Like I said last night Creighton is the model for how this team COULD look in 2017-18 if ZB is eligible. They play the game the right way and will be a tough out in March. Sidenote: Yakwe is a lost soul out there. He doesn't even look like he is having fun playing the game. I know we are thin up front but if this continues it would not surprise me if he is gone after this season. Just a wild guess
Creighton, Wed. Jan. 4, 8:30pm, FS1/570AM
- Thread starter TRabinowitz
- Start date
we are sju
Active member
I don't remember his hands being this horrible last season. How do your hands get worse?
Should see if they can put that stickum stuff the old Oakland Raider DB's used to wear.
Honestly all the criticism of Yakwe is a little unfair. The kid is a good piece to the puzzle, just like the role of Moose. If we had a legit front court Yakwe would be coming in and giving us some good defensive minutes. Being slotted at a starting PF is not for him ( at this time ). That being said, the kid is still a soph guys. By the time he is a Sr. he could be a force. Right now he's definitely overmatched. As far as him transferring, stop all the talk, the last thing we need is another piece to transfer. I also noticed the lack of movement with the ball on the perimeter last night. When we win, the ball is being swung around the the open man for a shot. Last night I saw a lot of one man ball. Cant win like that. Yes they are an awesome team, but just some observations on us last night. Ali is the most frustrating player to watch on this team. He should be playing like a beast and is NOT. Again, he is becoming a liability. I said it on twitter, with Nova going down, no way they wanted another BE top 10 going down too. The game was DEFINITELY influenced in favor of Creighton by the stripes. Don't be foolish to not think so. Although don't think they even needed the help.
STJ11Redmen
Active member
Creighton is just on another level from us. Gave it our best shot in the second half but it was never going to be enough. Hopefully the team doesn't unravel going into a tough Xavier environment then to Georgetown where we typically struggle. It'd be nice to go into the Nova game with a little bit of momentum.
STJ11Redmen
Active member
Think Ahmed tried to get into it a few times with quick shots or by trying to bully himself into the lane and it just wasn't working against their experienced and talented defenders. Had a few drives in the first half where he just whirled into the lane and threw up shots without ever even seeing where he was on the floor in relation to the hoop.
I'm not unhappy with last night's game. As others have noted, Creighton is a very good, very complete team that is extremely well-coached. They could easily be Final 4 material.
There was no way St. John's was going to be able to compete with Patten, though Owens played his heart out and Williams did a nice job also when he was in the game.
I kept an eye on the scoreboard stats throughout the game, and other than shooting percentage, the game was pretty even. The disparity in shooting percentage (which was 55-32 or so for most of the game) was due to two things: Creighton had points in the paint (always higher percentage shots) and St. John's didn't; and from the start of the game until about 1 minute into the 2nd half St. John's was not prepared to deal with Creighton's defensive intensity.
On the other hand, after the Mullin timeout a minute into the second half, St. John's played with much better intensity and focus, had more efficient possessions on offense, rebounded better, and played more aggressive and better defense.
Basically my takeaway is that St. John's was at a fundamental disadvantage coming into this game. Despite that, if a few shots fell in or a few calls went the other way, they would have been right in it. This is a game that a month ago would have been a 40 point loss. Instead, the team stayed together, competed, and made one of the best teams in the country work hard to get out with a win.
I think the game showed that the team and the coaching staff are making tremendous strides forward.
There was no way St. John's was going to be able to compete with Patten, though Owens played his heart out and Williams did a nice job also when he was in the game.
I kept an eye on the scoreboard stats throughout the game, and other than shooting percentage, the game was pretty even. The disparity in shooting percentage (which was 55-32 or so for most of the game) was due to two things: Creighton had points in the paint (always higher percentage shots) and St. John's didn't; and from the start of the game until about 1 minute into the 2nd half St. John's was not prepared to deal with Creighton's defensive intensity.
On the other hand, after the Mullin timeout a minute into the second half, St. John's played with much better intensity and focus, had more efficient possessions on offense, rebounded better, and played more aggressive and better defense.
Basically my takeaway is that St. John's was at a fundamental disadvantage coming into this game. Despite that, if a few shots fell in or a few calls went the other way, they would have been right in it. This is a game that a month ago would have been a 40 point loss. Instead, the team stayed together, competed, and made one of the best teams in the country work hard to get out with a win.
I think the game showed that the team and the coaching staff are making tremendous strides forward.
I attended the game last night. Honestly, I was not disappointed by the effort in the second half. My only wish was that we had a better first half as it would have made the game much closer. I watched the Nova/Creighton game and while posting on this board we all noted that we would clearly have no answer for Patton. The kid is a freshman and will soon be in the NBA. He is talented and asserted his physical dominance when he needed. Games like this just show us how much better we need to get to compete at this level.
Creighton Saint John's recap:http://www.bigeastboards.com/
This was a game against a veteran, Top 10 team that no one expected us to win. The fact that we hung in, played hard when down 20-plus points and didn't collapse is great.
The only cold water I will throw on this is that Creighton shot 27% from the 3-point line---way below their standard performance. Had they been their usual selves from 3, this could easily have been a bloodbath.
Still happy our progress, but not expecting anything earth shattering until next year.
The only cold water I will throw on this is that Creighton shot 27% from the 3-point line---way below their standard performance. Had they been their usual selves from 3, this could easily have been a bloodbath.
Still happy our progress, but not expecting anything earth shattering until next year.
This game showed that Mussini needs to take more shots. Our best 3 point shoes are Ponds, Lovett and Mussini. A mar and Ellison should not be taking more 3 pointers than Mussini. Also Patton killed us and it was embarrassing. Maybe they need to double team him. If we had Sima it would have been different. I hate these kids who leave in the middle of the season. The team balance is upset
I saw both of them after the game as i was exiting the arena. Luther looked like he was giving out bands to enter the court and they proceeded to go back to the locker room with Diakite. I take that as a good sign, that after a loss, they are there, and heading back to probably chill with the team and speak to the coaches.
On way home, caught Richmond on post game radio. Strikes me as a very frank guy. He was emphatic about Owens' skills, motor & upside & noted the obvious, the need for Tariq to put on weight. Lastly, he noted he has has been very frank with Owens about that void. Hopefully they come up with a nutritional, weight training program to accomplish that. Some kids just have a hard time adding weight however.
MarkRedman
Well-known member
I would gladly donate 20 lbs. to Mr. Owens
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
So true about the difficulty of putting weight on a naturally thin frame. I remember a personal trainer I knew talk about body type is 75% genetics and 25% diet. Tariq is a true ectomorph. By definition, ectomorphs have a hard time gaining weight, unless they go the illegal route like some athletes unfortunately do.
