(PRE-GAME) @Xavier, Sat. Mar. 9, 5pm, FOX / 970 AM

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[quote="Marillac" post=328000]Tyrique Jones is a Marillac favorite. He’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. I’d let Earlington loose on him.

With Roberts, Keita, Earlington, and Steere going at in practice between these last two games I’d think we would be ready to battle.[/quote]

I agree, let's let Earlington lean on him a bit. Throw that big body between him and the basket. He's quick enough to out-position him.
 
[quote="Knight" post=328015][quote="Marillac" post=328000]Tyrique Jones is a Marillac favorite. He’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. I’d let Earlington loose on him.

With Roberts, Keita, Earlington, and Steere going at in practice between these last two games I’d think we would be ready to battle.[/quote]

I agree, let's let Earlington lean on him a bit. Throw that big body between him and the basket. He's quick enough to out-position him.[/quote]

Jones has 20 pounds and 3 inches on Earlington. Hoping Marcellus can neutralize a bigger, more talented, third year player would definitely not be my strategy. He might be helpful, but not a savior.
 
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[quote="JohnnyFan" post=328149][quote="Knight" post=328015][quote="Marillac" post=328000]Tyrique Jones is a Marillac favorite. He’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. I’d let Earlington loose on him.

With Roberts, Keita, Earlington, and Steere going at in practice between these last two games I’d think we would be ready to battle.[/quote]

I agree, let's let Earlington lean on him a bit. Throw that big body between him and the basket. He's quick enough to out-position him.[/quote]

Jones has 20 pounds and 3 inches on Earlington. Hoping Marcellus can neutralize a bigger, more talented, third year player would definitely not be my strategy. He might be helpful, but not a savior.[/quote]
So this is what our highly anticipated season has come to down to: counting on a totally raw and untested and, as you pointed out, undersized (when compared with Jones) bench player -- having to shut down the star big man player on another team?
 
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[quote="Jack Williams" post=327913]Xavier does not like playing fast. We need to come out and play like we are down double digits from the jump[/quote]

Our team is at it's best in transition basketball only so long as we make good decisions and don't rush shots.

Sad to say but other than an aberration very hard to overcome a heron less than 100%. Not impossible mind you. Figgy as good as he is, is not the main event, Ponds is, and must shine.

I think we earned nearly every fold committed by being late to the ball, playing defense with arms and not legs.

If the machine works. Clark plays within himself, stays on the court for 30 plus minutes, and makes his open looks.

When we get out in transition, Simon becomes a big weapon. In half court much less so.

I'd like to see LJ take the ball deeper to the hole rather than float 1 handers. He makes a lot, but in doing so doesn't draw contact that puts him on line and defenders in foul trouble
 
Section 9
You are right on about not recruiting a big man(or more than one). I know a lot of fans thought once Keita came off of injury we would be fine, but he is a huge disappointment.Roberts(with a little meat on his bones) appears to be a better possibility for improvement. Neither Blocks out or rebounds well. Give me Owens back anyday
 
Ball is teed up for SJU to grab momentum building win with positive BE and Dance outcomes. An experienced, reasonably talented team often shines in the moment, road or no road. Yes, Xavier’interior is a problem, but if we hit shots (big if, yes) & force turnovers, why not? In a way we are due to succeed & not squander another nice opportunity. The latter is frustrating us all.
 
Part of the problem I’ve been noticing lately is the use of Simon. He is either being tasked with being the primary ball handler or spacing the floor and camping at the 3 point line. Problem is, he can’t shoot and teams don’t defend him. I recall when we were playing well we were using him a lot more in the post where he can use his athleticism and vision better. I’d like to see him play much closer to the basket and act like a point forward. I have no problem with playing him on ball sometimes to get Shamorie off the ball and some open shots, but that means running ponds off screens - not Simon trying to dribble past 2 defenders, his handle isn’t strong enough.
 
SJULawyered15 wrote: Part of the problem I’ve been noticing lately is the use of Simon. He is either being tasked with being the primary ball handler or spacing the floor and camping at the 3 point line. Problem is, he can’t shoot and teams don’t defend him. I recall when we were playing well we were using him a lot more in the post where he can use his athleticism and vision better. I’d like to see him play much closer to the basket and act like a point forward. I have no problem with playing him on ball sometimes to get Shamorie off the ball and some open shots, but that means running ponds off screens - not Simon trying to dribble past 2 defenders, his handle isn’t strong enough.

Agree with the above. Also, both Marshall & Goodin are turnover prone as we saw in Butler game and in their season stats. Need to speed up the game and turn X over w/o reaching in, hit shots as Paultz says, and get strong games from our two best players. If that happens, we should win.
 
Interesting that this currently counts as a Quad 1 win. Although that could change since Xavier is at 70 right now.
 
Unlike most here, I don't think we are an inconsistent team that is hard to predict. We are consistent in that we can handle 3 point oriented finesse teams. and are dominated by teams that slow the game down and crash the boards. Teams really work the clock against us, as our constant switching eventually leads to defensive breakdowns. it seems we give up a lot of points, and commit a lot of fouls, with 1 or 2 seconds on the clock.

I'm having a hard time finding a win Saturday based on the rematches with Providence and Depaul. We knew what both would do, and could not stop it. This staff keeps it simple, so I don't see what will change. Also, Xavier is better than both and at home. They are playing their best ball of the season. Just a tough task for our team.
 
Given the formula of getting pounded over and over again by opponents with this makeup, can someone tell me the downside in trying to press for a significant amount of the game? X is turnover prone and we've been playing 10 or 11 guys lately. What do we have to lose in trying that?
 
Windy City Johnny Fan questions why SJU doesn't even attempt a full court press vs bigger teams like De Paul and Xavier and there just doesn't seem to be a logical answer. Game after game Mullin sees his team get beat up by these bigger teams and just continues his same strategy.
I'll hazard a guess that Mullin is a very stubborn person. It has been common knowledge his staff make up has been a mess since the slice debacle and Mullin refuses to make a change even though it could cost him his job. The bigger the outcry the more he digs in. Mullin vs Cragg will be interesting to watch.
 
[quote="Enright" post=328201]Windy City Johnny Fan questions why SJU doesn't even attempt a full court press vs bigger teams like De Paul and Xavier and there just doesn't seem to be a logical answer. Game after game Mullin sees his team get beat up by these bigger teams and just continues his same strategy.
I'll hazard a guess that Mullin is a very stubborn person. It has been common knowledge his staff make up has been a mess since the slice debacle and Mullin refuses to make a change even though it could cost him his job. The bigger the outcry the more he digs in. Mullin vs Cragg will be interesting to watch.[/quote]

I mean earlier in the year we were only playing 6 or 7 guys so there was that argument against. Now we're throwing 10 or 11 guys out there anyway, so why not try it? We have inherent disadvantages against these bigger teams, but in theory shouldn't that mean that we have other advantages? Why don't we use those?
 
[quote="Windy City Johnny Fan" post=328204][quote="Enright" post=328201]Windy City Johnny Fan questions why SJU doesn't even attempt a full court press vs bigger teams like De Paul and Xavier and there just doesn't seem to be a logical answer. Game after game Mullin sees his team get beat up by these bigger teams and just continues his same strategy.
I'll hazard a guess that Mullin is a very stubborn person. It has been common knowledge his staff make up has been a mess since the slice debacle and Mullin refuses to make a change even though it could cost him his job. The bigger the outcry the more he digs in. Mullin vs Cragg will be interesting to watch.[/quote]

I mean earlier in the year we were only playing 6 or 7 guys so there was that argument against. Now we're throwing 10 or 11 guys out there anyway, so why not try it? We have inherent disadvantages against these bigger teams, but in theory shouldn't that mean that we have other advantages? Why don't we use those?[/quote]
Would suspect you will see more traps at very least to get some deflections and hopefully steals v high turnover Xavier. It is critical to disrupt X flow. In the half court they can hurt us down low and on other end throw the usual zone at us. Easy buckets such a key imo.
 
In the last two games we had two guys, Marshall and Strus, go off for career nights. Now a lot of that has to do with missed assignments and poor guarding but some of it just has to do with guys being in a zone and being able to score regardless of the defense.

I agree with almost everything that's been said about the analysis of this game but, for me, the wild card is not letting one guy destroy us.
 
To cheer me up, I watch youtube videos of our better days. I watched the first half of the Artest final 8 team vs. Duke. I think we lost that game in OT. Duke had 3 pros on that team with Brand, Battier and Maggette off the bench. Also a big time 3 point shooter in Trajan Langdon. Tyrone grant was out, so Albert Richardson started. That team had no true center. They were undersized. But they really competed. I forgot how good Barkley was on defense. He hounded Duke's PG Avery the entire half. That team would have dominated the Big East this year. Duke had better shooters, and Brand was a great college player. But Barkley and Thornton's quick hands led to a lot of steals and errant passes. They used their strengths to almost overcome Duke's superior size, strength and skill. This St. John's team just couldn't figure out how to use their skill and speed to overcome the consistent size and strength differentials. If it didn't happen in the first 30 games, I don't expect it to happen now. I so hope they prove me wrong, or this collapse will rival the Yankees blowing the 3-0 lead over the Red Sox in the playoffs.
 
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I've been preaching trapping, more pressuring of the ball and the use of multiple zone defenses for a couple seasons now. I've probably been louder this season due to the same outcome when facing the Providence's, DePaul's and Xavier's.
 
[quote="Ray Morgan" post=328196]Unlike most here, I don't think we are an inconsistent team that is hard to predict. We are consistent in that we can handle 3 point oriented finesse teams. and are dominated by teams that slow the game down and crash the boards. Teams really work the clock against us, as our constant switching eventually leads to defensive breakdowns. it seems we give up a lot of points, and commit a lot of fouls, with 1 or 2 seconds on the clock.

I'm having a hard time finding a win Saturday based on the rematches with Providence and Depaul. We knew what both would do, and could not stop it. This staff keeps it simple, so I don't see what will change. Also, Xavier is better than both and at home. They are playing their best ball of the season. Just a tough task for our team.[/quote]

Unfortunately I can't disagree with anything you said. I've been extremely disappointed about how obvious it is has been for us to adapt to these teams and we haven't.
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=328239]I've been preaching trapping, more pressuring of the ball and the use of multiple zone defenses for a couple seasons now. I've probably been louder this season due to the same outcome when facing the Providence's, DePaul's and Xavier's.[/quote]

I'm an optimist, but watching this play out over the second half of the Big East season has really made me sour on the staff. I simply can't fathom why these adjustments weren't made to play up to our strengths. It doesn't feel like our team was put in the best position to win. That's disheartening.
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=328239]I've been preaching trapping, more pressuring of the ball and the use of multiple zone defenses for a couple seasons now. I've probably been louder this season due to the same outcome when facing the Providence's, DePaul's and Xavier's.[/quote]

Right there with you. These type of Ds would work with this team. Hopefully they have worked on it in practice.
 
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