Holiday Festival

Hofstra is #57 in the RPI and a very solid team.  Cornell (have to assume a Cornell w) is ranked #25 in the RPI and actually got three votes in the coach's poll this week.

I thought that the Cornell game would be Sunday, but it's Monday.  That kinda sucks for our top 25 chances this week.

Cornell is a shoe-in for for the tournament and I think Hofstra will be very close this year as well.  This pair of W's would be huge for us.  Conversely, a loss would pretty much end our tournament hopes. 

I'd love to go into the G'town game with both teams ranked!  With that type of momentum, I think we could pull it off at their place.  They have no depth.

wins would be huge but as for the gtown game i have very little faith in us on the road, at least this year we are doing better but after last year i would hate to see a big game played anywhere but home

Hofstra has scared me in recent years, not this year. Horne will be in Jenkins' jock all night. Game over

We've been pretty good at guarding the opposing team's guards.
Moore, Fernandez, Sheyer etc but we've been torched inside by Nicholson, Gaston and Tompkins.

I'm not sure Hofstra has a go to
big man, but we all should know by now,
that their biggest weapon is their coach.

Both these games scare me. Haven't earned a real comfort level yet.

That said, even a loss doesn't end our dancing hopes.. and I think we've got a real chance to beat G'town.

We've been pretty good at guarding the opposing team's guards.
Moore, Fernandez, Sheyer etc but we've been torched inside by Nicholson, Gaston and Tompkins.

I'm not sure Hofstra has a go to
big man, but we all should know by now,
that their biggest weapon is their coach.

Biggest weapon is their coach?  What exactly has he doen there?

I do not think that a loss ends our hopes for an NCAA bid.
I would really like to see our kids win a Tournament Championship and one of our players win MVP. It would create some more buzz and confidence for the team.

11-1 Looks and sounds really sweet going into the Big East Conference schedule.

Cornell is a shoe-in for for the tournament

I'm not so sure about that yet, unless the Ivy is going to get two bids. Harvard is a pretty damn good team this year.

I'm expecting two wins but wouldn't be shocked with a loss. What Jacstorm said about the comfort level is dead on, I think. There aren't many games that I go into with a comfort level because of the team's ability to play down to their opponent for long stretches.

I see the TV is slotted for MSG again. In years past, that meant it wouldn't even be on ESPN Full Court. Anybody know if that's still the case this year?

Johnny - MSG only, yeah.  I checked on ESPN 360, at least, and it's not listed.  (I'm going to buy the DirecTV sports pack for a month pretty much for this game, and any NY area HS games that end up on the air.)

Hofstra does not have a go-to big man, BUT Halil Kanacevic has shown a lot of promise and he led the comeback for Hofstra when they almost took down UConn.  He can play inside-out. 

He's a freshman though, and not consistent yet.  St. John's should win this game, but if Hofstra starts lighting it up from the perimeter and the Halil/Greg Washington combo can put some points on the board, they'll have a chance. 

Well, that stinks. I have Time Warner at home, but DirecTV for tailgate purposes. Looks like I'll have to hook up the DirecTV at home for Cowboys/Saints on Saturday then St. John's the next two days.

Hofstra has scared me in recent years, not this year. Horne will be in Jenkins' jock all night. Game over

This is the first year in probably a decade I am not worried at all about losing to Hofstra.  Maybe it is a false sense of confidence?  I don't know.  I think it will be close, but that we will have it the whole way and we will be able to extend the lead when needed. 

Paris' assignment will be to guard the sh*t out of Jenkins and not worry about anything else.  He is stellar when he gets that duty.  Hofstra doesn't have better bigs than us, and I think that (coupled with a few shooters) is the only way you beat STJ this year.  DJ is going to absolutely punish the beanstalk that is Lester.  Could actually be funny to watch, and DJ will be able to get to the rim at will. 

Cornell scares me a bit, but we should run by them to another 10 point W based solely on athleticism.  Their bigs are completely immobile and no way they can stick with Evans and Brownlee in a sprint.  I expect 30 combined points from those two.

If anyone isn't worried about losing to Hofstra,
I hope you had a good sleep the last 5 years.

I did not, because I saw all 4 losses in person.
Even the one on Hofstra's campus.

Lets hope we get these games in A lot of smow heading are way. This will be great for fan support.

Whose gonna be going?

As of now, I'm only goin on Monday because I have graduation ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.  But there's a decent chance my graduation gets postponed til Monday in which case I might end up going both days.

Whose gonna be going?

As of now, I'm only goin on Monday because I have graduation ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.  But there's a decent chance my graduation gets postponed til Monday in which case I might end up going both days.

Congratulations T!

Who you rooting for in the game?

Thanks carmine!

I'm rooting for St. John's.

No questions asked.

BTW for all SJU student section people reading this:

definitely gotta make up a chant bout Hofstra losing their football team.

probably going sunday with my buddies from cornell and richmond.

BTW for all SJU student section people reading this:

definitely gotta make up a chant bout Hofstra losing their football team.

  Same thing happened at St.John's years ago.  Not really an insult to them when the samething happened to you.