When the Syracuse Orange "visit" the St. John's Red Storm Saturday in New York City, Madison Square Garden will be sold out, the third sell-out crowd in six Big East road games for SU.

Syracuse drew 12K to the DePaul game, which doesn't sound like much, but then you remember it's DePaul and you're like, "Twelve thousand people! Good God!"

And the trend will continue all season. Louisville has just about sold out the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center and our Big Monday game at UConn will be an ESPN Gameday atmosphere, ensuring sell-out numbers.

Pundits cite three things as the reason. The Syracuse brand, Syracuse's ranking and the fact that Dion Waiters has retweeted 19% of the Earth's population in the past three months.

"I think it’s a tribute to our program and our consistency,’’ McNamara said. "For us to go into an opposing arena that doesn’t normally sellout and it sells out, I think it’s a tribute to what our guys have done in the past and now the present.’’

Meanwhile, it's not just road games that get the big attendance treatment. SU students are already camping out for Wednesday's game against the hated Georgetown Hoyas, including our own Dan Lyons.

The Georgetown game and Louisville games are expected to put in a challenge for the all-time Carrier Dome record, but even if they fall short, expect the mid-thirties to come into play.

Via CNY Central: