(POST GAME ) #16 Arizona (Chase Ctr), Sat. Dec. 21, 10p, ESPN-2, 970 WNYW

Just recovering from listening to Walton and Pasch last night. Almost turned the soud off. What's up with announcer Pasch's comment in the second half., "Arizona has to start clawing its way back. Let's go." A little West Coast bias?
We have finally secured a coach, Anderson is a winner.And to think he was our third or fourth choice. Someone who knows how to adjust. Just look at the second half - we go to a match up zone to force Arizona to shoot outside, after all they scored most of their points in the paint.
Playing everyone has certainly payed off, Sears played his best game and once again our back court duo were key players in our offense and defense.In the first half we looked like the ranked team.Walton kept saying we were slowing down our offense in the second half. Did he not see how tired we looked?
I don't care what record we finish this year , win or lose Coach Anderson should get an extension. Third or fourth choice wow!
 
Last edited:
[quote="otis" post=369073]Oh What a Day !!

* Villanova defeated #1 Kansas 56-55
* Providence crushed Texas 70-48
* Butler downed Purdue 70-61
*Creighton beat Arizona State 67-60
* DePaul over inter state rival Northwestern 83-78
* Georgetown stomped Samford 99-71
* St. John's out worked #16 Arizona 70-67
————

Kenpom now has the Big East as the #3 Conference behind the Big 10 and Big 12 and ahead of the ACC, Southeast, PAC 12.

————

Kenpom now projects StJohn’s to finish with a regular season record of 17 wins and 14 losses being 6 & 12 in conference. The sometimes accurate computer rankings started StJohns with a losing record of something like 12 wins and 19 losses and 2 and 16 in conference.
——————

The good news is that good guy Coach Mike Anderson will very likely preserve his distinction of never having a season with a losing record which no one would have bet on before the season started

————[/quote]

"Kenpom now has the Big East as the #3 Conference behind the Big 10 and Big 12 and ahead of the ACC, Southeast, PAC 12."

We're 8-8 vs B1G, and 10-3 vs the B12
 
[quote="dee" post=369071][quote="CMA TIME" post=368998][quote="Jack Williams" post=368992]I’m blown away right now.

Extend Mike Anderson right now I don’t even care what his contract is[/quote]

cma is a blessing to SJU.[/quote]

I am impressed and surprised. Anderson seems to be a good game coach so far. Let's see how things develop in big east competition[/quote]

Glad to see you back again.:dry: B)
 
Watching Sears and Earlington you can sense someone who really knows how to coach power forward low post footwork has been let loose in our practices.
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=369098][quote="Steve Knortz" post=369055]Missed the game, but curious about how Steere played. Does he look like he will contribute this season?[/quote] I think you guys can watch the repeat on ESPN 3. Steere was disappointing IMO and didn’t get much burn, will see how he adjusts to real games.[/quote]
I’ve read a few comments on here regarding Steere being a “disappointment “. I couldn’t disagree more. Honestly, after the layoff, and against a tall, athletic front line, on a Top 25 team, what did you expect? Kareem numbers?
I find it unfair to the kid to pronounce him as a potential bust after a few minutes of playing time.
Personally, I won’t have an opinion on his potential until he makes it through the Big East schedule, at least once.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=369068]Everyone has written about every angle of this game so I’ll just add this.

Damien Sears, Josh Roberts and Greg Williams tied for the team lead Iast night in rebounds. Each had 6. Now I would expect that from JR. But DS and GW? Excellent effort from these guys. Well done.[/quote]

Williams was huge. Great defense that last possession and in just about every aspect of the game sans scoring he has been great the last 5 games or so. And the scoring will come.

Sears who I’ve been higher on than most really saved us. If he doesn’t play like he did I don’t think we win this game. TWICE he got us jump balls that looked like they were easy giveaways. We didn’t get the arrow on either of them but it matters just the same. I think he can do for us what Burrell did his senior year. Junk yard dog off the bench for 10-15. I havnt seen a single player out muscle him thus far. Hopefully it motivates Steere instead of scares him.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=369035]Biggest stat to me was we got 11 more shots. Stats aside, we played tough defense all night and deserved to win this one. Coach gets everyone involved and instills confidence by the confidence he shows in them. Love this team![/quote]


Another stat would be our offensive rebounds. Can't emphasize enough our guys hitting the boards, something Mullin avoided last year. Everyone fell back - duh!
 
Our guys are like a boxer that goes for the knockout early. Seems like a lot of teams, regardless of talent, are not ready for the fierceness of our defense. Opponents protect the ball much better in the second half. What every team will want to do is make it a half court game, where we have a lot of difficulty scoring.

I don't know too many past St. John's teams that could win games over anybody, especially a top 20 team, while shooting as poor a percentage from the field as we did last night. Our success is totally dependent on our ability to turn the other guy over and get fast break points. That CMA was able to get this kind of performance from a team returning 2 starters and a bunch of 3 star recruits with ring rust and/or limited experience is truly amazing.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=369032][quote="bamafan" post=369028]Why are there 2 post game threads? Knight? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?[/quote]
Bill Walton set it up[/quote]


And how about his constant mentioning that Mullin wasn't there.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=369080]A team that is scrappy, in super shape & defends will compete v anyone in BE this year. Add some scoring from Heron, avoid injuries & get that shooting % up a bit & Johnnies will give us a hell of a season.

As noted by Monte, the cultural change is palpable; an AD who sets a professional tone & communicates effectively, a HC who promotes & practices a grade A work ethic, established a no BS family first philosophy and put together a staff who work well together. All in all a “sea change”[/quote]
And a HC that adapts on the fly...when he saw that that Caraher was struggling and Sears was adding value he adjusted the PT. Also, it would have been very easy to force Steere into the plan but he didn’t take the path that might seem obvious.
 
11-2 with wins over Arizona and West Virginia. Our losses aren't aging as well as I would have hoped with Vermont and ASU stumbling a little but neither is anywhere near what would be considered a "bad loss" Very pleased with the non-conference. I think it's okay to start talking about a potential NCAA bid now. The team has shown an ability to outperform expectations and has a good record with a couple of resume building wins. Conference play will be a bear but if we can get to 9-9 (still not an easy task) I think we dance. Would be a great story.
 
[quote="JackofVirginia" post=369115][quote="Paultzman" post=369032][quote="bamafan" post=369028]Why are there 2 post game threads? Knight? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?[/quote]
Bill Walton set it up[/quote]


And how about his constant mentioning that Mullin wasn't there.[/quote]

If almost felt as if Walton had an axe to grind with Mullin. Mentioning that you'd expect him to be there is one thing; repeatedly calling him out for it seemed over the top.

I never heard whether there was a reason given for CM not being in attendance. Could be a perfectly reasonable explanation/conflict, but there was some needless "shaming" going on.
 
I was a little down on Dunn during the game. I mistook his play as selfish. I now believe I misread that and now believe that he is just hugely self confident, ala Shamorie Ponds.
 
[quote="firestorm" post=369120][quote="JackofVirginia" post=369115][quote="Paultzman" post=369032][quote="bamafan" post=369028]Why are there 2 post game threads? Knight? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?[/quote]
Bill Walton set it up[/quote]


And how about his constant mentioning that Mullin wasn't there.[/quote]

If almost felt as if Walton had an axe to grind with Mullin. Mentioning that you'd expect him to be there is one thing; repeatedly calling him out for it seemed over the top.

I never heard whether there was a reason given for CM not being in attendance. Could be a perfectly reasonable explanation/conflict, but there was some needless "shaming" going on.[/quote]

Personally, i was very surprised.

Mullin invited him to be the guest speaker at the St. John's Tip Off dinner a few years ago and the two of them got along famously

Very strange

Have no clue as to why Chris wasn't at the game.

Maybe he didn't want to be a distraction (to whatever degree that may or may not be).

Who Knows ??

It's a moot point now.
 
I am still in shock. This is one of those things that screams, "NOT business as usual". This is not common territory for us at least in modern times. If St. John's gets to 9-9 or better in conference play, we are in the NCAA tournament and may not even have to win a BET game. Two top 25 wins...WVU and Arizona which is about as good an OOC performance at 11-2 with no bad losses as almost anyone.

I used to be one of those coaching doesn't matter it's all the players kinda guy. But the more college hoops I watched, I realized coaching matters a ton. This is a better team than last year and who in their right minds would've EVER thought that going into this season? Cragg, Anderson, etc. have been absolute godsends for this program. Finally, the correct levers have been pulled. By the way I'm not expecting an NCAA berth still, but it's very much within reach if we maintain this intensity and defense. This will be a season to remember for a long time. What a win...and now we get to soak it in for a little while. On a Saturday no less...remember we used to dread Saturday games? We lose this by 25 last year. Night and day. Great kids, great coaching, great program right now. We need the fans to show up. Time to come out and show up. They're for real.
 
takeaways:

1. Great gutty performance, we have a Coach
2. Knew it but it was confirmed Walton is a flake
3. don't care about CM being there or not being there
4. this ride this year might be a lot more fun for us than those other coaches thought.
5. The BE looks strong once again.
 
Last edited:
[quote="firestorm" post=369120][quote="JackofVirginia" post=369115][quote="Paultzman" post=369032][quote="bamafan" post=369028]Why are there 2 post game threads? Knight? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?[/quote]
Bill Walton set it up[/quote]


And how about his constant mentioning that Mullin wasn't there.[/quote]

If almost felt as if Walton had an axe to grind with Mullin. Mentioning that you'd expect him to be there is one thing; repeatedly calling him out for it seemed over the top.

I never heard whether there was a reason given for CM not being in attendance. Could be a perfectly reasonable explanation/conflict, but there was some needless "shaming" going on.[/quote]

Maybe it's too soon, like a previous president not talking about his replacement, or he didnt want to be there or it was mutual.

Will be interesting to see if/when Mullin re-engages with the program. Other than Louie in his final years, I think we won't see much of him, if at all.

The more I see of Anderson, the more I sour on Mullin's stint as coach and how he positioned the management. Even Lavin, had a presence and might have been different without his personal medical challenge.
 
Last edited:
Walton was all over the place and was distracting, even as he heaped praises on our Johnnies. Wish I was able to sync the radio broadcast with the tv.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top