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

I spent the weekend down in Harrisonburg, Va to watch the JMU vs App State football game (JMU lost in OT and are no longer undefeated) and to bring my son home for Thanksgiving. This was planned a couple of months ago but unplanned was being one of the record breaking 26,000 people who attended College Gameday (a record for attendance) before the game and what a blast. DVRD the game and Sportscenter after it so I was actually able o watch it in its entirety. My thoughts overall:

  1. This team will be fine. Need time to jell. Let’s stop going overboard
  2. Reading the game thread is comical. Amazing how one player can be having a good and bad game within seconds of a post.
  3. Jenkins currently our version of Russ Smith. He makes some great plays and then takes a bad shot or bad decision which has you scratching your head. You are going to have to live with it although as he becomes more comfortable with his teammates, there will be less head scratching
  4. Dingle has looked like he has figured it out on offense.
  5. Joel is Joel possibly even better on range and defense. Nuff said.
  6. I am tired of Ledlum driving to the basket from so far out. He too has to figure it out and apparently based on his words, he will.
  7. While not as high on Alleyne, Imwould like to see more of him.
  8. I don’t get the dislike of Traore. Like Zuby, he has a high motor, plays defense and rebounds. Tha’ts his job of the 8 minutes or so he will get. Zuby is your only other big and will get the majority of the minutes there as he should as he is bigger, stronger, more athletic (not to mention his potential) but might be foul prone, Drissa will get minutes.
Lastly, so proud of all of you who went to Charleston and the Tourny. From what I saw on TV there was a lot of you and you were loud and very visible in your St. Johns’s attire. I texted with MJMaherJr. and was told you all had a blast.
 
hardytime said:
He's not nearly as athletic as Brownlee, I don't think. At least from what I've seen so far. Doesn't mean he can't be a good and effective player, of course, because I think he already is and will become more effective as he adjusts and does what Pitino wants.
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Brownlee was a better athlete. My hot take is Ledlum is much more athletic than some on the board have characterized him. A 2 foot jump with space he can really get up. But that does him no good if he can’t create any space. His problem has been his inability to do that and some predictability on his drives. But if he’s hitting 3’s at 35+ clip the space will come.
 
Wow. We beat Utah. I’m shocked. Didn’t think we would win another game this year.(extreme sarcasm)

4-2. We are right where I predicted we’d be at this point. Thought we would lose to Michigan and Houston. But Dayton is a solid team so that loss will not hurt us come selection Sunday.

This team will only get better. I figured we would go 9-3 out of conference and go 12-8 in BE play. Which would likely mean a top 6 finish in Big East and 21-11 should be enough to get us in the big dance.
 
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SJU85 said:
I spent the weekend down in Harrisonburg, Va to watch the JMU vs App State football game (JMU lost in OT and are no longer undefeated) and to bring my son home for Thanksgiving. This was planned a couple of months ago but unplanned was being one of the record breaking 26,000 people who attended College Gameday (a record for attendance) before the game and what a blast. DVRD the game and Sportscenter after it so I was actually able o watch it in its entirety. My thoughts overall:

  1. This team will be fine. Need time to jell. Let’s stop going overboard
  2. Reading the game thread is comical. Amazing how one player can be having a good and bad game within seconds of a post.
  3. Jenkins currently our version of Russ Smith. He makes some great plays and then takes a bad shot or bad decision which has you scratching your head. You are going to have to live with it although as he becomes more comfortable with his teammates, there will be less head scratching
  4. Dingle has looked like he has figured it out on offense.
  5. Joel is Joel possibly even better on range and defense. Nuff said.
  6. I am tired of Ledlum driving to the basket from so far out. He too has to figure it out and apparently based on his words, he will.
  7. While not as high on Alleyne, Imwould like to see more of him.
  8. I don’t get the dislike of Traore. Like Zuby, he has a high motor, plays defense and rebounds. Tha’ts his job of the 8 minutes or so he will get. Zuby is your only other big and will get the majority of the minutes there as he should as he is bigger, stronger, more athletic (not to mention his potential) but might be foul prone, Drissa will get minutes.
Lastly, so proud of all of you who went to Charleston and the Tourny. From what I saw on TV there was a lot of you and you were loud and very visible in your St. Johns’s attire. I texted with MJMaherJr. and was told you all had a blast.
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I second that motion. Was awesome to see all the Red & White in the stands pulling for the Johnnies. Nice work.🔴⚪️
 
Johnnies_24 said:
Wow. We beat Utah. I’m shocked. Didn’t think we would win another game this year.(extreme sarcasm)

4-2. We are right where I predicted we’d be at this point. Thought we would lose to Michigan and Houston. But Dayton is a solid team so that loss will not hurt us come selection Sunday.

This team will only get better. I figured we would go 9-3 out of conference and go 12-8 in BE play. Which would likely mean a top 6 finish in Big East and 21-11 should be enough to get us in the big dance.
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Straw man argument. Nobody said we wouldn’t win games. Even in your scenario the margin of error is razor thin. 7-4 OOC is probably too deep of a hole to climb out of in conference play. That means sweeping multiple teams which is never easy.
 
SJU61982 said:
Maybe, but that group is not seeing that kind of time together. Soriano and Ledlum are too valuable on the boards.
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Then we better hope we play slower teams. Jenkins can’t keep up with fast PGs. Wilcher is the only player we have that can.
 
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I'm joined by Kevin Connelly of Storm the Paint who was down in Charleston with plenty of Johnnie fans. As St. John's bounced back with a win over Utah, there was plenty to like. From the Batman and Robin duo of Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle looking like one of the best 1-2 punches in the country to Chris Ledlum finding his groove it was a fantastic performance to cap off the Charleston Classic. Kevin and I break it all down, wonder about Simeon Wilcher's next steps and everything in between.



 
Johnnies_24 said:
Wow. We beat Utah. I’m shocked. Didn’t think we would win another game this year.(extreme sarcasm)

4-2. We are right where I predicted we’d be at this point. Thought we would lose to Michigan and Houston. But Dayton is a solid team so that loss will not hurt us come selection Sunday.

This team will only get better. I figured we would go 9-3 out of conference and go 12-8 in BE play. Which would likely mean a top 6 finish in Big East and 21-11 should be enough to get us in the big dance.
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Actually we are 3-2 but coming on.
 
SJU85 said:
I spent the weekend down in Harrisonburg, Va to watch the JMU vs App State football game (JMU lost in OT and are no longer undefeated) and to bring my son home for Thanksgiving. This was planned a couple of months ago but unplanned was being one of the record breaking 26,000 people who attended College Gameday (a record for attendance) before the game and what a blast. DVRD the game and Sportscenter after it so I was actually able o watch it in its entirety. My thoughts overall:

  1. This team will be fine. Need time to jell. Let’s stop going overboard
  2. Reading the game thread is comical. Amazing how one player can be having a good and bad game within seconds of a post.
  3. Jenkins currently our version of Russ Smith. He makes some great plays and then takes a bad shot or bad decision which has you scratching your head. You are going to have to live with it although as he becomes more comfortable with his teammates, there will be less head scratching
  4. Dingle has looked like he has figured it out on offense.
  5. Joel is Joel possibly even better on range and defense. Nuff said.
  6. I am tired of Ledlum driving to the basket from so far out. He too has to figure it out and apparently based on his words, he will.
  7. While not as high on Alleyne, Imwould like to see more of him.
  8. I don’t get the dislike of Traore. Like Zuby, he has a high motor, plays defense and rebounds. Tha’ts his job of the 8 minutes or so he will get. Zuby is your only other big and will get the majority of the minutes there as he should as he is bigger, stronger, more athletic (not to mention his potential) but might be foul prone, Drissa will get minutes.
Lastly, so proud of all of you who went to Charleston and the Tourny. From what I saw on TV there was a lot of you and you were loud and very visible in your St. Johns’s attire. I texted with MJMaherJr. and was told you all had a blast.
Click to expand...
Guys:Just a note from someone who saw most games Dingle played at PENN. He averaged 23 a game in 3 games vs a sweet 16 Princeton last year where they had scouted him for 3 years. Ivy teams are not as athletic as the BE but defense, scouting and coaching is much better than most perceive.

He averaged 23 a game in his last two games vs Villanova. In his first college game He had 24 including a game winning 3 on the road vs Alabama.

Most would be surprised that PENN plays a few tough out of conference games a year(this year Houston Auburn,Kentucky Nova ..who they just beat without Jordan)

He hasn’t just “ figured it out” or “gotten his confidence” and he isn’t a “mid major” guy. He’s just VERY VERY good. ( with an early injury perhaps having an impact). In order to maximize this offenses potential he needs many many more touches than i’ve seen him get.

Jenkins appears to be quite talented and quick ..and i love his motor..but he’s erratic and a shoot first “point guard” and the team will be quite limited unless Jenkins can get Dingle the ball more and take less shots. I agree w the comment that their shot volumes need to reverse.

In addition Dingle is a very good passer particularly once defenses focus on him. As a knowledgeable (but admittedly biased) observer who’s loved many Johnnys teams over the years, I’ve cringed at how many possessions where he’s been the 3rd or 4th option. Maybe it was the injury early on but I’d tell Jenkins that his unlimited green light just turned yellow and the points from Dingle ( and his teamates)will come in buckets.
 
Penn77 said:
Guys:Just a note from someone who saw most games Dingle played at PENN. He averaged 23 a game in 3 games vs a sweet 16 Princeton last year where they had scouted him for 3 years. Ivy teams are not as athletic as the BE but defense, scouting and coaching is much better than most perceive.

He averaged 23 a game in his last two games vs Villanova. In his first college game He had 24 including a game winning 3 on the road vs Alabama.

Most would be surprised that PENN plays a few tough out of conference games a year(this year Houston Auburn,Kentucky Nova ..who they just beat without Jordan)

He hasn’t just “ figured it out” or “gotten his confidence” and he isn’t a “mid major” guy. He’s just VERY VERY good. ( with an early injury perhaps having an impact). In order to maximize this offenses potential he needs many many more touches than i’ve seen him get.

Jenkins appears to be quite talented and quick ..and i love his motor..but he’s erratic and a shoot first “point guard” and the team will be quite limited unless Jenkins can get Dingle the ball more and take less shots. I agree w the comment that their shot volumes need to reverse.

In addition Dingle is a very good passer particularly once defenses focus on him. As a knowledgeable (but admittedly biased) observer who’s loved many Johnnys teams over the years, I’ve cringed at how many possessions where he’s been the 3rd or 4th option. Maybe it was the injury early on but I’d tell Jenkins that his unlimited green light just turned yellow and the points from Dingle ( and his teamates)will come in buckets.
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I don’t think it’s about him figuring it out as much as it’s about the other guys realizing he is the alpha scorer and they need to defer to him.

He’s not getting any looks from other players. Almost everything he gets now he has to take. That has to change.
 
Penn77 said:
Guys:Just a note from someone who saw most games Dingle played at PENN. He averaged 23 a game in 3 games vs a sweet 16 Princeton last year where they had scouted him for 3 years. Ivy teams are not as athletic as the BE but defense, scouting and coaching is much better than most perceive.

He averaged 23 a game in his last two games vs Villanova. In his first college game He had 24 including a game winning 3 on the road vs Alabama.

Most would be surprised that PENN plays a few tough out of conference games a year(this year Houston Auburn,Kentucky Nova ..who they just beat without Jordan)

He hasn’t just “ figured it out” or “gotten his confidence” and he isn’t a “mid major” guy. He’s just VERY VERY good. ( with an early injury perhaps having an impact). In order to maximize this offenses potential he needs many many more touches than i’ve seen him get.

Jenkins appears to be quite talented and quick ..and i love his motor..but he’s erratic and a shoot first “point guard” and the team will be quite limited unless Jenkins can get Dingle the ball more and take less shots. I agree w the comment that their shot volumes need to reverse.

In addition Dingle is a very good passer particularly once defenses focus on him. As a knowledgeable (but admittedly biased) observer who’s loved many Johnnys teams over the years, I’ve cringed at how many possessions where he’s been the 3rd or 4th option. Maybe it was the injury early on but I’d tell Jenkins that his unlimited green light just turned yellow and the points from Dingle ( and his teamates)will come in buckets.
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thanks for this post !
 
Penn77 said:
Guys:Just a note from someone who saw most games Dingle played at PENN. He averaged 23 a game in 3 games vs a sweet 16 Princeton last year where they had scouted him for 3 years. Ivy teams are not as athletic as the BE but defense, scouting and coaching is much better than most perceive.

He averaged 23 a game in his last two games vs Villanova. In his first college game He had 24 including a game winning 3 on the road vs Alabama.

Most would be surprised that PENN plays a few tough out of conference games a year(this year Houston Auburn,Kentucky Nova ..who they just beat without Jordan)

He hasn’t just “ figured it out” or “gotten his confidence” and he isn’t a “mid major” guy. He’s just VERY VERY good. ( with an early injury perhaps having an impact). In order to maximize this offenses potential he needs many many more touches than i’ve seen him get.

Jenkins appears to be quite talented and quick ..and i love his motor..but he’s erratic and a shoot first “point guard” and the team will be quite limited unless Jenkins can get Dingle the ball more and take less shots. I agree w the comment that their shot volumes need to reverse.

In addition Dingle is a very good passer particularly once defenses focus on him. As a knowledgeable (but admittedly biased) observer who’s loved many Johnnys teams over the years, I’ve cringed at how many possessions where he’s been the 3rd or 4th option. Maybe it was the injury early on but I’d tell Jenkins that his unlimited green light just turned yellow and the points from Dingle ( and his teamates)will come in buckets.
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Great to hear Penn 77. It’s very encouraging that his best game is his last game. It seems his injury is now history. Maybe now Rick will feature him more. Hope so!
 
Gabelmc said:
Great to hear Penn 77. It’s very encouraging that his best game is his last game. It seems his injury is now history. Maybe now Rick will feature him more. Hope so!
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Nice talking to you and your sons Saturday at Uptown Social.
Redzing( from DE) and Peter(from 22nd st in Manhattan
 
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