(POST GAME) Mercer, Wed. Nov. 6, 6:30p, FS-1, 570 WMCA

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[quote="sjc88" post=362049][quote="RedStormNC" post=362048]Loved the team work, intensity etc.

On point, Rutherford came off floor and he clearly said something like Damn, I'm tired !!" with a smile on his face.

Good group.[/quote]

Interesting. I just went to the box score Knight attached. They didn’t have a minutes breakdown. Coach MA was substituting so freely. Can’t imagine anyone was overused. Just the tempo.[/quote]


STARTERS PTS REB AST FG 3PT FT PF MIN STL BLK TO
M. Heron
25 3 1 7/13 4/6 7/8 2 28 1 0 1
L. Figueroa
18 3 3 6/13 1/3 5/5 2 30 4 1 2
N. Rutherford
14 3 8 6/10 1/2 1/1 3 25 3 1 2
J. Roberts
9 7 0 4/8 0/0 1/2 1 25 2 4 0
J. Champagnie
8 8 0 4/9 0/2 0/0 0 24 0 1 1

BENCH PTS REB AST FG 3PT FT PF MIN STL BLK TO
M. Earlington
17 5 1 7/13 1/2 2/2 2 18 1 0 1
D. Caraher
12 7 1 3/6 1/3 5/7 3 18 0 0 0
G. Williams Jr.
6 3 2 1/4 0/1 4/6 3 18 0 0 2
D. Sears
0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0/0 5 5 0 0 0
 
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[quote="sjc88" post=362049][quote="RedStormNC" post=362048]Loved the team work, intensity etc.

On point, Rutherford came off floor and he clearly said something like Damn, I'm tired !!" with a smile on his face.

Good group.[/quote]

Interesting. I just went to the box score Knight attached. They didn’t have a minutes breakdown. Coach MA was substituting so freely. Can’t imagine anyone was overused. Just the tempo.[/quote]

Boxscore With minutes
https://redstormsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/individual;team=home
 
Don't forget...Mercer isn't a bad team. The Johnnies intensity throughout was just too much. As I posted before, these were the kind of games we either lost or eked out.
 
As SJ fans we are simply not used to having dream scenarios happen. Yes this is Mercer but it's not a D2 team...this is almost a top 150 program...I think 180th coming in. The dream scenario happened in terms of how an opener can go with a new coach and many uncertain pieces. Now I understand how we beat Temple by double digits. Very, very inspiring performance that gives us at the minimum: real hope.

Pros:
-We actually care about rebounding. Offensive and defensive. Many second chance points with putbacks at the rim. Almost never happened under Mullin.
-We shared the ball well...no ball hogs here.
-Rutherford looked like a rock solid option at PG...if we hopefully get Dunn eligible, that gives us 2 legit options and Williams can give them breaks.
-Several times, I saw players thinking about shooting long 3's but STOPPED! Then passed for a better shot closer to the rim. Refreshing is an understatement.
-Our defense is still a work in progress, but for a first game the guys were flying around and swarming like angry yellow jackets. Mercer was shook and they were gassed. I saw many of their guys sucking for air on multiple occasions. We are well-conditioned!
-To put up 109 on anyone is an accomplishment...thank all the easy buckets off forced turnovers for that one. Another big positive.
-Earlington actually looks like a solid basketball player and not a football player playing basketball...crow eaten for now. Great game by him and very good hands. Several times he could've lost it but regained control or hung on down low.
-Roberts...man what a difference a year makes.
-Caraher may be able to contribute at this level...more crow eaten...for now. He has a nice shot and he is a sneaky good rebounder. Comfortable around rim as well unlike Hooper, Bourgault, Freudenberg, Mussini, etc. Not just a catch and shoot guy.

Cons:
-Gave up way too many 3's...will need work.
-Defensive intensity slowed down after first half...but then after the timeout it seemed to come back for the most part. Guys may have been a bit winded, but we're still learning and getting in shape.
-No big presence with meat on bones...but hopefully Steere changes that.

Very enjoyable to watch and never in doubt. Could not have been a better first game with a new coach. Love what I see so far. Let's see if it can continue.
 
[quote="SJU2000alum15" post=362041]What a pleasure to watch a real coach with an actual system in place. I wish he coached last years squad imagine what he could have done with that group! .[/quote]

Yeah, that epic losing streak from Interim head coach Kevin Clark was tough to watch. Especially after the Pittsburgh prostitute and extortion fiasco. Oh wait, silly me. Last year was 21 wins and an NCAA appearance. And two of the teams players are now off to the NBA.

You guys are vindictive. You literally make it difficult to remain a fan. Still pointlessly beating the Mullin situation into the ground.

If I were Mullin I would completely disassociate myself from the school, if he hasn't already.
 
Just watched the game on DVR.

Man was I wrong about Earlington, I was most impressed by him. He looks like he can play the 3, 4, or 5. Nick Rutherford was the second most impressive, I thought he'd be a role player that maybe would get you 5 or 6 points and 2 or 3 assist a game, but he's a terror on defense and he knows how to attack the rim, wouldn't surprise me if he has a career year from what I saw, he's dialed in.

On a side note, this team is ahead defensively on where CMA's Arkansas team was last year to start the season. Tonight they played about 30 minutes of very solid defense with great rotations, you could tell guys were starting to get winded and started giving up open 3's during a couple of stretches. Once Dunn and Steere get cleared and CMA can go 10-11 deep it's going to make a difference. I'm excited to watch this team progressive, it was fun to watch tonight.
 
Near the end of the game Carraher got hammered and he looked pissed. Played his best minutes after that. He needs to get pissed more.

I liked seeing Cole get into the game in non-garbage time.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=362049][quote="RedStormNC" post=362048]Loved the team work, intensity etc.

On point, Rutherford came off floor and he clearly said something like Damn, I'm tired !!" with a smile on his face.

Good group.[/quote]

Interesting. I just went to the box score Knight attached. They didn’t have a minutes breakdown. Coach MA was substituting so freely. Can’t imagine anyone was overused. Just the tempo.[/quote]

Thanks Knight. No one played more than 30. (LJ) Very balanced distribution of playing time. Should they ever get Dunn and of course Steere when eligible it will be a rotation with decent depth. Hopefully the arrow points up. Lotta ballgame left.
 
[quote="Paul Massell" post=362058]Near the end of the game Carraher got hammered and he looked pissed. Played his best minutes after that. He needs to get pissed more.

I liked seeing Cole get into the game in non-garbage time.[/quote]

Caraher is a smart and useful player at multiple spots. Was impressed even though it seemed his shot wasn’t falling like it could have. He’s not really a shooter. Versatile forward. Great to have guys like Earlington and Caraher off the bench. With good coaching we don’t lose much.
 
[quote="Brian W." post=362056][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=362041]What a pleasure to watch a real coach with an actual system in place. I wish he coached last years squad imagine what he could have done with that group! .[/quote]

Yeah, that epic losing streak from Interim head coach Kevin Clark was tough to watch. Especially after the Pittsburgh prostitute and extortion fiasco. Oh wait, silly me. Last year was 21 wins and an NCAA appearance. And two of the teams players are now off to the NBA.

You guys are vindictive. You literally make it difficult to remain a fan. Still pointlessly beating the Mullin situation into the ground.

If I were Mullin I would completely disassociate myself from the school, if he hasn't already.[/quote]

[attachment=1137]source (1).gif[/attachment]
 
Loved the energy, enthusiasm and intensity that our kids displayed tonight
They looked locked in on "D" which led to many easy buckets on the other end
What a breath of fresh air!!
Also pleased to see that the head coach was the voice "in the huddle"
Great start to the CMA era - looking forward to seeing the growth of the team this season
 
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[quote="Brian W." post=362056][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=362041]What a pleasure to watch a real coach with an actual system in place. I wish he coached last years squad imagine what he could have done with that group! .[/quote]

Yeah, that epic losing streak from Interim head coach Kevin Clark was tough to watch. Especially after the Pittsburgh prostitute and extortion fiasco. Oh wait, silly me. Last year was 21 wins and an NCAA appearance. And two of the teams players are now off to the NBA.

You guys are vindictive. You literally make it difficult to remain a fan. Still pointlessly beating the Mullin situation into the ground.

If I were Mullin I would completely disassociate myself from the school, if he hasn't already.[/quote]

I didn't know FUN had two accounts on redmen.com.
FWI, the 21 wins last year were the most underachieved wins in 21 years. As you keenly pointed out, we had players like Heron, Figueroa, Ponds, Simon and Clark. The missing piece was a qualified coaching staff which was the point being made.
As for Mully disassociating himself, he did that quite well during his tenure in areas such as recruiting, in-game coaching and especially during the months of May through August.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=362062][quote="Paul Massell" post=362058]Near the end of the game Carraher got hammered and he looked pissed. Played his best minutes after that. He needs to get pissed more.

I liked seeing Cole get into the game in non-garbage time.[/quote]

Caraher is a smart and useful player at multiple spots. Was impressed even though it seemed his shot wasn’t falling like it could have. He’s not really a shooter. Versatile forward. Great to have guys like Earlington and Caraher off the bench. With good coaching we don’t lose much.[/quote]

I thought he played a good game. He's good under the basket on both ends. Smart offensively and knows where to get the ball. Fast hands just not as fast as just about everyone else on the team. He looks like he lacks some confidence at times. If he gets over that he's a good player.
 
[quote="usguard" post=362073]Caraher impressed me the least[/quote]

If the guy that had 12pts 7rebs impressed you the least, we had a good day...
 
Exactly not to beat a dead horse but you were happy with last years team? with tons of talent getting swept by Providence , Depaul and Xavier , limped into the play in game and got crushed. You give coach Anderson Ponds , Simon , Clark , Heron and Figgy and guarantee you he would have got much much more out of that team. But anyway that’s old news I was just pointing out how happy I was to see how the team was run tonight , there was a purpose in everything we did. Gone is the philosophy of not even trying to rebound and just give up and get back on defense. I would have loved to see Simon play under coach Anderson wow what a beast he’d be in this system! The future is bright just keep bringing in more talent and Let’s Go!!
 
My biggest takeaway is that Rutherford can run this team. They were much better with him playing point than Williams who is my one negative. We need a lot more from Williams than what we got tonight.
 
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