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

The highlight of my time in Orlando was spending some time with St Johns Alums. Got to meet Jack of Virginia, who now lives in Arizona, lol. My wife and had shared a table at the reception Friday evening with Darren Kiley and Peter Torelli, two St Johns Alumni now living in Florida. We laughed, joked, and had a wonderful time. It was like we were old friends catching up. Shared our experiences at St Johns and after, it was truly a pleasure.

As for the tournament, we went 2-1, and are now 6-1 for the season. We have almost a week to work on some things before the game Saturday.
 
I know yesterday's game was beyond ugly but let's remember that this year is a year we are expected to make a leap in our number of wins......judgements will be made on mullin, the program, impact on recruiting, etc. if we do not show that we are truly on the way back....so, for me, i don't care how many ugly wins we have this year, i'll take each and every one of them.....
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The problem is ,if your struggling to beat mediocre competition, you will finish 8 th place in the BE. ,which would be unacceptable. Even though we are 6-1, the only good team we played was Mizzoe. UCF is OK, but they had key injuries. Last I looked Georgetown was 4and 0. Still early though. That said, plenty of things to work on. On a positive note, our D has improved.
 
The highlight of my time in Orlando was spending some time with St Johns Alums. Got to meet Jack of Virginia, who now lives in Arizona, lol. My wife and had shared a table at the reception Friday evening with Darren Kiley and Peter Torelli, two St Johns Alumni now living in Florida. We laughed, joked, and had a wonderful time. It was like we were old friends catching up. Shared our experiences at St Johns and after, it was truly a pleasure.

As for the tournament, we went 2-1, and are now 6-1 for the season. We have almost a week to work on some things before the game Saturday.
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Just when you think you finally know someone it turns out Jack has been misleading us !!!! TIS changed his name for us. Well it was still TIS but from Tom in Simusbury to Tom in Salem

Jack do the right thing and change your name to Jack of Arizona !!!!!!!! :)
 
The highlight of my time in Orlando was spending some time with St Johns Alums. Got to meet Jack of Virginia, who now lives in Arizona, lol. My wife and had shared a table at the reception Friday evening with Darren Kiley and Peter Torelli, two St Johns Alumni now living in Florida. We laughed, joked, and had a wonderful time. It was like we were old friends catching up. Shared our experiences at St Johns and after, it was truly a pleasure.

As for the tournament, we went 2-1, and are now 6-1 for the season. We have almost a week to work on some things before the game Saturday.
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Just when you think you finally know someone it turns out Jack has been misleading us !!!! TIS changed his name for us. Well it was still TIS but from Tom in Simusbury to Tom in Salem

Jack do the right thing and change your name to Jack of Arizona !!!!!!!! :)
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As long as it is not "JackAz" because I would have a field day with that!
 
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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What gives me hope with Ahmed is you can literally see when he decides to play the right way, only thing is he usually does it after he makes a mistake or two. Against UCF late in the game he got called for a travel and then he had a missed shot or turnover cant remember which it was. Then you could see him get angry and just decide it's time to turn it up on D. He picked up the ball handler at the top and locked him up, it was a key stop for us. He can actually defend really well when he is locked in. Agree he could move the ball faster on a consistent basis, but there are times when his aggressiveness on offense is needed, specifically if he can drive it and draw fouls. I think he will get better as the season goes on.
 
Before we press the panic buttons (maybe we did already and we need to press the reset button), good SJU teams over the years have struggled to beat some pretty bad opponents, and looked horrible in process. No doubt in recent years we would have lost this game. We all know this team's weaknesses and it isn't worth it to accentuate them as indicators of doomsday

Ponds can play. Lovett can play. Simon can play. Owens can defend the paint. Clark is a player and will prove it. Yakwe is shaking off rust and showing value. Ahmed will have his plus moments also.

10-11 OOC wins and 9-9 in the Big East will get us a bid. NIT would be disappointing to me at this point even if its progress.

Most disappointing post game comment is Ponds playing like turd and proclaiming how the money is going to be there for him. It was as if he thought he actually played well.
 
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.
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You never know maybe had they continued the zone we would have scored a lot less. Like 20 and we lose!
 
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.
Click to expand...
+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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Hate to say this but "someone" would need to tell Mullin to tell Bashir because in year three of the Mullin years I have yet to see a cogent strategy to maximize each player's skills within the "team" concept. While the defense has improved a bit the offense resembles NY street ball. Too much emphasis on individual play with the long distance green light being abused to the point where some of Lovett's and Bashir's shots look more like a chucking competition amongst the St. John's players. The offensive sloppiness in Bashir, Lovett and to a lesser extent Shamorie's game is starting to rub off on Justin Simon. If the guard tandems start trying to do a dipsy doo on every other offensive play that falls on the coaches. Mullin could get away with that loosey-goosey offense with Kentucky level talent but our players need some Hurley level coaching.
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You are 100% right about force shots from our guards in the C.F. game. and it was due to our porous zone offense, couldn't get open shots. Once again we had three guards outside passing the ball back and forth and Clark and Yakwe or Owens standing next to each other, instead of one rolling under the basket. The guards had trouble passing to the post so C.F. zone didn't even have to move. This is why we forced shots.



 
NY POST on Simon vs. Fall
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I love the great athleticism of Simon. Talk about hustle and speed, this kid flies up and down the court. Surely he had some turnovers but I don't want him to stop taking chances. And how about his leaping ability after a back door cut. Got to love this guy.
 
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.
Click to expand...
+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.
Click to expand...
What gives me hope with Ahmed is you can literally see when he decides to play the right way, only thing is he usually does it after he makes a mistake or two. Against UCF late in the game he got called for a travel and then he had a missed shot or turnover cant remember which it was. Then you could see him get angry and just decide it's time to turn it up on D. He picked up the ball handler at the top and locked him up, it was a key stop for us. He can actually defend really well when he is locked in. Agree he could move the ball faster on a consistent basis, but there are times when his aggressiveness on offense is needed, specifically if he can drive it and draw fouls. I think he will get better as the season goes on.
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Bashir started every tournament game guarding the opposition's tallest player. As he sat in the second half I yelled out," Put Bashir back in." Another fan sitting directly behind the bench said the same thing, leading Mullin to eye ball this guy and made a comment to him.
 
Jack, I heard you say it, put Admed in, it was fun . Peggy and I will never forget the time we spent with you and your son. at The games and at the gathering at the Palms , we had so many stories to tell each other ,that we shared , memories of the same moments.. God willing ,hope to see you next year at a Christmas tournament.
 
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.
Click to expand...
+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.
Click to expand...
What gives me hope with Ahmed is you can literally see when he decides to play the right way, only thing is he usually does it after he makes a mistake or two. Against UCF late in the game he got called for a travel and then he had a missed shot or turnover cant remember which it was. Then you could see him get angry and just decide it's time to turn it up on D. He picked up the ball handler at the top and locked him up, it was a key stop for us. He can actually defend really well when he is locked in. Agree he could move the ball faster on a consistent basis, but there are times when his aggressiveness on offense is needed, specifically if he can drive it and draw fouls. I think he will get better as the season goes on.
Click to expand...





Bashir started every tournament game guarding the opposition's tallest player. As he sat in the second half I yelled out," Put Bashir back in." Another fan sitting directly behind the bench said the same thing, leading Mullin to eye ball this guy and made a comment to him.
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Mullin has done the same thing at Carnesecca Arena with fans. He has a very thin skin and doesn't seem to like certain types of questions or comments. He seemingly had similar issues in his managerial roles in the pros. Then again we could have a budding Jim Boeheim on our hands with tournament teams every year. Time will tell.
 
Jack, I heard you say it, put Admed in, it was fun . Peggy and I will never forget the time we spent with you and your son. at The games and at the gathering at the Palms , we had so many stories to tell each other ,that we shared , memories of the same moments.. God willing ,hope to see you next year at a Christmas tournament.
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Both my son and I felt the same way. You and Peggy are one of the nicest couples I have ever met. Thanks for making our trip so worthwhile. It was meant to be that we met at the tournament ,especially since we both graduated the same year. Enjoy your cruise. I would really like to meet up next year. Let's keep in contact via Redmen.com. If I could figure how to PM with this new website I will.
 
If I could figure how to PM with this new website I will.
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@JackofVirginia#
to start here are two (simple) ways:
1) Click through to someone's profile that you want to PM. You'll see a little icon that looks like an envelope. click that

2) At the top where it says: "Hello JackofVirginia" that is a pull down menu. Click the little caret that is pointing down and you'll see a bunch of options. One about 3/4 way down says "New Private Message" click that.
 
If I could figure how to PM with this new website I will.
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@JackofVirginia#
to start here are two (simple) ways:
1) Click through to someone's profile that you want to PM. You'll see a little icon that looks like an envelope. click that

2) At the top where it says: "Hello JackofVirginia" that is a pull down menu. Click the little caret that is pointing down and you'll see a bunch of options. One about 3/4 way down says "New Private Message" click that.
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Thanks Paul.
 
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