Merrimack, Mon., Nov. 7, 6:45p, FS-1

SJU61982 said:
It was frustrating, but still a 25-point win over a team that's picked to win their conference (OK, it's one of the worst conferences in America, but somebody has to be the best team).

The bench players were a disappointment tonight. They were responsible for a lot of those sloppy possessions, especially in the second half. No one came off the bench with any confidence, except Stanley, who looked too pumped up.

Too much overpassing. I know we want to share the ball, but there were many possessions where I thought we passed up good looks, and got nothing out of it.

For the most part, the starters played well. Good move by Anderson going back to them, when Merrimack made a bit of a run in the second half. Those guys not only stabilized things, but allowed us to pull away, again.

Turnovers and overpassing were the big negatives, along with too much woofing by our guys.

Biggest positives were Jones, Mathis, our +21 rebounding advantage (yes, Merrimack was small, but small teams have hung with us on the boards in the past), and 13-15 foul shooting (and Curbelo missed the last one - game was long over by then), though I don't like Merrimack getting 7 more attempts than us.
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positives. Good atmosphere for game 1. Great to see Jones play well

just cannot remember in my 40 yrs watching 29 turnovers. Hope an anomaly
 
We played down to lower competition, and that's pretty common. 75% of those passes would never even be attempted in a Big East game. Some fundamental things still bother me - wide open 3's on the wings on transitions. Doesn't matter if it's Merrimack or Marquette, it's been a major issue since Anderson arrived. Big East teams will make those same open 3's that Merrimack missed. Free throws were great, rebounding has improved, depth is incredible.
 
stjohnschris said:
We played down to lower competition, and that's pretty common. 75% of those passes would never even be attempted in a Big East game. Some fundamental things still bother me - wide open 3's on the wings on transitions. Doesn't matter if it's Merrimack or Marquette, it's been a major issue since Anderson arrived. Big East teams will make those same open 3's that Merrimack missed. Free throws were great, rebounding has improved, depth is incredible.
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Agree. Great to see them hit there free throws
wide open threes been going with Anderson
 
Andrew said:
In regard to Curbelo, he looked more like his Freshman season. The turnovers will always be there but he also makes some great plays. He shot 5-7 today with 14 points and 7 assists.
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Don't want those turnovers surfacing at the worst possible time though. Hope he's able to cut them a little.
 
One big issue that still plagues the Anderson regime is the inability of the team to recover defensively after full court pressure. Good teams will hit those wide open threes.

Also I thought the overall defense was poor. Sure Pish and Curbelo had steals but their straight up D on their 6’4” forsh PG who had like 21 points was pretty poor.

While Jones played very well, shouldn’t this be the type of game where an improved Soriano should dominate?
 
Johnny Rapper said:
Agree, in a closely contested Big East contest that could come back to haunt this team. In this game it means little against this competition.
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I hope the player in him will make him play proper hoops. That and the coaching. Coaches still know how to sit a player down.
 
We are going to turn the ball over a TON this year. Best if we prepare ourselves for it. With Posh and Curbelo out there it’s going to happen. Just enjoy the ride.
 
Whats up everyone? Good to be back. Haven't been on here much in the offseason. That Villanova BET loss broke me for awhile and I didn't have much to say about our Johnnies.

Watched the game last night. Have some thoughts. Don't know if I like Curbelo for this team. The perfect guard to place next to Posh is someone more like Pinzon. Someone with a bit of a smoother game to offset Posh's craziness (I say craziness in the best possible way). It'll be a long season and maybe I will grow to like Belo. But I was not a fan of the flashiness. Posh plays fast but also can be in control at the same time. Curbelo did not really show me that.

As for positives. Mentioned him already, think Pinzon will be huge for us this year. He is really skilled. Not flashy but a good head on his shoulders.

David Jones looks like the exact kind of replacement we needed after losing Champ. A guy who can score from anywhere, that jumper looks smooth.

Soriano looks more in shape. The battle with him all year will be whether he can stay out of foul trouble.

Overall I am excited for the season. I mean there are gonna be games where we all just wanna shut the tv off because of bad turnovers, but there are also gonna be games where we have the other team in absolute hell.

It'll be interesting to see as the year goes on if Mike A can get this squad playing under more control. Hopefully by Jan/Feb we are humming along and can use "controlled chaos" on other teams.

P.S. - I live real close to Barclays. Will be attending the Temple game. Let me know if anyone else is going and wants to say hello! GO JOHNNIES
 
if you go by his stat line, Mathis was the best player on the floor last night. Also, I have noticed in preseason games as well as last night’s opener that his teammates are looking to get him the ball for shots from downtown. They must have seen something in practice that inspires that trust.

Biggest head scratcher from last night? Keita getting more minutes than Nyiwe.
 
I was very impressed with Jones...maybe he'll be the shooter we so desperately need. Curbelo looked spectacular at times and way out of control in other moments. I'll write that off as first game jitters in front of the home crowd (hopefully). Posh & Mathis were rock solid...Pinzon had his flashes too. Stanley, who I have high hopes for, was disappointing.
 
Post game comments by Zach of the N.Y. Post:



1) Surprised Rafael Pinzon saw most minutes of any of the reserves. St. John’s clearly needs his shot-making, though


2) Thought Posh and Curbelo functioned well together. Yes, they had a combined 10 turnovers, but that wasn’t due to spacing issues

It was mostly careless mistakes that can be fixed


3) David Jones is a great fit. He may be the team’s best 3 point shooter, he can really attack the basket and he is a willing passer, as evidenced by his 4 assists


4) Three point defense is an issue. Merrimack missed a ton of wide open looks


5) Thought St. John’s looked great in spurts and poor in others.

Very much an up and down performance.

The team will be really fun in transition

And i think the two guards can really help improve the half court offense


6 ) Curbelo’s shot looked good tonight. He hit a 3 and a few medium range jumpers.

That’s important for his confidence

7) I would not take too much from this game. Merrimack was overwhelmed from a talent standpoint.

Lafayette, which gave Miami trouble, is next on Saturday
 
fat johnnie said:
if you go by his stat line, Mathis was the best player on the floor last night. Also, I have noticed in preseason games as well as last night’s opener that his teammates are looking to get him the ball for shots from downtown. They must have seen something in practice that inspires that trust.

Biggest head scratcher from last night? Keita getting more minutes than Nyiwe.
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Keita didn't come in until the very end.

Nyiwe sat out the exhibition games due to injury. He might not be 100%.
 
SJU61982 said:
Keita didn't come in until the very end.

Nyiwe sat out the exhibition games due to injury. He might not be 100%.
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Ok, thanks for the info because I am looking forward to seeing how Nyiwe has progressed from last year, especially considering the high praise he got from CMA. I’m expecting to see him step up this year.
 
Most high major teams play games against local "cupcakes" but, in reality, they don't help us get better nor do these wins help us build a resume worthy of NCAA consideration. As CMA said, we got very sloppy after building a big lead. We made enough turnovers to fill a bakery counter.

I would much rather see us play better competition to really prepare us for the wars ahead in the Big East. Playing the Merrimack's of the world just doesn't cut it and is a waste of time. IMO, the only benefit is that it gets the guys at the end of the bench some experience playing in a real game situation in case they are needed down the road.
 
Made out to the game, for the first half atleast... 2 things:
1. WTF was that feedback noise? Like C'mon guys... makes me think they didnt do a dry-run testing music/replays etc... I'm not normally petty, but someone in the athletic dept should issue a statement- that was terrible

2. Curbelo... gotta let him cook... that's how you get the best version of him. If you try and reign a player like that in, i think they will play worse- tentative/2nd guessing/etc... The staff knew what they were signing up for- and hopefully the positive plays outweigh the negative.

Ok- a 3rd...
3. Posh... wow... his volleyball spike block off the glass... from my vantage point looked like his hand was by the top of the square. Last SJU player i saw jump that high was Balamou getting an offensive rebound lol
 
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