Pitino
- Thread starter Piratz
- Start date
That's a convenient excuse to keep the UConn faithful away from attending the game.
I don't blame St John's. They (UConn) poked the bear one too many times. Even their AD got in on the action on social media in the past. You can say it's good-natured ball busting but at the end of the day it's all at St. John's expense....and they've had enough.
As a general rule of thumb, you can only make fun of someone for so long until they clap back.
As a general rule of thumb, you can only make fun of someone for so long until they clap back.
Well, it's an excuse to try anyway. If there are tickets available, including on the secondary market we will snap them up.
Lol, how how did UConn "poke the bear"? And really, St. John's hasn't been "a bear" for years. I mean maybe a bear cub or a teddy bear...
For what it's worth, I'd be all in on this as a one off, particularly if Carnesecca was in attendance. (I have no idea whether his circumstances would permit that.) Hurley is a big fan of the old Big East. I think he'd be all in on it too. The real question is whether the St. John's athletic department is willing to forgo the extra revenue.
Poke the bear probably not the best phrase because St. John's a shell of its former self. But they have been trolled and pushed relentlessly. This is their response.
Serious question, what was this trolling? I completely missed it. Unless you're talking about Hurley's response to Pitino threatening to move the game to Carnesecca, but that was a response, not a cause.
No, nothing with Hurley. This dates back over a year - and largely revolves around the BigEast twitter subculture. I really don't want to go down the rabbit hole but please just take my word for it.
Like I said earlier some (most) people would just consider it ole' fashioned ball busting. It's what guys do. If you (st johns) want to shut them (uconn) up then beat them....but they can't beat uconn so they do things like this.
Does anyone know if the BigEast dictates which St. John's games are played at MSG? On one hand I would imagine that St. John's has power of attorney as to where they play their games, but on the other hand the relationship with MSG is so imperative to the conference I wouldn't be surprised if St. John's hands were tied to a certain degree.
EDIT: Well I guess here is the answer....
EDIT: Well I guess here is the answer....
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Rick can be a colossal PITA. That’s what he’s doing here. Leave Lou out of it.
Did anyone really think that hiring ” Slick Rick “ would come without controversy. It follows him wherever he goes and accept that’s who he is and it should come as no surprise to anyone.
P
Got it. It's tough to blame the administration for UConn Twitter. For what it's worth, I think much of what they do is infantile and counterproductive. That said, I know a few of them.
This is just one small example...last year a UConn student/fan tweeted at Dave Benedict (paraphrasing) asking for a block of student tickets for UConn's upcoming "home game at Storrs south" (st johns home game at msg). Dave benedict responded by tagging Mike Cragg asking for the tickets.
It's good-natured ball busting, but it definitely carries a narrative/undertone that we own your arena.
I don't know Pitino, but I'm sure little comments and things like that are going to get under his skin. He's trying to flip the script by taking his ball and going home.
It's good-natured ball busting, but it definitely carries a narrative/undertone that we own your arena.
I don't know Pitino, but I'm sure little comments and things like that are going to get under his skin. He's trying to flip the script by taking his ball and going home.
Rick Pitino adds Lou Carnesecca twist to UConn arena drama
The St. John’s-Connecticut venue saga has another layer to it.
nypost.com
Rick Pitino adds Lou Carnesecca twist to UConn arena drama
By Zach BrazillerThe St. John’s-Connecticut venue saga has another layer to it.
A few weeks after Rick Pitino said he wanted to play the Huskies at Carnesecca Arena next season, he noted that athletic director Mike Cragg has requested to the league that the game be played on the 100th birthday of legendary coach Lou Carnesecca, which is Jan. 5, 2025.
Big East policy dictates that the conference can choose where the highest-profile games will be played if a school — such as St. John’s — plays more than two home games at multiple venues.
The Garden, where the Red Storm are playing eight times this year, will obviously want the Connecticut game played in its building.
“I’ll say this: This was planned in the summer. We want to honor Louie with a big game when he turns 100, whether it’s Connecticut, Villanova, Georgetown. We want it to be a champion team, and certainly Connecticut and Villanova are the two elite champions,” Pitino said.
“I said this the other day, I don’t think Connecticut knows how to take a compliment. The fact we want to play them at Carnesecca is the ultimate compliment of all time, because the three best fan bases in all of college basketball for travel are Kentucky, Kansas and UConn. They travel the best, they have the best fans. They sellout at home, they have major crowds. We want a champion team, and if the Big East won’t give us a champion team, we’ll go out and get a non-conference gigantic opponent to honor Louie. Everything you hear about that is complementary to the [UConn] program.”
One of the reasons that Pitino has wanted to play the game on campus is to tweak UConn coach Dan Hurley.
St. John’s and Pitino felt Hurley’s sideline behavior in the UConn win on Dec. 23 was inappropriate, according to sources.
Another factor is that Huskies fans have flooded the Garden when they play St. John’s.
When told of Pitino’s initial plans to move the game, Hurley said: “Everyone’s trying to get what we have. We’ve won four national championships since 2000 here at UConn, they haven’t had much success since then, especially when they went from Fran [Fraschilla] to Mike Jarvis and they had those real good teams with Ron Artest.
“They’re trying to do what they need to do to build their program up. But, anyone not named Duke, Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky — I’m probably going to miss a couple of [teams] here — they’re all going for where we’re at. We’ve had unbelievable success here in basketball. There are programs who haven’t been to a Final Four, or haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 20 years, so there’s obviously a lot of punching up.”
St. John’s associate head coach Steve Masiello tweeted in response: “I think Coach Pitino stopped punching up after his 5th Final 4, or was it his 6th ? no wait. I think it was after his 7th!”
It’s hilarious. And people on Twitter and message boards continue to eat it up.
I’m not a Twitter or social media guy, but I will say that the Uconn dude who brought in SJU’s AD is something I’d never do. It is one thing to go at it with lunatic fans on Twitter if you have such time and inclination. Although as a college kid I had plenty of other things to spend time on. Another thing to bring a guy into that who isn’t mixing it up, just trying to do a job, and probably only on Twitter because the gig these days requires it.
I’m not a Twitter or social media guy, but I will say that the Uconn dude who brought in SJU’s AD is something I’d never do. It is one thing to go at it with lunatic fans on Twitter if you have such time and inclination. Although as a college kid I had plenty of other things to spend time on. Another thing to bring a guy into that who isn’t mixing it up, just trying to do a job, and probably only on Twitter because the gig these days requires it.
🤣🤣🙄
Also, why do we have zero media availability prior to games? Silly.
Also, why do we have zero media availability prior to games? Silly.
Pretty sure the A.D. looked at the box office receipts for the Connecticut games and said "Ah... Rick?....."
We do not pack MSG. We have a representative following but putting us in the same sentence with UConn in that regard isn't remotely true.
Here are the SHU-SJU attendance figures at MSG going back to 2003.
2021-22: 6,692
2019-20: 10,428
2018-19: 18,529
2017-18: 18,840
2016-17: 9,027
2015-16: 13,204
2012-13: 7,641
2005-06: 6,719
2004-05: 6,685
2003-04: 8,059
2002-03: 9,412
The three largest crowds were during the Mullin years and there was some excitement around the SJU program because a program legend had come back. There were plenty of years we played at Alumni Hall because SJU knew UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, Villanova and Marquette would out draw us at MSG.
Here are the SHU-SJU attendance figures at MSG going back to 2003.
2021-22: 6,692
2019-20: 10,428
2018-19: 18,529
2017-18: 18,840
2016-17: 9,027
2015-16: 13,204
2012-13: 7,641
2005-06: 6,719
2004-05: 6,685
2003-04: 8,059
2002-03: 9,412
The three largest crowds were during the Mullin years and there was some excitement around the SJU program because a program legend had come back. There were plenty of years we played at Alumni Hall because SJU knew UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, Villanova and Marquette would out draw us at MSG.
No, they don't. But the implication that we are bringing more than a couple of thousand fans there in a normal year isn't true. I've rarely felt like we had even 25% of the crowd there.
Direct source: this poster had dinner at del friscos friday night, uconn must have had team dinner or hotel near by because their bus rolled up at 845 on 6th Ave, mr. Donovan was very prominent
I would respectfully disagree. St. John's doesn't pack the Garden, and that's the root of the issue here. The recent Seton Hall games have been solid attendance over there. I was at a few of those and there were lots of Hall fans in attendance. I don't think attendance figures from 10-20 years ago have anything to do with this conversation.
Seton Hall isn't UConn, but Hall fans do more than their fair share when it comes to playing SJU at MSG. Especially when the Hall is good.
Georgetown really is the right opponent to celebrate Looie’s 100th. Too bad Big John couldn’t be there for it, or it would’ve been perfect.
He will occasionally go to home games at Carnesseca, can’t remember seeing him recently at an MSG game. Maybe at 100 it’s just to difficult to travel into Manhattan.
