00:00And of course when you think of Madison Square Garden this year you think of the revival
00:04of the Red Storm and what Rick Pitino has done for St. John's. Their first outright Big East
00:10regular season crown since 1985. They will enter the Big East tourney as that number one seed and
00:17the favorites Donnie at a plus 130 price. The two seed is Creighton at plus 420. The three seed
00:24that would be our two-time reigning national champions the Connecticut Huskies at a plus
00:30390 number. Going to be a compelling week in the Big Apple at the world's most famous arena.
00:36How do you break down the Big East tournament? It looks like it's going to be St. John's and
00:41you see the price point there plus 130. We just talked about a great Michigan State team at that
00:45close 350 price number here at the Fanville Sportsbook. UConn obviously the pedigree
00:50there. You take a look at Creighton as well. Marquette. I just don't have the same juice
00:53here. Look I love St. John's. I love the season that they're having. I just wish we had more
00:58bell cows in this conference where the superstar teams are coming out because used to Villanova
01:02being really good. 11-9 at conference play. Probably gonna have to run the table win it.
01:05Will they get a victory today? Absolutely. I'm banking on that. But Marquette, Connecticut,
01:09Creighton to me just average basketball teams. You're just waiting for St. John's just to do
01:15what they did in the regular season was play unbelievable fanatically good defense and
01:20convert on offense where they just don't go dormant from the three-point line and that
01:24should be enough. The one thing that we do know is you know teams like Connecticut and teams like
01:27Villanova and typically the Big East teams are slow. St. John's really isn't that slow. They're
01:32actually the highest tempo team in conference play. So I'm rooting for St. John's. I do have
01:37a nostalgia for the Big East but to me this tournament if we're looking at some of the
01:41bigger conferences lower down on my totem pole for these tournaments Ben. Donny you know what's so
01:47fascinating about both the Johnnies and the Spartans. They play a similar brand of basketball
01:51perceived. They are ruthless defensively. They will get up in your face. They won't give you
01:56any space whatsoever and they're not great offensively overly efficient or a great three-point
02:02shooting team either St. John's or MSU. But you would think that all right what do they plan at
02:08the pace of Virginia, the pace of St. Mary's, the pace of Tennessee. No they're getting up and down
02:14the floor so that can also lead to total. Just know that from an idea of an over-under when you
02:19look at things based off tempo don't just think oh great defensive team this game is staying under.
02:25More than likely if they're playing great defense there's going to be a limited amount of offense
02:29but not just because of how they do things stylistically. I really do like St. John's
02:35in terms of how their bracket lays out but because Marquette stumbled down the stretch and they lose
02:40to the Johnnies in Milwaukee in that overtime thriller and Zubi Ejiofor the buzzer beater on
02:46Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles fall all the way back to the five seed. That means five-seeded
02:51Marquette, four-seed Xavier in one of the games tomorrow afternoon in the quarterfinals. The
02:57winner of that game in the semis will get St. John's against the winner of Butler and Providence.
03:02That is the first game today inside MSG at 4 p.m. Eastern. Donnie there is a thought again it is a
03:09new season. UConn did not have a terrible season. UConn didn't really have a national championship
03:15hangover but of course Dan Hurley's Huskies were not quite as dominant as they have been in large
03:21part the last two years but just know UConn didn't win the Big East tournament back in 2023 either.
03:29UConn did not go 17-3 through the Big East. They were 13-7 that year. I believe a 14-6 mark
03:37if I am not mistaken for UConn in the Big East this time around and you can kind of discard any
03:44disappointment from 30 plus games in the regular season when you play your best basketball in the
03:50postseason and that's what Dan Hurley's Huskies have done each of the past two years. They are
03:57a trendy pick right now with that second best price Donnie to make a run inside MSG this week.
04:03Yeah and I think a lot of teams have that run in them here and again we're talking about St. John's
04:06who we do think is the clear-cut champions of this league as noted by the regular season.
04:11They also keep in mind at a quote-unquote neutral court at Madison Square Garden where they will have
04:16the fans whipped up into a frenzy which you used to say St. John's used to playing at the garden
04:21but not necessarily a full garden like the garden now has been rocking because why St. John's is
04:25good again that's going to add to the level of when St. John's takes the court and say man they're
04:29playing Marquette who is a thousand miles away from their campus that's going to be a big advantage
04:34for them and that's why you're giving them the nod and of course that's why that price is so low
04:38at a plus 130. I do think they're the best there but you're right about this you take a look at
04:42teams like Connecticut the pedigree is there maybe the defense isn't all there but the offense
04:45certainly is there to put up a good run here and also Connecticut does have a very good fan base
04:50and Connecticut usually invades the garden as well you end up with a Connecticut St. John's
04:54game that is going to be unbelievable theater at Madison Square Garden but I sort of take a look a
04:58little bit low like the Marquette's at the six to one give me the team that can play good defense
05:02give me the team that's good on offense and I actually thought Marquette would knock off St.
05:05John's in the final game of the season when St. John's was on the road to take on Marquette so
05:10if I'm looking for a non-St. John's tickets for me I probably look at Marquette in this
05:14to be my B option for the Big East tournament.
Comments