St John’s fans……”we want UConn”

[Stasher599]

I read on ESPN that at the end of their Marquette win the MSG fans started chanting “We want UConn”. When they asked Pitino about this after the game he said “I think they are drunk”.
I myself love that the Jonnies seem to be back and relevant again in the Big East. Definitely looking forward to seeing how we handle their stout defense and battle of the boards.

 

[UC0NN]

They should want Uconn. That cheer is the ultimate respect.

And they have what we want, 1st place BE.

Friday night lights, doesn't get any better than this rivalry game.

 

[6in25]

The Jonnies like their red stormy. We like our red....Big.

 

[jibsey]

For the first time in many years Johnnie’s fans are emerging and talking smack. We need to smack their team down.

 

[Travelman6]

This is going to be a huge game (by regular season standards) and I'm all for it.

Hoping for a loud sell out crowd.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

The Big East Torunament game against them last year was a lot tougher than expected. High Scoring. Johnnies played us tough with our loaded team on the court.

 

[Travelman6]

Bring em on, for once, heart be damed I don't mind a close win. I like seeing an old rival back and doing well. Seem like a s16 team, possible dark horse ff team. I think Uconn balls out and impresses the country this Friday. If we can have a pitino/Hurley rivalry going for a few years with lots of close games like last years BET it will do wonders for the BE. (St johns got snubbed last year too imo)

 

[ctbro1999]

I'm hoping I can use the Adama Sanogo quote many, many times this weekend:

"They thought they could win. They could not."

 

[storrsroars]

The Big East Torunament game against them last year was a lot tougher than expected. High Scoring. Johnnies played us tough with our loaded team on the court.

That team could shoot from 3 and from the FT stripe, which is how they got 90 pts. They also killed us in Oreb and didn't turn the ball over. And they had Danniss Jenkins.

This is a different StJ squad. Whether that's good or bad is to be seen.

 

[HooperScooper]

As I said when this was brought up last night in the other thread, hopefully it works out as well for them as it did for Illinois last year.

Big East Games Thread - Feb '25

StJ could be an early exit or they may just be able to overwhelm teams with their pressure and offensive rebounding. Their issue is just that they will always lack the kill shot (10+) because they can’t shoot. I think Marquette is the far greater chance of a R64 exit. They have nothing in the...

the-boneyard.com

 

[RuffRuff]

The Big East Torunament game against them last year was a lot tougher than expected. High Scoring. Johnnies played us tough with our loaded team on the court.

That was a totally different team - pushed pace and looked to outscore you. This team is built on grit and defense, will look to punch us in the face and see how we respond. They switch like maniacs, so much as their 5 playing effectively on point guards. This is an amazing test, easily the toughest team we will have played this year. Let’s see how the boys respond.

This to me is the biggest BE game the last three years, when you consider all the narratives from both ends. Much wrote about on the other thread as HS shared.

 

[Revrat]

Lol I swear i heard "lets go UConn" chants from that crowd when watching the game but it made no sense to me. It never occurred to me that they were saying UConn but that it would be "We want UConn". So I guess I wasnt totally imagining things.

 

[RuffRuff]

Lol I swear i heard "lets go UConn" chants from that crowd when watching the game but it made no sense to me. It never occurred to me that they were saying UConn but that it would be "We want UConn". So I guess I wasnt totally imagining things.

There is nothing more that fanbase wants than to kick our @sses and to reclaim MSG. The Storrs South stuff must be needling at them/Pitino like a piece of pot toast stuck in a molar.

Pitino basically said it - they need to take it back and never give it back in his lifetime, to Raff, post game. You know who that was directed at. He’s been good about it not to create bulletin board stuff, but I think Pitino revels in putting a shoe in Hurleys keester and it will be as satisfying a win as he’s had in a long time. I can’t blame him. He finally has a team that emulates his system and plays their collective b@tts off.

 

[gtcam]

There is nothing more that fanbase wants than to kick our @sses and to reclaim MSG. The Storrs South stuff must be needling at them/Pitino like a piece of pot toast stuck in a molar.

Pitino basically said it - they need to take it back and never give it back in his lifetime, to Raff, post game. You know who that was directed at. He’s been good about it not to create bulletin board stuff, but I think Pitino revels in putting a shoe in Hurleys keester and it will be as satisfying a win as he’s had in a long time. I can’t blame him. He finally has a team that emulates his system and plays their collective b@tts off.

Let's see how these Johnnies play from behind - We've seen how kids like Richmond are very moody and when behind could fold the cards. RJ Luis is the johnnie that scares me.

 

[Scoe]

It’s gonna a battle we need to maintain our hunger. Being at home is nice but teams on the road play with a chip on their shoulder like we did against Marquette need to play with that same focus.

 

[Marat]

Let's see how these Johnnies play from behind - We've seen how kids like Richmond are very moody and when behind could fold the cards. RJ Luis is the johnnie that scares me.

Richmond scares me . I remember how he single handedly brought SHU back against UConn by backing down our guards into the paint. I know Hurley learned from this though.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

This is all setting up in their minds for a loss @Gampel and a revenge win @MSG.

Would like nothing more than winning both!

 

[tennmike]

Hasn't he gotten old and out of his prime? Talking about Richmond, but Pitino...

 

[Boost'ED]

LOL...St. John's.

I grew up in Queens in the late 80's through early 2000's and other than the Felipe Lopez era and the Mike Jarvis years (mostly with Artest), we've (UConn) played more important games in MSG during the Hurley tenure than St. John's has during the above referenced time frame.

Reality check time for the Redmen/Storm.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

so i watched their game last night really for scouting purposes, I guess for sport. My takeaway is that they will force turnovers, but our offense will cause open shots. They are uberly agressive. I expect to see many back cuts and lobs. And I expect to see a good number of open 3's for the good guys. In the end, our offense should be enough. If we can play D with the same gusto as against Marquette, we will blow them away.

 

[RuffRuff]

so i watched their game last night really for scouting purposes, I guess for sport. My takeaway is that they will force turnovers, but our offense will cause open shots. They are uberly agressive. I expect to see many back cuts and lobs. And I expect to see a good number of open 3's for the good guys. In the end, our offense should be enough. If we can play D with the same gusto as against Marquette, we will blow them away.

They’re a little like Houston, which is also very interesting because the metrics love them. The way it goes with Houston is this, the defensive tenacity overwhelms and breaks the will of a team early, and they romp. It’s hard to simulate that intensity in practice. If the opposition shows an ability to stave off that initial bazooka of defense, it exposes flaws and they become very beatable. StJ has a similar traits as a team to Houston, strong in similar stats (offensive rebounding). Stay composed, box out, run your strategy.

 

[Deepster]

The last time they puffed their chest out like this, we curbstomped them in the 99 Big East finals.

I fear no team. Welcome to the Basketball Capital of the World.

 

[BGesus4]

It was only recently that I learned there was such thing as a St. John’s fan. I was at the garden last year and was pretty sure it was husky fans and pitinos friends and family

 

[UC0NN]

I went to both games last year. There were a lot of St Johns fans.

This year you will have even more bandwagon fans at the game.

 

[UChusky916]

Unlike others here, I'm not as optimistic and think the Johnnies are a bad match up for us.

Yes, their offense is ugly, but they do thrive on 4 things that will cause problems for our team:
-Drives/penetration
-Rebounding
-Drawing fouls
-Their defense

They showed last night they could get to the rim at-will against Marquette. That's been a big weakness for our team... stopping opponents drives.

They shoot low %, but make up for it with rebounding to get more looks and easy buckets. Our rebounding, especially from bigs, has dropped off this year and been problematic at times.

They draw fouls. We've been fouling a lot. Not a good recipe, but hopefully they don't shoot a good % from the line.

Their defense is elite. Pitino loves pressing and we dont have a lot of size on the perimeter to deal with their pressure. They can switch and will disrupt our ball handling. Having Liam back helps, but Diarra isn't 100%. Our offense is elite when we can get into our sets, but I think they'll do a good job disrupting that and preventing us from getting into our action early.

Should be a good match-up.