2025-2026 Season

Obviously Sanon and Ian were highly recruited guards out of high school. Fans are often influenced by the number of stars next to their names. Both guys had okay seasons in 24-25 at ASU and UNC respectively, but were not the one and done players prematurely touted.

Now you realize we lost two “grown men” & proven guards in Smith and Kadary, both seasoned defenders, one physical, the other crafty. Neither Sanon or Ian can defend at that level, but I think can help on scoring end.

Will Sanon and Ian improve defensively to a competent and consistent level? To me that is a huge question since D was our bread and butter last year and a staple most of Rick’s career. Yesterday was one game v as good a cadre of guards, but let’s be honest, our guards’ defensive performance was poor. Is this a work in progress or something we may have to live with? I’m pulling for the former.
That’s why it would be nice if these two guys would get the NBA draft out of their minds for now as neither have shown enough to date to be very relevant re the NBA. Especially Sanon who seems more anxious to go that route.
 
Obviously Sanon and Ian were highly recruited guards out of high school. Fans are often influenced by the number of stars next to their names. Both guys had okay seasons in 24-25 at ASU and UNC respectively, but were not the one and done players prematurely touted.

Now you realize we lost two “grown men” & proven guards in Smith and Kadary, both seasoned defenders, one physical, the other crafty. Neither Sanon or Ian can defend at that level, but I think can help on scoring end.

Will Sanon and Ian improve defensively to a competent and consistent level? To me that is a huge question since D was our bread and butter last year and a staple most of Rick’s career. Yesterday was one game v as good a cadre of guards, but let’s be honest, our guards’ defensive performance was poor. Is this a work in progress or something we may have to live with? I’m pulling for the former.
Excellent post. This is why I think CRP should install a zone as a defense option in addition to a man to man.
 
I completely agree with your post. I’d like to add one more point about Kadary:
Not only did he play great defense, he directed the defense while on the court. He is a calculus and geometry savant. He saw all of the angles and then directed his teammates where to play. Watch isolated Kadary videos and you will be amazed.
He is a jump shot away from NBA greatness.
That’s why we lost to Arkansas and why we give up 100 points.
I'd like to add one more point.Kadara was a point guard.
 
Rest of the weekend to process that loss… realize what’s important in Life- God, Family…and St John’s basketball… and it’s a close 3rd lol

Mini rant incoming… is a Loss to this Bama team- with probably the most dynamic guards we’ll see all year- bad? No. It’s the fact we miss another opportunity to get a marquee OOC win. This was tee’d up for us- Top 5 / Hype / 12noon Saturday MSG home game… and we couldn’t get it done. Frustrating.

The loss takes the air outta the Hype train till Vegas- Where we HAVE to get 2 wins to be taken seriously.

This loss also got me thinking- when is the last time we got a REAL OOC win to hang our hat on? Think it was the Ponds game vs Duke at MSG (Giant Killers! Lol)… and the season was already in the Tank at that point in the year…

And as most people indicated- the BE doesn’t like that strong this year- so can’t count on a 17-3 Conf record to hold the same weight…The results of games that matter so far are not in our favor..

-Nova L to BYU

-SJU L to Bama

-Prov L to Va Tech

GTown did beat Maryland…

We’ll be fine- hopefully go 3-2 over the remaining Big Games- maybe 5-0… who knows… rant over. See u guys in Vegas.
 
Rest of the weekend to process that loss… realize what’s important in Life- God, Family…and St John’s basketball… and it’s a close 3rd lol

Mini rant incoming… is a Loss to this Bama team- with probably the most dynamic guards we’ll see all year- bad? No. It’s the fact we miss another opportunity to get a marquee OOC win. This was tee’d up for us- Top 5 / Hype / 12noon Saturday MSG home game… and we couldn’t get it done. Frustrating.

The loss takes the air outta the Hype train till Vegas- Where we HAVE to get 2 wins to be taken seriously.

This loss also got me thinking- when is the last time we got a REAL OOC win to hang our hat on? Think it was the Ponds game vs Duke at MSG (Giant Killers! Lol)… and the season was already in the Tank at that point in the year…

And as most people indicated- the BE doesn’t like that strong this year- so can’t count on a 17-3 Conf record to hold the same weight…The results of games that matter so far are not in our favor..

-Nova L to BYU

-SJU L to Bama

-Prov L to Va Tech

GTown did beat Maryland…

We’ll be fine- hopefully go 3-2 over the remaining Big Games- maybe 5-0… who knows… rant over. See u guys in Vegas.
If it makes anyone feel better if you watched the Georgetown vs. Maryland and SJU vs. Alabama, the former looked like a mid major game. We were right there with Alabama until the last six minutes. We played very well offensively and Jackson and Sellers were different players offensively in the second half.
 
If it makes anyone feel better if you watched the Georgetown vs. Maryland and SJU vs. Alabama, the former looked like a mid major game. We were right there with Alabama until the last six minutes. We played very well offensively and Jackson and Sellers were different players offensively in the second half.
Agree. I got the same vibe watching Providence and VT. It was like a totally different sport than the SJU-Bama game.
 
Inclusive of 2 exhibitions and 2 regular season games Johnnies are yielding 84 ppg

If you just average out the two tough games, Mich. exhibition (played like a regular game & OT granted) and Bama those two equate to 96 ppg rounded off. Playing at home before a frenzied SJ crowd at MSG I might add.

Obviously early and small sample, but something staff must giving its due attention. I personally like to track the productivity v solid teams, not the William & Mary’s of world. Thankfully we have some tough OOC games remaining to impress.

Defense!!!!!
 
Inclusive of 2 exhibitions and 2 regular season games Johnnies are yielding 84 ppg

If you just average out the two tough games, Mich. exhibition (played like a regular game & OT granted) and Bama those two equate to 96 ppg rounded off. Playing at home before a frenzied SJ crowd at MSG I might add.

Obviously early and small sample, but something staff must giving its due attention. I personally like to track the productivity v solid teams, not the William & Mary’s of world. Thankfully we have some tough OOC games remaining to impress.

Defense!!!!!
Absolutely but we scored over 90 points in both those games as well so maybe the offense is just ahead of the defense. It would be a lot worse if we were averaging 70 points.
 
Back
Top