Rumble in the Garden - #13 Georgetown Hoyas (12-2, 1-1) vs. St. John's Red Storm (9-3, 2-0)

Georgetown Hoyas		St. John's Red Storm
	vs.
#13 (12-2, 1-1); RPI: 1		NR (9-3, 2-0); RPI: 10

(Perspectives After The Jump)

View from the Student Section - A Perspective from Campus:

My vacation in the warm sun will be over by tip-off, but my time away from school continues (just in a much colder, snowier New Jersey). I didn’t catch the DePaul game because without classes I confuse the days of the week and expected a 7:00 pm start. However, the game sounded pretty ugly anyways. I am attributing this to our players being on a mental vacation. However, like my trip to the tropics, that can be costly.

My experiences with Madison Square Garden have not been very positive. The only game I have been to at St. Johns was the opening round of the Big East Tournament two years ago. I was not a fan of the yellowish hue of the arena, didn’t quite enjoy being told by security to stop cursing at the refs, and did not like seeing Nikita chucking the ball off the side of the backboard to end the game. For that reason, St. Johns is a little higher up on my list of teams I want to see lose than they should be. I will throw back a few final piña coladas before boarding my plane and hope that the Hoya Trinity answers my prayers. Hoya Saxa!

View from the Court Side Seats - A Perspective from OldHoya:

OldHoya has had the pleasure (misfortune?) of attending the last two games and saw a hell of a lot to be pleased with on Saturday that was lacking in the Notre Dame game. Of course, ringing in the New Year helped erase that woeful match up.

OldHoya has seen a few coaches come and go in misguided attempts to replace Lou Carneseca, certainly none more comical than Mike Jarvis. But this is a new day and Coach Lavin has wisely paired with Mike Dunlap and the legendary Gene Keady to put a legit brain trust on the bench. Looking back on St. John's, it's clear that their all time best team was 1984-85, a team that finished with only 4 losses. Of course, 3 of those losses came to none other than the Georgetown Hoyas, the last one in the Final Four.

As we all know, this is a new season and a new trip to the World's Most Famous Arena though most of the Hoyas' top players have played under those bright lights before. As we enter the meat of the conference season, OldHoya encourages all fans to recognize that there are a few bumps in the road but to get back on track and strongly support this year's Hoyas.

View from the Enemy- A Perspective from our Sleeping With The Enemy Interview:

No predictions yet... wait! I've consulted my magic 8-ball (still drunk from New Year's) and it says it wants to go for a drink at Kramerbooks, have a burger at 5 Guys, and that St. John's will win 68-64.

The level of nervousness that I will encounter tomorrow will be palpable. I will not be an easy person to be around in the office in the morning, let alone the afternoon. Fortunately, I will be in meetings and unable to think about the game until around 3:30. The shortness of breath won't begin until I start the march over from Grand Central to pregame at Stout. Once I turn left on Madison, I will think about my experience in MSG last year and the joy that it brought me (USF, Marquette, SYRACUSE) and that will get me to Lord and Taylor on 5th and 38th. I will then begin to remember the last time I saw us play SJU in The Garden and I will vomit in front of some cologne/perfume store on 6th Ave.

I must admit that our performance up until 12/23/10 had lulled me into some sort of Zen place (or the closest that I can get to Zen). We were beating quality teams on the road and doing it by playing basketball that was enjoyable to watch- extra pass for a 3 here, backdoor for a layup there. Something has happened since then... We seem to have lost some of that cohesion and trust and our problem with grabbing defensive rebounds have resurfaced.These issues, coupled with the fact that this will be the first marquee BE match up in MSG for the Lavin-led Johnnies leads me to assess a SEVERE level of Nervousness. I also have a feeling that my level of nervousness will remain at a minimum of SEVERE for the next 3 months. I am really going to have to figure out a creative way to add some levels quickly. West Fucking Virginia and Pittsburgh are neXt.

Number of projected JahidiBeers: Could reach ND numbers

View from the Sportsbook (via DonBest) - A Perspective from Vegas:

The Line: Georgetown -3. Over/under 144.

I have personally witnessed numerous Hoyas disasters against the Johnnies in the Garden, ranging from losses to a group of walk-ons with a bow-legged center in the Esherick era to humiliating defeats with an NCAA berth on the line in the Nikita era. Both the Hoyas and the Johnnies were sloppy in their most recent outings on New year's day, with the Hoyas beating DePaul and St. John's narrowly avoiding a horrendous loss at Providence. St. John's comes into this game on a 4-game winning streak with fairly impressive wins against Northwestern (home) and West Virgina (away), and these games against Georgetown always seem to be close. Too close.

The pick is St. John's +3. Final score Hoyas 72 - Red Storm 70.

Casual Hoya is 11-3 ATS. Last season: 22-8 ATS.

www.CasualHoya.com: Where Your Money Stays And Plays.