12 Hours of Hoops: 2010 Big East Tournament – Opening Round

I’ve lived in NYC for a looooong time. And I love college basketball. But I’ve never been to the Big East Tournament. Ever. Not even to a night session. So this year, given that I have some so-called free time, I decided that if there was ever a time to spend a day at the World’s Most Famous Arena for Big East hoops, it was now. Well, it technically wasn’t now, it was yesterday. For the Opening Round. On March 9, 2010.

As of 2009, all 16 Big East teams play in the tournament, so the teams seeded 9-16 play in the Opening Round. Admittedly, this means you’ll see the likes of DePaul (one conference win in two seasons) and Providence. But the beauty of conference basketball tournaments, especially the Big East, is that you can see any team knock another one off at any time. Well, except DePaul. They are terrible.

Also, though we paid a premium through StubHub (don’t get me started on the organized racket which means that StubHub is the only way the public can buy tickets – how can this possibly be legal?), we saw four college basketball games for a pretty decent price. And ended up seeing some entertaining action. Both evening games ended up being fun: the Seton Hall – Providence 109-106 thriller and Cincinnati’s last second 69-68 win over Rutgers.

Here’s the esteemed lineup of Opening Round games:
Game 1: #9 USF vs. #16 DePaul (Noon)
Game 2: #12 UConn vs. #13 St. John’s (2pm)
Game 3: #10 Seton Hall vs. #15 Providence (7pm)
Game 4: #11 Cincinnati vs. #14 Rutgers (9pm)

Before I get to the Tale of the Tweets, here are my overall impressions of my first Big East Tournament. I won’t give you game analysis or results. Frankly, the results weren’t even that important:

• Crowds were sparse. Not surprisingly, with these low seeds playing, attendance wasn’t great. But I was hoping for more from UConn and St. John’s, both local schools. It was also a gorgeous spring-like day
• MSG served beer all day. Starting at noon. Believe it or not, I didn’t drink any at the Garden. But many fans enjoyed. And a few were overserved.
• Although the quality of the basketball wasn’t great, the school’s pep bands were awesome. I really enjoyed watching the bands engage in back and forth duels between games and during time-outs. That is the kind of thing you don’t see on TV when you’re watching at home. And frankly, when you’re watching USF and DePaul, it’s a welcome distraction.
• The unofficial champion of the battle of the bands was UConn. Their band was tremendous. Rutgers was the runner-up. They had four sousaphones and even did some dancing during some of their songs (the tubas dancing during “You Can Call Me Al” was especially impressive). That takes talent. [Note from Russell Scibetti: UConn and RU are the top two pep bands in the Big East.  Of course he would rank them the other way, since he's an RU grad.]
• Speaking of pep bands, when we walked out of the Garden between sessions, we headed west on 33rd Street. When we arrived at Stout (which seemed to be official Big East Tourney watering hole), we saw the Seton Hall Pep Band out in front. Playing the theme from Gladiator. Just a typical day in the Big East tournament, right? Awesome.
• Providence put up 106 and lost. That does not happen every day. In the defensive minded Big East? That’s crazy.
• I also really liked watching the mascots. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I have sort of a thing for mascots. Maybe it’s because my teams don’t have mascots. But for whatever reason, I always enjoy seeing them in action at games.
• The unofficial winner of the mascot battle from Opening Round was the Cincinnati Bearcat. He was funny, engaging, entertaining and funny. And his team won a thriller. Coincidence?
• Honorable mention goes to DIBS, the DePaul Blue Demon mascot. He looked like a cross between Cookie Monster and Animal. Fun fact: where did DIBS’ name come from? Demon In a Blue Suit!
• Other mascot fun facts: UConn’s Husky is actually named Jonathan. Yes, Jonathan. After Jonathan Trumbull, the first governor of Connecticut. And South Florida’s bull is named Rocky D. Bull. Love the pun and pop culture reference. Double win in my book.
• Thanks to John Halpin on Twitter, I now know the words to the Rutgers fight song! R-U-Rah-Rah! R-U-Rah-Rah! HOO-rah! HOO-rah! Rutgers RAH! Upstream, red team! Red team, upstream! RAH! RAH! RUTGERS RAH!
• This was a loooooooong day of basketball. It probably wouldn’t have felt quite as long if we saw higher seeds, but 12 hours is a long time. Next time, I’ll go to an evening session for the quarterfinals or semis.

Of course I took a ton of pictures. I took over 250, but managed to cut them down to just 100. You can check them all out on Flickr. Enjoy. And without further ado, here’s the Tale of the Tweets.

Tale of the Tweets: Day Session

USF v. DePaul

• Why am I going to the Big East Tournament all day today? Because I can!
• Big East Tourney!!!! First. Time. Ever. (@ Madison Square Garden w/ 3 others) http://4sq.com/2xxGTE
• DePaul’s Blue Demon mascot looks like a cross between Cookie Monster and Animal.
• Halftime analysis: Dominique Jones of USF is good. DePaul is not.
• Free program doesn’t have team rosters but does have a Big East nickname word search!
• Whoa. In case you weren’t paying attention, DePaul outscoring USF 23-4 in 2nd half.
• USF dominating points in the paint 44-18. But has missed all 8 3 pointers. FYI.
• Last week saw Bill Walker with the Knicks. Today it’s Will Walker with DePaul. No relation.

St. John’s v. UConn

• Nice win for USF. UConn and St. John’s on court for warm ups. Was not expecting to see this as a 12/13 game. 
• UConn band doing strong rendition of Proud Mary. 
• We are surrounded by obnoxious UConn fans. Guess I really didn’t need to add “obnoxious.” 
• Not shown on tv: St. John’s and UConn bands putting on an outstanding pre-game show.
• Whoa! I didn’t think the circus was coming to town until next month! 
• Looking for @Peter_R_Casey on press row. Turn around and wave! 
• Have to agree with @PeterChristian. Calhoun may in fact kill someone during halftime. 
• “I guess I should have stayed in the hospital.” #jimcalhounsinnermonologue #uconn 
• The water in the MSG restrooms is so cold that it should come out of an ice dispenser.
• 2nd half opens with Enter Sandman on PA system. A message to UConn? 
• I am seriously concerned that one of the two UConn fans sitting behind us is going to have a coronary. 
• Nice in-game ceremony honoring Lou Carnesecca on 25th anniversary of St. John’s 1985 Final Four appearance. 
• Spotted: guy in Favre Jets’ jersey. Yeah, no comment. 
• OH: “Dyson, could you have picked a worse year to fall off a cliff?” #uconn
• St. John’s has not one but two Maliks on the team. Malik Sealy approves. #stjbb
• Watching in person. RT @bomani_jones: Am I only one watching this? St john’s got cats swingin from rim like tarzan. Showing uconn NO respect
• Like this Malik Boothe. He is bad ass. In the best possible way. #stjbb
• Attention Marquette: St. John’s is coming for you. #stjbb
• Seton Hall pep band performs theme from Gladiator in front of Stout #bigeast #awesome http://flic.kr/p/7JAYX2 #

Tale of the Tweets: Evening Session

Seton Hall v. Providence

• More Big East tourney action. Go Seton Hall! (@ Madison Square Garden w/ @philcatelinet @peter_r_casey) http://4sq.com/2xxGTE
• Providence mascot is a giant freaky-looking friar in a white robe. Seton Hall mascot is a pirate. Advantage Hall.
• Some girl from PC just hit 11 free throws in 45 seconds to win the Reese’s Perfect FT Contest. Very impressive.
• First half analysis: Seton Hall is good. Providence is not.
• Seton Hall puts up 55 in the first half v. Providence. UConn scored 51 in the entire game v. St. John’s.
• Classic: overserved Seton Hall co-ed asking the beer guy where the bar is.
• Seems appropriate that a Seton Hall player named Herb Pope is lighting up Providence.
• At this point, the only thing entertaining us is the stupid jokes in the Cracker Jack prize.
• Friar clapping along to Providence band’s rendition of Centerfold.
• It’s not officially a college hoops game until one of the bands plays Hey Baby. Thanks Seton Hall Pep Band.
• Holy crap. This game is not over. Providence back from the dead. Trailing by 7 with 1:21 left.
• Wow. 109-106 in college hoops!?! Bananas.
• RT @aglock: Sheesh, Seton Hall. You better hope the Selection Committee turned that game off about 20 mins ago. Good heavens.

Cincinnati v. Rutgers

• Great stuff from Cinci and Rutgers (Zoot Suit Riot!) bands while teams warm up. 
• Rutgers crushed You Can Call Me Al. Cincy responds with their own version. This is the best! 
• One player from Dakar, Senegal on each team. @elsaul knows why I laugh whenever I hear “Dakar, Senegal.”
• Rutgers now playing Proud Mary. UConn’s was better. UConn’s hoops team may have sucked, but its band kicked ass. 
• Hey Seton Hall and Providence, can you loan some of your scoring to Rutgers and Cincy? Thanks. 
• RT @PhilCatelinet: It’s early but I think it’s safe to say that Rutgers-Cincy won’t hit the over. #bigeast #
• OH: “Dude. When Notre Dame plays at Yankee Stadium, that’s gonna be one of the greatest days of my life.” 
• RT @PhilCatelinet: What, no halftime show? No dance teams? I demand to be entertained!! Where’s my band rumble? 
• I think the only Rutgers and Cincy fans here are in the pep bands. 
• No winners in the NY Life random dice-throwing $10,000 game today. Maybe tomorrow. 
• Random note: saw Lance Stephenson in the high school senior all-star game at Rucker Park and now I’m seeing him at MSG. 
• This isn’t an endorsement of the team, but I’ve enjoyed the mascot stylings of the Cincinnati Bearcat.
• I love college basketball. But this is a looooooooong day of college basketball.
• Aaaand Rutgers gets an R-U chant going and a lot of noise. This is not over. 
• What an ending! Rutgers loses a heartbreaker. And thus ends 12 hours of Big East basketball. 
• So, yeah, I took 262 pictures today at the Big East tourney.