(BET) (PRE-GAME) Villanova, Thur., Mar. 10, 7p, FS-1

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Agree with ESPKen:  Nova is the best pump-fake team in the country (coached, just like the pushoffs and post back-downs), and we have to be the worst team in the country at leaving our feet for a pump fake.  Probably nothing to be done about it now, but anything we can do to not bite on the pump fakes would be wonderful.

Also agree with Paultz:  We don't want to get sucked into a 3 point shooting contest with them, although if Champ and Wheeler are both on then we can perhaps keep up that way.  Of course if we wind up with our scrambling defense Nova will have its chances from 3, and they're going to get theirs anyway, we just have to hope that they aren't hot from long range.

To me the keys are

(1) Cut off the head.  We have to do to Gillespie what we did to Freeman-Liberty.  Whether it's sending Posh to eat his lunch, or switching defenders, whatever.  You have to make him work the full length of the court in both directions, earn every single point he gets, and hopefully either draw fouls or wear him down to get Archediacano in the game - and then feast on him, don't let them hide him. 

(2)  Defend the body shots.  DO NOT allow Dixon to beat you.  He has become a good post player, but we have 3 bigs (assuming Stanley is OK) and at least one of them has to be able to deal with him one on one.  If he beats you consistently or if you have to send help, it's not going to be a fun game.

(3)  As always, be efficient on offense.  Nova is going to be efficient and score points, it's what they do.  We can't throw away possessions by taking bad shots or blowing layups.  And making free throws would be nice, too.  This is just not a game where we are going to get away with a high number of empty possessions.
 
 
Speaking of fouls
Anderson is not a good whiner.
He mostly looks confused at bad calls.
Needs to watch tape of Coach K, Boheim, Wright and Cooley
 
lawmanfan post=462637 said:
Agree with ESPKen:  Nova is the best pump-fake team in the country (coached, just like the pushoffs and post back-downs), and we have to be the worst team in the country at leaving our feet for a pump fake.  Probably nothing to be done about it now, but anything we can do to not bite on the pump fakes would be wonderful.

Also agree with Paultz:  We don't want to get sucked into a 3 point shooting contest with them, although if Champ and Wheeler are both on then we can perhaps keep up that way.  Of course if we wind up with our scrambling defense Nova will have its chances from 3, and they're going to get theirs anyway, we just have to hope that they aren't hot from long range.

To me the keys are

(1) Cut off the head.  We have to do to Gillespie what we did to Freeman-Liberty.  Whether it's sending Posh to eat his lunch, or switching defenders, whatever.  You have to make him work the full length of the court in both directions, earn every single point he gets, and hopefully either draw fouls or wear him down to get Archediacano in the game - and then feast on him, don't let them hide him. 

(2)  Defend the body shots.  DO NOT allow Dixon to beat you.  He has become a good post player, but we have 3 bigs (assuming Stanley is OK) and at least one of them has to be able to deal with him one on one.  If he beats you consistently or if you have to send help, it's not going to be a fun game.

(3)  As always, be efficient on offense.  Nova is going to be efficient and score points, it's what they do.  We can't throw away possessions by taking bad shots or blowing layups.  And making free throws would be nice, too.  This is just not a game where we are going to get away with a high number of empty possessions.




 
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Great points & re Dixon, I would prefer Joel not switch on their screens so much to avoid mismatches as much as you can prevent that. Soriano needs to man up with Dixon and get good positioning. Hedging on the ball screens puts him in no man’s land and, if slow to recover, gives Dixon big advantage on smaller guys who then are vulnerable to fouling. I would take my chances if Dixon hangs outside, let him beat us with jumpers rather than power moves. 

On defensive side, this Nova team defends so well seemingly tethered together. It takes a lot of patience and smarts to attack them in half court. Hopefully our guys do that while managing to apply ample, not excessive pressure. Putting my clipboard away now :)
 
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Just be competitive and have a shot with 5 minutes to play.

SJU recent play on Thursday round after playing on Wednesday specifically under Mullin was not good.  Never got to complete 2020 game under Anderson although that looked competitive and last year they did not have to play on Wednesday and lost in the 4/5 game to SHU in OT.

But look at Mullin's last 3 Thursday games: 2017 Nova #1 seed lost 108-67, 2018 Xavier #1 seed lost 88-60 and 2019 Marquette #2 seed lost 86-54.  Do the math, they lost those 3 games by a combined 101 points....

Ouch.
 
fordham96 post=462649 said:
Just be competitive and have a shot with 5 minutes to play.

SJU recent play on Thursday round after playing on Wednesday specifically under Mullin was not good.  Never got to complete 2020 game under Anderson although that looked competitive and last year they did not have to play on Wednesday and lost in the 4/5 game to SHU in OT.

But look at Mullin's last 3 Thursday games: 2017 Nova #1 seed lost 108-67, 2018 Xavier #1 seed lost 88-60 and 2019 Marquette #2 seed lost 86-54.  Do the math, they lost those 3 games by a combined 101 points....

Ouch.
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Those games caused serious big east tournament ptsd for me
 
Yes mean,it would be great if we can do.,it is with pessimism  but with hope we have a great game[confidential][/confidential]
 
DePaul game stat line is interesting.  DePaul had 58 shots to our 74.  We shot 50% and 33% from 3.  DePaul shot 48% and only 16% from 3.  They actually made 3 more FTs, both with respectable percentages.

I doubt the Nova game will be anywhere near these stat lines, particularly with us having only 2 TOs.  Let's keep it close and give ourselves a chance to win in the last minutes. 
 
mjmaherjr post=462653 said:
fordham96 post=462649 said:
Just be competitive and have a shot with 5 minutes to play.

SJU recent play on Thursday round after playing on Wednesday specifically under Mullin was not good.  Never got to complete 2020 game under Anderson although that looked competitive and last year they did not have to play on Wednesday and lost in the 4/5 game to SHU in OT.

But look at Mullin's last 3 Thursday games: 2017 Nova #1 seed lost 108-67, 2018 Xavier #1 seed lost 88-60 and 2019 Marquette #2 seed lost 86-54.  Do the math, they lost those 3 games by a combined 101 points....

Ouch.
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Those games caused serious big east tournament ptsd for me
 
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Not 100% sure but to my recollection much of the problem is that due to having poor seeds we always (or almost always) wind up playing the Thursday afternoon game after the Wednesday night game, which is (as intended) a huge disadvantage.  That's where Butler will be today against Providence, I fully expect Providence to beat them by 20+

At least this year we get to play the 7 PM Thursday game after the 7 PM Wednesday game, which is much better. 
 
As the old saying goes, it's tough to beat a college team 3 times in one season. So we got that going for us. Which is nice. At least Carl Spackler would say so.
 
fordham96 post=462649 said:
Just be competitive and have a shot with 5 minutes to play.

SJU recent play on Thursday round after playing on Wednesday specifically under Mullin was not good.  Never got to complete 2020 game under Anderson although that looked competitive and last year they did not have to play on Wednesday and lost in the 4/5 game to SHU in OT.

But look at Mullin's last 3 Thursday games: 2017 Nova #1 seed lost 108-67, 2018 Xavier #1 seed lost 88-60 and 2019 Marquette #2 seed lost 86-54.  Do the math, they lost those 3 games by a combined 101 points....

Ouch.
 
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Since Mullin is no longer our Coach, how is this relevant?
 
@jdmoose65

Villanova @ St John’s

— Over is 7-2 in Wildcats’ last nine games.

— Red Storm covered eight of last 11 games.
—

— Villanova beat St John’s twice this year, by by 11-6 points.
— Wildcats won five of last six series games.
 
Huh?  It is relevant the same way it is relevant to say the last 7 years have only seen 1 NCAA appearance by SJU (that has spanned 2 coaches).  I wasn't making a specific coaching comparison I was just pointing out that the last 3 times SJU has won on Wednesday and played on Thursday (the same situation as they see today) have resulted in blowout losses.  I figured I would mention the fact that they had all happened under the former coach so as to cut off any further complaint.

Some of you need to relax and stop acting like every statistic is a shot at the current coach.

panther2 post=462667
Since Mullin is no longer our Coach, how is this relevant?
 
If Posch is capable today we have a good chance. The last 2 losses to Villanova weren’t blow outs and we have a full team this time along with several players who have improved over the season. Go Johnnie’s!
 
I hope our players remember the multiple cheap shots Nova took us last game.  They were clearly trying to hurt kids.

Id like to see Soriano with a clean, hard foul and put one of these kids on the deck early in the game.  Set the tone that we are messing around tonight.
 
Didn't go for the full strip this year but did buy Wednesday and Thursday night as soon as SJU got locked into the seven seed. That's as optimistic as I could get at the time. I just looked at Stubhub and if they win tonight it's going to cost me some real money for tomorrow, but it would be a good problem to have.

Like MJM I have PTSD from all the Thursday beatdowns. And Villanova will be rested and is capable of giving one out. I expect Villanova to get back on transition way better than DePaul, so the halfcourt offense is going to have to come through. And of course, defending Villanova is totally different than DePaul, where the entire "offense" is whoever has the ball goes hard to the basket.

I want to see it, but I can't see it. But I'm the same guy who saw nothing in Nyiwe early in the year! I will pin my hopes on my lack of basketball knowledge.

I do expect MSG will be a true advantage tonight. Some SJU fans will wander in from the woodwork, and on top of that they might not be rooting for SJU full-throated but you have to figure all of the UCONN/Seton Hall fans will be going for SJU. 

Would love a win, will go home somewhat contented if it's not over at the last media timeout.

 
 
Ray Morgan post=462663 said:
As the old saying goes, it's tough to beat a college team 3 times in one season. So we got that going for us. Which is nice. At least Carl Spackler would say so.
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Unfortunately this line of thought has been thoroughly debunked
 
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