(NCAA-WEST/Providence) #10 Arkansas, Sat., Mar. 22, 2:40p, CBS

redmannorth said:
Pitino job is to win games, no more , no less. It is not to be liked by the fan base. He is winning way more than any other coach at SJu in the last 40 years, and took over a complete you know what program. He has exceeded expectations by a country mile. And I would never call his decision stupid , nor does he owe any reporter or fan any answer. Is he perfect, I am sure not, but he owes no one any answers IMHO.
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1) Why does Pitino do a presser- which some people might consider giving reporters, and therefore fans, answers- after every game if its not part of his job? IT IS PART OF HIS JOB. He absolutely owes those answers and as a fan I have every right to be pissed if Mr. "your whole life is adversity, learn how to f***ing deal with it" doesn't practice what he preaches and explain a very controversial decision. Am I going to stop rooting for my alma mater over it? No. Does it make me not like him as a person? Yes.

2) You are free to not call his decision stupid. I did, and it was IMO

3) Not sure what the rest of that was all about, I said on balance I'm happy he's here

Onward!
 
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It is unlikely we will ever see a 30+ win season again in most of our lifetimes (Jack Williams excluded) but this season may have marked a turning point on both a national and local NY metro level.
We were reminded what a ranked St. John's team can do in NYC. I attended games with 20 plus people with only half having actually attended St. John's. As long as a "Pitino" is at the helm, we will be a Beast of a basketball program.
I expect 20+ wins every season we stay in the NIL market on a consistent basis.
I expect we will find better shooting players and an impact player added to next year's team. My money is we return to the dance with a better lead dancer and stay New York's team!
 
redmannorth said:
Not saying this rudely at all but I really suggest you rewatch the game. This was the RJ that did not know the word pass exists. He repeatedly drove into a group of defenders and turned the ball over, had a jump ball called or got off a piss poor shot. Some of the shots he took had a slim to zero chance of going in.
This game was lost between his ears.
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I believe Main Man is being satirical.
 
Not much to say on this one. Absolutely gutted by the loss. I've always felt like there was some inertia involved with winning and losing programs. Uconn showed us the winning side this tournament and we showed the losing end. Hopefully we've overcome the inertia of 20 years of losing with this trip.

It's horrible to lose with your best player only getting 16 minutes. That last foul was an easy no call. You have to be more aware as an official.

Pitino said all year not to count misses and then he pulls RJ for going 3-17? He barely missed most of those too. Practice what you preach, Coach. You live and you die with an All-American -- especially with Kadary out.

I am convinced we would have won with Kadary playing the last 4 minutes. He's so good. We were robbed.
 
Marillac2 said:
Not much to say on this one. Absolutely gutted by the loss. I've always felt like there was some inertia involved with winning and losing programs. Uconn showed us the winning side this tournament and we showed the losing end. Hopefully we've overcome the inertia of 20 years of losing with this trip.

It's horrible to lose with your best player only getting 16 minutes. That last foul was an easy no call. You have to be more aware as an official.

Pitino said all year not to count misses and then he pulls RJ for going 3-17? He barely missed most of those too. Practice what you preach, Coach. You live and you die with an All-American -- especially with Kadary out.

I am convinced we would have won with Kadary playing the last 4 minutes. He's so good. We were robbed.
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To me the Kadary fouls were the worst. I agree I think we win that game if he played his normal minutes and the end
 
Marillac2 said:
Not much to say on this one. Absolutely gutted by the loss. I've always felt like there was some inertia involved with winning and losing programs. Uconn showed us the winning side this tournament and we showed the losing end. Hopefully we've overcome the inertia of 20 years of losing with this trip.

It's horrible to lose with your best player only getting 16 minutes. That last foul was an easy no call. You have to be more aware as an official.

Pitino said all year not to count misses and then he pulls RJ for going 3-17? He barely missed most of those too. Practice what you preach, Coach. You live and you die with an All-American -- especially with Kadary out.

I am convinced we would have won with Kadary playing the last 4 minutes. He's so good. We were robbed.
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I don't think Pitino pulled RJ because he was missing the shots, I think it was because he was taking those shots (shots used very loosely here as a chunk of them were nothing more than just tossing the ball in the general direction of the basket) and forcing things that weren't there instead of moving the ball. I think if RJ had been 3-17 but all of those 17 shots came within the flow of the offense then he would have been on the floor at the end of the game.
 
MugCostanza said:
I don't think Pitino pulled RJ because he was missing the shots, I think it was because he was taking those shots (shots used very loosely here as a chunk of them were nothing more than just tossing the ball in the general direction of the basket) and forcing things that weren't there instead of moving the ball. I think if RJ had been 3-17 but all of those 17 shots came within the flow of the offense then he would have been on the floor at the end of the game.
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Kadary is the reason he gets good shots, though. Everyone knows that. With Kadary out, we lose any flow.
 
Marillac2 said:
Kadary is the reason he gets good shots, though. Everyone knows that. With Kadary out, we lose any flow.
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I disagree. RJ is one of the few players on the team who is capable of creating his own shot, both inside and outside. Kadary's strength is driving to the basket. He created for Zuby and without KR Zuby barely touched the ball.
That said, KD was a safe bet to be fouled because Cal knows he is a terrible foul shooter. His two misses at the line weren't even close.
Aaron Scott was a strong defender but also bricked two foul shots and shot 10 %.
Smith turned the ball over with no pressure after a Pitino time out and Arkansas smelled blood.
The only player who earned his NIL was Zuby.
As RMN alluded, our mental mistakes lost us the game. Some players, especially RJ, just didn't let Pitino's instructions penetrate their heads and played instinctively.
 
Rocket said:
I disagree. RJ is one of the few players on the team who is capable of creating his own shot, both inside and outside. Kadary's strength is driving to the basket. He created for Zuby and without KR Zuby barely touched the ball.
That said, KD was a safe bet to be fouled because Cal knows he is a terrible foul shooter. His two misses at the line weren't even close.
Aaron Scott was a strong defender but also bricked two foul shots and shot 10 %.
Smith turned the ball over with no pressure after a Pitino time out and Arkansas smelled blood.
The only player who earned his NIL was Zuby.
As RMN alluded, our mental mistakes lost us the game. Some players, especially RJ, just didn't let Pitino's instructions penetrate their heads and played instinctively.
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What shots does RJ create from the outside? Over 90% of his threes are off passes.
 
MugCostanza said:
I don't think Pitino pulled RJ because he was missing the shots, I think it was because he was taking those shots (shots used very loosely here as a chunk of them were nothing more than just tossing the ball in the general direction of the basket) and forcing things that weren't there instead of moving the ball. I think if RJ had been 3-17 but all of those 17 shots came within the flow of the offense then he would have been on the floor at the end of the game.
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I can see pulling him with 5 minutes left after he forced that terrible shot with Zuby in the post being covered by a dude w four fouls. They had already yanked him in the first half for the same stuff. He deserved to come out. I just figured they were going to light him up on the bench, tell him again to cut the crap and move the ball, then put him back in at the under 4 TO. I'm still gobsmacked 24+ hours later that he just left him on the bench. Unless it comes out the RJ went out and got hammered the night before the game or something, that's just coaching malpractice. For the life of me I can't understand it.
 
redmannorth said:
Is it possible to do better next year than this season, yes but highly improbable.
I could list thé factors that would have to occur for us to be better but they are too many and I am just too fatigued, upset and miserable to do so right now.
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Agreed that it is unlikely to go 31-5 again especially with a tougher OOC schedule. But I believe it is possible to be better prepared for March by diversifying the skill set with an improved roster, specifically with regard to outside shooting.
 
Rocket said:
It is unlikely we will ever see a 30+ win season again in most of our lifetimes (Jack Williams excluded) but this season may have marked a turning point on both a national and local NY metro level.
We were reminded what a ranked St. John's team can do in NYC. I attended games with 20 plus people with only half having actually attended St. John's. As long as a "Pitino" is at the helm, we will be a Beast of a basketball program.
I expect 20+ wins every season we stay in the NIL market on a consistent basis.
I expect we will find better shooting players and an impact player added to next year's team. My money is we return to the dance with a better lead dancer and stay New York's team!
Click to expand...
We were undoubtedly the cream of the crop in the Big East this season. Unfortunately it wasn't a bumper crop, but that's no knock on us. 30 wins is huge accomplishment. I gotta tell ya, as the regular season wound down and as we went in to the Big East Tourney, I honestly didn't care if we lost a game. I felt like maybe we needed to get a bad game out of our system before big dance. I'd never root for us to loose, obviously, but I felt then and feel even more so now, that a late season loss would have benefited us in the long run. Anyhow, that's water under the bridge.

Hopefully next season the conference is stronger, maybe we have a few less wins, but hopefully we are better prepared for a deep run come tourney time.
 
austour said:
Agreed that it is unlikely to go 31-5 again especially with a tougher OOC schedule. But I believe it is possible to be better prepared for March by diversifying the skill set with an improved roster, specifically with regard to outside shooting.
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Agreed.

May not show in the W/L column, but we will be a better team next season.

That is how things are going to shake out in Queens.

I also think the days of us shooting 28% from the field are gone.

An emphasis must be placed on guys who can shoot from three and the charity stripe. We leave too many points on the court.
 
Many posters have emphasized that Luis took poor shots, didn’t play within the offense, etc., etc.
What have you been watching for two years? This is a revelation, an epiphany to you finally? We all, including Pitino and staff, have seen this movie for that long, less this year but it was still clearly there. So THIS was the game and situation to deal with it?
There was poster criticism for Luis, mostly last year, but pretty much just aside comments occasionally this one.
NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, ever posted they thought Luis should be benched and someone has to explain to me why they agree that was the time and situation for Pitino to make his NO MORE stand because to me it was one of the most asinine, selfish coaching moves I have ever seen.
 
lawmanfan said:
You can always learn. But sometimes there are obstacles.

I was a pretty fair pianist in my youth. Had a natural talent for it. And as a result (and also because started very young) I never bothered with some of the discipline work like practicing scales.

Fast forward a dozen years or so and all that was really left for me to do was concert-level classical piano. Which I discovered I couldn't play because I hadn't done the work when I was young, and by then it was too late for me to break my bad habits (which nobody had corrected earlier because, well, I was good).

RJ learning how the game works and how to take advantage of the other players on the floor, make them better, let them make him better is a different challenge. But there may be an element of "I'm so good this way why do I have to do it the other way" in addition to an accrual of habits or a thought process that can be hard to break.

But he can always be a lawyer, that worked out ok for me.
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That's what you get for emulating Van Clibern rather than Jerry Lee Lewis.
 
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