March Madness

[quote="ghostzapper" post=331339]It looks like we might squeeze in as the fourth Big East team and make it to Dayton in the play-in game. I love St. John's and root for them to the death but if the selection committee did not use new fangled metrics I don't think we would get in.

If we are the fourth team in the Big East then how come we finished seventh in the conference and Xavier finished fourth. Additionally Xavier waxed us twice head to head (even without their best player the second time we played) and totally out performed us in the conference tournament. They took tourney winner Villanova to overtime in the Semi-finals before getting knocked out and we were blown out in the quarter-finals by Marquette by 32. Lucky for us the committee isn't even considering Xavier for a bid because by any logical comparison they would be in and we would be out.

BTW if we do get in, I don't think it will be ahead of NC State. They played a better schedule than we played, won more games and went five hundred in the Number one conference in the country. Additionally they beat Auburn when they were ranked seventh and took UVA (a likely number one seed) to overtime and lost by one.

Of course I am not part of the selection committee so what the hell do I know.[/quote]

And thank goodness you aren’t. From what I’ve read, NC State had the weakest strength of schedule in the OOC of any school in the country. So not sure where you are getting your info from. I would be pretty upset if NC State got in over us - though by the eye test (in normal years) neither team deserves to get in
 
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Think about driving. We drove to Cincy for the last regular season game vs. X, and was actually OK. Of course, that was a weekend, not a Tuesday/Wednesday. Food for thought.

[quote="Beast of the East" post=331342]What sucks about Dayton is Anyone thinking of travelling to round 1 has to wait before making travel plans. Airfares likely thru roof at that point[/quote]
 
Selection sunday will be for us like putting something on an open wound. It will either be salt or an antiseptic that will take some of the sting away, like Bactine. It won't fix everything but we will all feel a little bit better.

No bid will sting, and be final like the knockout punch applied to a staggering boxer.

Let's hope for the best, and if bad news, I'll probably take a break for a bit from here till things calm down
 
Adam Wrote: It's actually the opposite. Our RPI (replaced this year by NET) is 20 spots better than our NET. NET is killing us because it takes into account margins, and those 10+ point home losses destroyed our NET. If RPI was still being used we'd be looking at a 9 or 10 seed. Yes, we went 8-10 in conference, but a lot of bubble teams did worse than that. Our OOC was great, too.

Xavier had an awful OOC, which is why they aren't really on the bubble. Same with Georgetown. They look at the season as a whole and do not give more weight to the end of the season.

As for NC State, they played most of the bottom half ACC teams like Boston College and Wake Forest 2X (teams much worse than any in the Big East) and the top teams like UVA, Duke, FSU, VT and Louisville only 1X. ACC has 15 teams, so everyone has different schedules. Our conference SOS is higher I believe.

and

Room112 Wrote: That's actually incorrect. NC State played the worst schedule of any major conference team. Their SOS was 124. Ours was 67.

and

SJULawyered15 Wrote: And thank goodness you aren’t. From what I’ve read, NC State had the weakest strength of schedule in the OOC of any school in the country. So not sure where you are getting your info from. I would be pretty upset if NC State got in over us - though by the eye test (in normal years) neither team deserves to get in

I hear what all of you are saying but my point is that the selection metrics are taken as gospel but really aren't. If you look at NC State's schedule (see below) they played five games against probable number one seeds (Virginia, Duke and North Carolina) another against a probable three seed (Florida State) and three more against teams that are in the four to five seed range (Wisonsin, Auburn and Virginia Tech). I am not sure how that adds up to us playing a better schedule than them but personally I am not seeing it.

As for Xavier I think their out of conference schedule (see below) which included Auburn, Wisconsin and Cincinnati was just as formidable as ours was. Even if you do not agree with that I would still argue that if we beat a team by double digits head to head twice, finished ahead of them in the conference standings and significantly outperformed them in the conference tournament yet they were still put into the tournament ahead of us, we would all be screaming bloody murder about how the selction process is flawed.

Look I will be thrilled if we get a spot in Dayton and glad that a flawed process got us there, but I still think the process is highly subjective and not as cut and dried as the pundits make it out to be.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/152

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/2752

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/2599
 
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[quote="otis" post=331304][quote="MarkRedman" post=331302]
1 ......The problem is that we really don't have a system. On offense, we freelance most of the time and rarely run set plays. On defense, we switch rather than fight over screens so we frequently create match ups that are unfavorable to us and result in easy baskets for our opponents.......

2 .......Our new A.D. needs to demand changes in our program during the off season. If Coach Mullin is receptive, I would be happy to see him return. If he resists, the A.D. needs to strongly consider making a change in the leadership of the program. If the A.D. allows things to remain status quo, his stock will plummet in my eyes.[/quote]

1. I respectfully disagree with your belief that St. John’s does not have a ”system” (your term). The St. John’s offensive sets and defense are similar to those run by NBA teams. I agree with you that Mullin’s NBA philosophies have not been successful, but I believe it is mistaken to say that Mullin has not incorporated a “system”.

2. Mike Cragg’s Job is not as simple as it may seem. By every account I have seen Mullin’s contract has more than $4M remaining to be paid. Given StJohn’s financial limitations I will be surprised if StJohn’s bellies up by paying Mullin $4M+ plus and an additional $2M+ plus a salary for the new coach plus a possible “buyout” for the new coach. Like it or not there are financial realities and I was advised by a StJohn’s Board member that no big time financial booster is on the horizon.[/quote]


Otis, I will grant you that I may have been a bit harsh in saying that Mullin didn't have a "system". But to run an "NBA system" with a college team whose roster probably doesn't have a single player who will have a lengthy NBA career is totally ludicrous. It's like asking a 5th grade CYO team, which is learning how to play basketball, to run a high school varsity offense and defense. As a former high school varsity basketball coach, I can tell you that it's a totally absurd concept.

How many of the 300+ Division I college teams run an "NBA" system? I'm a rabid college basketball fan and I can easily count that number on the fingers of one hand.

If Mullin coached and ran St John's like a true college program, we would probably have had a lot more success than we have had. I am firmly convinced that this team should not have been 8-10 in Big East play.
 
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[quote="MarkRedman" post=331370][quote="otis" post=331304][quote="MarkRedman" post=331302]
1 ......The problem is that we really don't have a system. On offense, we freelance most of the time and rarely run set plays. On defense, we switch rather than fight over screens so we frequently create match ups that are unfavorable to us and result in easy baskets for our opponents.......

2 .......Our new A.D. needs to demand changes in our program during the off season. If Coach Mullin is receptive, I would be happy to see him return. If he resists, the A.D. needs to strongly consider making a change in the leadership of the program. If the A.D. allows things to remain status quo, his stock will plummet in my eyes.[/quote]

1. I respectfully disagree with your belief that St. John’s does not have a ”system” (your term). The St. John’s offensive sets and defense are similar to those run by NBA teams. I agree with you that Mullin’s NBA philosophies have not been successful, but I believe it is mistaken to say that Mullin has not incorporated a “system”.

2. Mike Cragg’s Job is not as simple as it may seem. By every account I have seen Mullin’s contract has more than $4M remaining to be paid. Given StJohn’s financial limitations I will be surprised if StJohn’s bellies up by paying Mullin $4M+ plus and an additional $2M+ plus a salary for the new coach plus a possible “buyout” for the new coach. Like it or not there are financial realities and I was advised by a StJohn’s Board member that no big time financial booster is on the horizon.[/quote]


Otis, I will grant you that I may have been a bit harsh in saying that Mullin didn't have a "system". But to run an "NBA system" with a college team whose roster probably doesn't have a single player who will have a lengthy NBA career is totally ludicrous. It's like asking a 5th grade CYO team, which is learning how to play basketball, to run a high school varsity offense and defense. As a former high school varsity basketball coach, I can tell you that it's a totally absurd concept.

How many of the 300+ Division I college teams run an "NBA" system? I'm a rabid college basketball fan and I can easily count that number on the fingers of one hand.

If Mullin coached and ran St John's like a true college program, we would probably have had a lot more success than we have had. I am firmly convinced that this team should not have been 8-10 in Big East play.[/quote]

Yes I agree. Nba players make most of their wide open looks, our guys couldn't. Ridiculous to let them shoot when wide open.

No nba system has guys who don't follow shots, who never box their man, and go with 4 guards and a small forward and no bench.

If lack of success is attributed to anything, it's the lack of height and depth.

Funny but depth and dimension gives you perspective. Our team lacked both, and so do most fans.
 
I assume that right after they announce the top 4 regional seeds, they will go right to the Dayton play-in games schedule. So we'll know right away if we're playing or not.
 
[quote="Delaware" post=331374]I assume that right after they announce the top 4 regional seeds, they will go right to the Dayton play-in games schedule. So we'll know right away if we're playing or not.[/quote]

FWIW they’ve never done it like that before. They reveal the bracket one region at a time and reveal the play ins when they get to them
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=331362]Selection sunday will be for us like putting something on an open wound. It will either be salt or an antiseptic that will take some of the sting away, like Bactine. It won't fix everything but we will all feel a little bit better.

No bid will sting, and be final like the knockout punch applied to a staggering boxer.

Let's hope for the best, and if bad news, I'll probably take a break for a bit from here till things calm down[/quote]

Keep the faith, like leap year or a presidential term, we are on target hear Greg Gumbel call out our beloved schools name.
2011, 2015, and hopefully 2019. If not we will have to revert back to dog years. We are ..... :(
 
[quote="Ray Morgan" post=331378]Anyone know if the Selection Sunday thing will be on satellite radio? I will be stuck on a 4 hour drive.[/quote]

Seems like Mad Dog Sports Radio will be commenting on the selections from 5 PM to 9 PM. XM Channel 82. Didn’t find any XM station covering the actual selections live.
 
[quote="Tonyinfairfield " post=331379][quote="Ray Morgan" post=331378]Anyone know if the Selection Sunday thing will be on satellite radio? I will be stuck on a 4 hour drive.[/quote]

Seems like Mad Dog Sports Radio will be commenting on the selections from 5 PM to 9 PM. XM Channel 82. Didn’t find any XM station covering the actual selections live.[/quote]

ESPNU radio Ch.84 will be all over it as well
 
[quote="Knight" post=331396]“I definitely believe we’re going to be in the tournament,” Shamorie Ponds said after Thursday’s loss. “I’m not going to be nervous. If we get in, we get in. We don’t, we don’t. But I believe we should be [in].”
From Newsday
[URL]https://www.newsday.com/sports...s-ncaa-tournament-selection-sunday-1.28593383[/URL][/quote]

That quote sums up their last month. No sense of urgency left us on the bubble.
 
[quote="Knight" post=331399][quote="Mean Gene" post=331398][quote="Knight" post
[URL]https://www.newsday.com/sports...s-ncaa-tournament-selection-sunday-1.28593383[/URL][/quote]

Is that what Ponds said??[/quote]

He's quoted in the article.[/quote]


He should be chomping at the bit to play in the NCAA Tournament. He might as well have said , if we win , we win, if we don’t , we don’t. Now you why this team was so inconsistent. What kind of an attitude is that?
 
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