A serious question to contemplate about our players….

Silly Donovan

Silly Donovan

Well-known member
A good friend of mine brought this up and it kind of tells the tale of the season so far.

If someone were to ask you, “which of our players or player do you believe exceeded or even met, reasonable expectations ?” Based on all the hype, info from others etc. and their current performance.

Then part two of the question should be…… why do you think that is so.

When I was asked this, right down to Joel, I couldn’t give him an answer and even more concerning, was the “why” part of the question.
 
RedStormNC said:
Jenkins & Ledlum have both met for me.

Jenkins plays with intensity. Though I do agree with Marillac a lot on Jenkins, I didnt expect more than he gives.

Ledlum on surface might have under performed on offense but he puts himself out there.
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Agree on Jenkins and as Pitino says he has been a given on nightly basis and yes Ledlum plays hard but thought 18.8 would translate to at least 12-14 points for us and his outside shot as not be good at all. Bottom line imo is only Jenkins has met my expectations
 
RedStormNC said:
Jenkins & Ledlum have both met for me.

Jenkins plays with intensity. Though I do agree with Marillac a lot on Jenkins, I didnt expect more than he gives.

Ledlum on surface might have under performed on offense but he puts himself out there.
Click to expand...
Can Ledlum hit an outside shot anymore?
 
Met: Dunlap, Jenkins, Soriano, ejiofor

Exceeded: none

We really needed one guard and one wing to break out and have a big year. Unfortunately, none of them have. I think we tried getting Spencer in here, even with him this team would be in a much better place. Hopefully, over the next month someone can distinguish himself.

(Also, Ledlum has been solid, but I think my expectations were too high)
 
Hardy said:
Met: Dunlap, Jenkins, Soriano, ejiofor

Exceeded: none

We really needed one guard and one wing to break out and have a big year. Unfortunately, none of them have. I think we tried getting Spencer in here, even with him this team would be in a much better place. Hopefully, over the next month someone can distinguish himself.

(Also, Ledlum has been solid, but I think my expectations were too high)
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Respect your opinion and I guess it may be because I believed Pitino but the way he talked up Zuby pre season he has not produced anywhere close to expectation and Pitino said Joel would be a much better player than last season and I see the same player. Dunlap has had one and a half good games and while I had pretty low expectations for him his shooting and fouls shooting has fallen short.
 
I think Jenkins, Dunlap, Driss & Zuby have all met my expectations and in the case Jenkins slightly exceeded them. Ledlum has been very close to meeting my expectations - knew he was not a good shooter (see 3 point and free throw 3 year stats) but thought he'd average around 10-12 ppg anyway. Rebounding has been slightly better than expected so he is close to a push for me.
 
Nobody really excels consistently.

Jenkins has been solid recently but I agree with Marillac a lot as well.
Soriano shows up when he wants to.
Ledlum busts his butt most of the time and flashes a little talent when you don't expect.
Zuby gives a lot of effort also. I believe he will be better next year.
Dingle and Dunlap had I think each one good game each but hope Dunlap can get better.
Luis tantalizes and frustrates you in the same game. Sometimes on back to back plays. Fingers crossed on his future
Allenye plays hard and occasionally makes a big shot.
I dream that Storr shows up when Taylor checks in
I still want Wilcher to play more but he really hasn't earned.
Traore also plays hard and occasionally surprises.
Conway seems like he will be successful in a non basketball career
Sadly Cruz got hurt and now Ayo.

A lot of players but the sum isn't much better than the parts. However all said I think we can squeak out a tournament bid even if its Dayton.
 
Great question.

Exceeded expectations:
Jenkins -- I thought he would just be an okay to solid Big East guard. He's an impact player, who we would all love if he was in a different role.
Traore -- shocked that he has been remotely helpful in the limited minutes he's played, also best teammate in the Big East
Luis -- I didn't think he would be our most talented player on the team, but clearly is. I can also put this in the "not met expectations" because i didn't think he would be such a tough guy to corral.

Met expectations:
Zuby -- knew he was a project, be super athletic and would show flashes of a very good player, but also be limited
Conway -- knew he would be overmatched
Taylor -- plays good D, has shown a good shot. Don't understand why he hasn't played consistently more.

Not met expectations:
Soriano -- the progress we saw in skill is not even apparent at this point, still very up & down, and honestly just not very mature on the court throughout this year. We needed more from him.

Dingle -- biggest engima in my following of St. John's. I agree with @Marillac, he has the prettiest shot I've seen to consistently not go in. I'm done figuring out or making excuses for him.

Ledlum -- figured he'd be a bigger part of the offense as a scoring threat, physically overmatched at this level

Dunlap -- thought he'd be a better shooter at the foul line (more nerves than anything I'd guess) and shooter

Wilcher -- more of a project than I expected, a lot of airhead mistakes in crucial points in a game

Alleyne -- thought he would be a more polished three point shooter and higher motor on D.
 
Exceeded:
- Jenkins: I thought he'd be just average, but he's a pretty solid player. Not without his shortcomings for sure, but he's being asked to do a lot right now.
Traore: Actually looks ok when he's out there. Can carve out a role as a back-of-the-bench player for us and by all accounts is a great teammate.

Met:
Zuby: I think Zuby is going develop into a pretty good player for us. He hustles all the time, he plays pretty good post defense and he blocks everything. Offensively he still needs work. He's a pretty good athlete. I think we add another big for sure next year but I see an even bigger role for him next year.
Conway: A couple of posters here killed me over the summer when I said Conway was not going to be part of the rotation and turns out I was right.
Soriano: Went back and forth on this, but he's still one of our key guys, and hard to say a guy averaging 16/10 hasn't met expectations.
Luis: All the talent in the world. Not sure where his head is at. Lazy on defense at times. Offensively is turning into a schoolyard ballhog.
Dunlap: Still looks lost on defense too often, but he's a freshman. I think he has a bright future. Needs to put on muscle and figure out how to create his own shot at this level. Outside of those couple games has not consistently knocked down the 3.
Taylor: Love his all-around game. Doesn't make a lot of mistakes. A good player who's had to defer this season.
Ledlum: Goes after every rebound. Love his hustle. Wasn't expecting much more than 10 ppg and 7 rpg and that's what we're getting from him.

Below expectations:
Dingle: Just a total head-scratcher. Thought he would be our Hardy/Dlo junkyard dog scorer this year, and it has just not materialized.
Alleyne: Smart player from a championship pedigree, but offensively a disappointment. Isn't knocking down the outside jumper like we all thought.
Wilcher: Has all the upside in the world, but expected a bit more TBH from a Top-40 freshman.
 
You need to set your baseline on expectations before you answer

Joel is below as we expect him to be an all American and a top player in the BE
Zuby MET as we thought he would be a developing contributor
Ledlum Met as he is an undersized forward who gives it his all
Luis below as we thought he would be a good defender and a leading scorer
Jenkins Exceeded as I did not know what to expect. As frustrating as he is at times he hustles and cares
Dunlap exceeded as mosst people on this board thought he would play maybe 3 mins a game.
 
Soriano under
Jenkins over
Traore push
Luis under
Dingle under
Ledlum push
Dunlap push
Wilcher minus
Alleyne push
Zuby plus
Conway minus
Taylor push
 
My biggest issue with Joel is inconsistency. Part of that results from poor interchanges with teammates and forced basket attacks when multiple defenders collapsing on him. He needs not to dribble when over-covered. Kick it out, get defenders moving.
 
Jenkins and Zuby exceeded. Dunlap showed signs of exceeding expectations but not consistently. Thought we were getting a lot more with Dingle, that was kind of a bust. Hard to say on Soriano, I think he found his ceiling, not necessarily in a bad way. There's a footwork and fluidity issue for him, and I don't think it's for a lack of working on it - I think it's just the skillset he has. Hopefully he'll get a gig in Europe. I don't think many people had Conway as a major contributor but he's not cut out for major conference play. Traore is likable on all levels as a team player.
 
When you ask a question like this after losing 5 of 6 league games, it just begs for an answer that denigrates virtually each and every player.

It's just another version of the game "Which player from last year would you live to have right now?"

Essentially it's like having 4 kids bringing home C minus report cards, and asking "Which kid is stupid?"

Our guys need to keep working and coach needs to gets us through this. That's all.
 
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