(AdvoCare Invitational) UCF, Sun. Nov. 26, 12 Noon, ESPN U, 970AM

I'll say one encouraging sign. He might not have scored more than a couple of points but Yakwe had a good game on the offensive boards. Now it can also be argued that we missed so many shots it would be hard not to but I did think Yakwe had an encouraging game and better movement
 
Agree on Yakwe. Plus, he continues to play solid defense and not hurt us when he is in there the past 3 or 4 games.
 
Brutal to watch but come March it counts as a win vs a decent team on a neutral court. Two positive points.
1 Clark looked like he might start contributing by staying on the court
2 Ponds and Simon continue to show their rebounding skills with their great nose for the ball skills
 
Not too worried. Before we decide that zone defense will crush our season, think back to last year's Syracuse game. We have the same coaching staff and a similar roster. We will eventually beat the zone.
 
Agree on Yakwe. Plus, he continues to play solid defense and not hurt us when he is in there the past 3 or 4 games.
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Yakwe, I thought, had his moments in all three games. Clark was better today too, but that's about it as far as individuals went today.

One great number from this tournament. We were 50-56 from the foul line as a team (89.2%). While I wish we would get to the line a little more, shooting a percentage like that (or even a little less) is going to mean a few wins for us this year (hopefully, more then a few).
 
Not sure why the coaches seem to be accepting so many forced/bad shots. I can remember several 3 point shots at least past the NBA line (or at least where I thought it would be) and guys just flipping balls up at the basket from the paint. It made us seem lost and out of control. You don't want guys looking over their shoulders but we do need to work on and define what is a "good" shot. Maybe pulling a player for a short time can get the message across. No one can have/should have a "green" light for some of the loose play we watched today.
 
Thank God Dawkins switched to man in the second half. Against the zone we did not get any open shots, poor ball movement as the guards passed the ball back and forth outside. Any coach that doesn't play zone against us should look for another job.
 
Thank God Dawkins switched to man in the second half. Against the zone we did not get any open shots, poor ball movement as the guards passed the ball back and forth outside. Any coach that doesn't play zone against us should look for another job.
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Yeah, we lit them up for 24 points in the 2nd half after being held to 22 in the first. Someone was going to win as poorly a played game by both teams as you will see at any level. I’ll take it and move on, hopefully to much better play.
 
At the party on Friday Mullin mentioned they would be at Disney on Saturday. If you ask me they were still at Disney World today. Terrible performance. Ponds actually looked disinterested throughout the game. Owens didn't show me anything in the tourney. Yakwe looks much better. Zone offense is ugly! Lovett 5 for 20? Turnovers and few offensive boards hurt, no easy shots all game. Fortunately Fall fouled out. I'll take the ugly win.
Finally met another poster - Oldfan.
 
Fugly game ! Looks like a line drive in the stats though . 6-1 is fine by me.
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Won-loss record is one thing, but I don't think shooting 27% looks like a line drive in the stats. But certainly agree with how ugly it was ... so ugly that I kept turning off the TV for long stretches of time. Too much agita. Happily, the last time I turned it back on, it was over and we had won.
 
Last year's OOC (Kenpom):

W @ 55 Syracuse
W vs 202 Fordham
W @ 241 Tulane
W vs 284 CSU Northridge
W vs 314 Binghamton
W vs 340 Bethune-Cookman

L @ 37 Minnesota
L vs 40 Michigan State
L vs 48 VCU
L vs 87 Penn State
L vs 120 Old Dominion
L vs 253 LIU Brooklyn
L vs 339 Delaware St

This year:

W vs 71 UCF
W vs 100 Oregon St
W vs 106 Nebraska
W vs 279 New Orleans
W vs 323 Central Connecticut
W vs D2 Molloy

L vs 58 Missouri

Again, not sure why a lot of people went into this game expecting an easy win. Pretty clear that this team is doing far, far better than last year's. We've already matched last year's OOC W total and we still have 6 more games left. If we can go 4-1 before conference play, that'd be excellent (regardless of the Duke outcome later on). Will be tough though and 3-2 probably more likely.
 

Look top team guards do not go 6-32 but the coach did not have the depth to sit them for a while without bring our game down to below satisfactory Coaching is becoming more of a factor as we proceed into the season
 
chalk it up to ugly ugly WIN, but a WIN non the less. If Ponds and LoVett are gonna be firing away so much ( and I suspect with a zone they will ) we need to work on getting them free off screens better. They will need as many clean looks as possible. I honestly didn't see sloppy play as much as a terrible shooting day. We had a bunch of turnovers but this team does not give in. That is a huge characteristic we have not seen in a johnnie team in a long time. We will regroup and get back to work on a tune up game vs sacred heart, then tough games vs GC and Az St. BUT, lets not look ahead. One game at a time, focus, and stay hungry!!! Go johnnies.
 
It's difficult to be confident coming off a game like this, but we won with a comparatively horrific performance by Ponds / Lovett, Ponds 1 - 11!
Hopefully, we go 4 - 1 next 5 OOC games. Grand Canyon just lost to the San Diego Toreros by 10--they ain't Mizzou.
 
Let me try like many of you to state some positives for St. John's from today's game which was uglier than a steaming pile of horse shit-nobody's shorts fell down, no one tripped over their shoelaces, no one died. Gee, that wasn't so hard after all.
 
Honestly Bashir drives me nuts every time he gets the ball in the offense he has to pause then he either goes into a dance or shoots. The pause is like a (insert extreme example here or see my previous post) in the middle of the offense. Every time he pauses he is killing the flow of the offense and letting the defense adjust. I'd rather Mullin pulls him every single time he pauses until he learns it.
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+1000

Mullin needs to tell him that if the shot or and open lane is not Immediately available, he needs to move the ball. He has talent but needs to be channeled. As you noted, his habit of holding the ball and jab stepping for 10 seconds needs to stop. He doesn't beat people off the dribble. So, he needs to keep it moving.
 
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