College Hoops

Orioles · Post by **Orioles** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:43 pm

Good news for St. John's (and for the Big East, which will be so much the better for having a hoops power back in the NY-metro area).

Norm Roberts got a commit from highly regarded NY SG Omari Lawrence. Hopefully adding Lawrence and one or two other quality local products will help the Johnnies re-establish themselves as a recruiting force in NY/NJ. An ESPN article published yesterday also indicated that the latest in a long line of top-10 rated NYC PG (Lance Stephenson) hasn't totally ruled out St. John's. Nabbing Stephenson would be some real news for St. John's fans. Hopefully incoming local SG and top-ranked prospect Mike Rosario has some success at Rutgers over the next couple of years, and the Big East's NY schools have a little recruiting success for a change.

Pirates · Post by **Pirates** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:45 pm

As long as hes better then what Eugene Lawrence was.

Mets · Post by **Mets** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:51 am

When I saw this thread, I thought, if it's not about St John's, I don't care about college hoops....low and behold..it actually is. Thanks.

Orioles · Post by **Orioles** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:08 pm

Brewers wrote:As long as hes better then what Eugene Lawrence was.

Rockies wrote:When I saw this thread, I thought, if it's not about St John's, I don't care about college hoops....low and behold..it actually is. Thanks.

You two being the only St. John's fans I know (or at least the only ones who will admit it), I felt the need to pass on the good word.

Here's the Daily News article.

"Lawrence had been recruited by UConn, Memphis, Clemson, Virginia, Marquette, Louisville, Arizona and Xavier, among others."

Not a bad list of suitors for Lawrence.

Seriously though, New York has zero competitive basketball above the high school level right now. If St. Johns, Rutgers or SHU were to become nationally competitive, the exposure and dollars that could be generated for the league in the NY area (a fat TV contract with YES, SNY or MSG and sold-out BE tourney games) could be substantial enough to further quiet any worries of a future break b/w the football and the non-football schools. A St. John's resurgence would be ideal, because they've got the kind of hoops tradition that allows fans to come back in droves without hesitation as soon as the program shows legitimate signs of life (as happened recently at G'town). Fans of RU or SHU might be slower to buy into short-term success as an indicator of long-term success since the programs haven't had as long a period of extended success in their respective histories as SJU had in the BE early years. Actually being in NYC and having MSG as a home court are also nice.

I'm sad to see Mike Tranghese step down, because he's been so steadfast in maintaining that the league can survive as presently constituted and seemed to do a good job of balancing the financial realities of college sports (big schools + big football = big cash) with the interests of the BE's smaller schools. The original slate of catholic universities making up many of the traditional BE powers (SJU, GU, Nova, PC - but NOT those greedy traitors from Boston) wouldn't be able maintain the same level of programs without the football schools. Replacing that much basketball tradition with what's left in C-USA would certainly harm the strength of the basketball conference for the big schools as well.

Hopefully the Stephenson kid isn't just talking to keep the hometown folks happy, and takes a long look at St. John's, because that would be the kind of backcourt that could get them back on the national scene.

Orioles · Post by **Orioles** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:47 am

Seton Hall beats #20 USC. The BEast's national reign of terror begins with the underrated Pirates' upset of the University of Spoiled Children. Bobby G. is a good coach, and SHU had some players last year. They were almost a legit threat if either of their two transfers had been allowed (incl. Keon Lawrence). They were the preseason 13/16 in the league, but surely underrated. Still, the Big East is really the deepest in quality teams I've ever seen. Should be fun when they just tack on their own 16-team throwdown before the 64. Now it can truly call itself a sport that is decided by the competition. The last place team gets to keep playing as long as they keep winning. That's pretty cool.

I'll churn out something about predictions and sleepers and shit to get the thread going at some point.

Orioles · Post by **Orioles** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:19 pm

the Hall couldn't keep it going and got beat by Memphis after their upset of SC.

Bad news for the Redmen, who now can look forward to covering their heads and trying not to get trampled by the rest of the league during conference play and hoping to save enough juice to ruin someone else's season in the first round of the BE tourney.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3719127

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:18 pm

How ' bout those Buckeyes? Two big wins on the road!

Evan Turner scored 20 of his 28 points after halftime today to lead the Ohio State men's basketball team to its second upset of a ranked team in less than a week, a 67-62 win over No.7 Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame Showcase in Lucas Oil Stadium.

Ohio State defeated No.21 University of Miami on Tuesday night in Coral Gables, Fla., in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.