Connecticut (MSG), Sat., Feb. 3, 12 NOON, FOX

I love the idea of having Drissa, Ayo, and Conway on the team. But only if they never see the floor in a competitive game. They're great culture guys, teammates, etc., and it's good to have those people. I just don't understand, and no one has had a good enough answer, why Pitino insists on playing thse guys.

"Make sure Conway is ready" -- ready for what? The guy has subpar athleticism for the Atlantic 10, was never that good of a shooter in the first place (he shot 30% two years ago), and his defense is atrocious. It's so hypocritical to your team to say every possession count, and then play him for three minutes over literally anyone else on this team.

Paultz, you really triggered me, sorry about that. /rant over.

You may not like this, but I actually think we should try to work Conway into the rotation. We are desperate for someone who can knock down a three. Don't be surprised if he gets some burn next game. Rick doesn't sit idle.
 
All of us should have learned something after the last few decades. The honeymoon stage most of us go through before the real season begins is a recipe for disappointment. I'm sure most fans saw very little of Dingle, Ledlum, Luis and Taylor, and nothing of Wilcher or Dunlap. Even the great coaches, or those who turned out great, had less than stellar first seasons. The Big East pre season polls had St. John's fifth. With a bunch of team stuck in the middle, and 4 games against the bottom of the conference left, that is certainly possible.

Problem is their play has been so uninspiring, that no win is a guarantee. Sure they hung tough against UConn, but when the going got tough, our guys didn't. Same story with the Xavier game. CRP still juggling lineups. The 3 point shooting is typical of SJU basketball. From memory, Dingle has to be near 0% from 3 the past 3 or 4 games. We all know, but sometimes forget over the summer, that the Big East is a monster conference, made harder as we don't have a true home court advantage many games. So sweep the bottom of the league and steal a few games, and we end up right where everyone but us expected.
I thought Pitino said he recruiter scorers
 
You may not like this, but I actually think we should try to work Conway into the rotation. We are desperate for someone who can knock down a three. Don't be surprised if he gets some burn next game. Rick doesn't sit idle.

Just because he's white doesn't mean he can knock down a three
 
Exactly, just like the Seton Hall fan who just happened to show up on this board right after our devastating Xavier loss.
Not true. I have friends and several family members who went to St. John's, one of whom suggested I check out the boards since we are both big fans of our respective teams. Lots of informed posters here.

Rick's presser was honest about NIL but still a bit of a downer with tone. Your kids played hard and could have won with a few more winning plays.

Some players have talent and a high basketball IQ - think of Bryce Aiken for us who played his grad year after Harvard and a couple of injury-prone years and concussions. He won several big games for us and made players around him better. Lots of high majors wanted him, Willard got him to stay home.

Both of our teams have players who make bone-headed plays. We don't have a Bryce Aiken anymore. We have Kadary, who is very good, unique, but is not Bryce. I think your PG has been darn good - Dinkins and Ledlum OK.

The home stretch and success depends on players making the right plays, team chemistry and some luck. Many players are banged up and bruised. BE is a very good conference this year, will be an interesting finish.

Good luck to both our teams, founding members of the BE.
 
Not true. I have friends and several family members who went to St. John's, one of whom suggested I check out the boards since we are both big fans of our respective teams. Lots of informed posters here.

Rick's presser was honest about NIL but still a bit of a downer with tone. Your kids played hard and could have won with a few more winning plays.

Some players have talent and a high basketball IQ - think of Bryce Aiken for us who played his grad year after Harvard and a couple of injury-prone years and concussions. He won several big games for us and made players around him better. Lots of high majors wanted him, Willard got him to stay home.

Both of our teams have players who make bone-headed plays. We don't have a Bryce Aiken anymore. We have Kadary, who is very good, unique, but is not Bryce. I think your PG has been darn good - Dinkins and Ledlum OK.

The home stretch and success depends on players making the right plays, team chemistry and some luck. Many players are banged up and bruised. BE is a very good conference this year, will be an interesting finish.

Good luck to both our teams, founding members of the BE.
You’re a good poster. Not a troll or someone here to annoy us
 
Why would you highlight the one outlier year…all others were 38+
Because shooting 30% for an entire season in the Southern Conference shows he's not as good of a shooter as people think he is. The level of competition in that conference is like four steps below the Atlantic 10.

Even just last year, he shot the same three point percentage as Dylan Addae-Wusu. Is he now a considered a sharp shooter as well?

Look at his career splits home/away from three:
2022-2023: 45% home, 31% away
2021-2022: 26% home, 33% away
2020-2021: 49% home, 29% away
2019-2020: 38% even

The last three years, he's struggled on the road shooting three's. CRP picked him up to be a practice player and culture guy. For that role, I'm all for it. If he's a significant part of our game plan in any way in February, we are in deep trouble.
 
He’s shooting 50% on set threes. We don’t get him or anyone those looks often.

He may become a player who can shoot off the bounce or take a quick shot moving off a curl, but he’s not that guy right now. He takes too many tough shots. We don’t have the guard play to get shooters drove and kicks so the only alternative is playing through Soriano.
Translation: Dunlap missing all those shots is Jenkins fault. As is global warming and Russia invading the Ukraine. Lol.
 
Re Pitino's post game pressers: For two years in college I worked in security in the men's locker room at the US Open. A random assignment on my first day on the job turned into a permanent assignment, by not letting anyone into the men's locker room who didn't belong. Imagine being a 20 year old kid being around the world's all-time best tennis players, and being tasked with keeping celebrities (Alan King, Cosell, politicians and others) out of the locker room. When my supervisor came around to check, players were slinging compliments, so they kept me there for 2 tournaments. But I digress.

I've seen players like Jimmy Connors repeatedly politely asking reporters to give him a little time until he showered after a 5 set loss to answer all of their questions, then blowing up when they stepped on his clothes as he undressed to shower, not giving him an inch. Of course, some would write what an asshole Connors was, but I saw the difference.

In college basketball, no one takes losing harder than coaches. They are paid to win, and unlike players, who can play well and move on, there are few silver linings for coaches. Someone close to Mullin told them that losing was eating Chris alive, and I believed it (no Mullin comments please). To expect coaches to be composed, reflective, and say all the right things a few minutes after a big loss, is often asking too much. CRP came to the Garden expecting to win, saw probably 100 things our guys did or didn't do that annoyed him, and was likely very very annoyed coming off the court. I'd cut him some slack for any of his comments.

The game itself at parts were awesome. Our fans, (I would say 60-40 SJU, and much more in lower bowl) were awesome, and even when behind looked to rally the team at every opportunity. UCONN fans were largely silent until they took a lead. It seemed every Johnnies fan in attendance was determined to show this is is OUR home court, and for our team to hear them. Great job.

The game itself? Well, damn, UCONN is the defending national champs, played a very solid game without Karaban, and would likely have beaten any team in the country yesterday. Our guys held their own for 32 minutes, until UCONN stopped missing on nearly every possession. We can hate them, but they are a great team with a very good (whining) coach.

Having been a veteran of many ankle injuries, I know these can take months to heal, so I would cut Alleyne some slack. In terms of Luis, I would agree that he needs to make better decisions going to the basket. I'd also say though, if there was one guy on the court who could do something simply amazing at any given moment with the ball in his hands, it's Luis. It's almost as if the only person capable of stopping Luis is Luis, and that's only by his propensity to turn nothing into nothing driving into a crowd. However, when he turns nothing into something, it's often dazzling. Also, on the bench, the trainer was working on Luis' legs when he was off the court. My guess is he isn't even close to 90% at this point, so again, would cut him some slack.

Finally, Soriano has looked a lot more like Joel of two years ago lately, and he can do much better. End of story.

Lastly, on the big MSG dilemma, if the Big East insists we play our home game vs. UCONN at the garden, I thing they should play their home game vs. us at the Garden too. It would be a lot more even then as a two game series. and it would be fantastic for the Big East. And a lot fairer for us.

.
BRAVO!!! Great post!!!
 
For the night owls - episode 92 is here - and those that read beast of the big east’s post above you’re going to want to listen to the episode.

We’re recapping the UConn loss, where this team is right now, the shortcomings and problems, we answer fan questions, and discuss a ton of Rick Pitino’s post game press conference quotes as I have the full audio and clips, I play a majority of the important stuff (not the cut up and edited stuff on the school site)



 
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