Loyola (Maryland), Tue. Nov. 6, 6:30p, FSN / 570 WMCA

My thoughts were

Figueroa and Heron are unbelievable additions - Would like to see Figueroa bringing the ball up the court a little less for now
Simon - Will find a role. Hope he gets a lot of rebounds and attacks the basket
Clark - has to toughen up and be more aggressive rebounding and on D. He can be a key player if he wants to be.
Ponds - would like to see him drive and dish a little more and get confidence to knock down the 3. He can do it
Keita - Hopefully he develops as the season goes on
Dixon - was impressed by his play. Good sixth/seventh man
Trimble - I don't think this team is short shooting and that is all he seems to offer. Would like to see Greg Williams get more of his minutes
Earlington and Roberts - only time will tell.
 
[quote="Andrew" post=300788]My thoughts were

Figueroa and Heron are unbelievable additions - Would like to see Figueroa bringing the ball up the court a little less for now
Simon - Will find a role. Hope he gets a lot of rebounds and attacks the basket
Clark - has to toughen up and be more aggressive rebounding and on D. He can be a key player if he wants to be.
Ponds - would like to see him drive and dish a little more and get confidence to knock down the 3. He can do it
Keita - Hopefully he develops as the season goes on
Dixon - was impressed by his play. Good sixth/seventh man
Trimble - I don't think this team is short shooting and that is all he seems to offer. Would like to see Greg Williams get more of his minutes
Earlington and Roberts - only time will tell.[/quote]

Have guys that CAN make threes. Only guys I expect it to go in are Clark and Heron though. Not sure Trimble answer to that anyway. People on here are so thirsty for good shooters that they always confuse a guy who can knock down shots with a guy who actually knocks down shots.
Probably one of the main reasons that Mullin can still do no wrong for some of us.
 
From my good friend JPM114’s blog, newyorkbasketball.blogspot.com

newyorkbasketball
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Strong Opening Night Lifts St. John's Past Loyola (MD)

St. John’s began what they hope will be a long and successful run in the 2018-19 season with an opening that went significantly better than last week’s dress rehearsal.

“The effort was a lot better”, coach Chris Mullin said of his team’s convincing 76-55 win over Loyola (MD) in a game that featured the St. John’s debuts of seven players, most notably Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron. The wiry strong 6’5” wing did not disappoint. The numbers looked good, 15 points and 7 rebounds, but the eye test looked better perhaps because he and Big East Player of the Year candidate Shamorie Ponds worked so well together.

Ponds had a terrific all-around game that could be an indication that he’ll be an even better player this year than last even though he’ll likely not be counted on to score as much with the arrivals of Heron and reserve Mikey Dixon who finished with 13 points off the bench.

While Ponds did indeed finish with a game high 20 points, the rest of the stat line, 9-15 shooting 4 assists combined with just two turnovers, was more efficient than many he posted last season. Combine that with 3 rebounds and three steals and you have a line that indicates a complete player and, perhaps more significantly for the team’s fortunes, one who doesn’t have to force action.

The Red Storm’s improved energy and effort helped lift them to a quick 9-0 start to open the game. They expanded that to 13 before the Greyhounds were able to gain some footing. They closed the gap to 21-14 before the Johnnies responded and pushed the lead to 19 with a rally capped by a lefty triple from Heron that made the score 37-18. They maintained that margin and then expanded it to 25 with a 6-0 half closing spurt that included an “and one”3-point play from Dixon and a 35-foot buzzer beating triple from Ponds which gave the Red Storm a 48-23 halftime edge from which they never looked back.

St. John’s will face a tougher test when they meet the Falcons of Bowling Green from the Mid Atlantic Conference (MAC) on Friday at 6:30 pm. For long time fans of local HS hoops the Falcons’ coach is former Adlai Stevenson (BX) star Michael Huger. He is now in his 4th season coaching his college alma mater.
 
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[quote="oldschool Redmen" post=300694][quote="oldschool Redmen" post=300444]End this game by haldtime 46-23, first 5minutes of 2nd half outscore them by by 8 to go up by 31.
Then the subs +walkons come on.
SJU win by 20.[/quote]

I predicted this game.
was 48-23 at halftime, got it up to 33 early in 2nd half, lost a little focus and won by 21[/quote]

That's actually freakishly amazing.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=300714]

*LJ has been a human highlight reel and we still haven't seen him put it all together (on Sportscenter like 3x now)
.[/quote]

I thought you guys didn't watch ESPN anymore?

Movement and sharing on offense looked good. Like everyone says, they're very athletic and hopefully the shooting numbers will stay good when they play tougher teams/defenses. DVR stopped around the time Earlington went to the line and I was watching while cooking. Still not liking being out rebounded or getting turned over 18 times by the #300 team in the country or committing so many fouls. But I think the latter two issues will be addressed. It's the boards that I think will be their Achilles heel this year.
 
[quote="Room112" post=300747][quote="Adam" post=300700]Only thing that matters for margin of victory is getting 10+ (for NET), which we did.

Happy with the results tonight. Entire Big East won by 10+, as well. Perfect day.

Loved seeing Heron and Fig finally play. Can't wait for the next game.[/quote]


Can some explain how this works? In what games do we have to win by 10+?[/quote]

All of them
 
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Thought we played one on one basketball in the first half and pleasantly switched to more team play with excellent passing and cutting through the middle. Was anxious to see Keita, however fouls kept him on the bench. Ponds and Heron are a sweet combo. Thought Simon was especially quick to the basket. Looking forward to a very good year, in fact counting the days to the NCAA Playoffs. Go Redmen!
 
NET is replacing RPI for NCAAs. My understanding is that a 10 pt victory now counts the same as a 30pt victory i.e. 10 is the "cap" Here is a summary that I read on a betting site and below that the SI explanation which includes the other criteria used in addition to NET:

"the NET model takes into account the game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margins, and net offensive and defensive efficiency.

It also factors in the quality of a team’s wins and losses. In other words, the new NET system relies on many more factors which, in theory, should make it a more precise gauge to measure and rank NCAA basketball teams.

Another difference is that the NET omits such factors as game dates and the order in which games are played. This is supposed to balance out the importance of the early-season matchups with the late-season games.

Winning margins are also capped by 10 points which affects lop-sided victories. Overtime games will see the winning and losing margins set at 1 and -1 respectively regardless of the final score. "

[URL][URL]https://www.si.com/colleg...-net-ranking-system-rpi-replacement-explained[/URL][/URL]
 
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[quote="Mike Zaun" post=300714]Was at the game...here's my list

Pros:

*Great shooting in 1st half

*Nice passing and cutting

*Great FT shooting all game

*LJ has been a human highlight reel and we still haven't seen him put it all together (on Sportscenter like 3x now)

*Heron looked GREAT...quickly put to bed any fear over concussion symptoms. Not only drove effectively with great control but also hit some nice jumpers. Heron and Ponds will be a handful for everyone this year.

*Dixon was hitting his open 3's and showed some nice flashes out there...great to see

*Ponds played well despite still having some issues with 3's

*Clark looked good as usual

Cons:

*It seemed there was a "foul" every 5 seconds and the game could never really get in a flow because of it. Many fans in my section complained as well. Either way though we committed WAY too many fouls. I believe they got something like 32 FT attempts. This probably would have been a 40 pt win had we not fouled them every 5 secs.

*3 pointers stopped falling in the 2nd half. Must be more consistent.

*Simon looked a bit lost out there. Missed several bunnies and just never really got into a rhythm.

*Keita is likely going to get destroyed by real bigs but he's all we have so...


Overall great game tonight and it certainly gives me hope we just didn't really care about the exhibition and scrimmage. Only one game but we looked good early when it mattered. We took our foot off the gas in the 2nd. Nice to see Lou at the game and also saw Val Ackerman and Stu Jackson. Spoke to Cragg and enjoyed the 1870 court for a few hours before the game. He seems to be about 6'5-6'6 by the way I was surprised! Cragg said he is well aware that our basketball program is what drives our school and he is determined to get it back where it belongs. He's still feeling things out and sometimes he may just silently observe different things around campus and how they can be run more efficiently, more successfully, etc. He seemed disappointed with the lack of many fans at 1870 court, however he caught himself and said "I get it though...we have to win first". Hands down the hardest worker I've seen in the athletic department in...ever and very professional but also will not shy away from fans in person.[/quote]


Tough to get people out to an event at 4:30pm during a weekday especially on a rainy one at that. I think those events should be held for games later in the evening which gives people time to show up. 6:30pm games are killer
 
[quote="Room112" post=300747][quote="Adam" post=300700]Only thing that matters for margin of victory is getting 10+ (for NET), which we did.

Happy with the results tonight. Entire Big East won by 10+, as well. Perfect day.

Loved seeing Heron and Fig finally play. Can't wait for the next game.[/quote]

Can some explain how this works? In what games do we have to win by 10+?[/quote]

Unlike RPI, NET factors in margin of victory or loss. However, that margin is capped at 10. So winning games by 10 or 70 points doesn't matter, but winning by 6 or 10 points does matter. Same applies to losses.

Providence actually was up 10 yesterday and applied intense pressure defense on Siena's final possession, keeping the margin at 10.

Assume that staff is aware of this, but it appears other coaches are fully embracing NET. We need to as well when we're leading or losing by single digits end of game.
 
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We all saw lots of positives last night. My take:
Positives-
1- Ponds, with exception of the one air ball, played awesome. Under control and dominant. Great game
2- Heron- so happy that he lives up to the billing. This guy is special and we are light years better for it. Thank you NCAA!
3- LJ- kid is a beast! Typical old school johnnie. Hard nose gritty with skills. Gonna be a fan fav
4- Simon & Marv- We know what we have with them. Not their best games but proven warriors that will give us steady results.
5- Dixon & GW both are much needed depth. Both are skilled and will fill role on this team perfectly.
6- Keita- positives are he can be a force underneath. Has body and is aggressive
7- Roberts and Marcellus- Glad they played. Raw but you can tell they will develop. Need to give them mins when we can.
8- Crowd was great!!
Negatives-
1- Interior defense was pretty much non existent for long stretches. We will be crushed if this continues. Lets see how we adjust for a much bigger Bowling Green.
2- Need to start game with HIGH PERCENTAGE shots. Yesterday was fine but we can't rely solely on jumpers. When we run, we attack, luckily this team will run a lot! But definitely need to drive ( Simon, LJ, Marv ) more.
3- Hate to say this but limit Trimble's time. Needs to drop on depth chart. A little bit of a liability out there. Blatantly obvious. Other than that, hard to pick apart yesterdays game anymore. One thing is for sure, this year will be different, this year will be fun! Go johnnies!!!
 
[quote="Andrew" post=300788]My thoughts were

Figueroa and Heron are unbelievable additions - Would like to see Figueroa bringing the ball up the court a little less for now
Simon - Will find a role. Hope he gets a lot of rebounds and attacks the basket
Clark - has to toughen up and be more aggressive rebounding and on D. He can be a key player if he wants to be.
Ponds - would like to see him drive and dish a little more and get confidence to knock down the 3. He can do it
Keita - Hopefully he develops as the season goes on
Dixon - was impressed by his play. Good sixth/seventh man
Trimble - I don't think this team is short shooting and that is all he seems to offer. Would like to see Greg Williams get more of his minutes
Earlington and Roberts - only time will tell.[/quote]

I think Mixon (Mikey Dixon = Mixon) is going to be better than a 7th man. He showed a lot of potential, I liked what I saw in him and am very excited to see him develop over the next 3 years. Don't sleep on him.
 
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Well he's obviously not starting so guess he's the 6th man. Makes Keith 7th I guess.
Though a top 6 with no one over 6'7" makes me nervous. ;)
 
The only thing that can hold us back is not having one more big body. There will be games where that is our Achilles heel. I can’t figure out how we couldn’t land just one big guy to help us out.
 
[quote="we are sju" post=300780][quote="MCNPA" post=300775][quote="capmaker" post=300764]I honestly think we are gonna be a massive problem for them. Win or lose will maybe be the best college basketball game of the season. Duke is always more polished early season than we are but we have the athletes and depth to match. RJ Barrett was excellent, but Simon and Figueroa are studs, and Figueroa I think is going to explode really fast. Duke doesn’t play big either and they have no match for Ponds. Reddish and Barrett vs Simon and Heron? Crazy matchups... Zion is a monster, but Clark can take him outside and matches his strength if not his athleticism. I too am excited for that one. I think we match their athletes and have depth. They also play small...

[URL][URL]https://www.msn.com/en-us...d-duke-they-could-go-undefeated/ar-BBPrzU8?li[/URL][/URL]=BBnba9I[/quote]

They aren’t going undefeated. UK had a hard-look first game much like some of ours. I think our speed and depth match up well with them. And if I hype the game up and we lose at Duke, who cares? Everybody loses at Duke. I still think we have the horses to make them work for it.[/quote]

Zion looks like what would happen if Karl Malone and Lebron James had a baby.[/quote]

And plays like it too!
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=300806][quote="MCNPA" post=300804]The only thing that can hold us back is not having one more big body. There will be games where that is our Achilles heel. I can’t figure out how we couldn’t land just one big guy to help us out.[/quote] I agree. Not only did we not land a big. We lost one, Owens. Fortunately ,LJ,Simon, and Heron are skilled and have nice size.[/quote]
 
Couldn't watch last night as local station was showing Charlotte Hornets game instead. However, it is being shown right now on replay. Settling in to enjoy a nice before dinner treat!
 
Staff needs to work more closely with Keita. Too many careless fouls.
 
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