@Marquette, Sat., Feb. 10, 6p, FS-1

We have seven games left. 4-3 minimum, 5-2 good probability (only need to win at home vs Creighton and one of road wins at Providence and Butler) and we are in. Win next two and we are almost certainly in. Lose at home vs Hall and it's probably over if we don't win at Providence.
 
SJUWillRockNYC said:
I'm just at the point to where I'm starting to look forward to next year.

Can't take these 2nd half collaspes anymore.
Click to expand...
I’m looking forward to what’s been the best part of any Johnny season for decades, the recruiting season. Exciting cause no games are actually played and we can all fantasize about how great our recruits are and how they will take us to a sweet 16 or so in the Dance.
 
Silly Donovan said:
I’m looking forward to what’s been the best part of any Johnny season for decades, the recruiting season. Exciting cause no games are actually played and we can all fantasize about how great our recruits are and how they will take us to a sweet 16 or so in the Dance.
Click to expand...
Exactly what a late friend of mine used to say. Best time is the off season when fantasy runs amuck and before the games are played which is when reality sets in.
 
vegasman2000 said:
I think his point is if you took Mullins team with Pitino as coach that is a definite NCAA team and probably a win as well.
Click to expand...
Actually, I think my general point was that I don't see a single thing either one of those teams does well.

So, Rick deserves praise for getting 14 wins out of the team, but I also see some things I don't like. That comment after the UCONN game, about the assistants waiting to play more zone, but Rick feeling we need to get better in the man-to-man, really rubbed me the wrong way. The team can't be good in man-to-man, because they lack athleticism.

I don't know why he seems to have such an aversion to playing zone (especially since he used to be an assistant under Boeheim). My guess is, if we played more zone, he'd complain about the defense much less.

I just have an aversion to coaches who (1), refuse to change their on-court philosophies to suit their existing team and (2) obsess over their team defense, to the point where the offense gets ignored, at least publicly.

Rick isn't quite guilty of those things yet, but he's getting much closer to it, IMO.
 
To lose this game was tough having nice lead. But you have to expect Marquette was coming back. As good as we were playing it’s not sustainable especially against a very good team at their place. Have to credit other teams as well and Kolek kicked our ass second half.

That said. I’m probably the only one who had this game down as a win in the prediction thread. Season is still on course for a chance to make the tourney. Many had us at 5-3 down the stretch and that included a Marquette loss entering big east tourney.

Sucks to lose this game.

But don’t jump off until (and I hope we don’t) lose any game we are supposed to win.
 
Last edited:
Heading into the season I thought we lacked a good ball handler. I like Jenkins but he’s not the surest with the ball and Wilcher is a freshmen backup that is not quite ready. Dingle never looks comfortable handling the ball unless he has a lot of space. You see how a kid like Kolek is a floor general. He can control the game. Richmond on Seton Hall similar. That game turned last night because the best guard in the league decided to take over and he could.

My fear going to Providence is they also have a kid who demands the ball and can takeover a game in Carter.
 
Jack Williams said:
Idk. I feel like as long as there’s a shot we can get a top 5 finish and not have to play Wednesday night at the BET, then we have to keep on keepin on. We’re a game out of the 5 spot with the most games remaining against DePaul/GTown i believe, so I wouldn’t give up on that.

Even if we’re not gonna be on the right side of the bubble, I always want to shoot for trying to bypass that Wednesday at the BET. Because then you only need one win to make the fun Friday night semifinals that we’ve never appeared in seemingly ever haha
Click to expand...
Jack , they have to win 5 of the last 7 to possibly do that. If one of those two losses is to Creighton at home then we will still have not one win against a ranked team. Look at these bubble teams in other major conferences, most of them have wins against ranked opponents. Some of them have multiple wins against ranked opponents. If we’re on the bubble I don’t think we are getting in unless we have a big run in the BET. We have blown all of our chances for signature wins.
 
mm52 said:
Strangely I like our chances against MQ in the BE tournament. Hard to beat us 3 times plus we could've had each game.
Click to expand...
Seems moot, who knows who we play. We have been swept by UConn, M’Q and likely Creighton, so you could apply that thinking to all of them. Get your % s point, but frankly this team could lose a third match to any of these guys. SH could also sweep us at dead UBS as well.
 
Now that I’ve had a chance to calm down from what to me seemed liked the biggest disappointment of the season ( would have been better to have been down the entire game then lose a 15 point lead in what seemed like minutes), I’ve come to thus reality. Either……1. The team has the talent and has underachieved…. Or….. 2. The team does not have the talent and is lucky to be in games…… or…… a bit of both.

If you argue the team does not have the talent or has mid major talent as some would say, then why were Dingle, Ledlum, Luis, Taylor sought after but many other major power 5 programs? Why was Soriano pre season first team BE? Why was Wilcher a highly rated 4 star recruit and Dunlap as well? Did Allyne contribute to to National Championship team? Etc etc etc.

And after all the above if you still argue that the team has little talent, who out the talent in the floor? I get it, coach had to assemble a team fast etc. wanted to change the culture, couldn’t get Storr etc. But then I ask myself, what did recruit Yaxel L have to do with any of that? Was the culture bad across the board with all players? Obviously not if Drissa and Joel were retained.

I also don’t believe that the kids are not trying hard enough but they may just lack the quickness to play the style that coach wants them to play. Is that their fault? I’m sure there are many teams that don’t possess lighting speed or lateral quickness and that’s where a coaching staff comes in to develop a system that will accommodate their strengths and weaknesses.

I as well as others have been pretty hard on these kids to date, but why are so many of them seemingly not living up to our expectations? While it’s great on paper and for PR reasons to have a HOF coach and odds are the ship will be righted, but perhaps the issues here at this point in time are not all with the players.
 
Mean Gene said:
Jack , they have to win 5 of the last 7 to possibly do that. If one of those two losses is to Creighton at home then we will still have not one win against a ranked team. Look at these bubble teams in other major conferences, most of them have wins against ranked opponents. Some of them have multiple wins against ranked opponents. If we’re on the bubble I don’t think we are getting in unless we have a big run in the BET. We have blown all of our chances for signature wins.
Click to expand...
Read my post again. I’m not even talking about making the NCAA tournament. I’m just talking about avoiding wednesday at the BET. With three games left against DePaul/Georgetown, winning 4-5 games to end the year isn’t some gargantuan task you guys are making it out to be. Let’s win the 3 games where we will be the better team, split the PC/Hall games, and maybe that’ll be enough to avoid Wednesday at the BET. Not sure how it’ll play out
 
Our 3 biggest transfers on paper were Jenkins, Ledlum and Dingle. Only 1 has proved to be a consistent Big East starter. The ivy league guys haven’t. Ledlum plays his butt off but he’s just not a good offensive player. Dingle I don’t know what happened. Personally I think he’s probably not bought in to Ricks coaching but I don’t know that. Whatever the reason, Dingle has been a non factor.

The others guys have contributed about what we all expected. Luis if not for injury may be our top player but he’s still raw. He shows flashes but is far from a consistent product.

Then you got talented freshmen but nowadays true freshmen are going up against 23-24 year old
men. So it’s a different ballgame plus Rick clearly wants to win now so he’s not giving any freshmen outside of a lottery pick many minutes.

Overall the portal haul wasn’t bad but it definitely wasn’t top 25 good.
 
Besides a total overhaul not being ideal for a quick turnaround, and Pitino arrogantly assuming he could get Mid Major kids to compete in the BE, the third misjudgment he made was in bringing in older players that never won. Alleyne was 8th man on Championship team and Jenkins played in basically one competitive half of a tournament game.

This team has not looked well coached this year and that is a fact. Mostly resembles Mahoney teams. Some talent but with pieces that simply don’t fit.While I put the blame on the players, they are the guys Rick chose so ……..
 
Larry Wright said:
Besides a total overhaul not being ideal for a quick turnaround, and Pitino arrogantly assuming he could get Mid Major kids to compete in the BE, the third misjudgment he made was in bringing in older players that never won. Alleyne was 8th man on Championship team and Jenkins played in basically one competitive half of a tournament game.

This team has not looked well coached this year and that is a fact. Mostly resembles Mahoney teams. Some talent but with pieces that simply don’t fit.While I put the blame on the players, they are the guys Rick chose so ……..
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t go that far to compare this year to Mahoney’s team. Those teams were routinely blown out. We have been in most games. We battle pretty hard on the road besides Seton Hall which Rick didn’t coach. A few possessions away from a few more wins. But the results aren’t good enough.
 
SJUhoopNUT said:
I wouldn’t go that far to compare this year to Mahoney’s team. Those teams were routinely blown out. We have been in most games. We battle pretty hard on the road besides Seton Hall which Rick didn’t coach. A few possessions away from a few more wins. But the results aren’t good enough.
Click to expand...
Mahoney first year team was the best coaching job I have seen at ST John’s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top