Seton Hall Basketball: JP's 5 Thoughts- SHU 94, SJU 64

30 points is a triumph but considering SJU looked tired and well… defeated early on, it’s not a great win. Solid is a better word for it. We shot well, even though a lot of shots were uncontested. I saw the SJU game at GOWN and they played a great game. It wasn’t the same team that played us last night. So what did we prove? Very little. CINCY and GTOWN will be our make or break into the tourney. We’re been up and down like an hysterical pregnancy all year. And our game play has been the same. Our last 2 wins against RU and PITT seemed to be fueled by desperation more than anything else. Right now I think we’re not exactly on the bubble. We’re more a suspect team as in what team will show up? The desperate one? The 6 loses in a row one? Or the 30 point winner? We have to show them that the winning SHU will show up. And that means 3 out of the last 4.

The excuse is that it was Valentines day. I understand that people should have been there but you also have to remember that current students do not have the most school spirit. There are too many commuters that do not feel an affinity for the school and something as simple as Valentines Day – means, date night and not Pirate night.

Definitely agree with that. Its a small undergrad population (5,000) and roughly 30% to %40 are commuters. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the problem, its just hard to imagine you are going to improve the attendance that much for a Tuesday game (even of the non-holiday variety) with a 7:00 start.

Granted their are plenty of students who are not dating anyone and Hall Ball fans but even in my undergraduate years it was tough to take off Valentines Day. Women get what they want that day, no matter how old you are.

I also think a part of it still goes back to the commuters but Seton Hall could do it correctly. In their ‘Freshman welcome to the University’ class – they should be teaching the fight song. I only graduated a couple years ago but I’m still maybe one of 5 out of all of my friends who could actually sing the entire fight song; instead of just fight fight fight for the blue and white and the glory of Seton Hall. It would go a long way.

Their new commercials will hopefully start to help as well. This was the first time (like 4 games ago when they were unveiled) where a SHU commercial during a home game actually talked about athletics in an upbeat and proud tone. Thats one thing we should be advertising to prospective students

Valentine’s Day, 5000 students, 40% commuters. Bull. Truth be told, older and younger fans of SHU haven’t been “capitvated” by this team. In other words, they can take them or leave them. Why? Inconsistent. And sad to say, dull. The Knicks sold out Toronto last night because the Knick fan has been “captivated” by Lin. Also, I hate to say it, as exiting as it was to think about a 30 point spread, the game was boring. SJU was DOA most of the night and for our part well, the half court game was dull. Sports is entertainment. We may have won, but we weren’t very entertaining. Hard for fans to get excited enough to come out for a game. Dull play works better on TV.

Just wondering how you guys felt about some of the St. John’s players deciding to not avoid flag man as he ran around during the 8 minute mark timeout.

I was also a little disappointed that they didn’t call off the press at all even under 2 minutes left and in turn wound up fouling us a few more times than they should have. I chalked both things up to an extremely young team obviously being embarrassed by a local opponent and just not thinking much. A little upsetting though to see.

As a New York city guy, I’ve never liked St. John’s because I felt they always got more love than the Hall even during some of our better years. This just continued my dislike for them.

Commuters, dorm students and alumni will come back once the team shows a consistent pattern of winning. By that I mean finish this year strong, have another 18-20 win season in 2012 and by the time Carr walks on to the court in 2013, the lower tear will be filled and the black curtain will rise.

Coach Carlisimo could not get more than 5,000 to the Meadowlands until the early 90’s when he started winning consistently with marquee local talent. Once he did there were well in excess of 10,000 at most games.

What also hurts the team’s ability to draw fans is that the actions of Coach Gonzalez, during his last two years, turned off a lot of fans, local players and local coaches. Coach Orr before him also turned off local coaches and made no attempt to attract marquee local players. There has not been an emotional connection betweent the team and its fan base since the Coach Amaker days. This is a lot to overcome.

Another factor is the defacto PSL. Seton Hall has been saying to alumni, since the Rock opened, they have to donate to get seats and donate more to get better seats. While I do not critize SHU for taking this approach, when you have not had 10 positive years in a row since before the mid 60’s, this was and remains a tough pill for many alumni to swallow. This was further complicated by the low expectations for this team in the pre-season coaches poll.

Be patient. Our Coach has come further than anyone expected and did it in a very short period of time. The last piece of the puzzle is always getting the fans back. This too will happen sooner than expected. This is something we should all beleive.

BTW the St. John’s game was exciting. It only looked dull because St. John’s had that defeated look on thier faces by the 10 min mark of the first half.

Hopefully the team only concentrates on Saturday’s game.

The Devil’s problems are that there are three teams in a market than can’t support two and the current owners paid too much for the team. The Nets have no tradition at all and everyone knew they were temporary tenants during the last half of their stay in East Rutherford and thier stay in Newark. They have bounced all over the place, including the RAC, almost never had a winning record and never had a player who defined the franchise. Their fans have never had anything to attach to.

No one who hung around the bars in Vailsburg or ate at the down neck resturants is afarid to go downtown. Once you have walked downtown after midnight, you realize it’s not an issue.

The Rock is a great arena, blows Izod away. It’s easier to get to, easier to leave, has mass transporation options and does not have a cattle corssing.

The Pirates will do great in Newark.

SHU could draw 18,000 to the Meadowlands for a season game. But that was 25 years ago. Times have changed. Students have different interests. There are also more tv options to see games. And ticket prices are high especially in a very tight economy — people have to make choices. The Yankees are even selling steeply discounted tkts on Stubhub. Even Duke is releasing more tkts for sale to the public because students tkts sales are down 300 to 500. Last year the Rock was the 3rd most profitable arena in the country and the 8th in the world. Says alot about location – NOT!