(@Bar) California, Mon. Nov. 19, 7pm, ESPN-2 / 970 WNYM

Would mean a lot to win the next 2 and bring home a trophy. When's the last time that happened? But 1 game at a time. I will be there tonight expecting a light crowd but hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised. IMO Cal looks a lot less talented than Rutgers...would be nice to run rings around them early and make for a nice night out. Figgy is getting really comfortable lately and opponents are on notice! We all saw how many points he racked up last game, but look at the rebounds. He had 10 or 11! And that was against a huge team. As long as we come out with the same intensity and look to make the extra pass, we will be in good shape IMO. One of the biggest keys last game for example was Ponds realizing he didn't have "it" that game, so he gave it to the hot guys. Simon has done the same unless he's wide open. That's huge...if you are off one night that's fine it happens...just make sure you realize that and find the hot shooter.
 
Be careful with these predictions that have us winning nearly 3 times as much as we're favored guys! Only going to set up for disappointment. Don't forget we're still without Keita. I'll take a 10+ point win.
 
[quote="Room112" post=302937]Be careful with these predictions that have us winning nearly 3 times as much as we're favored guys! Only going to set up for disappointment. Don't forget we're still without Keita. I'll take a 10+ point win.[/quote]

Who is predicting a 45 pt win? The line is 14.5 last I saw last night lol.
 
[quote="oldschool Redmen" post=302922]SJU should be on a mission this year, Ponds, Simon, Clark, know what happened the last 2 year, they were here, I'm sure Heron and LJ know too.
My guts says that they're gonna use being on national TV (ESPN2) as their coming out party, and put everyone on notice, this is not that same team from the last 2 years.
Thinking we're gonna rock the Barclay center: 44-21 halftime 95-53. Ponds 30, Heron 25, LJ 24.
Strong defense, press the s* out of cali and keep moving the rock on offense.

It's our time now guys. REPRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

Mike Zaun?? 42 point prediction lol
 
[quote="Room112" post=302939][quote="oldschool Redmen" post=302922]SJU should be on a mission this year, Ponds, Simon, Clark, know what happened the last 2 year, they were here, I'm sure Heron and LJ know too.
My guts says that they're gonna use being on national TV (ESPN2) as their coming out party, and put everyone on notice, this is not that same team from the last 2 years.
Thinking we're gonna rock the Barclay center: 44-21 halftime 95-53. Ponds 30, Heron 25, LJ 24.
Strong defense, press the s* out of cali and keep moving the rock on offense.

It's our time now guys. REPRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

Mike Zaun?? 42 point prediction lol[/quote]

Just checked again...down to 14.0 favorites even from 14.5 last night. Silly to predict a 30+ pt win especially knowing we will play our freshmen in garbage time if we are ever up that much late. I'll be thrilled with a 10 pt win. We can't look past Cal though, they're still a F5 team. No days off. We probably won't shoot as well as last game, but we need to knock down consistent 3's...maybe 37% or better. As long as we shoot around that 40% mark or better and play tenacious defense, we are looking good.
 
Ah the game is actually on TV here in London at midnight. I guess being unemployed I don't have an excuse to staying away for it...
 
I’d love a big win like last game, but to me it’s less about the final score and more about the continuation of unselfish play on offense, and intensity on defense. Sometimes the shots are falling-like last game-and sometimes they’re not. As long as we stay focused we’ll be fine. If I’m a betting man(I am, just not tonight) I take SJU -14
 
[quote="otis" post=302847]Kenpom predicts:

Cal 67
St. John’s 80

With a probability of a win at 87%[/quote]

ESPN's BPI Matchup Predictor gives us an even better chance of victory, 89.7%. They don't predict a score, though.

They also give Temple a 72.5% chance of taking out VCU.
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=302962]We absolutely should win this game, so i am terrified[/quote]

I’m no longer terrified because this team is different than last teams. We have several other guys who can put up Ponds-type numbers on any given night and 5 starters who can easily put up double-doubles in multiple categories. The more we play together, the better we will get and I think in this case we have such a balanced core that I know we can handle this.

In addition, I think our glue this year might just be Figueroa. His pace at both ends and attitude get other players playing harder. He’s mature beyond his experience level as a player and I think he’s making the team a lot better. I’d include Heron in that equation too, but particularly Figueroa’s energy level.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=302964][quote="Jack Williams" post=302962]We absolutely should win this game, so i am terrified[/quote]

I’m no longer terrified because this team is different than last teams. We have several other guys who can put up Ponds-type numbers on any given night and 5 starters who can easily put up double-doubles in multiple categories. The more we play together, the better we will get and I think in this case we have such a balanced core that I know we can handle this.

In addition, I think our glue this year might just be Figueroa. His pace at both ends and attitude get other players playing harder. He’s mature beyond his experience level as a player and I think he’s making the team a lot better. I’d include Heron in that equation too, but particularly Figueroa’s energy level.[/quote]

It is similar to 98-99 in the regard that on any given night it feels like 4 or 5 different players are capable of dropping 20+.
 
[quote="gman" post=302965][quote="MCNPA" post=302964][quote="Jack Williams" post=302962]We absolutely should win this game, so i am terrified[/quote]

I’m no longer terrified because this team is different than last teams. We have several other guys who can put up Ponds-type numbers on any given night and 5 starters who can easily put up double-doubles in multiple categories. The more we play together, the better we will get and I think in this case we have such a balanced core that I know we can handle this.

In addition, I think our glue this year might just be Figueroa. His pace at both ends and attitude get other players playing harder. He’s mature beyond his experience level as a player and I think he’s making the team a lot better. I’d include Heron in that equation too, but particularly Figueroa’s energy level.[/quote]

It is similar to 98-99 in the regard that on any given night it feels like 4 or 5 different players are capable of dropping 20+.[/quote]

I agree gman , I was thinking the same thing. That team also had a short bench only playing eight guys and not much height. I believe we had Donald Emmanuel as our only guy 6’9, or was it Albert Richardson?
 
I think this team is different as well, but there was a St. John’s team I thought was different too until they of course proved they weren’t different.

2014-15 team. I actually think I have the year wrong but we were loaded. Had an established star in Harrison. We had Jakarr. We had a 5 star recruit. Returning double digit scorers. I thought that team was different but they still managed to miss the tournament.

Again, I do think this team is different, but it also wouldn’t shock me if we aren’t different at all if that makes sense
 
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[quote="Mean Gene" post=302967][quote="gman" post=302965][quote="MCNPA" post=302964][quote="Jack Williams" post=302962]We absolutely should win this game, so i am terrified[/quote]

I’m no longer terrified because this team is different than last teams. We have several other guys who can put up Ponds-type numbers on any given night and 5 starters who can easily put up double-doubles in multiple categories. The more we play together, the better we will get and I think in this case we have such a balanced core that I know we can handle this.

In addition, I think our glue this year might just be Figueroa. His pace at both ends and attitude get other players playing harder. He’s mature beyond his experience level as a player and I think he’s making the team a lot better. I’d include Heron in that equation too, but particularly Figueroa’s energy level.[/quote]

It is similar to 98-99 in the regard that on any given night it feels like 4 or 5 different players are capable of dropping 20+.[/quote]

I agree gman , I was thinking the same thing. That team also had a short bench only playing eight guys and not much height. I believe we had Donald Emmanuel as our only guy 6’9, or was it Albert Richardson?[/quote]

Both were on that team. That team may not have been big, but Artest, Ty Grant and Reggie Jessie played bigger than their heights.
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=302968]I think this team is different as well, but there was a St. John’s team I thought was different too until they of course proved they weren’t different.

2014-15 team. I actually think I have the year wrong but we were loaded. Had an established star in Harrison. We had Jakarr. We had a 5 star recruit. Returning double digit scorers. I thought that team was different but they still managed to miss the tournament.

Again, I do think this team is different, but it also wouldn’t shock me if we aren’t different at all if that makes sense[/quote]

I think that was 2013-14, the year before Lavin's final. Jordan was a freshman joining an already loaded team. Yes they had a lot of nice pieces and there was certainly a ton of hype surrounding them.

I'd still say this team is pretty different from that one.

To look at it simply, both teams returned most players from the previous year (relatively successful- 2012-13 with a decent record and 2017-18 with big time wins). What matters most, then, are the additions.

The big time additions are what separate the two:
2013-14: Jordan added, who never lived up to his high school ranking, hurt chemistry, and also was absent for most the year. Aside from him, I don't think any impact players.
2018-19: Heron and LJ. Heron is guaranteed to play well, as he's already done that two years at Auburn (and so far this year). LJ had a lot of hype, but with JUCOs you never know. However, after a few games he's already living up to that hype. I'd be surprised if either one finishes outside the team's top 3 (or 4) players by year's end. Given that we have the pre-season BE POTY, Marv, Simon, etc. that's saying a lot.
 
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[quote="Paul Massell" post=302878]Anything less than 5 minutes of bench players at the end and still coming away with the 10+ NET cap would be disappointing to me.[/quote]

30 NET
 
[quote="gman" post=302943]Ah the game is actually on TV here in London at midnight. I guess being unemployed I don't have an excuse to staying away for it...[/quote]

Don't drink the beer.
 
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