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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 12, 2016 13:45:56 GMT -5
Jameel Warney from Stony Brook is really, really good. He may be a nightmare first round matchup for a high seed. Seconds ago I texted DMcQ and noted that Stony Brook's best player would be our best player. My hometown - nice to see them in the NCAAs for the first time in history (especially after some really tough losses in the Am East tourney the past few years).
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 9, 2016 12:42:53 GMT -5
It seems that even if Syracuse were to lose to Pitt today, many think they are still in the NCAA field. Why is that? I believe there RPI is currently 60?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 9, 2016 12:07:28 GMT -5
If we win the BET, we cannot be in the First Four. Why? And if so, then don't we just need to win 10 in a row rather than 11? I understand now - the first 4 is just at-large teams
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 9, 2016 12:05:13 GMT -5
At first I thought you were getting a little greedy - wanting to start next year 1-0 in addition to winning the BET and NCAA Championship, but upon further reflection realized that you are astutely noting that we will be placed in the First Four if by some miracle we were to win the next 4. If we win the BET, we cannot be in the First Four. Why? And if so, then don't we just need to win 10 in a row rather than 11?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 9, 2016 11:00:12 GMT -5
Does anyone else smell 11 in a row? At first I thought you were getting a little greedy - wanting to start next year 1-0 in addition to winning the BET and NCAA Championship, but upon further reflection realized that you are astutely noting that we will be placed in the First Four if by some miracle we were to win the next 4.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 9, 2016 9:58:17 GMT -5
I am with you.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 8, 2016 9:12:04 GMT -5
That article was totally fair and accurate and I have no issue with it at all. It makes me laugh out loud that people felt the need to get defensive about the opening line about III not getting to the press conference for almost an hour after the game.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 6, 2016 18:48:50 GMT -5
As I mentioned before, the Verizon Center is a TERRIBLE venue for basketball, no matter the team playing there. Are you a season ticket holder?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 6, 2016 18:31:48 GMT -5
I posted this in another thread, but this is probably the better place for it: Apologies if this has already been discussed but I wonder if the new arena being built (or to be built?) in Ward 8 could be an option? It will apparently act as a new practice facility for the Wizards and also as a home arena for the Washington Mystics. They are talking about 5000 seats (an issue for the BE requirement) and the hope is the new facility could turn things around in this part of the city like Verizon did to Chinatown. Metro station two blocks away. I'm sure there are a million reasons it wouldn't work but when I heard a new 5000 seat basketball arena being built in the District it did draw my interest. Link: m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/16/new-practice-site-wizards-washington-revitalize/
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 6, 2016 18:12:46 GMT -5
How do we overcome the embarrassment of an empty home court and the financial repercussions of that? Two different issues. "Empty home court" is relative. Verizon Center is the seventh largest arena in Division I. Even at 9,000 a game, however poor it looks, Georgetown will still among the top 50-60 in the nation in attendance. Financials are another matter. Monumental Sports charges more per game for Verizon for probably any other arena in the nation except MSG and Georgetown has no real options in the matter, owing to decades of poor facilities planning by the University at large. They're not going to move games to the un-airconditioned DC Armory or to the Baltimore Civic Center to save money on home games, and the idea that it would play home games at George Mason or in College Park isn't even in consideration. Arena rent is likely one of the two biggest expenditures on the budget and a soft home crowd hits the budget in a big way. Apologies if this has already been discussed but I wonder if the new arena being built (or to be built?) in Ward 8 could be an option? It will apparently act as a new practice facility for the Wizards and also as a home arena for the Washington Mystics. They are talking about 5000 seats (an issue for the BE requirement) and the hope is the new facility could turn things around in this part of the city like Verizon did to Chinatown. Metro station two blocks away. I'm sure there are a million reasons it wouldn't work but when I heard a new 5000 seat basketball arena being built in the District it did draw my interest. Link: m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/16/new-practice-site-wizards-washington-revitalize/
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2016 10:00:57 GMT -5
14 point underdogs. I wonder how long it has been since we were given that many points.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 2, 2016 22:06:20 GMT -5
Pretty sure the front page is wrong in saying that we are locked in as the 8 seed. While I understand highly unlikely, if we win Saturday and Marquette loses Saturday, we would be the 7 and Marquette would be the 8. We split with them and the next tiebreaker is who you beat starting at the top of the standings. Our win over Xavier would give us that tiebreaker. Now, of course if PC or Butler were to also lose their final two games we do not fare well in that mini-conference.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 1, 2016 0:03:29 GMT -5
Also, if we had not screwed up (or been screwed out of) the Mount Vernon property, would that have solved this issue? Can't remember details on that either? DFW? Doing a quick search on my own posts, I found plenty that got at various aspects of the topic, but no "comprehensive summary." So I'll take a shot at providing that, briefly, here: Universities in the District of Columbia are allowed to operate in areas that are zoned residential through a special exception that requires, among other things, the filing and approval of a periodic Campus Plan. The Plan must be approved by the Zoning Commission (since 2010; the 2000 Plan and those before it were approved by the Board of Zoning Adjustment, an inferior body). Various neighborhood interests serve as parties to these proceedings, such as the elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissions for the area (chiefly ANC2E-Georgetown, but also ANC3D-Foxhall and ANC3B-Glover Park), neighborhood residents' organizations (Citizens Association of Georgetown, Burleith Citizens Association, Foxhall Community Citizens Association), and DC agencies such as the Office of Planning. Universities are permitted to operate in residential areas on the condition that they not create "objectionable impacts" that negatively affect those living in adjacent residential areas. In the event that parties report any such objectionable impacts, the burden falls on the University to demonstrate that these impacts are negligible as part of the process for receiving approval of its submitted Campus Plan. In addition, by DC law, the District government is required to give "great weight" to the opinion of ANCs in its dealings and deliberations. Finally, the DC Comprehensive Plan states that it is the official policy of the District government to "Discourage university actions that would adversely affect the character or quality of life in surrounding residential areas." Add it all up, and you get a situation in which neighborhood opposition to a University activity can block the University from getting its Plan approved, effectively freezing any further development on campus. In the worst case, parties with legal standing (which would probably include private citizens, unlike in most Campus Plan proceedings) could sue the University for failing to abide by the requirement to avoid objectionable impacts, which could lead to the courts forcing the University to take action to reduce those impacts to an acceptable level. Generally it doesn't get to that point, however. Instead, the University agrees to certain stipulations in order to secure neighborhood support for the Plan. Thus, for instance, in the current Campus Plan, the University has promised that "All weekday evening performances at the Performing Arts Center expected to draw more than 100 visitors shall begin no earlier than 7:00 p.m." and "Weekday athletic events at Harbin Field expected to draw over 100 visitors shall begin before 4:00 p.m. or after 7:00 p.m." As the two examples above illustrate, a large percentage of neighbor concerns deal with traffic (particularly during rush hour) and parking. Those overriding and ever-present concerns make it extremely unlikely - to the point of being effectively impossible - that neighborhood interests would acquiesce to a 10,000 or even 5,000 seat on-campus arena. Nor would they approve the increase in on-campus parking that would likely be required to accompany such a facility; the current Plan caps total on-campus parking at 4,080 spaces. That's really all there is to it. An on-campus arena would be opposed on the grounds that it would create objectionable impacts, and the burden would fall on the University, in seeking to alter the status quo, to prove that it would not. Based on past events, the likelihood of the University being able to successfully pull that off is zero. P.S. No, keeping Mount Vernon wouldn't have helped with this particular dilemma. The ANCs in that part of town make Georgetown's ANC look downright reasonable. They would never permit an on-campus arena either. Thanks a ton for taking the time to pull that together. Reminds me how difficult (insurmountable) this really is. I would take the position that a half dozen weeknight games and a half dozen weekend games over the course of a year does not create an objectionable impact, but I am a bit biased (and live in Northern VA). So I guess the solution is to get much better on the court and the crowds and atmosphere will follow at Verizon. Thanks again.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 28, 2016 15:38:45 GMT -5
This is a massive game. Win and the Hoyas are the 7th seed in the BET and get a St. Johns team that absolutely stinks. That means they could be a Xavier upset from .500 and a shot at the postseason. This game matters. Slinking away at 14-18, losers of 10/11 is an awful ending. Hoyas need to dig deep and not just when they're down 15 points, but right from the jump. Someone has made the equivalent of this point prior to every game this month. I am hopeful but not realistically expecting anything different Tuesday night than we have seen in all non-SJU February games.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 27, 2016 15:13:43 GMT -5
Quick question for you guys. I've been a lurker for a long time, obviously a Marquette fan. I have read consistently here that the Big East is listed as a midmajor conference. Why? It is the 4th rated conference, ahead of the Big Ten, SEC. It is not as good as the old Big East, but why the extreme of calling it a mid major. More of a curiosity than anything. Because we are unexpectedly having a horrific and painful year and everyone is lashing out at everyone and everything.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 26, 2016 21:14:12 GMT -5
That's wasn't the reason. Coach K. kept recruiting hard. JTII sat on his a$$. That was however the moment. It was the moment where Duke rose and we fell. I concur wholeheartedly that Pops was disinterested after the Olympic fiasco and that loss. Count Chocula was emboldened and the rest is some very distasteful history. Easter Sunday. That was my freshman year. While of course devastated, I do remember thinking to myself wow, this is fun - and we are just getting started. 1 BET Title and 2 Regional Finals in the 27 years that followed. Damn.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 26, 2016 18:50:34 GMT -5
Ah 1989 where your namesake had the saddest dunk attempt ever... Good times. Trust me, we remember. We were convinced that blown dunk is what killed our mojo the following week. Maybe ever since? That 89 team was really, really good.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 26, 2016 14:37:10 GMT -5
There is no buyout--all the ACC and Disney lawyers could not break it. So unless you're arguing GU should leave the Big East for parts unknown, or upgrade to a more expensive conference, it's our home. The Big East will literally be there longer than the MSG lease runs out at Penn Station (2024), which is a good thing. And remember, amidst the middling BE attendance, there is one phone call Fox needs to make to Storrs, CT and that's solved. Don't believe that on the buyout front - and even if (probably not) true that no buyout is possible (money talks, after all) after several years of pathetic crowds, they could easily displace the Big East to the previous week in March and put one of the Big Boy conferences in there the weekend before Selection Sunday. I guess given our options that might be fine. I like the phone call to Storrs idea. But why hasn't it already happened? Larger point is this is not a conference that merits MSG as a host anymore, nor is it a weekend that merits altering schedules to attend - and we're a big part of the reason why. Can't imagine other long term Gtown BET attendees don't at least partly agree with my take on attendance this year. I have a similar streak going - went to my first BET in 1989 and have been to 25 of the last 27 (missing only 1993 and 1994). While I understand your frustration, I am surprised you are taking a pass under these circumstances. While I understand very unlikely this year, BETs where we have done well have been some of the best weekends of my year those years. Clearly not the same buzz or crowds as certain years past, but the tournament is still amazing and a great atmosphere in my view. If SJU and the Hoyas can right the ship, it can get back to something really special. Even this year, a semifinals of Nova, Xavier, the Hall and maybe a PC (or us??) I think would do just fine. I also have the issue of maintaining BET "seniority" over some of my college roommates who poorly timed the birth of their children and other life events and have had to miss a GU BET game or two over the years.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 25, 2016 14:03:49 GMT -5
Is my math right that if Seton Hall loses to Providence tonight we can still capture third place in the Big East if we win the last 3? It will never happen but just goes to show you what a mess of mediocrity most of the Big East is outside of Villanova and Xavier. Seton Hall would need to lose 4 straight Providence would need to lose 2 of 3 after winning tonight (games after tonight include SJU and DePaul) Creighton would have to lose at least one of its remaining 3 games Hoyas would need to win 3 straight But yes, it is still possible.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Feb 24, 2016 19:06:48 GMT -5
On campus arena ain't happening, just a reality. McD games were fun (the game against CS Fullerton was the loudest Hoyas game I have ever been to) but the reality is the program can't make money off of 2000 general admission tickets. Even in an on campus arena though, if your team is bad, no one shows up. Agree with Lic---JUST WIN---and crowds will return. Until then, watch out for tumble weeds next year. I don't disagree at all that (1) an on-campus arena is not happening and (2) if we are really good (and I would add playing another decent - or at least name - team), then the VC can provide a very good atmosphere for a game. I am interested in being reminded the detailed reasons why #1 is the case.
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