St Joe's basketball

"Is there anyone who can stop St Joe's?" Hard to tell because they haven't played anybody yet. Put them in the ACC, Big 12, Big East, SEC, or even Big 10 and they would have at least a handful of losses by now.

 

They will not get beyond the second round of the tournament.

 

I watched part of that game and Rhode Island put up a pretty good fight. Congratulations to St. Joseph's on a good win. I wonder if the selection committee will give them a #1 seed?

Gonzaga also had another good win in their last home game of the season. Pittsburgh wasn't as lucky and their winning streak came to an end at the hands of Syracuse. My Sooners and Razorbacks continued to struggle with each of them losing this weekend.

 

Conrats! Going undefeated in any sport, any conference is a major accomplishment.

That being said, I don't expect St. Joe to make it to the Elite 8 (maybe even the Sweet 16 - depending on the brackets). Other than the first game of the season, they haven't played a ranked team all year.

They did have two close games - they beat a mediocre Nova by seven and a mediocre Cal by only two.

Other than a surprise or two, I fully expect the Sweet 16 to be dominated by the big boys -- ACC, Big East, Big 12, etc.

 

Whoo Hoo!

 

Mike McK and Debby in Philly this should make your day:

Unbeaten Hawks receive all but five first-place votes

March 8, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

Tiny Saint Joseph's and its ever-flapping Hawk have soared to the top of the basketball world.

The Philadelphia school with an enrollment of 3,400 and not much recent sports history to brag about was No. 1 in the AP men's college basketball poll Monday for the first time.

"It's a dream come true," Hawks senior guard Jameer Nelson said. "At the same time, we have to take care of business these last few games. We'll still approach each game and practice the same way."

The Hawks (27-0) are the only unbeaten team in Division I, now that previously top-ranked Stanford was upset by Washington.

Saint Joseph's needs three victories in the Atlantic 10 Tournament to become the first team since UNLV in 1991 to enter the NCAA Tournament without a loss.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE ON CBS.SPORTSLINE.COM

 

St. Joe hasn't played many difficult teams. They probably wont make it far in the tournament. I am a Duke fan. We may not make it far either. Duke ought to, but they may not. I wish Duke had an easy schedule like St. Joe's. And probably so do Tar Heel fans after Duke beat them the other night. But St. Joe's may make it all the way, what do I know?

 

I would say that St. Joseph's has no realistic chance of winning it all, but I would have said the same thing about Syracuse last year. So I say let them have their #1 seed and prove they deserve it on the court. If they get to the Final Four then nobody can say they didn't deserve their ranking. However, if they lose early, it could hurt future "mid-major" schools' chances of getting a good seed in future tournaments. I would love to see them and Gonzaga do well this year and prove their doubters wrong.

 

I have no leanings either way towards St. Joe's, but I do think it is refeshing to see a new team on top of the polls and drawing all this attention. And I think it would be great for the NCAA if St. Joe's makes a big run in the tourney as well as another big run by Gonzaga.