Concordia exhibition 11/6
- Thread starter SJU61982
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A 50 point win vs. a DIII school that looked more like a HS team let's be real. Watching the game, I was honestly shocked when one of their shots went in...they shot like 20% from the field or something ridiculous like that. Their tallest player was 6'4. I loved seeing us ravage them, but teams like Detroit and the Big East conference is another animal entirely. To really make a run this year, we need all our horses out there. Marco can be our Steve Novak, and Sanchez was on a national team...these are not low level players they can have big games for us. If we lose either one of these guys it will be a major punch to the gut no doubt.
Agreed that we could really use Sanchez and Marco, but the point was that there wasn't any reason to be alarmed coming off the game the other night. The team did what it needed to do to bury an inferior opponent. I don't understand Marillac's concern and don't see why D'Lo, Garrett and Greene are the only ones who can help us beat Detroit. All seven scholarship players that have played in these games have shown the ability to contribute significantly, whether on offense, defense, rebounding, blocking shots, etc. They are very balanced and will win because of that balance, not by putting the ball in the hands of a few guys to carry the load. The freshmen have talent and have played well so far. Detroit will be a good test and I look forward to seeing them step up.
Concordia was terrible so the margin of victory is immaterial. I saw an incredibly talented team that has a clear lack of skill at this point. I thought they looked terrible defensively and sloppy on both ends of the floor. Nobody can shoot the damn basketball and we have some sloppy ball-handlers.
C. Jones is a below average Big East big man at this point in his career (this will change). If he is forced to play 20+, we are done. This team desperately needs Sanchez and Bourgault.
One huge positive is that I think this will be offensive rebouning. I am very discouraged with the man to man defense. I really expected this to the be the year the team extended the pressure and played 40 minutes of hell. You can't do that and fall back into man to man. I don't know if Lavin didn't feel comfortable with that or what.
Big East big men. Do you disagree? He has less size and experience than many of bigs this club will see in 2012-2013. I know this is the time of the year were Red Storm fans think that our new guys are better than older, more experienced players in this league, but I know the value of experience at this level.
I can't imagine anyone thinks Jones, at this point in his career, is in the top half of the conference bigs.
The only thing he has going against him is experience. There are things he does that you can see will translate over when we face better opponents. I'm sure he'll have his rough patches, but I have a hunch that he'll hold his own on many occasions.
This is the time of the year where fans of most programs--not just St. John's--who think their guys are better than perceived or better than several of the teams on their respective schedules.
We must've watched a different game. You basically started watching the game the same time, as I started watching it. I saw a handful of periods where we exhibited poor defense, but I feel not all of it was exactly related to our ability or lack of. I believe some periods of poor defense was related to the game was way out of hand, and we tended to lose focus and played laxed.
Most of our mid-range shots seemed to be money when I watched the 2nd half. Not to mention, we didn't take enough 3's to absolutely say that we can't shoot the ball. Granted, I don't particularly think we will be a strong shooting team behind the arc.... It was a small sample size to vehemently state the team can't shoot.
I saw some sloppy ballhandling during the first minute of the half (Sampson), and Lavin quickly called a timeout. I thought the team handled the ball fairly well throughout the remainder of the game.
If his jumper had somehow been extremely off during the first two exhibitions, I'd agree with you.
Teams with length down low will give him problems (Cuse, LVill, GTown).
But, IMO, he should neutralize the slow footed, less athletic front lines out there, regardless of how experienced they are (ND, Pitt, Prov, etc).
Plus, I don't think that SJU has a clear idea of what they'll be on offense due to D'Angelo's benching and sitting Sanchez and Marco. Did we run any plays out there? All I saw was a weave up high and eventually a big would cut to the hoop.
Sanchez is extremely athletic and versatile. If he's our focal point down low, Jones is athletic enough to do damage on the weak side (offensive rebounds and put backs).
Unfortunately, the exhibitions were a poor barometer.
Could not agree more MJ... You can't be serious marilloc? This team can shoot the rock & mr. Jones is an ABOVE average frosh in any conference in the country imo... Lay off the bottle when watchin' the next game. It might help your perspective on our fine, talented & young squad.
Which "bigs"? First if all, Jones is a PF, not a center so he won't be matchup up vs most of the "bigs". He's every bit as big and athletic as the players he will generally be matchup up with though like Pinkston, Behanan, Harrell, Christmas etc. Obekpa, Gift are our "bigs" followed by Sanchez and then maybe Jones. If we are defending Cooley or Gardner, you can be it will be Obekpa most of the time, followed by Gift if he doesn't redshirt and Sanchez.
Why did you put bigs in quotations twice when I didn't use that word? I hate discussing new players on these boards in the preseason for this exact reason. There is always some diamond in the rough that we discovered that half our fans think will be better than established and more experienced veterans. It doesn't work that way.
I predicted 13 wins last year because freshmen are almost always inconsistent. C Jones is below average for Big East starters right now and I don't even think that can even be debated. He is a freshman and this is expected. I'm not saying the kid won't be good or even be a star. Look at the center from Louisville, he's a stud now and will be a first rounder, but he wasn't like that as a frosh.
We played a matchup zone for two years where the four and five were identical. If Lavin goes with man to man, Jones will be playing 20 mpg at the five. Besides who Obekpa, who else can play that for us now?
You are absolutely wrong, but I'm tired of this discussion. I am ecstatic to have the kid and I've felt that way since we landed him. This teams needed more size and strength and his extra year as a postgrad makes him almost like a JUCO transfer. I don't like posting negatively about our players. If we didn't have him we would be in serious trouble up front, and I think he will be a good one for us before long.
I think we need to temper our expectations for the younger players and trust that our veterans will lead the way. Afterall, these kids played 30+ mpg for an entire season.