Game thread
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STJ11Redmen
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http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/tag/_/name/ryan-marks
When the season starts, you’ll recognize me as the pudgy guy pacing the sideline next to a stuffed penguin named P-Diddy. I adopted him as an unofficial mascot for my 2005-06 St. Edward’s team as part of my preseason theme. That year, the lesson was teamwork, and I showed my players March of the Penguins. P-Diddy has been with me ever since.
TRabinowitz
Member
We moved the ball well?? Jeeze, don't know what game was being watched. We didn't move the ball at all during our long drought in the 2nd half. A ton of one-on-one play. Gift carried us for much of the game and D'Angelo really saved us down the stretch.
I hope everyone on here enjoyed the win though. I really don't think we'll be seeing many at all from here on out. Hope I'm wrong, but if we can't put away THAT team on our home court, I think we're really gonna struggle this year.
I hope everyone on here enjoyed the win though. I really don't think we'll be seeing many at all from here on out. Hope I'm wrong, but if we can't put away THAT team on our home court, I think we're really gonna struggle this year.
Notes
- Once again this team proved that it was one of the better Division II teams in the country. They took everything that UTPA threw at them and found a way to gut out a win. Although UTPA hasn't won a road game since the Harding administration that doesn't mean they'll never win one and that knowledge put a scare in the Johnnies step that will serve them well in the last 2 minutes of games when the Big East starts.
- Amir Garrett came up huge and deserved the game ball given to him by his teammates. Although he only played briefly he was the difference in the game, both in terms of stamina, shooting, passing, rebounding, assisting, defending, and team chemistry and academics. More importantly it was obvious from those limited minutes that he is not at all a disappointment and is instead a stud and a program changer albeit he looks a shade under the 6'9" 245 he was touted as being by some posters here. Still, at 6'6" - the same size as Michael Jordan BTW - he will give us another important body when it comes to banging down low with people like Rakeem Xmas and Fabmelo Anthony.
- Great to see the team break the magic 60 point barrier. Although the 10 minute drought that led to the team being outscored 25-0 to close out the end of the first half was troubling, the bad parts of that can be blamed on Florida assistant coach Norm Roberts. However unlike the Roberts droughts this quarter game lack of scoring occurred while the team moved the ball crisply and efficiently around the perimeter, leading me to believe that it was part of a strategy designed to tire the Bronks out at the end of the game, which obviously it did. Great job by TGAPL and staff, except Tony Chiles, who should be fired.
- God Bless you Achiewa gets better and better. Having already surpassed Sean Evans when it comes ball handling GG has added a much needed three point shot to his arsenal. With GG patrolling the 3 point line that will really open up the inside for our interior players like Jerry Cummings and any mystery centers or mystery power forwards that TGAPL brings in, which I hear he's tirelessly devoting himself to despite his precarious health. As one astute observer noted Gift has already made more threes than Nurideen Lindsey, with the added bonus that GG was not a preseason disappointment who flunked out of school and who was a selfish coward who is deluding himself if he thinks he's capable of playing basketball for money. And as is obvious every time SJ plays a Division II or II team Gift can be a man amongst boys when he plays against players smaller, weaker, and less talented than himself.
- The team played a stellar zone and a suffocating man to man while holding UTPA to wholly 20 points fewer than likely national champion Kentucky. Although UTPA had 4 players in double figures and shot 40 percent from 3, the difference was SJ free throw defense: SJ only committed 7 fouls the entire game and UTPA attempted only one free throw. Meanwhile SJ scored 7 points (thats a whopping 6000 percent as many points) from the "charity stripe," while shooting an impressive 50 percent. That was the difference in the game. Although Mo Harkless missed two crucial free throws that might have cost SJ the game, those misses can likely be blamed on Nurideen Lindsey, who missed two free throws in a similar situation, which led to his exposure as a dunce and a selfish quisling who flunked out of school and who is deluding himself if he thinks he's capable of playing basketball for money, whereas Harkless is already a lottery pick.
- Once again this team proved that it was one of the better Division II teams in the country. They took everything that UTPA threw at them and found a way to gut out a win. Although UTPA hasn't won a road game since the Harding administration that doesn't mean they'll never win one and that knowledge put a scare in the Johnnies step that will serve them well in the last 2 minutes of games when the Big East starts.
- Amir Garrett came up huge and deserved the game ball given to him by his teammates. Although he only played briefly he was the difference in the game, both in terms of stamina, shooting, passing, rebounding, assisting, defending, and team chemistry and academics. More importantly it was obvious from those limited minutes that he is not at all a disappointment and is instead a stud and a program changer albeit he looks a shade under the 6'9" 245 he was touted as being by some posters here. Still, at 6'6" - the same size as Michael Jordan BTW - he will give us another important body when it comes to banging down low with people like Rakeem Xmas and Fabmelo Anthony.
- Great to see the team break the magic 60 point barrier. Although the 10 minute drought that led to the team being outscored 25-0 to close out the end of the first half was troubling, the bad parts of that can be blamed on Florida assistant coach Norm Roberts. However unlike the Roberts droughts this quarter game lack of scoring occurred while the team moved the ball crisply and efficiently around the perimeter, leading me to believe that it was part of a strategy designed to tire the Bronks out at the end of the game, which obviously it did. Great job by TGAPL and staff, except Tony Chiles, who should be fired.
- God Bless you Achiewa gets better and better. Having already surpassed Sean Evans when it comes ball handling GG has added a much needed three point shot to his arsenal. With GG patrolling the 3 point line that will really open up the inside for our interior players like Jerry Cummings and any mystery centers or mystery power forwards that TGAPL brings in, which I hear he's tirelessly devoting himself to despite his precarious health. As one astute observer noted Gift has already made more threes than Nurideen Lindsey, with the added bonus that GG was not a preseason disappointment who flunked out of school and who was a selfish coward who is deluding himself if he thinks he's capable of playing basketball for money. And as is obvious every time SJ plays a Division II or II team Gift can be a man amongst boys when he plays against players smaller, weaker, and less talented than himself.
- The team played a stellar zone and a suffocating man to man while holding UTPA to wholly 20 points fewer than likely national champion Kentucky. Although UTPA had 4 players in double figures and shot 40 percent from 3, the difference was SJ free throw defense: SJ only committed 7 fouls the entire game and UTPA attempted only one free throw. Meanwhile SJ scored 7 points (thats a whopping 6000 percent as many points) from the "charity stripe," while shooting an impressive 50 percent. That was the difference in the game. Although Mo Harkless missed two crucial free throws that might have cost SJ the game, those misses can likely be blamed on Nurideen Lindsey, who missed two free throws in a similar situation, which led to his exposure as a dunce and a selfish quisling who flunked out of school and who is deluding himself if he thinks he's capable of playing basketball for money, whereas Harkless is already a lottery pick.
We won and I'm happy for the team and in particular Amir. He said it was great to be part of the win. A good present for him.
No, we didn't look good for most of the game but I'll take it. I'm glad Amir got his feet wet -without any practice time with the team-I look forward to seeing him contribute more and more as he gets more familiar and comfortable with the team, and the coaches figure out what teammates he meshes better with on the floor.
We all know this is going to be a tough year so any win is a plus-little steps set the table for bigger ones down the road.
No, we didn't look good for most of the game but I'll take it. I'm glad Amir got his feet wet -without any practice time with the team-I look forward to seeing him contribute more and more as he gets more familiar and comfortable with the team, and the coaches figure out what teammates he meshes better with on the floor.
We all know this is going to be a tough year so any win is a plus-little steps set the table for bigger ones down the road.
Shorter Notes:
- UTPA is terrible. The zone looked terrible. I think the staff's decision on that is that they don't have enough players to spend the entire game in man and they are going to take their lumps anyway this year so they may as well get the players used to the zone.
- The offense is constipated. Throwing the ball around the outside hoping for an opportunity to send it inside while taking 25 seconds off of the shot clock has yet to be effective against anyone. Somebody has to tell Phil that it's OK to push the ball, he's too busy "running the offense" at the expense of opportunities to take it himself. There is no "inside-out" offense, it's all outside-in, which really limits Harrison's chances to sharpshoot.
- Considering both the offensive and defensive performance, I suspect we will be keeping Dunlap as an assistant coach for a while.
- Achiuwa played super (as my compadre Fun observed he usually does against less athletic guys his own size, but in fairness he also played super against Kentucky). Harrison came up big late. Harkless still needs to be more consistently assertive.
- Garrett got a fair bit of playing time but clearly hasn't had time to learn the schemes yet. He looks 6'5" to me, and I think he will be a good, active rebounder and defender. Too early to tell very much about his game.
- The turning point of the game was when Dunlap finally unleashed the dogs with 7 or 8 minutes to go (down 10) and the defensive intensity and pressure stepped up. It's a shame we don't have enough players to run that "40 minutes of hell" and can only play "8 minutes of hell," because it's effective and fun to watch. It creates transition baskets which relieves the tedium of watching 8 perimeter passes to no purpose other than eating clock.
- UTPA is terrible. The zone looked terrible. I think the staff's decision on that is that they don't have enough players to spend the entire game in man and they are going to take their lumps anyway this year so they may as well get the players used to the zone.
- The offense is constipated. Throwing the ball around the outside hoping for an opportunity to send it inside while taking 25 seconds off of the shot clock has yet to be effective against anyone. Somebody has to tell Phil that it's OK to push the ball, he's too busy "running the offense" at the expense of opportunities to take it himself. There is no "inside-out" offense, it's all outside-in, which really limits Harrison's chances to sharpshoot.
- Considering both the offensive and defensive performance, I suspect we will be keeping Dunlap as an assistant coach for a while.
- Achiuwa played super (as my compadre Fun observed he usually does against less athletic guys his own size, but in fairness he also played super against Kentucky). Harrison came up big late. Harkless still needs to be more consistently assertive.
- Garrett got a fair bit of playing time but clearly hasn't had time to learn the schemes yet. He looks 6'5" to me, and I think he will be a good, active rebounder and defender. Too early to tell very much about his game.
- The turning point of the game was when Dunlap finally unleashed the dogs with 7 or 8 minutes to go (down 10) and the defensive intensity and pressure stepped up. It's a shame we don't have enough players to run that "40 minutes of hell" and can only play "8 minutes of hell," because it's effective and fun to watch. It creates transition baskets which relieves the tedium of watching 8 perimeter passes to no purpose other than eating clock.
:kiss:
I agree with much lawman. Can we really expect much more though from 6 -7 freshman and one JC player as they all try to assimilate all this stuff at once? It's a lot to ask. I think we're actually doing pretty well considering our shortcomings. We had some of Norms teams lose these types of games with double the amount of scholarship players and plenty of upperclassmen. I think these kids are responding extremely well considering the circumstances.
We need to play zone because these kids are going to be using this stuff over the next few years. Now is the time to implement it a bit. It's obvious that we play better in man to man right now as well as using our running game. The point of it all is at the hardest thing for these kids to learn is both the zone defenses and half-court offense. The staff has to implement it now to get them comfortable. It might not look good, but the staff knows our fall-back is man-D and letting these kids just continue to run. It would be a disservice to abandon the things that the staff wants to incorporate in the long run though. These kids will be better down the line learning it all, as they get more comfortable.
I agree with much lawman. Can we really expect much more though from 6 -7 freshman and one JC player as they all try to assimilate all this stuff at once? It's a lot to ask. I think we're actually doing pretty well considering our shortcomings. We had some of Norms teams lose these types of games with double the amount of scholarship players and plenty of upperclassmen. I think these kids are responding extremely well considering the circumstances.
We need to play zone because these kids are going to be using this stuff over the next few years. Now is the time to implement it a bit. It's obvious that we play better in man to man right now as well as using our running game. The point of it all is at the hardest thing for these kids to learn is both the zone defenses and half-court offense. The staff has to implement it now to get them comfortable. It might not look good, but the staff knows our fall-back is man-D and letting these kids just continue to run. It would be a disservice to abandon the things that the staff wants to incorporate in the long run though. These kids will be better down the line learning it all, as they get more comfortable.
I was there last night he was subbing 2 guys at a time every 20 or 30 seconds for about 5-6 minutes, they were shaking their heads when they came out of the game. The funniest part was when Harrison went on his run he was calling to come out of the game because he was exhausted but never came out.
I agree, I think our guys are responding well considering the circumstances they are dealing with with regard to the short roster and all. I couldn't watch the STJ game last night so I watched the Texas/ North Carolina game. Texas plays 6 freshman a ton of minutes with their Junior PG J'Coven Brown. They got pounded last night by UNC in Chapel Hill. They lost by 19 but UNC totally dominated the whole game and texas has a full roster. The point being, they're young and they played like it. They turned the ball over, they were very slow getting into their offensive sets, they were throwing up ill advised 3pt shots etc. I think what we're seeing from our team is to be expected at this stage and our guys have responded well considering
Class of 72
Active member
LMAO! Here is a message I found in a bottle........SJ has only ONE substitute......Amir Garrett. Stith is a stiff!
beast of the east
Active member
After tonight's win against Providence, I feel their play vindicated my comments after the UTPA game.
