Marquette (MSG), Sat., Jan. 20, 12 Noon, FOX

[monte]

Next time I would like to meet Monte. Must have just missed him. I actually liked the last play just wish it went to someone else. Not sure you can trust Brady yet but could have used Dingle.

Andrew I decided to join Mike Maher and the crew for the 1870 get together at Stout before the Wednesday game. Would be great to meet you there if you decide to join us.

 

[lycidas]

Pitino himself said that the team was not talented enough to win without extraordinary effort by all. He was right. Zach put it best:

The Johnnies’ defense was nowhere to be found after halftime, allowing the Golden Eagles to shoot a ridiculous 75 percent from the field in a second-half demolition.

Marquette without a field goal for the last 6 minutes of the game. Does that happen without defense? How about whittling down a 13 point lead to where a missed FT with 37 seconds would have tied it, and two missed 3’s in those last 37 seconds would have won it?

 

[Redenbacher]

Marquette without a field goal for the last 6 minutes of the game. Does that happen without defense? How about whittling down a 13 point lead to where a missed FT with 37 seconds would have tied it, and two missed 3’s in those last 37 seconds would have won it?

Our defense didn't prevent Kolek from missing his free throws.

 

[Beasts of the East]

Why were we inbounding from under the basket on the final play? Looked like we were about a third of the way up the court when timeout was called.

I think the timeout was called before the ball was inbounded thus 1.4 seconds added to clock and inbound as we would have.

 

[hardytime]

I think the timeout was called before the ball was inbounded thus 1.4 seconds added to clock and inbound as we would have.

It was called immediately, once we could, as it should have been. The rebound took an odd bounce and Joel had to control it.

 

[Demo]

Zuby is foul prone and we have little front court depth. I fear playing them together would clog up the middle, allow us to get exploited on defense, and adversely affect our depth.

I wonder how Zuby and his handlers are taking things. As I recall, one of the reasons he came to SJU was bc Pitino told him he would play some 4. That clearly hasn’t happened. He does seem to be developing so hopefully he sees that.

When Pitino talks about about the future of the program, he seems to assume all the guys who have eligibility will come back. In the modern era, not sure you can count on that, particularly with a coach as demanding as Pitino.

I remember listening to the interview of Payton Siva recently. He said if he didn’t have to sit out a year, he probably would have transferred after his freshman year.

I get the depth issue. I’m not sure I agree he’s foul prone. Putting that all aside, we gave away way too many bank shot layups when they posted up our guards and Ledlum. Surely we’d have to play a zone (which would protect Zuby from fouling) and give us better rim protection. We lose the outside shooting of Ledlum, which hasn’t been anything to write home about, but have Soriano and Zuby together give up matchups problems for both of them in there together. IMHO, it seems Zuby has better post up moves than Soriano.

 

[Redmen88]

Playing Soriano and Zbuy together probably won’t work because it will put more pressure on Jenkins to provide scoring. Soriano seems to have regressed since the start of the big east and Zuby is just not an offensive threat.
The move to play them together could work if Dingle could get out of his funk and start providing some offense to take some of Jenkins responsibilities.

If u pound the ball into Soriano then Zuby will be in position to rebound when Soriano gets double teamed. Also with both of them down low it will give more room to shooters as teams will have to stay in the paint. Not saying do this for long stretches but a couple times a game.

 

[Joedib]

Our defense didn't prevent Kolek from missing his free throws.

Our fans did, and our fans were inspired by our defense!

 

[Mean Gene]

Marquette made one FG in the last six minutes. They didn't know how to win, we knew how to

Playing Soriano and Zbuy together probably won’t work because it will put more pressure on Jenkins to provide scoring. Soriano seems to have regressed since the start of the big east and Zuby is just not an offensive threat.
The move to play them together could work if Dingle could get out of his funk and start providing some offense to take some of Jenkins responsibilities.

If you have Jenkins , Dingle and Luis in there with them it could work. But, like you said, Dingle has to be on his game for it to work.

 

[Mean Gene]

Marquette without a field goal for the last 6 minutes of the game. Does that happen without defense? How about whittling down a 13 point lead to where a missed FT with 37 seconds would have tied it, and two missed 3’s in those last 37 seconds would have won it?

I understand what you’re saying but you just can’t play defense for 6 minutes of a second half and expect a good outcome most of the time.

 

[paultzman]

I understand what you’re saying but you just can’t play defense for 6 minutes of a second half and expect a good outcome most of the time.

Exactly, analyze the points given up in first six minutes of second half w 5/6 on threes I believe

 

[carmineabbatiello]

I think the timeout was called before the ball was inbounded thus 1.4 seconds added to clock and inbound as we would have.

Thanks Beast. I couldn't tell. That makes sense and probably right. Care to comment on the tip off violation that gave us possession to start the game? Did the player that jumped ultimately corral the ball?

 

[Marillac2]

Was Luis on the floor for the final possession? There is almost no need for a big unless you have time for an offensive rebound. Granted, our options were likely diminished without Dingle or Alleyne available. Ive always been a fan of a pass as far up the court (at least to near half court) with an immediate pass to someone streaking up the sideline. That gives you enough time to get to the lane.

Ye, Luis was closely guarded as was Dunlap.

There are only two plays to make there: inbounds to Jenkins heading towards half court and our basket or football pass to Luis at the 3 pt line so he can can use his 6’7 height and ridiculous length to come down with the pass and have 4 seconds to draw a foul getting to the basket.

Shaka double-teamed the Jenkins underneath option to make him a shooter. Jenkins is uniquely suited to bring the ball up quickly in that scenario and nobody will allow that out of a time out.

At some point we are going to have to use Luis’ length and leaping ability to our advantage. Nobody is able to deny him a jump ball in college.

 

[weathermannyc]

Marquette without a field goal for the last 6 minutes of the game. Does that happen without defense? How about whittling down a 13 point lead to where a missed FT with 37 seconds would have tied it, and two missed 3’s in those last 37 seconds would have won it?

We turn the max effort defense on and off. Also, Marquette stopped attacking us with the high ball screen utilizing Ighodaro and Kolek. I don't think we stopped that more than 2 or 3 times in the (at least) dozen times they ran it.

 

[Beasts of the East]

Thanks Beast. I couldn't tell. That makes sense and probably right. Care to comment on the tip off violation that gave us possession to start the game? Did the player that jumped ultimately corral the ball?

You're welcome. That's exactly what happened. #13 jumped for Marquette and when both players flailed and missed he grabbed the ball. Good call on your part.

 

[SJUWillRockNYC]

Winning is EVERYTHING . I'm tired of hearing about bad luck or moral victories. Either this team has the backbone or they don't. It's time to win

Yeah they played their hearts out and everything, but the reality is that the UConn, Creighton, and Marquette are all L's.
The NCAA committee doesn't care about heart breaking losses.

In the end, those losses will hurt us.

 

[Anthony Mattia]

I turned off the Seton Hall game with 15 minutes left (I never do that) and watched all of this game. I am tired, like so many of us, of moral victories and want to start seeing actual victories. Unfortunately, like so many of our teams for the past 40 years, I feel that these guys don't know how to win. Can they learn? I hope so, and they have the best possible teacher, but they need to learn fast or this will be another in a long line of bad seasons.

Sorry, I try to stay positive but it's starting to get to me. On to Villanova, a sweep of them will turn me around.

Let's Go Redmen!

 

[Mean Gene]

I turned off the Seton Hall game with 15 minutes left (I never do that) and watched all of this game. I am tired, like so many of us, of moral victories and want to start seeing actual victories. Unfortunately, like so many of our teams for the past 40 years, I feel that these guys don't know how to win. Can they learn? I hope so, and they have the best possible teacher, but they need to learn fast or this will be another in a long line of bad seasons.

Sorry, I try to stay positive but it's starting to get to me. On to Villanova, a sweep of them will turn me around.

Let's Go Redmen!

+1000

 

[paultzman]

Yeah they played their hearts out and everything, but the reality is that the UConn, Creighton, and Marquette are all L's.
The NCAA committee doesn't care about heart breaking losses.

In the end, those losses will hurt us.

Yup, not horse shoes

 

[Beasts of the East]

Yeah they played their hearts out and everything, but the reality is that the UConn, Creighton, and Marquette are all L's.
The NCAA committee doesn't care about heart breaking losses.

In the end, those losses will hurt us.

Great seasons rarely mean you run the table start to finish.

I like this script. Program so down in the dumps that a day doesn't go by without multiple references to a team that sucked with it all on the table in the Final 4 forty years ago. So wretched that there's an event to celebrate an elite 8 team over 20 years ago.

Once elite program? Hardly. Kentucky would fire coaches for merely getting them to an elite 8 or Final 4 without cutting down the nets when it really matters.

So here's the script: hometown Italian boy, who went off to pursue fame and fortune, achieved both. He goes to 7 (SEVEN!!!) Final Fours, which hardly matters to him because he coached to win all the marbles and did that TWICE with different schools. But this is a dirty game and always has been. Even at programs where bespecled gentlemen wearing tweed suits and speaking softly won buckets of championships in a program where shady figures allegedly filled paper bags of money that could woo even 7 foot superstars from New York City. Superstars that passed on such a squeaky clean school that they wouldn't bend their own stupid policy of forcing one if the games all time greatest men and coaches to retire at 65.

So our hometown hero, whose fame was made elsewhere gets jammed up doing what a lot of schools who won big never got csught doing but did do. Expelled and humiliated, but not proven.

Suddenly the paths of a program that tried to do everything right but couldn't break glass with a hammer, and a coach who scaled the heights for 40 years and took a mighty fall, meet. Both in need of redemption. Both needing each other so badly that it's the stuff that brilliant writers try and fail to make it seem believable.

So here is this Italian American NYC 71 year old kid, who in many ways resembles a school's 99 year old living icon lands on a campus STILL intent on winning the right way. Both badly need each other.

The 71 year old kid, so intent on winning with the right kids with unblemished reputations that he wants only TWO kids back from a talented team of underperformers.

What does the 71 year old kid preach and demand? Hard work, discipline, and defense. Yes, he's 71, but he doesn't ask a single college kud to work harder than he will.

He had a few weeks to pluck nearly an entire roster and suddenly for the first time in maybe ever, top talent is lining up to audition to play for this kid.

This kid is home, in his own backyard. When he tells a story about taking the Green Lines bus as a young kid from Cambria Height to Jamaica to buy a pair of irregular Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars, stamped "IRR", at Modells on Jamaica Avenue under the El, for half price, it's a story a lot of us know all to well. He doesn't have to explain to a bunch of thoroughbred horse farm rich alums from Kentucky. It isn't to a bunch of alums who sip mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby. It's to guys who sipped their first beer from a quart bottle passed around while leaning against a chain link fence that enclosec outdoor asphalt courts, on nights too dark to shoot hoops anymore but still on the courts hanging with friends.

He knows our fanbase mostly played basketball in schoolyards without nets, and not in gyms with varnished wood floors that were heated in winter and cooled in summer. He knows that for many of us, each of those games meant as much as winning the nba championship because in Queens and Brooklyn everything was always on the line, even pickup ball.

So yea, this all fits just right, kinda like OJ 's glove shpuld have fit. I know know know know know this is a thousand times better right now then it's been, and also know if we are losing games by a last second missed shot now, that this too will change.

Why am I so sure? Because in Queens you just keep pushing. The 71 year old kid's favorite coach is the great NYC Vince Lombardi, who he likes to quote. My favorite quote?

"Second place is first place for losers"

The good times are here right now. Cold water has to hit 200 degrees before it hits 212, to boil for a Sunday pasta dinner.

Trust me. We are almost there.