Minnesota, Fri. Nov. 18, 9pm, BTN/570AM

This was a good game for our young team.  They played on the road against a big team with more muscle but could have pulled put a win had it not been for a few unforced turnovers and Malik Ellison 's poor play.  He took 6 shots which is 5 more than he should have taken.  His only role should have been to guard the Gopher's 6'8 guard who caused the biggest matchup problem in the game.  Add to his ineptitude Musso missing his 3 shots and this game is winnable. 
Bashir Ahmed, Ponds and Lovett were the only scoring threats and to the guy who said expecting Ponds and Lovett to score double figures was crazy, enjoy your crow this Thanksgiving because without them we lose by 25 points. Having watched Shamorie play in high school I knew he would be a talent above anyone we had last year and Marcus Lovett is a perfect complement to him.  Again we saw how raw Sima and Yakwe are offensively and where Brown and Clark will eventually be their respective replacements unless they develop more rapidly.  The new AD needs to hire a dedicated nutritionist for the basketball team because we looked malnourished compared to the Gophers.
We will lose a couple of more games but the experience will be valuable for Big East play where I think we will hold our own in most games. 
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It was me and I thought we'd "bring Ponds along". Not the case. Our guards are top tier. Everybody else is not. Right now it's Lovett, Ponds and a bunch of guys doing nothing. They can't be criticized as far as I'm concerned, 54 points, 5 assists and 10 Rebs among them. Rest of team has some searching to do.

Next season. Simon is moving into SF spot, and Clark and Bashir will man both SF/PF... I agree.
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Didn't mean to be critical but Shamorie is a pure talent as is Marcus. You don't bring talent on that level along slowly at a school like St. John's. Bashir will be fine ar SF but many were expecting better output from Yakwe and he is not as fluid around the basket as David Russell was as a sophomore. Clark has both an inside and outside game and will be a difference maker next year. Simon will be valuable against big guards which killed us tonight but not too many teams will have 6'8 guards as talented as we saw tonight. Coffey will be an NBA player in a couple of years.
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I don't mind at all. I was hoping they'd both average double figures. Just didn't want to expect it of our young guys. Truth is they're carrying us. Our incomplete team is showing now. We are literally a "Coffey" away from being a top 25 team. Our rebuild isn't quite complete yet, I can see that. I still think we will be quite good this season down the stretch. We are still amazingly young overall.

Clark and Simon are 4/5 star players. Their presence will be felt next season for sure. Both are wings, and big kids with multiple skills. If Zach Brown suits up, he will be a massive headache for teams because he's an aircraft carrier. Need to remind ourselves that this is still the beginning of a rebuild and we only lost by 6 to a solid Big Ten team on the road.

To put in perspective, Uconn is losing left and right to low majors.
 
Who on the staff can help Yawkee n Sima with their offensive games? Who coaches the bigs.... anyone know?
 
Odd stat; Minnesota gave up 21 offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded by St. John’s 54-41 overall.

On other hand SJU surrendered 23 breakaway points. Hard to overcome that.
 
Odd stat; Minnesota gave up 21 offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded by St. John’s 54-41 overall.

On other hand SJU surrendered 23 breakaway points. Hard to overcome that.
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the breakaways are the killer because it's guys being way the hell out of position and not hustling back
 
If this team actually played defense and made a commitment to it, we could win some games. Sadly, last year we didn't play any defense and so far this year in our first legit test we have not played any. Therefore I'm starting to think Mullin just doesn't stress or demand it, and that will be a problem going forward.

My other major issue is Yakwe. I agree with most that he's not playing anywhere near his potential. Looks slow, disinterested and flat. What happened to the kid I saw last year that had a motor?
 
we need to be able to push the ball and get Yakwe going in transition. When Shockey was on the Giants they used to try and get him involved early or else he would fade out. Maybe not the same thing but think Yakwe would benefit from a couple of early buckets for concentration
 
At least wasju will have adequate material for Freudenberg, Mussini
jokes for a week or so. :)
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Did not see the game so only commenting from box score - Freudenberg played 4 minutes and took no shots, Mussini was 0-3 in 19 minutes. Usually not a good situation when your point guard takes a third of your shots. Have to watch tomorrow to get a real opinion of the game, especially the D.
 
Everybody needs to come down from the cliff
We lost one game, our first on the road, against a decent opponent
We have a very young team, half of which never played a D-1 road game before
This year will feel like being in an elevator - lots of ups and downs
This one was a downer because, despite our shortcomings, we had a chance to win
The staff and team will learn from this experience and move forward
The future is still very bright - we have a lot of talent now and more on the horizon
Give it time - we'll be just fine!!
 
They fought back on the road against a decent big ten team. If the gophers don't hit all their foul shots down the stretch we're celebrating a big comeback win.

I'm looking forward to the next game and to a promising season knowing that this young team will lose more than it will win.
 
At least wasju will have adequate material for Freudenberg, Mussini
jokes for a week or so. :)
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Did not see the game so only commenting from box score - Freudenberg played 4 minutes and took no shots, Mussini was 0-3 in 19 minutes. Usually not a good situation when your point guard takes a third of your shots. Have to watch tomorrow to get a real opinion of the game, especially the D.
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Like last yr no perimeter defense,Helter skelter . Yes we hit boards but forgot to keep someone back to protect Fast breaks which killed us Coffey scores I think 36 but Lovett scored 31 we out rebounded them problem none of the big men have an offensive game Yes we could have beat this team if our bench scores collectively more than 7 pts It will be a tough yr but I hope we can win 1/2 our big east games but that might be asking too much
 
I agree with what someone said earlier about this being an exciting 15-win team. I think we all got a sense of how special the LoVett/Ponds backcourt is and got a little ahead of ourselves. Sure this was a disappointing loss because it felt like a winnable game but I love that they battled back. LoVett has that special, unteachable killer instinct. You can tell he's a winner. Ponds, the skinny freshman is somehow our best rebounder and seems remarkably confident and calm under pressure. It'll be an up and down year but as long as Lovett doesn't get a big head and try to be a 6ft one and done player, things are going to get very interesting down the road with this backcourt. Young teams are gonna lose games like this. We'll probably steal a couple games we're not expecting to win and lose a few we're not expecting to lose. Just how it goes when you lean on freshman I think.

I"m a huge Yakwe fan and still think he's gonna be special for us. Owens has surprised me a lot by having a decent offensive skill set. Sima's potential remains exciting. That being said ALL of these guys are way behind where they need to be defensively. I know they can't pack on pounds overnight but if they can't beef up they need to toughen up. They really got bullied last night. They have to stop hunting for the highlight blocks. We all love the swats but learning how to stop guys by playing straight up is vital otherwise these guys are going to be in foul trouble and also out of position for rebounds all year. This is fundamental defense for big men. Anyone who has played or coached even middle school basketball knows this. They're all long and athletic so they know what they're capable of and go for the big highlight but it's selfish. Good defense has to be it's own reward. You have to feel just as good about your teammate grabbing a rebound off a miss or forcing a shot clock violation as you do smacking the ball into the third row.
 
Good game for the coaches to evaluate and adjust. I'd be more concerned if this was a game played later in the season. Still a young team with much to learn and improve upon. Let's see how this team adjusts defensively. I still think we'll surprise some teams.
 
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