(POST-GAME) @Providence, Wed. Feb.20, 8:30p, FS-1 / Sirius XM 971

Obviously Keita is recovering from an injury, but let’s be honest, he is not blessed with decent hands, instincts and rebounding ability. Small sample perhaps, but he plays robotically in the post even when he manages to secure a pass. At this level and with quick pace SJU wants to play, that is a problem. Finishing shots after quick interior passes is a must. Not ripping him, just being candid and realistic. Btw, Manuel is a project also & as they develop Roberts along with a more skilled Steere, hard to envision Keita being an interior mainstay next season. Just my opinion.
 
Not only does the constant switching create mismatches while the ball is being moved around, it creates mismatches under the basket, which leads to endless offensive rebounds. Is there anything more disheartening on the basketball court than playing solid defense only to see the opposition get a chance to do it all over again? If all five players on the court are 6'6 210, you can do that, but it doesn't work otherwise. It's stupid, and just plain lazy basketball.
 
[quote="Ken Shark" post=324611]Not only does the constant switching create mismatches while the ball is being moved around, it creates mismatches under the basket, which leads to endless offensive rebounds. Is there anything more disheartening on the basketball court than playing solid defense only to see the opposition get a chance to do it all over again? If all five players on the court are 6'6 210, you can do that, but it doesn't work otherwise. It's stupid, and just plain lazy basketball.[/quote]

Totally agree!
 
The guys are 6 and 2 against the teams ranked 6, 7, 8 and 9 in offensive rebounding, and 1 and 5 against teams in the top 5 in that category. Xavier is in the top 5, which doesn't bode well. The one win against a top offensive rebounding team was Georgetown early in the season, playing without McClung. The number one offensive rebounding team? Providence. For us, it is about match-ups. Against teams with athletic bigs, we get exploited every time. We beat Creighton twice, a finesse team. Same with Marquette, and I would put Butler in there. Villanova's power guy is Paschall, but they shoot a ton of threes, and Paschall roams the perimeter more often than not.

As for effort, our guys seem quickly demoralized by teams that just have too much size. They have to foul to keep them for getting layups and offensive rebounds. We look and act like the opponents of an over-matched boxer against a guy that is just too big, too strong and too fast. Blame the players all you want, but it was the staff's job to build the team, especially in year 4, to handle all aspects of the game. The staff has a guy that was the projected BE POY, s 5 star transfer in Heron, and an unexpected surprise in Figgy. Of course they will win their fair share of games. They also couldn't recruit a single player in that time with the skills and mindset of a power inside player. Considering the experience and skill of our core players, that is a shame and has been and will be our downfall.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=324608]Obviously Keita is recovering from an injury, but let’s be honest, he is not blessed with decent hands, instincts and rebounding ability. Small sample perhaps, but he plays robotically in the post even when he manages to secure a pass. At this level and with quick pace SJU wants to play, that is a problem. Finishing shots after quick interior passes is a must. Not ripping him, just being candid and realistic. Btw, Manuel is a project also & as they develop Roberts along with a more skilled Steere, hard to envision Keita being an interior mainstay next season. Just my opinion.[/quote]

Keita is our version of a backup QB.

He was the most popular player with the fans, until he starting getting into the games.
 
[quote="JohnnyFan" post=324502]St. John's should do the right thing and reimburse Mike for his ticket.[/quote] luckily my friend got those $300 courtside seats for free. Oh man up at 3:45am on the road at 4:45am got to work at 9:25am. That was a rough not pleasant drive. Memo to self stay at marriot courtyard next time. The air in my room at the Omni made Carnesseca upper deck feel like winter
 
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[quote="MJDinkins" post=324575]Jarvis’ team did its best work on defense. The Red Storm opened in a straight man. They pressed full-court man. They pressed full-court zone. They pressed three-quarters court. They dropped back into a zone.

https://nypost.com/1999/01/21/jarvis-plays-big-from-bench-coachs-game-plan-frazzles-friars/

A quote from our January 1999 win at Providence during the 1998-1999 season. You find other ways to defeat your opponent. Instead, we played the same game that got our ass beat a week and a half ago. The "poor matchup" versus Providence is bulllshit.

If this staff can't adjust, then they won't have any long-term success. I'm not sold on this staff, and games like tonight just reaffirms my feelings.[/quote]

Agreed Dink, but Jarvis' team that year had tough guys who had balls who would never let anyone push them around regardless of size differential. That's the difference. Artest, Postell, Grant, Thornton, Barkley , Fordham, they were all tough guys for real. Our team this year, while resilient at times and although they have shown the ability to bounce back after bad losses, they do not have anywhere near the discipline and complete overall toughness that the Jarvis team had. Not even close. Jarvis' team would eat this team for breakfast , lunch and dinner, and then come back for dessert!
 
Switching on all screens is fine as long as we have the starting five in the game. Once Keita comes in, switching is a huge liability. We get mismatches in the post while our big guy is guarding the perimeter. If I were an opposing coach, I'd run nothing but high pick and rolls every time Keita comes in - you are guaranteed a mismatch down low. To have that happen over and over and not make a change is a basic failing on the part of the coaching staff.

As for whether Keita should be playing significant minutes, that's a different question. He seems like a good teammate and a leader in his own way, but he is very limited offensively and (partly because we switch and he's often out of position as a result) he doesn't rebound enough. We're basically playing 4 on 5 on offense when he's out there.
 
Providence has has size, deep bench, and is well-coached, all things that SJU does/is not. They are just a bad match-up for SJU the same way SJU is for Marq, even though Marq likely better than SJU and SJU likely better than Providence.

Providence is the first sweep against of the year, coming in a stretch where we otherwise capitalized on 2 road sweep opportunities (Creighton/Marq) and 2 where we fought off sweeps (Butler/Nova). The chances of us taking care of the 4 wins was probably way lower than losing 2 to Providence, so just put it in the rearview and move on to SHU.

Which is a critical sweep prevention game against a team that probably is our closest comparable in the conference from a resume perspective and one that we should be a lot better than. Given what transpired in Newark to open the conference season SJU should be after a convincing win from the get, not slow start and hope to squeak it out.
 
If your 10-2 in conference and you throw in a clunker like last night then you can write it off as a bad night. But they aren't 10-2 or 10-3. They were 7-6. They have not made NCAA's in 4 years. They have not won 3 consecutive conference games in almost 4 years and they have spent as a program a total of about 2 weeks in 4 years above .500 in conference.

It is stunning that they could play as poorly as they did last night and trail a 4-9 Providence team by 28 in the 2nd half.

That is what is disturbing.
 
[quote="RedmanMike" post=324660]Switching on all screens is fine as long as we have the starting five in the game. Once Keita comes in, switching is a huge liability. We get mismatches in the post while our big guy is guarding the perimeter. If I were an opposing coach, I'd run nothing but high pick and rolls every time Keita comes in - you are guaranteed a mismatch down low. To have that happen over and over and not make a change is a basic failing on the part of the coaching staff.

As for whether Keita should be playing significant minutes, that's a different question. He seems like a good teammate and a leader in his own way, but he is very limited offensively and (partly because we switch and he's often out of position as a result) he doesn't rebound enough. We're basically playing 4 on 5 on offense when he's out there.[/quote]

Switching is a disaster when you have a 6'1 Shamorie Ponds on the opposing teams frontcourt player down low also.
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=324575]Jarvis’ team did its best work on defense. The Red Storm opened in a straight man. They pressed full-court man. They pressed full-court zone. They pressed three-quarters court. They dropped back into a zone.

https://nypost.com/1999/01/21/jarvis-plays-big-from-bench-coachs-game-plan-frazzles-friars/

A quote from our January 1999 win at Providence during the 1998-1999 season. You find other ways to defeat your opponent. Instead, we played the same game that got our ass beat a week and a half ago. The "poor matchup" versus Providence is bulllshit.

If this staff can't adjust, then they won't have any long-term success. I'm not sold on this staff, and games like tonight just reaffirms my feelings.[/quote]

Agree, MJD. I happen to think Prov is bad match-up for SJU this year. Lot of bigger guards to run at Ponds, they don't rely on wings offensively for a majority of their offense that LJ/Simon can take away, and the discrepancy on the interior perhaps most of all.

That said, to your point, that's no excuse to not adjust effectively. Teams face bad matchups all the time and don't just waive the white flag. It was mind-boggling that the team seemed unprepared in the first half last night offensively to see an extended 1-2-2 zone, given that they had just gotten eaten up by the same thing less than 2 weeks ago. Why wouldn't Cooley go right at them with it again?

After that game I certainly thought the staff would have seen enough attempts at ball screening the top of that zone 25 feet from the basket to last them the rest of their careers, and might consider getting LJ or even Ponds to the foul line since soft spot of that zone is in the middle. I was unfortunately wrong :)
 
[quote="SJU1512" post=324669][quote="MJDinkins" post=324575]Jarvis’ team did its best work on defense. The Red Storm opened in a straight man. They pressed full-court man. They pressed full-court zone. They pressed three-quarters court. They dropped back into a zone.

https://nypost.com/1999/01/21/jarvis-plays-big-from-bench-coachs-game-plan-frazzles-friars/

A quote from our January 1999 win at Providence during the 1998-1999 season. You find other ways to defeat your opponent. Instead, we played the same game that got our ass beat a week and a half ago. The "poor matchup" versus Providence is bulllshit.

If this staff can't adjust, then they won't have any long-term success. I'm not sold on this staff, and games like tonight just reaffirms my feelings.[/quote]

Agree, MJD. I happen to think Prov is bad match-up for SJU this year. Lot of bigger guards to run at Ponds, they don't rely on wings offensively for a majority of their offense that LJ/Simon can take away, and the discrepancy on the interior perhaps most of all.

That said, to your point, that's no excuse to not adjust effectively. Teams face bad matchups all the time and don't just waive the white flag. It was mind-boggling that the team seemed unprepared in the first half last night offensively to see an extended 1-2-2 zone, given that they had just gotten eaten up by the same thing less than 2 weeks ago. Why wouldn't Cooley go right at them with it again?

After that game I certainly thought the staff would have seen enough attempts at ball screening the top of that zone 25 feet from the basket to last them the rest of their careers, and might consider getting LJ or even Ponds to the foul line since soft spot of that zone is in the middle. I was unfortunately wrong :)[/quote]

I haven't seen good ball movement in a long time. Everything is one on one, and there is poor spacing and a lot of settling. Our only path to victory seems to be 5 to 10 minute bursts where we can establish a running game where we excel. In a half court game, our weaknesses really show. The Friars play us well on both ends. On offense, they milk each possession, and go late in the clock where we often break down. It seems like we lead the conference in scores given up late in the clock, and also number of times we foul the 3 point shooter.
 
Final comment before moving on to SH game, it is quite fair to reference the matchup challenge of playing team like Providence. However, it is also fair to expect competitive contests and not two complete beat downs v a young team that does not shoot well and has turned ball over a lot this season. Johnnies are better than that.
 
First of all my condolences to those brave souls in attendance who had to witness a pitiful performance last night.
To say I was shocked is to put it mildly that we were not prepared to face a zone. Four guys outside passing the ball back and forth. The damn zone defenders didn't even have to move.
And by now you all know how I feel about our switching. Are all our coaches brain dead? You are suppose to learn from your mistakes - stop already with Keita guarding outside.
Talk about a lack of basketball sense. Does Clark's teammates have to remind him he has 4 fouls. Let's hope he can stay in Saturday's game for at least 20 minutes.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=324677]Final comment before moving on to SH game, it is quite fair to reference the matchup challenge of playing team like Providence. However, it is also fair to expect competitive contests and not two complete beat downs v a young team that does not shoot well and has turned ball over a lot this season. Johnnies are better than that.[/quote]

Well said. And I guess fair to question at this point are they better than that? They should be clearly, but the inconsistency has been so consistent at this point wonder if that's just what this team is this year. Certainly baffling.

Separate but related note, Providence not looking likely to be any more fun to play the next few years. Small step back this year primarily due to youth, but appear to have quality talent emerging and will have senior presence from Diallo next year. Not bad for a "reload" year after 5 consecutive NCAA trips. Nothing too fancy, quality/balanced recruiting and good coaching/player development!
 
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[quote="Paultzman" post=324608]Obviously Keita is recovering from an injury, but let’s be honest, he is not blessed with decent hands, instincts and rebounding ability. Small sample perhaps, but he plays robotically in the post even when he manages to secure a pass. At this level and with quick pace SJU wants to play, that is a problem. Finishing shots after quick interior passes is a must. Not ripping him, just being candid and realistic. Btw, Manuel is a project also & as they develop Roberts along with a more skilled Steere, hard to envision Keita being an interior mainstay next season. Just my opinion.[/quote]

What did we see in this kid at South Carolina? Certainly not a good rebounder, along with poor hands and unprepared to shoot inside. I agree he shouldn't be a prime player next year.
 
Most of last night's game was a bunch of guys standing around the perimeter launching three's or forcing ill advised shots. Game was really almost over from the beginning when it took SJU almost 6 or 7 minutes to score. No one really trying to take the ball to the basket in any organized fashion. A complete cluster ----.... We easily could have been down 17-18 to 0.... if Providence didn't do their own version of the gang that can't shoot straight.
 
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[quote="Ray Morgan" post=324624]The guys are 6 and 2 against the teams ranked 6, 7, 8 and 9 in offensive rebounding, and 1 and 5 against teams in the top 5 in that category. Xavier is in the top 5, which doesn't bode well. The one win against a top offensive rebounding team was Georgetown early in the season, playing without McClung. The number one offensive rebounding team? Providence. For us, it is about match-ups. Against teams with athletic bigs, we get exploited every time. We beat Creighton twice, a finesse team. Same with Marquette, and I would put Butler in there. Villanova's power guy is Paschall, but they shoot a ton of threes, and Paschall roams the perimeter more often than not.

As for effort, our guys seem quickly demoralized by teams that just have too much size. They have to foul to keep them for getting layups and offensive rebounds. We look and act like the opponents of an over-matched boxer against a guy that is just too big, too strong and too fast. Blame the players all you want, but it was the staff's job to build the team, especially in year 4, to handle all aspects of the game. The staff has a guy that was the projected BE POY, s 5 star transfer in Heron, and an unexpected surprise in Figgy. Of course they will win their fair share of games. They also couldn't recruit a single player in that time with the skills and mindset of a power inside player. Considering the experience and skill of our core players, that is a shame and has been and will be our downfall.[/quote]



And just wait until we face Xavier with their two biggies - Jones and Hankings. Also can't wait to see Mullin have Keita leave them to pick up Goodin.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=324689]Most of last night's game was a bunch of guys standing around the perimeter launching three's or forcing ill advised shots.[/quote]

It’s been that way for 27 games, its in the playbook. You win some and you lose some
 
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