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3.04.2004back off of my school or i'll beat the shit out of you
ok, i was going to wait to write about St. Joe's and their dominance of college basketball this year, but i've decided that now is the time.
i am sick and tired of hearing analysts say that St. Joe's isn't as good as Stanford. i am sick and tired of reading article after article about how St. Joe's isn't going to make it past the sweet 16. and i am especially sick and tired of having to defend St. Joe's every time someone argues that they haven't played any decent teams. so, if you are someone who believes that SJU isn't a legitimate contender to reach the final four, i am about to show you why you are a fucking asshole, figuratively speaking, of course. i apologize in advance for the swearing, but i'm pissed off. let's start with Stanford. i am not going to deny that Stanford is every bit as good, and possibly a little better, than the Hawks. i have seen them play, and they are very talented, and play well as a team. they also do not have the inside weaknesses that SJU has. however, to be fair, their guards, while good, are not jameer nelson and delonte west. Stanford plays in the Pac-10, the 9th ranked conference. St. Joe's plays in the A-10, the 8th ranked conference. that would seem to favor SJU, but, in truth, Stanford played everyone in their conference twice, while SJU, in the weaker division in the A-10, only faced Dayton, Xavier, Richmond, and George Washington once. also against their favor, they played very weak Fordham and St. Bonaventure teams twice. outside of the conference, here are Stanford's "quality" wins: @Rice, (N) Kansas, UNLV, (N) Gonzaga outside of the conference, here are St. Joe's "quality" wins: (N) Gonzaga, @Boston U, Boston College, (N) Drexel, (N) California, Pacific, @Villanova now, you can sit here and nitpick that Boston U, Drexel, and Pacific are not perennial powerhouses in college basketball, and i will not argue with you. however, i will kick your ass, if necessary, to make you realize that Boston U is 23-4 overall, and 17-1 in their conference, and has an RPI of 68. oh, and by the way, after starting the season 0-3 (losing at home against St. Joe's, @Holy Cross, and @Boston College), they are 23-1, with one of those wins coming @Michigan. Drexel's RPI is 91, has a record of 18-9, and is a cross town rival, so they qualify, whether you like it or not. if you don't like it, then take away Stanford's home win against UNLV, because UNLV's RPI is 90 (yes, one point above Drexel), and their 14-11 record isn't all that impressive. finally, i'll defend Pacific. Pacific is 19-7 overall, and 15-1 in the Big West. their RPI is 67. oh, by the way, they've won 11 in a row and beaten nationally ranked Utah St., in addition to having a quality win over Nevada earlier this year. honestly, as far as Stanford goes, i'm not going to kill anyone who thinks they are a little better than St. Joe's. as you can see, both teams have strong cases. it's the people who claim that St. Joe's isn't worthy of smelling Stanford's jock strap who have me enraged. mr. bayless is either ridiculously unqualified to be analyzing college basketball, or he is fucking Stanford's mascot. what is that thing? their team nickname is the Cardinal, yet their mascot is a giant tree with blow-job-lips. a particularly disturbing aspect of the above-linked-to article is when mr. tree-humper says that St. Joe's has only beaten one tournament team, Gonzaga. gee, that's funny, because according to ESPN's bracketology report, St. Joe's has beaten five: Boston U, Boston College, Dayton, Richmond, and Gonzaga. additionally, SJU has beaten three "bubble" teams in Xavier, George Washington, and Pacific. so, that means SJU has beaten eight teams that are, at the very least, potential tournament teams. Stanford has beaten just five (only three of which are in the tournament as of today). as far as SJU's non-conference schedule goes, i dare you to find a team that has played a better one. oh, wait, you can't, because they have the #1 ranked non-conference schedule. and while you cry about how St. Joe's hasn't played any of the big boys, you fail to realize that the worst team SJU played on it's non-conference schedule was against #128 Delaware. what's more? SJU played them at Delaware! by the way, SJU won by 21. in fact, how many home games do you think the Hawks played in their own building against non-conference opponents? well, out of those eleven games, SJU played exactly three in their own building. how many top ranked teams do you know of that are willing to go to #101 Old Dominion and play on their court? that's disaster waiting to happen. just out of interest, in case you were curious (and even if you weren't), of the nine non-conference games that Stanford played, five were at home. i'm sure those games against #309 Harvard, who is 4-21, and #310 Florida International, who is 3-22 and just finished the worst season in school history, proved just how much better Stanford really is. as for not getting past the sweet 16, well, i guess time will have to tell. but, i have this feeling like there are going to be a lot of sports writers out there who are going to be eating Cardinal along with their crow. |
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