(PRE-GAME) West Virginia, Sat. Dec. 7, 12 NOON, FS-1, 970 WNYW

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NCJohnnie mentioned earlier needing Roberts to stay out of foul trouble and that seems like a very important point. If he picks up 2 early fouls or 3 in the first half we may be in for a long game.

I agree with the other posters about Earlington & Dunn being important. Earlington could be an x factor here. Even though I don't think this is a good matchup for us overall, it may end up being well-suited for his game. They've got good size and toughness. If the game is especially physical we need more than Roberts. Earlington likes to mix it up and is tough on the offensive glass. He's scrappy against taller guys and you can just see the football player in him when he's going for the ball. And if it's a messy, fast, pressing up and down game that also works for him. He finds ways to be around the basket and seems to thrive in chaos. Hopefully getting yanked after that 3 last night is a blessing in disguise and he comes in focused on what his role is and looking to get back in Coach's good graces.

And we need Dunn because as has been mentioned he gets to the hoop. We can't avoid their size and just settle for contested outside shots. We're not a good enough shooting team for that. Dunn needs to get to the rim to open it up for shooters and hopefully lead to a few fouls on their bigs to give Huggy some anxiety. Also I think he and Rutherford will need to have their best games as ball handlers & press breakers. Really need to value the ball in this game. I don't see how we beat them if we lose the turnover battle.
 
[quote="Sherman, Sheridan & Grant" post=365965]For the uninitiated ...
When is Steere playing?
Has he been able to practice w the team?
What can we do expect ?
Thanks[/quote]

!2/18 versus Albany
Been practicing--saw him at open practice in October--Has range and liked the 10 to 20 footer
Saw some give and go with Caraher--they played HS/AAU together
Temper expectations as he has been effectively not playing since HS
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=365946]I'm with Queensball on this one. It would be a huge win for us and certainly one that's not out of the question at MSG. On the other hand, I just see it as a very tough matchup and also think this is a better WV team than we've seen the last few years. We have to take care of the ball, get big games from both our stars and Roberts will need to play the game of his life underneath while staying out of foul trouble. Hoping for the best.[/quote]


Agree. Roberts can't get in foul trouble, especially since Sears is the sub, not at all impressed with him. And since we are talking fouls Heron has to back off playing his man in his jock strap and stop reaching.
 
[quote="BrooklynRed" post=365935]We can be in trouble if they bring the guy in the leather outfit with the skunk hat and the long gun. ;).
They are big and rebounding and turnovers will decide the game. On the surface, the stats of both teams are highly comparable. Should be an interesting test, hopefully folks show up rather than stay home to watch for college football such as Miami (Ohio) vs. Central Michigan. Big college playoffs don't start till 4PM, can be home by then.[/quote]
Au contraire. Baylor-Oklahoma for the BIG 12 Championship and a possible spot in the college football playoff at 12pm on ABC. ;) :)
 
[quote="usguard" post=366049]Do we we know when
steere will be available to play[/quote]

12/18 - Albany
 
[quote="Logen" post=365957][quote="Rehobie" post=365951]Gonna be an interesting game. I believe we will shorten our rotation using only Dunn, Earlington and Caraher off the bench.
WVU, as stated, is strong on the boards. Earlington should help against their beefy front line. Do not understand his diminished minutes the last two games.

Dunn is our ONLY penetrater. As a point guard the ball gets stuck in his hands too much. Give the ball up.
Hopefully Caraher has a hot hand. We these 3 subs I believe this game is doable.[/quote]

Not sure but it seems Earlington was taken out pretty quickly and never came back in the 2nd half for throwing up a 3 after one pass. I know we had an outstanding assists to baskets ratio last night but we take the first shot that shows too often IMO. One of the things about playing with a lead is to play smarter, maybe even a little slower if the break isn't there, because teams have a tendency to be impatient on defense when playing from behind and break down trying to make the home run play. Easier said than done though but the fact is we have 3 experienced players doing a lot of the ball handling yet our most poised player continues to be Champagnie.[/quote]

From what I've seen at the games, coach is not big fan of Earlington just putting his head down and forcing a shot or throwing up quick shots.
 
I know a few people are trying to paint this game as a "must win" if we want to make any noise this season (and also to help out the Big East), and while winning would be incredible, we'd still be completely fine if we don't win.

We'll have PLENTY of other opportunities to knock off nationally relevant teams. That includes teams currently in the top 34 AP: Arizona, Seton Hall 2X, Villanova 2X, Butler 2X, Xavier 2X, and DePaul 2X. All of those games will be played with our complete team (barring injury) as Steere returns before Arizona. 10/18 of our Big East opponents are currently top 34 and even the ones that aren't are still very relevant (Creighton, Marquette and Georgetown... lone exception being Providence).

Point is even if we lose, there is no need to overreact. WVU isn't even ranked, so the exposure of this game will be less than half the Big East games we play (also less than #12 Arizona in 2 weeks). Finally, we've helped out the conference plenty during the past couple years with strong OOC NET rankings. The conference doesn't need us to win these type of games this year, and we'll have plenty of similar opportunities going forward to make a statement. No reason to treat WVU any differently than all the other great opponents we'll play.
 
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[quote="Adam" post=366150]I know a few people are trying to paint this game as a "must win" if we want to make any noise this season (and also to help out the Big East), and while winning would be incredible, we'd still be completely fine if we don't win.

We'll have PLENTY of other opportunities to knock off nationally relevant teams. That includes teams currently in the top 34 AP: Arizona, Seton Hall 2X, Villanova 2X, Butler 2X, Xavier 2X, and DePaul 2X. All of those games will be played with our complete team (barring injury) as Steere returns before Arizona. 10/18 of our Big East opponents are currently top 34 and even the ones that aren't are still very relevant (Creighton, Marquette and Georgetown... lone exception being Providence).

Point is even if we lose, there is no need to overreact. WVU isn't even ranked, so the exposure of this game will be less than half the Big East games we play (also less than #12 Arizona in 2 weeks). Finally, we've helped out the conference plenty during the past couple years with strong OOC NET rankings. The conference doesn't need us to win these type of games this year, and we'll have plenty of similar opportunities going forward to make a statement. No reason to treat WVU any differently than all the other great opponents we'll play.[/quote]

It's not a "must win", but it would be a really, really good one to have. Who knows what it will mean, though. After we beat Syracuse Mullin's first year, we went 1-21 for the rest of the season.

You can make the case that there are no "must win" games until the Big East Tournament.
 
Not a must win, but a great win if we can get it and an exciting test for sure. We need to be competitive against teams like WV because that is kind of competition we will face regularly during league play.
 
That's how I feel. Not a must win but will be the best indicator to date of how we might stack up in conference play.

Also playing hard/well enough to win would be a great gift the players can give to Coach Anderson. An opportunity to make a statement about the job he's doing. A sign of progress. It seems like we're mostly in agreement that the program is headed in the right direction but I don't get the sense any of the national media has really thought about St John's since making fun of the coaching search or penciling us in 9th or 10th in their Big East predictions. Nobody but us was watching the game against Mercer or UMass. As unfair as it is, I think this game may frame how we're perceived nationally (in the short term) If we get our doors blown off the narrative will be "St John's is still a mess." If we win, it'll be, "Looks like Mike Anderson is making some nice progress there" If we play them tough and lose a close one we probably stay relatively unnoticed.
 
Fair enough, but we need to avoid losing like we did in the second half vs. Arizona State. That was ugly, and at this point would cast some doubt on the rest of the season.
 
Ok, I think this team has enough games and game situations to show what kind of team we have. If we get blown out, season will be very long with little reason for hope. If we win, or play a close competitive game we should have high hopes for the season. This game is a good barometer for the season.
However, Steere's appearance can be a season changer. Go Johnnies!
 
I don't think it's a must win but if we want to make any kind of noise this season and open some eyes nationally, it's a real good win to have. WVU is the type of team you can get early but may even be top 15 by the time the season ends. BPI has us as a 53% chance of winning FWIW. It would not be "incredible" if we win IMO. They're an unranked major conference team. Incredible is when we beat #4 Duke, blew Duke out in 2011, beat #4 Pitt in 2011, #1 Villanova, etc. The fact that any SJ fan would consider it incredible if we win just goes to show how much work we need to do. The definition is: impossible to believe, difficult to believe, extraordinary. I think as fans we try to prepare for losses before the game is even played so it doesn't hurt as bad if we do lose. Programs like ours should expect to go toe to toe with these teams...we are a major program in a major conference. Again, not saying we absolutely must win or that I expect too much from this season, but to steal a win vs. an unranked WVU early in the season at home...is that really asking for a miracle? I don't want to be DePaul where the fans storm the court vs. a so-so unranked Texas Tech team that lost their top players from their great team last year. I want to be that team that expects to win these games and glad that's our mantra. We can handle this game if we play our first complete game (vs. major opponent) with large contributions from both Heron and LJ and get 37%+ 3's to go down. This is not #2 Syracuse from 2011 or something. It's a tough solid West Virginia team.
 
West Virginia & Zona are two opportunities to gain some traction going into BE play. Imo, despite not having Steere, the WV game seems our best chance of the two. Some positives are playing at home obviously and possibility our ball pressure results in turnovers, easy buckets. Hopefully the latter negates their size advantage, but this will be challenging for sure. I just think stealing a win v Mountaineers is more realistic than Zona matchup.
 
Hi guys I'll b at the game tomorrow, if anyone will be on the suite level would love for you stop by my suite for a drink, I will actually be meeting Idraft for the first time we have mutual friends. Go Johnnie's would love a win tomorrow I have a dozen friends coming and will get totally tortured if we lose!
 
Remember CMA mantra is his teams peak in February and March. So to put so much pressure on winning a game in early December might be counterproductive, especially when you force conclusions about our chances for the balance of the season.Id love a win but it has no bearing on my perceptions. Guys are still learning system, how to play with each other,and also no Steere. Chill and enjoy the game. Maybe we get to see Champ have a monster game?Maybe the guards improve their efficiency? Maybe Caraher blows us away?Maybe we lose by a bad ref call? Maybe we win via a bad ref call?Maybe the lights go out as WVA tries for a winning basket?All possibilities not indicative of the balance of season.
 
I acknowledge many disagree but come on. Games can be barometers and they can mean nothing. We have seen teams come out of nowhere to make serious runs in the NCAA tournament after disappointing seasons when compared with pre and in season expectations. We have all seen teams hot to start a season and then fall flat on their faces and vice versa. It is a long season and no game in December can be used as a predictive as to how a season is going to unfold. We have had a modicum of success to date and yet is there anyone who thinks either Heron or Figueroa have hit their strides consistently? Will they or is the inconsistency we've seen what we'll get? How much (or little) will Steere add? Who will progress or regress as the season goes on? Will we get more cohesive as a unit or less? As I said, I understand these posts are all part of part of being a fan but "$hit" happens in sports and no one can predict results or bookies would be out of business. And as someone else posted, there are no "must win" games except in tournaments.
 
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