Providence, Thur. Dec. 28, 7p, YES, 570AM


Based on this game can't see anyone going pro or NBA teams showing interest of any player This was the time to perform and we just could not
Yes I am negative about this team if we played them tough and close that would have continued making a statement for improvement
Do we have to start thinking staff is not really evaluating talent for this level Is coaching still a problem Is motivation a problem are we too slow are we just not a good shooting team Did we not recruit players who could rip down rebounds
Sorry it is just a big let down for the school At this point we should a least not been manhandled or embarrassed
Ok got this off my chest now lets go a make the next game a WIN
 
That sounds good however, if this is the way we will play we can have a yr like yr 1 As i said before the game we have to hit our 3s went 0-10 second 1/2 they iived in the paint even though we have a 6-11 kid
It does not look good for us saw SH can not see us beating them Perhaps we are not as talented as we thought only clark had decent stats how could a whole team do so poorly Hard to think no one had a good game That means we were just downright overpowered and than not having the talent to make adjustments from what I read they were scoring at will hitting everything This is a backward step for the team. Starting to get disenchanted with coach
Can not blame Ponds injury seems like their guard were eating him for breakfast Looks like for us to win we are going to have to be near perfect Just a sad opening to get manhandled like that If we had to lose make a good game of it stay with in 5 pts
THE STUDENTS game out but how will we keep their support when we put out a product like this opening day



Based on this game can't see anyone going pro or NBA teams showing interest of any player This was the time to perform and we just could not
Yes I am negative about this team if we played them tough and close that would have continued making a statement for improvement
Do we have to start thinking staff is not really evaluating talent for this level Is coaching still a problem Is motivation a problem are we too slow are we just not a good shooting team Did we not recruit players who could rip down rebounds
Sorry it is just a big let down for the school At this point we should a least not been manhandled or embarrassed
Ok got this off my chest now lets go a make the next game a WIN
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You know what you should consider getting off your chest? Some punctuation. Start by using a period here or there. Work your way up to, commas. Dare we hope for the occasional question mark? I hope so! I love question marks!
 
Giving up 90 points to an injured, average team, is improved defense ??????????
Are you kidding me...this team has no clue how to play defense.
 
So are we just not going to mention that LoVett didn't play. Game would of been much closer if we had him. We are not at full strength right now, what is the coaching staff supposed to do about that? We have Yakwe (who is playing well), Trimble (Not ready yet) and Ali off the bench thats it. We knew we were thin, Mullin is doing a good job, program is on the rise we just have to be patient.
I like the post about the zone, that should be something we develop at some point. It's getting late though if the guys haven't been coached to play zone at all so far. Cant give up on Mullin now we will have a much more balanced roster next year. Owens, Clark, Yakwe, Keita, Brooks and Roberts thats six deep in the post we will be good up front. Rebounding and Post defense issues should be solved. Ponds as good as he is, has some holes in his game that need to be worked on. Not to mention he is small and an average athlete.
He will probably do what Ahmed did, test the waters and get some advice on what he needs to improve on and come back. LoVett to me is more complete than Ponds because he was looking like a real pest on defense before he went down. Him and his Dad will do whats best for Marcus, and they seem to be realistic and not starved for cash or else he wouldn't still be here. I think there is good chance if he goes through the draft process he'll be back too. Those two with Simon, Trimble, Dixon, Diakite and Williams thats a top 25 team if you ask me.
 
The same old same old. Defensive effort disappeared, wild and inconsistent offensive play, soft in the middle and a bad loss. Sadly we have been here before. Many of the weaknesses we discussed came true on opening night of Big East play. No way to spin it but this was a disaster. Of course, this happened in front of a rare sell-out at Carnesseca Arena. That's a good way to kill any buzz the team created.

Well, it is up to Mullin to shake off the disappointment and get after the players. We need a big effort if we are to have any chance against Seton Hall. What's done is done. Maybe the site of some familiar competition from the Hall will get a little fire burning in our team. Otherwise, things could get ugly fast.
 
Hey Dink if we lose Ponds like LoVette season over.
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I totally agree. It'll likely look similar to Mullin's first season and the Norm Roberts years.
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Anybody catch the score and how much time left in game when Ponds was injured?
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It was 75-57 when he left, but some people I know, who were watching on TV, said that he came down awkwardly on that steal/layup, that put us up 32-26. That may be where the injury was suffered, since he had been playing a great game to that point, and wasn't the same after that.
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Was playing well offensively. Did not put in any effort on D. Stretch when game got away, Cartwright hit two 3's where Ponds did not bother to even make a courtesy attempt. Tarik Turner who never criticizes anyone on ST John's said "Ponds might need to change his defensive strategy". Translation being he needs to play D. Then when Cartwright starting really killing him, his response was to jack up terrible shots.

He may have gotten hurt, but it didn't stop him from shooting and not why we got killed.
 
Very disappointing effort last night (even taking into account Lovett being out), but as others have said, it's done, time to look forward. We need to take one from either Seton Hall or Creighton on the road and beat DePaul. We can certainly recover from a 2-2 BE start, but 1-3 would be tough. Let's hope Ponds can play and Lovett is at least back for Creighton game. In any event, three point defense and ball movement on offense need to improve for us to be in top half of BE.
 
Yes we played very poorly last night, but this isn't college football folks, you can recover from one loss. The Big East is very competitive top to bottom and we are also a growing team that will show inconsistency throughout the year. We could win at Seton Hall, lose at home to Butler, win at home vs Xavier and lose at Depaul. It's going to be up and down all year, assuming of course that Ponds does not miss time and Lovett returns soon. May as well buckle up for the ride. This time yesterday I think everyone felt pretty darn good about the direction of this program, seems silly to completely pull a 180 based on one bad performance.
 
The doom and gloom attitude is silly. I concede that we unquestionably played a horrible 20 minutes of basketball last night and it was both frustrating and disappointing to watch.

The staff deserves some blame for this, but with LoVett and Ponds injured, I’m not sure Coach K could win two games in the Big East with our current roster.

I’m generally not one to make excuses, but Mullin is attempting to rebuild the program. The roster is thin this year (it should not be next year), but I believe we have enough talent to be very competitive in the Big East if healthy. We just need some luck from the basketball gods.

The coaches and team deserve a ton of credit for playing very well during the OOC portion of the schedule in large part without one of their two best players. Rightly or wrongly, our expectations were raised.

However, let’s not forget that this is at best a bubble team and more likely an NIT team with everybody healthy. With the current roster construction, there is just no margin for error for this team, a fact which nearly everybody recognized before the season started.

Simply stated, every game we play going forward without a healthy LoVett reduces our chances to succeed exponentially. Every game we play without both LoVett and Ponds will amount to a near certain loss.

For my part, I’m not dwelling on our poor play last night, but instead praying to St. Anthony (the patron saint of hopeless causes) for a speedy recovery for LoVett and Ponds! Excluding last night’s game I think both the staff and many of our players have taken a big step forward this year. If we are fortunate enough to get our dynamic guards healthy, I believe we’ll be very competitive.
 
It was a ugly game . Ponds seems to have little confidence in his shot this year and without a doubt misses Lovett on the Court . Lovett is constant motion and the team moves better when he is playing . With Ponds Playing PG , there is a lot of standing around . Simon , I thought had his worst game and his shot is not dangerous . It’s weak on Form and accuracy . We surrendered early in the second half and had no desire to challenge PC inside or out . Owens being a cheer leader for 18 minutes in the first half can’t continue and he continues to fall for every pump Fake . I disagree that the Coaches are to blame for this loss . Harsh as it sounds , we surrendered after the PC early second half run . That’s on the Players . Other than Clark , no one played their A game . Simon played his poorest game and did not have any intensity . Ahmed was Ahmed . Trimble is a 1 dimensional shooter and contributes little if he isn’t hitting . Slow on D too . Missing Lovett for any more Games will be a negative and this team needs everyone contributing in every game . Not deep enough to offset one player being off on a given night .
 
I expect that both Ponds and Lovett are going to miss more time with their knee injuries. Even if the MRI Ponds will have shows nothing serious and I am praying it doesn't, he will miss some time. Observing Lovett yesterday he appears to be getting better but I do not see him playing against Seton Hall or Creighton although I hope I am wrong. This means two definite losses and a big hill to climb to improve over last years Big East record if they even make it back shortly there after.

The other concerns I want to note are -

1.The 3 point % that Ponds is shooting. I have heard of Sophomore slumps but this is alarming.
2. No improvement from Bashir Ahmed offensively.
3. Not much of an outside threat from Justin Simon along with poor free throw shooting. Curious to see if he along with the staff can improve this as he has a lot of talent in other areas.

When healthy we have a solid six man rotation with a decent defender in Yawke. Trimble needs better conditioning to contribute at this level.

When one of the six is not playing we don't have the depth to compete with good teams on a consistent basis.

 
In 14-15 we started out 1-4 and were 3-6 nine games in and still made the tournament. Just saying. Keep the faith hopefully we keep selling out and the students don't get discouraged. Next game. ?
 
Good Post! With the short bench and all ,Mullin STILL needs to stop the poor play as it’s happening and NOT let it go. He should pull guys when they play poorly right away and it shouldn’t matter if you replace them with Alibecovic because those should be teaching moments kids learn from and NEVER repeat same mistakes! Instead what you see is repeated junk play. And I’m specifically talking Ponds,etc. whenever play becomes lackadaisical. Last night his defense was nonexistent, not sure if injury contributed to that.What needs to happen and will happen is we will improve, impossible not to,because these are competitive kids and coaches. No doom and gloom!
 
Team played poorly most of the night, but I kept waiting for the coaches to adjust the defense, use timeouts, etc. got the feeling the coaches were spectators. But on a lighter note, it is one game at the beginning of the season. There is time to adjust and improve. Pray that injuries heal quickly.
 
Mullin brought with him a NBA, especially Golden State, mindset on offense. The only problem is that he has a bunch of young college kids with a very underdeveloped sense of what's a good shot. Ponds' shot selection has been out of control all season. Same with Ahmed. Turner called Trimble our designated 3 point shooter. He is in the mid 20s, and that's after a good start. Amar is below the Mendoza line, and Ponds is close to it. The guys who take most of our shots, Ponds, Ahmed, and Lovett, are shooting 40, 38 and 42%, and that's from the field. There are players in the Big East shooting better from 3 than these guys are shooting from the field. Time to forget this undisciplined offense and distribute shots better. Simon, Owens and Clark are all around 50%. Maybe they need to get the ball more often.
 
With all of this deep analysis, first and foremost we need to see what happens with Ponds' knee. If it winds up being remotely serious and costs him more than a game or two at most, even if Lovett returns our season outlook obviously changes dramatically. Hope he is ok.
 
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