MICHIGAN (@MSG), Mon., Nov. 13, 6:30p, FS-1

Jack Williams said:
I’ve always found the concept of “you need to GO to the game to be a real fan” silly.

Like you mentioned, there’s a million different reasons someone could not attend a game.

Anyone who watches this team on TV and actually cares about the direction of the team is just as much of a fan as people who go to games.

I probably went to over 50 games during my 4 years at St. John’s. Before that? I watched the team religiously on tv because I grew up in Delaware. I wasn’t any less of a fan those years as I am now.

No one should be made to feel like less of a fan for not physically being at the game. That’s wacky
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You've been a great fan since your high school days when we would break your balls and claim you were thirty.
Now you are writing like you are one of the septuagenarians here.😉
 
paultzman said:
And Drissa getting more of his minutes makes me wonder if Zuby is in Rick’s dog house. Practice issues maybe?
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Drissa has been busting his ass in practice from day one. Pitino loves that in his players. Unfortunately, he lacks the skills for that many minutes at this level.
I expect their roles to reverse as soon as conference play begins.
Drissa is getting the experience that he will need for those 6-8 minutes of Big East play.
 
Refreshing to hear Pitino blame the offense as much, if not more so, than the defense, after the game.

After a game like this, Anderson would usually blame the defense, and say all other problems would take care of itself, if the D were better. That used to tick me off to no end.
 
swish said:
Face reality !
They are still learning to live with each other.

This is a young team.
They will be better.
If we strongly support them they will be that much better
and sooner.
All the way guys, not just the good games.
That's a fan with character.
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It’s not a young team it starts 3 or 4 5th year players. It’s a team that hasn’t played together long. I understand the lack of gelling. I don’t so much understand the lack of BB IQ, defensive intensity or BB fundamentals.
 
I think Rick targeted Zuby because you essentially lock him in for three years due to the transfer rules. But I do wonder if a Lendeborg gives much more in year one. I assume Slazinski would have also given more, but it is what it is.

It's clear we need scoring so Dingle needs to be the guy. I can live with him being a statue on D if he scores 20 a game. I watched Luke Ridnour statue his way to an Elite Eight. Of course he had Luke Jackson, but I digress.

Rotation shrinks significantly a few games into Luis' return.

That's pretty much all I got.
 
Will need Wilcher to come along because he was the only guard who had a chance to stay with their PG who was quick af. Jenkins and Dingle struggled to contain him. Jenkins tries hard on D not worried about him but Dingle is either slow on D or has a low motor so far. Soriano will have to play heavy minutes there is not a lot of depth up front. He’s in great shape and it looks like he knows he has to pace himself 2 games in.

Zuby/Drissa look like guys who lack live reps up to this point; one of them will have to win the backup C job. Ledlum is a 3 on offense and a 4 on D. He has struggled to finish inside so far but he does stretch the floor and can pump fake take two dribbles and make a play. Needs to just play within himself and be a glue guy who plays tough and knock down shots. Luis will start at the 3 but he’ll have to play as many minutes as he possibly can at the 4 too imo.

I could see later in the season where Jenkins Wilcher Taylor Luis Soriano is the closing lineup for defensive purposes. Soriano struggles with speed so 4 out could help him stay home more often at the rim. Also I like Conway he played tough and hustled out there I think he’ll carve out some type of role for himself. Overall looked like a team that was completely new and needs to develop more chemistry and communication.
 
Here’s my biggest issue. It’s 5:40 in the AM and I can’t sleep. Once again I became a victim of all the hype, Rick Pitino, the greatest coach in hoops history has come to resurrect the program. We have a star studded roster etc. etc. etc. it was easy to get caught up in it especially after Pitino said “St John’s will be back and it’s going to happen fast”.

Instead of taking a wait and see approach ( which woukd have been prudent) I was all in. Wearing my St. John’s gear around town, telling friends, family and acquaintances alike that this year was going to be different, the Johnnies were back. Then bang, the team gets pummeled and was no match for an unranked Michigan team filled with many transfers as well in as Looie would say “ Macys Window”

Of course it’s early in the season and by Pitinos track record things will get better but there are some concerns that stood out to me and some even coach Pitino pointed out. What’s the excuse for poor decision making when your team is comprised of several successful 5th year seniors? How did the team do worse in the second half after half time adjustments were made and clearly , as Pitino indicated our front court depth may be an issue going forward.

Again it’s too early in the season to pass judgement and things will most likely get better but for me, lesson learned. I will keep my mouth shut and enthusiasm to myself until the results on the court warrant otherwise. On to Charleston.
 
Post Mortem -
So after the disappointment dissipated and the adrenaline wore off, some thoughts:

I know everyone loves to post about Pitino making guys NBA ready but the fact is Pitino’s legacy lies in his ability to make the total greater than the sum of the parts, namely building teams. It would appear he has a huge challenge in front of him but this is his forte, so we’ll see.

After what I felt was way less than “leave it all on the court” effort, hopefully the players will look in the mirror and realize there needs to be more. The lack of any on the court leadership when things got tough concerns me greatly; not anyone from a very experienced group of players seemed to step up to exhibit some toughness, some “this isn’t happening while I’m on the court” assertiveness. Like I said several times, the team seemed intent on winning on offense and they are nowhere near talented enough for that.

I agree 100% with Pitino’s comments about not moving the ball on offense but the defense getting shredded the entire game was for me, the most alarming aspect of the game. Lackluster helter skelter double teaming with no rotations was a trademark of CMA‘s teams and boy, did I feel I was watching that same nonsense last night. Rotating on defense to the next pass when doubling should be instinctive for these experienced players, not something that still needs to be taught. It is all about commitment, focus and effort and I just did not see it.

As for the players, I wouldn’t grade a single one of them higher then a C so I really have nothing positive in that area and it is way too early for me to be critiquing them.

So, we shall see going forward whether the game was an aberration or, to paraphrase Monte, Pitino did the best he could last minute piecing together the best of the available mid-major talent and we have to live with a longer rebuild than hoped for. Bottom line, no doubt in my mind we have the coach to accomplish it; IMO, it is just a matter of the time line.
 
You can believe that player A is really a 2 and player B should be the 3 for more time etc etc etc

But the reality of it is Pitino brought Jenkins in to start, play the pick and roll and mentor Wilcher. That’s not changing. We’re seeing it early but Ledlum looks like he’s the barometer for the team. How he goes we go. Pitino/Masiello were REALLY on him when he came out. I was across from the bench and he got an earful a few times.

When Luis comes back, look for him to be the go to guy for the second team. Alleyne hasn’t looked comfortable since Dingle came back.

Pitino is a master at hiding a weakness so he’ll figure out how to get the most outta the 4 spot and Drissa. Baptism by fire this year for him and Zuby. They’ll have to play and contribute. Maybe I’m blind but I liked the effort from Zuby and Drissa last night.
 
Very disappointed with the defense. Seemed like we were a step behind all night. Way too many ba k door layups. Offense seemed rushed and hurried. Crisp passing but again judg seemed slow . This is no young team as alluded to by some. This is a veteran team that was thrust together pretty quickly. And I think a good job was done in putting a team together in a very small window. And yes they haven't played games together but they've been practicing together for several months. Overall, if we didn't have RP and his high energy approach I'd be inclined to say same old story. But I'm counting RP and staff to grind us forward and raise us to the level it's been reported we are at.
 
Extremely disappointing. They didn’t need to win but it felt important to see them come out and be competitive. The front court depth is a glaring issue right now. The defense was problematic. They let their struggles on defense affect their offense. They have too many shooters for any one of these guys to play hero ball. The ball needs to move. Ledlum and Jenkins seemed like the biggest offenders there. You’d think this team is veteran enough to not fall into that trap but the reality is the starters are essentially a team of mid-major all stars that are going to need to buy into team ball on both sides of the floor to have a successful season at the high major level.

The positives for me were all off the court…

-The fans showed up (making it more unfortunate that the team didn’t)

-A blowout can be a wake up call. This team had a lot of hype around them based on who the coach was rather than anything they’ve actually done on the court. Might be good for that to die down. They won’t be talked about the same way again unless they start winning.

-Rick Pitino’s post game comments were refreshing. He didn’t try to make his team feel good or dress it up. He saw the issues and he’s going to adresss them. He’s not playing for another job, he wants to win.

Hopefully the ass kicking serves them well heading into Charleston.
 
Guys this team blew Marquette off the floor in a scrimmage. There were at least 2 incidents where players ran into each other and were knocked to the floor. This will take some time. I was disappointed in this game as well but the over reaction to this game is amazing!!
 
I loved Posh as much as everyone else, one of my favorite St Johns players. But just remember how many poor games he had last season. It was rough to watch at times. Him being on the team last night would have made little difference.
 
Notanalum said:
You can believe that player A is really a 2 and player B should be the 3 for more time etc etc etc

But the reality of it is Pitino brought Jenkins in to start, play the pick and roll and mentor Wilcher. That’s not changing. We’re seeing it early but Ledlum looks like he’s the barometer for the team. How he goes we go. Pitino/Masiello were REALLY on him when he came out. I was across from the bench and he got an earful a few times.

When Luis comes back, look for him to be the go to guy for the second team. Alleyne hasn’t looked comfortable since Dingle came back.

Pitino is a master at hiding a weakness so he’ll figure out how to get the most outta the 4 spot and Drissa. Baptism by fire this year for him and Zuby. They’ll have to play and contribute. Maybe I’m blind but I liked the effort from Zuby and Drissa last night.
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The effort was definitely there from both Zuby and Drissa, that's not the problem. The problem is that neither are capable of giving us significant minutes right now. Hopefully either or both will be at some point this season.
 
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