(Charleston Classic) Utah, Sun., Nov. 19, 5:30p, ESPN

Silly Donovan said:
I wouldn’t be too harsh on Marillac2 and others who were ready to give up on the season already. While I do believe that posters calling the season on the brink at this point in time was a bit premature and over the top, I get it. This program has us conditioned to expect the worst which usually happens. What people need to focus on is that there is a new sheriff in town and a new mind set. Last night was an eye opener of the team’s potential. And while there will still be bumps in the road along the way, for the first time in a very long time there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Click to expand...
I don’t get it. Saying they saved the season Four games into season on November 17th for team coached by Rick Pitino is DUMB. Not way to sugarcoat it.
 
Utah is exactly the type of team that would’ve 3 pointed us to death and abused us with their offensive sets over the last few years. Athletic or not, Dingle’s comments were most telling. Playing/defending advanced offensive sets like Creighton uses is the difference between 500 and the top 1/3 of the conference
 
rcatalano said:
At the risk of repeating myself it was a stupid statement but then again I am amazed at the amount of skeptics on this site!
I guess some people just get off just being contrarians.
Click to expand...
Some won’t, but people have to get over looking at this program in the same prism that they did during the collective 30 past years of terrible coaching hires.

Thank you Father Shanley🙏
 
Notanalum said:
Utah is exactly the type of team that would’ve 3 pointed us to death and abused us with their offensive sets over the last few years. Athletic or not, Dingle’s comments were most telling. Playing/defending advanced offensive sets like Creighton uses is the difference between 500 and the top 1/3 of the conference
Click to expand...
Notanalum hit the nail on the head.

Creighton and Marquette will test our defensive awareness, they are talented, but also run great sets and are smartly coached.

At least now we are equally well-coached (actually better coached).
 
My internet went out at halftime sadly so couldn’t watch the end but followed. We clearly looked much better. Our defense is still largely a work in progress but it was good enough to win vs. a solid Utah team. Encouraging to see Sim, Zuby, Dingle all clearly improving gradually. I was admittedly impatient after 2-2 start & got nervous. Thankfully that feeling is gone now. Needed 2-1 & we’re back on track. Would be great to win out & if we can play more like this consistently no one will want to play us later!
 
Great tournament with a lot of good games. Well matched overall field that tested each other. Even though SJU lost to Dayton you could argue there was improvement every game. On offense there is no argument.

Huge bonus meeting so many from here, and getting to put faces to names and screen names. Atmosphere at the games was fantastic.
 
Getting to sit pretty much on top of the SJU bench for three games it was fascinating to watch our staff coach. Pitino is on top of EVERYTHING. He is very in tune with Massielo, who is spending a lot of in game time reviewing stuff with players who come out of the game. Rick also keeps Walsh close by for discussion during the games.

Fun to watch.
 
IDRAFT said:
Getting to sit pretty much on top of the SJU bench for three games it was fascinating to watch our staff coach. Pitino is on top of EVERYTHING. He is very in tune with Massielo, who is spending a lot of in game time reviewing stuff with players who come out of the game. Rick also keeps Walsh close by for discussion during the games.

Fun to watch.
Click to expand...
I’m sure you have better observations, but on TV, it also seemed like all of the players on the bench were animated + invested in the game (especially Wilcher). Seems like they’re all rooting for each other
 
dk423 said:
I’m sure you have better observations, but on TV, it also seemed like all of the players on the bench were animated + invested in the game (especially Wilcher). Seems like they’re all rooting for each other
Click to expand...
No popcorn eaters on this team.

Drissa in particular is a fantastic teammate. No team can have a twelve man rotation, his bench energy, and I suspect effort every day in practice, has value.
 
The win was huge but I think more importantly how we played was a better sign.
I think we all feel Pitino will have us playing as well as we can down the stretch. But to make the tournament we are going to need wins going into the BE. WV going to be tough so think we have to win the rest of NC schedule games to have legit shot to make the tournament.
 
Marillac2 said:
Relax, we beat a very slow team that made Jenkins look like McDaniel. The bar has still been lowered significantly with what happened in Charleston and that is very disappointing.

But we are still alive. A loss to Utah and we would have essentially been done.

I went into Michigan expecting, maybe unfairly, to win a game in the NCAA tournament. Now I’m hoping we can slide into the tournament by the skin of our teeth.
Click to expand...
i completely agree.

putting skill and athleticism aside for a second, even Pitino said our team was so exhausted he had to call a time out. and this was against a very unathletic team! the pace at which we play is not sustainable. good teams will expose us like Michigan did. imagine what the BE will do to us!

the next 5 games will be crucial in the development of the bench: sim, alley, zuby, luis, all need to take pretty big leaps.

i think we're .500 team at best.
 
billthetruth said:
You are nuts…you said the season was on the brink last night on November 19th and SJU under Rick Pitino was going 7-13 in conference this year.

Please tell me you were not being serious. Because those were the two stupidest statements (and that is saying something) I have read on this site in years.
Click to expand...
We are 3-2 and came a shot away from being 2-3. If you aren’t even slightly disappointed then you haven’t been paying attention.

You seem to have a problem with reading comprehension because I didn’t write that we’d go 7-13. I wrote 7-13 was more likely than 13-7 in a response to another poster. Neither of those are likely outcomes. I think we will be closer to .500…hopefully on the right side.

Relax with the hero persona.
 
Silly Donovan said:
However, Utah took a very good Houston team (that destroyed Dayton) down to the wire with some game ending free throws that won it for Houston. Perhaps while big, their one big guy was a step slow but Utahs wings were not. Much credit to some good D played by our guys.There were definitely some positives to take away from this game.
Click to expand...
Like I said SD, definitely some encouraging signs, but I still have my concerns about about a number of things that I'm not sure are fixable. Most notably our lack of skilled big men besides Joel. I'm not going to let the next few games sway my opinion much, let's get Luis back and at full speed, and then let's see what happens when we start going up against Marquette, UCONN, Nova, etc.
 
What I'm still trying to figure out is what we can expect from our guys when Big East play starts. I agree last night was a good win, and I think Utah is a good team that spaced the floor well and hit the boards hard. However, they are much less athletic than Big East teams. So I'm still unsure about Ledlum and (to a lesser extent) Dingle.

On the other hand, it is now clear Alleyne, Taylor, Wilcher and Jenkins all have the quickness to handle Big East caliber play.
 
I’m not anywhere near ready to confidently predict how this team will do in Big East play. I could see 8-12 & I could see 12-8. That being said if you told me they were playing North Texas, Dayton & Utah over 4 days I would say that (based on what’s expected of those programs) if St John’s is going to actually compete for a tourney bid this season they need to come out of that 2-1 so… 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️

I’m more confident in them today than I was the day after the Michigan game.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top