This game certainly makes you wonder why Big East Refs appear to have a hard on for St. John's.The obvious discrepancy in foul shooting attempts was truly ridiculous. But some of that has to do with the way we play defense. We utilize way too much use of the arms and upper body...and we are always trying to block the shot (as opposed to offering resistance and using chest and legs. All our opponents now are following the book established ten games ago. You zone St. John's and play it high...maybe a 3-2 or 2-1-2. Since Mullin loves to diddle diddle the ball around at the top of the key, and we waste time doing nothing. It also serves to neutralize Ponds as the threat he should be. Simon's new reluctance to shoot the three, adds additional pile up on Ponds. Those defenses, because they are so high, takes away comfortable three point shooting. Have you noticed the bombs we're hoisting up from Union Turnpike? Someone has to explain to Ponds that he doesn't have Steph Curry's range. And speaking of Shamorie, what has happened to his nifty off the glass game? He's been throwing up bricks for awhile now. The early in the season, any angle off the glass during penetration, was almost always "count it". It made a huge difference last night's game. I also couldn't understand the Mullin barrage of bench players. He apparently loves Williams, Kieta, Trimble and Roberts now and uses them with disregard for score and situation. . OK, Trimble to his credit played half way
decent last night, but still, I think you always have to play the odds. And last night, Roberts gave him some really good minutes....then he took him out.....and the kid never returned....go figure? But the elephant in the room yesterday is still the absence of Heron. The announcers were SO POOR in pointing out that SJU has an extremely thin bench, and cannot afford to lose it's second leading scorer. It's really that simply. The Xavier defense was weakest from it's sides, and that's where Heron does the most damage. Another thing that really gets my goat in these games is the failure of these Big East Refs to recognize walking and three seconds violations in our games. There are teams...Villanova,
Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, and Xavier, who have players that walk all over the place. You CANNOT pick up your dribble, take another step, then fly into the air, come down, and the start moving your feet again...THAT IS NOT LEGAL. Yet there are refs who tolerate this as a matter of routine. We got stung three times last night with similar walking, that turned into someone's else's three, after a pass off. All three were huge in the final outcome. Also, I have counted twelve seconds for opponents in the paint. If we are going to play undersized, then how important is it when referees ignore this call. How many times have you seen it called?Truthfully, I am really blown away by the incompetence of Big East Refs this year. Anyway, we gave Xavier a run for the vast majority of this game, and the only player who really showed up was Figgy. I didn't expect to win this one, and we didn't. Still, we were on the losing end of a lot of changeable circunstances, particularly random ball bounces, and with a tad more luck, and a real home court, who knows?
decent last night, but still, I think you always have to play the odds. And last night, Roberts gave him some really good minutes....then he took him out.....and the kid never returned....go figure? But the elephant in the room yesterday is still the absence of Heron. The announcers were SO POOR in pointing out that SJU has an extremely thin bench, and cannot afford to lose it's second leading scorer. It's really that simply. The Xavier defense was weakest from it's sides, and that's where Heron does the most damage. Another thing that really gets my goat in these games is the failure of these Big East Refs to recognize walking and three seconds violations in our games. There are teams...Villanova,
Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, and Xavier, who have players that walk all over the place. You CANNOT pick up your dribble, take another step, then fly into the air, come down, and the start moving your feet again...THAT IS NOT LEGAL. Yet there are refs who tolerate this as a matter of routine. We got stung three times last night with similar walking, that turned into someone's else's three, after a pass off. All three were huge in the final outcome. Also, I have counted twelve seconds for opponents in the paint. If we are going to play undersized, then how important is it when referees ignore this call. How many times have you seen it called?Truthfully, I am really blown away by the incompetence of Big East Refs this year. Anyway, we gave Xavier a run for the vast majority of this game, and the only player who really showed up was Figgy. I didn't expect to win this one, and we didn't. Still, we were on the losing end of a lot of changeable circunstances, particularly random ball bounces, and with a tad more luck, and a real home court, who knows?
