Rick Pitino planning for St. John’s-UConn at Carnesecca Arena next season in stunning move

[Halldan1]

Rick Pitino planning for St. John’s-UConn at Carnesecca Arena next season in stunning move

Carnesecca Arena is going to get a high-profile league game next year.

nypost.com

By Zach Braziller

Carnesecca Arena is going to get a high-profile league game next year.

After St. John’s knocked off Hofstra, 84-79, at UBS Arena on Saturday, Rick Pitino made the surprise announcement that he plans to play Connecticut in the small on-campus gym next year rather than Madison Square Garden.

Asked if he was serious about that, Pitino responded: “100 percent. We’re playing them at Carnesecca. It’s definitely not a joke. I have my reasons.”

Pitino was being asked about the different venues St. John’s plays at, and if he was disappointed about the limited crowd of 7,486 at UBS Arena on Saturday.

“We didn’t sell-out against Xavier. We didn’t have anybody come to Barclays

. We don’t have an abundance of fans,” he said. “We’re not UConn or Villanova with fans, and there’s a reason. We lost the brand. Louie [Carnesecca] has been gone a long time. So we got to build the brand back and the people will come back.

“This is a fabulous place. Locker rooms are great — everything about it is great. We only had like 7,400 people today. At Barclays

we had 54 of my family and friends, and 11 people from St. John’s. So the Garden is the best place to play, and right now the only game that’s going to be played next year at Carnesecca is Connecticut. Every other game we’re going to negotiate.”

Connecticut fans have taken over the Garden since the Huskies returned to the Big East in 2020.

This would be one way to neutralize them.

The two teams meet this year at MSG on Feb. 3.

St. John’s last played UConn at Carnesecca Arena in 1990.​

 

[jack 1970]

Pitino is no dope. I wouldn't bet against him.

 

[shu09]

This won't happen. Either SJU changes position or the league steps in.

 

[TheHall87]

This won't happen. Either SJU changes position or the league steps in.

Much more likely the former.

The only way the latter works is if the Big East forces SJU to play all conference home games off-campus. I don't think they will do that and I don't think they will dictate who SJU plays at MSG or UBS.

If the league does that, what stops them from telling Seton Hall they have to open the upper level of the Rock any time we reach 10,000 tickets sold?

 

[JTSHU]

They should open the upper level

 

[Halldan1]

You don't do that in a vacuum. It cost money to open the upper deck.

 

[Seton75]

This won't happen. Either SJU changes position or the league steps in.

Yes, Pitino's idea is assholiness of the nth degree. Them playing us on LI SUCKS too.

 

[PMB Pirate]

Pitino is full of s***. That game will be at M$G.

It's the fans fault again.... you don't go to MY games, you don't give ME money for NIL. Guy is living in a dream world.

One helluva coach though, I'll give him that.

 

[SHUisNJsTeam]

They should open the upper level

No, they shouldn’t.

 

[dehere23]

This won't happen. Either SJU changes position or the league steps in.

This is all Pitino doing Pitino stuff right out of the Bill Parcells playbook.

 

[ivyhillparkk1963]

Pitino is full of s***. That game will be at M$G.

It's the fans fault again.... you don't go to MY games, you don't give ME money for NIL. Guy is living in a dream world.

One helluva coach though, I'll give him that.

Great coach but give me one win this year against a team they shouldn't have beaten.

 

[Halldan1]

Tue Nov 7		251	Stony Brook	W, 90-74			Home	1-0
Mon Nov 13		63	Michigan	L, 89-73			Home	1-1
Thu Nov 16		82	North Texas	W, 53-52			Neutral	2-1
Fri Nov 17		37	Dayton	L, 88-81			Neutral	2-2
Sun Nov 19		24	Utah	W, 91-82			Neutral	3-2
Sat Nov 25		354	Holy Cross	W, 91-45			Home	4-2
Fri Dec 1		124	West Virginia	W, 79-73			Away	5-2
Wed Dec 6		293	Sacred Heart	W, 85-50			Home	6-2
Sun Dec 10		90	Boston College	L, 86-80			Semi-Home	6-3
Sat Dec 16		209	Fordham	W, 77-55			Home	7-3
Wed Dec 20		42	Xavier	W, 81-66			Home	8-3	1-0
Sat Dec 23		5	Connecticut	L, 69-65			Away	8-4	1-1
Sat Dec 30		109	Hofstra	W, 84-79			Home	9-4

 

[jack 1970]

Xavier is not bad.They kicked our butt.

 

[lloyde dobler]

If SJU has three different home courts for conference games, shouldn’t they be allowed to play them wherever they want?

 

[shu09]

I've always been of the opinion that the Big East should require them to play conference games at MSG. If you're going to market yourself as "New York's team," lean into the MSG and SJU history, then act like it.

 

[dehere23]

I've always been of the opinion that the Big East should require them to play conference games at MSG. If you're going to market yourself as "New York's team," lean into the MSG and SJU history, then act like it.

They want to play certain of the Midwest schools at Alumni Hall (aging myself), I get it. I think the traditional BE schools should be at MSG. Understanding there are economic or other factors I don’t fully appreciate, ie, we won’t open the Upper Deck against RU because they play us in the RAC and we can’t get many tickets, even though personally I would open it up against RU all the time when we are in Newark because we might have the biggest draw of the season.

 

[Seton75]

If SJU has three different home courts for conference games, shouldn’t they be allowed to play them wherever they want?

Yes. But then don't call yourself NYC's team and refuse to play in the supposed mecca you brag about. It's a punk move.

 

[dehere23]

Yes. But dont call yourself nyc's team then refuse to play in the supposed necca you brag about. It’s a punk move.

Except Queens is part of NYC. But I understand your point. Alumni Hall is a mom and pop venue. MSG is the mecca.

 

[radecicco]

I think Slick Rick is taking a shot at SJU fans who can’t get more than 8000 fans in MSG and they would be drowned out by UCONN fans. He wants more fan support. Heck SHU would put as many if not more fans in MSG when we played them. The UConn game with SJU will be in MSG. Count on it.

 

[CL82]

Their A.D. was saying he wanted to do that last year before Pitino was hired. When Pitino took the job he said that he was going to continue to play Connecticut at MSG and that he was going to pack the place full of St. Johns fans. I guess he had a change of heart.

 

[Piratz]

He never shuts up. Yeah Rick, newsflash: St. John's is not drawing 15k to every local arena you parade the team around to and MSG is going to have UCONN chants.

 

[Piratz]

These guys 🤣

 

[PJVegas]

Yes. But then don't call yourself NYC's team and refuse to play in the supposed mecca you brag about. It's a punk move.

Pitino is a punk. I rest my case

 

[andover joe]

Hey, remember when Bobby Gonzalez flipped his lid about John's playing us in Alumni Hall, as opposed to the Garden?

 

[donnie_baseball]

Hey, remember when Bobby Gonzalez flipped his lid about John's playing us in Alumni Hall, as opposed to the Garden?

That and the timeout he called as Jeremy Hazell's 3/4 court, game-tying shot went in. Hard to forget.

 

[Harty9]

That and the timeout he called as Jeremy Hazell's 3/4 court, game-tying shot went in. Hard to forget.
I was at half-court and can't get that vision out of my head.

 

[Seton75]

Yeah, but along with beating FLA, he DID NOT call a TO to negate the half courter by Harvey lol.

 

[walshtrips]

This move makes perfect sense when you're trying to build back a brand. Losing to UConn at MSG in front of a UConn heavy crowd, can hurt the brand. SJU has a better chance of winning at Carnesecca where the crowd will be 95% SJU.

I'm guessing that Pitino would move the UConn game back to MSG if/when the brand is revived.

 

[PJVegas]

When/if won’t be during Ricky P’s tenure.!

 

[dehere23]

This move makes perfect sense when you're trying to build back a brand. Losing to UConn at MSG in front of a UConn heavy crowd, can hurt the brand. SJU has a better chance of winning at Carnesecca where the crowd will be 95% SJU.

I'm guessing that Pitino would move the UConn game back to MSG if/when the brand is revived.

I really don't think Pitino is serious with his comment. He is doing Pitino/Parcells stuff. I'm sure he doesn't want a MSG game where it is a 50/50 split between Uconn and SJU fans, but he isn't going to have MSG close the upper deck, etc, like we do for Rutgers. So he's trolling Uconn and sending a message to a fan base that has been beaten down for a long time.

The reality is that whenever SJU has a decent team they draw at the Garden because casual NY sports fans flock to them. Look at Mullin's last season when they went to the NCAA.

This is just Pitino doing Pitino stuff. Even though I've always thought they have the best home court advantage at Alumni Hall because when that place is packed it gets loud and the fans are on top of you. Personally I'm quite happy they are playing us at UBS this year -- we won't have any presence there, but if they get 7500 fans that is less of a home court advantage for them than a packed Alumni Hall or a Garden filled with mostly their fans and a subset of ours.

 

[Piratz]

Win and they will come. NYC always turns out for marquee teams because the market is filled with casual fans. The school (like SHU) isn’t big enough for the diehards to do it. Even Seton Hall gets good crowds in Newark when we’re relevant. We got like 9K in 2019-20 for a random game against Prairie View. Look how many times we got like 12k+ to The Rock that year.

Rick is right about the brand kill. And he’s also right (and I think even he was surprised) by how little they were doing on the inside operationally to support the program. Again, like SHU in prior years. These are small Catholic schools that are in over their head often and need constant drivers like him. He can generate some buzz this year because they’re likely going to be maybe a #9, #10 seed NCAAT type.