Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

The Holy Land of Hoops will be 10 years old later this month. I think the recognized date is December 23rd maybe... which is also Festivus.

Many thanks to the Admin here for making this a daily site that i visit. There's too long a list of people here that are awesome, so i won't even make the attempt in fear of leaving anyone out.

Still the overall best conference in the country, in terms of comraderie, style of play, bad-assery, passion, history, arenas, personalities, tradition, fanbase knowledge and awareness, depth, balance, etc. Would not want to be anywhere else.

Nothing better through the years than surfing the HLOH while watching a Chicago State at DePaul game... from the Rosemont Horizon... with Oliver Purnell... on FS1... in mid November...

Also, thinking of the children, teachers, and families of the Sandy Hook tragedy, 10 years ago today.

I'm really glad you mentioned Sandy Hook. I never realized that it was the same weekend as the C7 move.

One of those things that I remember exactly where I was when it happened.

stever20 wrote:I'm really glad you mentioned Sandy Hook. I never realized that it was the same weekend as the C7 move.

One of those things that I remember exactly where I was when it happened.

Right, so horrible. My sons were in 1st grade and 4th grade. The only change over these ten years has been to train schoolchildren how to to hide from an active shooter, it's sick and depressing.

billyjack wrote:

stever20 wrote:I'm really glad you mentioned Sandy Hook. I never realized that it was the same weekend as the C7 move.

One of those things that I remember exactly where I was when it happened.

Right, so horrible. My sons were in 1st grade and 4th grade. The only change over these ten years has been to train schoolchildren how to to hide from an active shooter, it's sick and depressing.

Amen to that.

Bjack, remember you clearly as one of the early posters...saw that you hopped on in late 2012. My start was 3+ weeks later: Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:39 pm

Back then all the discussion was about who Team 8, 9 & 10 were going to be. Everyone assumed right that X was 8--made too much sense. But all the other hot takes on VCU and SLU and St. Joe's and Dayton and St. Bonaventure (yep, had those too), were a lot of fun in hindsight. Lots of prognosticating about the demise of the BE and how the AAC was superior, let alone all the P5 conferences. As a Nova fan I was torn. LOVED the oBE. Loved to hate the Cuse and Pitt and Rutgers. But little did I know it was going to usher in the Golden Era of the program.

We were very kumbaya-ish as a brotherhood back then, and still are now in OOC and in March. I like that. We may not sniff another (3)FF's and (2) NC's in the next 10 years, but I'll still enjoy this conference and this site, win or lose. I'll tip my next glass of bourbon to the HLOH, and it's long time members, and also, (all things considered) to the best hoops conference in all of college basketball.

What billyjack and Gumby wrote.

I focus on and amplify two things here:

1. The Big East has proven to be a legitimate, sustainable power basketball conference; we certainly didn't fade away; and

2. The camaraderie thingy is truly unique and has been enjoyable.

As for Sandy Hook, my wife and I were in NYC, enjoying the Christmas season there, at least until we went back to the hotel and turned on the television. God bless those children, their families, the school staff and the community.

Back to basketball and the Big East. Our approaching media agreement looms large for the actual well being of the conference, as well as the optics that go with how that process turns out. I'm also hopeful that NIL fatigue, or sanity will develop. I still see us being rock solid moving forward.

Time to enjoy the next ten years.

it's amazing how good the conference has been given the absolute nothing-burger that Georgetown has provided. And somewhat St John's as well. If you had said 10 years ago that those 2 programs would have exactly 4 NCAA bids, and 1 win I don't think many here would have been all that hopeful.

I too will echo what has been said about HLOH. It is really unique and a pleasant place to share opinions, thoughts, facts, etc. without the vitriol of most of the blogs out there these days. The good natured, not going over the top, jabs, criticism and compliments make this a truly enjoyable site to participate in. I thank and appreciate you all for your shared POV on the vest conference in Basketball!!

Speaking of vitriol, the Nova boards were less than fun up until a week or so ago! We are a spoiled group for sure!!!

Novachap wrote:I too will echo what has been said about HLOH. It is really unique and a pleasant place to share opinions, thoughts, facts, etc. without the vitriol of most of the blogs out there these days. The good natured, not going over the top, jabs, criticism and compliments make this a truly enjoyable site to participate in. I thank and appreciate you all for your shared POV on the vest conference in Basketball!!

Speaking of vitriol, the Nova boards were less than fun up until a week or so ago! We are a spoiled group for sure!!!

Chap - - It is good to be king, other than when it is difficult to be king. Merry Christmas!

My visiting habits wax and wane, but I appreciate the collegiality of the board. There’s enough places in the world and online to tear each other down. Nice to have a place to support each other.