Smith Potentially Out for Rest of Regular Season

Queens_Ball said:
I have absolutely no way of knowing this but just off pure speculation & reading the signs…anyone else feel like this is Pitino playing mind games with Smith himself? (I do…)
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I’m reading it as more of him playing mind games with everyone outside of smith.

I think he’s trying to get the team to get to another level without smith and not view him as a safety net. I think he doesn’t want the team to be in a spot mentally where they are waiting for smith to come back. He wants them to proceed as if they don’t have him for the rest of the year, and rise to the occasion.

I think this is mainly for Sim. He’s trying to get sim to get to another level before March. I think thats also why we drew up a potential game winner for him last night.
 
Jack Williams said:
I think this is mainly for Sim. He’s trying to get sim to get to another level before March. I think thats also why we drew up a potential game winner for him last night
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The way i see that is maybe Sim was option 2, but if so poorly executed. Kadary appeared to have plenty of space in the paint and didn't even attempt to draw a double team before passing. Once Sim caught the pass, he slipped the defender but gave him enough space to recover and alter Sim's shot.

We've come through again and again this season so not getting a good look was frustrating.
 
Jack Williams said:
I’m reading it as more of him playing mind games with everyone outside of smith.

I think he’s trying to get the team to get to another level without smith and not view him as a safety net. I think he doesn’t want the team to be in a spot mentally where they are waiting for smith to come back. He wants them to proceed as if they don’t have him for the rest of the year, and rise to the occasion.

I think this is mainly for Sim. He’s trying to get sim to get to another level before March. I think thats also why we drew up a potential game winner for him last night.
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That’s interesting and of course just as valid as my own speculation. Could be.

The reason I think it could be Pitino sending a message to Smith is because of the start & stop nature of how he’s been dealt with as well as comments from past games about him “not being mentally back yet” etc now with an added neck injury that Pitino implied he didn’t think would keep him out for Creighton but now suddenly he may need to be shut down for the year? That felt like frustration with the player to me.

My gut is telling me this is Coach telling Smith… “You’re a senior. We’re coming down the stretch here. We need you. Either you’re in or you’re out. If you’re gonna play then play but if you’re going to be inconsistent mentally I’ll shut you down.”
 
Would love to know what’s really going on.

Just me speculating on injuries in general.

But if just a pinched nerve that should be handled with some manual therapy at worst he would be called day to day with a chance to play Sunday.

If we are concerned more about disc involvement then that’s more difficult to define time frames.

Or are we just buying time to heal up the shoulder joint issue as it sure seemed to affect the shooting since the injury.

Either way. Heal up smith and get back out on the court as soon as possible when ready!!
 
dk423 said:
nypost.com

Injured Deivon Smith won’t be back anytime soon for St. John’s: ‘Longer he stays out, the better’

St. John’s coach Rick Pitini said Smith, now dealing with a neck injury, tried to play Wednesday night against Villanova, but couldn’t go.
nypost.com nypost.com

Rick ruled him out for Creighton and DePaul
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I’ll immediately hedge on my hot take within minutes 😂

Reading this article made me think maybe it just is what is. Pitino wants him right because it gives them the best chance to make a run in March. There has definitely been some inconsistency in the messaging from Pitino during the Smith injury drama but maybe the simplest answer is usually the correct one.

I guess I’m prone to a bit of overthinking after a loss 😂
 
Eric said:
Would love to know what’s really going on.

Just me speculating on injuries in general.

But if just a pinched nerve that should be handled with some manual therapy at worst he would be called day to day with a chance to play Sunday.

If we are concerned more about disc involvement then that’s more difficult to define time frames.

Or are we just buying time to heal up the shoulder joint issue as it sure seemed to affect the shooting since the injury.

Either way. Heal up smith and get back out on the court as soon as possible when ready!!
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I think Pitino's handle on injuries is like my grandfather trying to summarize the conversation 8 year old Marillac had with him about Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior teaming up for a tag team match in the 90s. They are clueless and just trying to get to the next question.
 
Win this game and the week is a net positive. Nova clearly scouted us well and knew they could attack us when we had the ball at the top of the key because we tend to hold the ball and are susceptible to tie ups, steals, and getting flustered. That was clearly their plan, especially when the subs who barely play come in. That is an area of weakness that has been exposed and hopefully we can fix it and become a better team.
 
Marillac2 said:
Win this game and the week is a net positive. Nova clearly scouted us well and knew they could attack us when we had the ball at the top of the key because we tend to hold the ball and are susceptible to tie ups, steals, and getting flustered. That was clearly their plan, especially when the subs who barely play come in. That is an area of weakness that has been exposed and hopefully we can fix it and become a better team.
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If Neptune can see this and plan for it, then certainly McDermott can as well.
 
I’d suggest watching the press conference, specifically Rick about the injury. Kind of clear he’s frustrated with Deivon (he trailed off saying something along the lines of “with him, he can’t …”) + thinks it’s something the team has to learn how to deal with.

If a guy is out for the regular season definitively, it makes no sense to go out there in warmups and to then only say he’s definitely out for Creighton and “probably” DePaul.

We will need Sim to step it up offensively, Ayo to give us 7-10 minutes of intelligent basketball, and one of the freshman to be playable for five minutes.
 
Coaster said:
If Neptune can see this and plan for it, then certainly McDermott can as well.
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Of course. All coaches by now know their conference opponents strengths and weaknesses. Heck, us fans know.

The issue remains no team is perfect and all have holes that can be exploited.

Despite all of that, Villanova had to make a number of long three pointers with the shot clock running down and SJU still had the ball with a chance to win on the road.

If this is our low point. We are in great shape.
 
Does this suck? Yes. Is it the end all? Absolutely not. He has missed a lot of games already and the team is resilient as hell.

If Prey can give us solid defensive minutes and Zuby/Scott/Kadary are so versatile they can cover any position.

Nova was hitting some crazy shots and thats why they won. Some of those 3's I'm pretty sure they had their eyes closed.

I feel like this team is improving every game. If he is g2g for the BE Tourney at a high level that is what is important
 
kranmars said:
Of course. All coaches by now know their conference opponents strengths and weaknesses. Heck, us fans know.

The issue remains no team is perfect and all have holes that can be exploited.

Despite all of that, Villanova had to make a number of long three pointers with the shot clock running down and SJU still had the ball with a chance to win on the road.

If this is our low point. We are in great shape.
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Very good point.
 
as amazing as it is to win every game... we are in a position now where we will be playing into March.

Sit Dev until the BET... we are at the point now where we can afford that... Win in March.
 
Lefty has a natural feel for the game. Go watch the possession where he hit the 3 and focus on him. He never stopped moving with the ball and stayed ready the whole possession, his hands never went down and he buried it. Seems simple in principle but watch others and see that’s it’s not.

Kadary is such a security blanket as a primary ball handler and he gets our guys great looks. And if there is one thing we can see for sure about Lefty, it’s that he can hit a spot up 3. His length and smarts will help him catch up on D.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
Lefty has a natural feel for the game. Go watch the possession where he hit the 3 and focus on him. He never stopped moving with the ball and stayed ready the whole possession, his hands never went down and he buried it. Seems simple in principle but watch others and see that’s it’s not.

Kadary is such a security blanket as a primary ball handler and he gets our guys great looks. And if there is one thing we can see for sure about Lefty, it’s that he can hit a spot up 3. His length and smarts will help him catch up on D.
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For sure no legit sample size, but if I had to vote, I would agree with your post. He just does not ever look uncomfortable, overwhelmed or not ready. We may get to see if we are right before this is over.
 
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