Ouch! CBS Sports writer picks St.John's to finish

[SJU61982]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

 

[redfan259999888]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I guess he didn't know that our best didn't from last year, who would have been our floor general.
We have a few nice pieces added to the team as well.

Oh well, we'll see what that got in less then a month.
They're gonna make this guy look pretty stupid or smart, stay tuned.

 

[usguard]

I agree with the lack of defense at times. I don't think it was all the time, as a lot of opponents points came of all of the turnovers we committed.

With the addition of Ponds and Lovett we have dramatically improved our backcourt. Mussini hopefully gets more consistent with his 3 point shooting and Ellison being healthy is key as we need his height at times. The inproved backcourt should result in significant improvement as we should get more baskets off turnovers and turn it over less ourselves

It is our front court that concerns me more. I think Ahmed is a key player this year. If he is substantially better than Johnson/Mvouika that will go a long way to being more competitive. Yawke has a ton of talent but I still expect most of his points to come on tip ins and fast breakbdunks. Freudenberg gives us an option we did not have last year. Sima will hopefully improve a little and Owens as a backup might help. Anything from Amar or Darien would be bonus.

As for coaching, I think it's overrated. The best coaches will get a little more out of their teams and the worst ones a little less, while most teams will perform to the level of their talent. I do think it makes more of a difference when you get to a tournament situation.

We need to win at least six conference games to show real improvement. Of course how competitive we are in games matters almost as much as how many we win.

Frankly, the defense thing is so taken out of context it is comical. A last minute literally thrown together, minus any point guard, undersized, unbelievably inexperienced, slow, turnover prone, poor shooting team hung at times with some of the best teams in the country; in several cases making comebacks to get back into games they had no business even competing in from a talent standpoint. That they did it while playing NO defense just boggles the mind. Surprised more aren't demanding a national championship or Mullin's head now that we have some talent. Again or still, this board disproves the myth of the sophisticated NY sports fan.

Anyone who pays attentions to the final score as a measure of how well a team performs really doesn't understand basketball. Good teams control the outcome more than they control the margin of victory, often playing down to an inferior opponent until it counts. Without fail (pun intended) last year's squad folded in the last couple of minutes in every close conference game they played, failing to make key stops, get key rebounds, or score key baskets. Except for catching lightning in a bottle at home vs. Syracuse, they collapsed every single game at the end, where basketball outcomes are established. You think they hung in because they played tough, I say it was because better teams toyed with them and played down to our level. Our own great SJU teams of the past routinely would be seemingly involved in close games in the final minutes against horrific opponents, only to pile it on in the last few minutes to safely escape with wins.

Thats called bad coaching. Played plenty of BB never thought to play down if anything it was a time to add to your ppg.your rebounds , inc your foul shooting % The coach lights the fire and see that the fire stays lit from start to finish. If you are really overly talented than most teams will not run the score thus thinking they are playing down MO

 

[beast of the east]

I agree with the lack of defense at times. I don't think it was all the time, as a lot of opponents points came of all of the turnovers we committed.

With the addition of Ponds and Lovett we have dramatically improved our backcourt. Mussini hopefully gets more consistent with his 3 point shooting and Ellison being healthy is key as we need his height at times. The inproved backcourt should result in significant improvement as we should get more baskets off turnovers and turn it over less ourselves

It is our front court that concerns me more. I think Ahmed is a key player this year. If he is substantially better than Johnson/Mvouika that will go a long way to being more competitive. Yawke has a ton of talent but I still expect most of his points to come on tip ins and fast breakbdunks. Freudenberg gives us an option we did not have last year. Sima will hopefully improve a little and Owens as a backup might help. Anything from Amar or Darien would be bonus.

As for coaching, I think it's overrated. The best coaches will get a little more out of their teams and the worst ones a little less, while most teams will perform to the level of their talent. I do think it makes more of a difference when you get to a tournament situation.

We need to win at least six conference games to show real improvement. Of course how competitive we are in games matters almost as much as how many we win.

Frankly, the defense thing is so taken out of context it is comical. A last minute literally thrown together, minus any point guard, undersized, unbelievably inexperienced, slow, turnover prone, poor shooting team hung at times with some of the best teams in the country; in several cases making comebacks to get back into games they had no business even competing in from a talent standpoint. That they did it while playing NO defense just boggles the mind. Surprised more aren't demanding a national championship or Mullin's head now that we have some talent. Again or still, this board disproves the myth of the sophisticated NY sports fan.

Anyone who pays attentions to the final score as a measure of how well a team performs really doesn't understand basketball. Good teams control the outcome more than they control the margin of victory, often playing down to an inferior opponent until it counts. Without fail (pun intended) last year's squad folded in the last couple of minutes in every close conference game they played, failing to make key stops, get key rebounds, or score key baskets. Except for catching lightning in a bottle at home vs. Syracuse, they collapsed every single game at the end, where basketball outcomes are established. You think they hung in because they played tough, I say it was because better teams toyed with them and played down to our level. Our own great SJU teams of the past routinely would be seemingly involved in close games in the final minutes against horrific opponents, only to pile it on in the last few minutes to safely escape with wins.

Thats called bad coaching. Played plenty of BB never thought to play down if anything it was a time to add to your ppg.your rebounds , inc your foul shooting % The coach lights the fire and see that the fire stays lit from start to finish. If you are really overly talented than most teams will not run the score thus thinking they are playing down MO

Usually not intentional.

 

[billthetruth]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I understand Rome was not built in a day, but I think some people outside the program are going to be surprised how big of an impact Marcus Lovett is going to have on this team.

When you have a competent point guard, it can mask a lot of the growing pains that come with such a young team.

 

[billthetruth]

I think Mussini will carve out a nice off the bench role on this team and will hit a few clutch 3s for us with less ball handling responsibilities, but last year our PG play was brutal. Should improve by light years this year.

 

[we are sju]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I understand Rome was not built in a day, but I think some people outside the program are going to be surprised how big of an impact Marcus Lovett is going to have on this team.

When you have a competent point guard, it can mask a lot of the growing pains that come with such a young team.

Lovett most important player w/o a doubt. We are probably going to be much worse record wise than most on here will be willing to accept. If Lovett is the real deal though, the offense will be much better and even if we lose more than half our games, an entertaining offense will go a long way to keeping the the wolves at bay and will buy the coaching staff some time to continue to get better players.

 

[Knight]

Better D and improved FT shooting and we will shock many so called experts. As for me, I remain hopeful that the team play improvement will be exceeded by the coaching improvement now that the dead wood has been trimmed.

 

[redken]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I understand Rome was not built in a day, but I think some people outside the program are going to be surprised how big of an impact Marcus Lovett is going to have on this team.

When you have a competent point guard, it can mask a lot of the growing pains that come with such a young team.

No doubt, but our young point guard is most likely going to have his own fair share of growing pains.

 

[beast of the east]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I understand Rome was not built in a day, but I think some people outside the program are going to be surprised how big of an impact Marcus Lovett is going to have on this team.

When you have a competent point guard, it can mask a lot of the growing pains that come with such a young team.

A great point guard (not a combo, mind you) is like going to the theatre and hearing the orchestra warm up. The conductor taps his baton, and all of a sudden, beautiful, coordinated, symphonic music results as the conductor directs all the activity. When players play with a guy like that, they begin to learn the signals, when to cut, when to flash, when to get out of the way. If Lovett is THAT good, or merely very good, there will be substantial improvement over last year, where Mussini should have been given a medal for simply bringing the ball up under pressure competently as he was playing way out of position at the highest level he's ever played.

 

[MarkRedman]

CHRIS MULLIN WAS RECRUITED BY VIRGINIA...LIKED THEIR HISTORIC CAMPUS.. IT WAS A CLOSE CALL...HE PLAYED IN THE ERA OF THE 2 POINT SHOT.. GOD KNOWS WHAT HIS AVERAGE WOULD BE ON LAST YEARS TEAM,OR THIS YEARS..

Why are you yelling?
Mullin has said that, had Coach K gotten things going earlier, he might have gone to Puke
Same was true for Bill Wennington

 

[Red.Fans]

re: PG here is a nice sign of hope. the result of Ponds going up against the #1 PG recruit who has 5 inches on him (wasn't all head to head but Ponds scored 40):



and for fun Lovett's senior year mixtape from ballisife:

 

[JohnnyFan]

CHRIS MULLIN WAS RECRUITED BY VIRGINIA...LIKED THEIR HISTORIC CAMPUS.. IT WAS A CLOSE CALL...HE PLAYED IN THE ERA OF THE 2 POINT SHOT.. GOD KNOWS WHAT HIS AVERAGE WOULD BE ON LAST YEARS TEAM,OR THIS YEARS..

Here's a tip, and I could be way off on this. Most people prefer not to read text that is in all caps.

 

[beast of the east]

Btw, a former esteemed poster with big horns living on Elba called me collect & noted after perceived best four teams listed, the rest are in alphabetical order. He's right. We're out of the basement!

Boy this post came just in time. I was about to slit my wrists. :dry:

Not that I want you to do that, but you can start sliting. Here are his official overall win projections:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...-big-east-team-xavier-will-be-on-novas-heels/
St. John's Red Storm: 12
The Johnnies will probably have the freshman of the year in Shamorie Ponds, but I don't see how this team is suddenly able to score and be efficient in a matter of months after having far and away the worst offense in the league last season. It's going to take time. St. John's won one league game last year. I think it will triple that.

I understand Rome was not built in a day, but I think some people outside the program are going to be surprised how big of an impact Marcus Lovett is going to have on this team.

When you have a competent point guard, it can mask a lot of the growing pains that come with such a young team.

A great point guard (not a combo, mind you) is like going to the theatre and hearing the orchestra warm up. The conductor taps his baton, and all of a sudden, beautiful, coordinated, symphonic music results as the conductor directs all the activity. When players play with a guy like that, they begin to learn the signals, when to cut, when to flash, when to get out of the way. If Lovett is THAT good, or merely very good, there will be substantial improvement over last year, where Mussini should have been given a medal for simply bringing the ball up under pressure competently as he was playing way out of position at the highest level he's ever played.

Mullin is a good, decent, and loyal guy. He immediately saw the goodness, honesty, and loyalty of Looie even as a 14 year old when Looie told him he would go to St. John's one day and be a star here. Despite all the big time interest in Mullin, Chris never forgot Looie's kindness and goodness, and that is the type of loyalty that causes me to root shamelessly for Mullin even as I criticize his first year here. I honestly don't think any other school had a fighting chance to land Mullin, because to Mullin, nothing could really compare to Looie and St. John's. THAT is the reason he belongs here forever if he can win a little.

 

[mjmaherjr]

Think of the preseason poll like a blind date. You are better off having lower exceptions and then pleasantly being surprised.

Worst case if the date is as bad as can possibly be expected you have your phone and can get a friend to call you and bail you out of the date

If the season goes as bad as some of these experts you can always make an excuse to leave early to catch a train like Paultz and me

 

[stjohnschris]

The writer has a general handle on the SJU bullet points, but it's not exactly an informed paragraph of a season prediction. We've proven nothing, so we are cut zero slack, no problem. We won one BE game last year, so I completely understand any sportswriter who pencils us into the basement. Besides, it will give them something to write about in a few years when we are literally on top.

 

[redknight]

Lovett will be the best PG in the Big East and the Johnnies will finish in the top half of the Big East.

 

[paultzman]

#122 on CBS poll fwiw, lower than Iona btw.

 

[fuchsia]

Big ifs but for the first time in a long time I see the possibility of STJ as a structurally sound team, BE caliber bigs to get the ball and clog the middle, a plus point guard, and an assortment of offensive potential. If the defense steps up and Bashir and Ponds are nightmares for other teams to defend, the potential is far higher than we have been discussing. Those two HoF players on our bench radiate an attitude of "we can do this". They can both learn lots more about coaching but there are no other teams out there with coaches who communicate more by who they are as opposed to what they do.

 

[Eric]

hope vegas thinks we stink too...so I can win both with the points and money lines this year........bet st johns this year and you will win a lot of money.....hope we are big underdogs all year....ill reap the benefits