. 15% of his score is based on what the conference and not the program did. The amount each item is weighted is completely subjective.

(3) Starting in 1997 is arbitrary and that leaves out four straight NCAA appearances (three with wins) two of which were Sweet 16s for Tulsa. St. John’s had four losing seasons those same four years immediately before the 1997 season. Obviously Tulsa would have flip flopped with us if the time frame was expanded. Even you would have to concede that.


(4) This argument is over whether or not St. John’s is head and shoulders above Tulsa as a program. It clearly isn’t over the last 30 years. I’m fine with someone saying we are better, but to condescend to to them is the same type of delusion that forces our fans to demand a new coach every four years.

We became a different program when Louie retired.

Ok boomer

Let me rephrase, a bubble team that misses the tournament and ends up making the NIT. The buzz of fighting for a bid would be exciting.

Tulsa has a coach that just signed an extension...

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/tipsheet-haith-gets-extension-but-faces-big-challenge-at-tulsa/article_4188f6e2-cfa7-5a22-98ef-1d8de4d14560.html

And who has been doing well. The rumor is obviously false—who the hell would Anderson tell that hypothetical to anyway? Can you imagine him telling some random fan “If Haith leaves next year I’m going to take his place” months into this job?!

The debate is over where we stand in the college basketball world. This isn’t a good job.

We just came away from the worst 4 years in school history 

The Roberts years were worse on paper but I would have to agree because Mullin brought lofty expectations.

Mullin was better than Norm Roberts. Come on people. We’re better than this. Neither were the answer, but Mullin gave us moments.

Norm took everything from the program. When it needed him to rebuild it, he made it worse. He stood in the way of his own team’s success by burying Hardy and Brownlee on the bench.