@Rutgers, Fri. Nov. 16, 7pm, BTN / 970 WNYM

[quote="oldschool Redmen" post=302528]Looks like i was worried about RU's height over nothing.
They out-rebounded us by 3, and we had 3 more blocks.

SJU should demo Cali.[/quote]

Rebounds can be a very misleading stat. It was close because we hit so many outside shots. Obviously missed shots usually leads to a defensive rebound.

Not a complaint at all but drives me a bit nuts when fans just look at the rebounding numbers. Points off second chances usually is a more telling statistic.
 
Excellent second half. But as other have said, we won't shoot 50% from three very often. Have a great starting 5, but will need a little more from our bench as games get tougher. Love what I saw from Roberts. Have to start working him in 5-10 mpg.
 
[quote="bamafan" post=302514][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=302510]Earlington with a hoop![/quote]
You know it's our night when Earlington banks in a straight away 20 footer.[/quote]
Let's just hope he doesn't take another one.
 
Impressed by our starting 5. Any of them can do damage, any given night.
 
Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=302559]Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.[/quote]


On the downside note we won by 20 really w/o Ponds doing much. I agree about fools gold threes and talented big teams giving us a problem. Just think winning dominantly w/o our best player having a normal game does kind of balance the other stuff out.
 
Very nice effort to start the road schedule. Rutgers not a great team but a hostile environment provided an early test that they passed with flying colors. We could always nitpick but, hey, when the shots fall like that we'll take it every time. Our guys deserve to enjoy the "W" tonight.
 
Starting 5 great game! Dixon filled in nicely. Still not of fan of Trimble getting mins. Guess who led game in blocks? Roberts! He actually leads our team i believe too. Kid is raw but give him mins, especially since Keita is out. Not gonna get picky here. Sick games by LJ and Heron, both are so polished. Man, if we shoot like that look out. Problem is when we are off guys need to be able to attack rim and rebound. Anyway terrific win fellas. Go johnnies!!
 
[quote="we are sju" post=302562][quote="fordham96" post=302559]Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.[/quote]


On the downside note we won by 20 really w/o Ponds doing much. I agree about fools gold threes and talented big teams giving us a problem. Just think winning dominantly w/o our best player having a normal game does kind of balance the other stuff out.[/quote]

6 assists for Shamorie tonight, tops on the team. That, to me, means that he knew that this was LJ and Heron's night, and he set them up appropriately. When we needed him to score against Bowling Green, he did that, too.

That shows me that he will do anything it takes to win. I love players like that.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=302559]Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.[/quote]

Fordham, good analogy. I agree with everything except about Josh Roberts. I think if he gets some minutes with our main rotation guys that he can give us a few quality minutes a game. We have some OOC games coming up where he should get some extended time. I think he will continue to improve if he gets the minutes. He is a high motor athletic kid. We don’t need him to score, just rebound , block shots and play defense for 5-6 minutes a night. As far as Williams and Earlington are concerned I agree wholeheartedly, they need some time.
 
[quote="we are sju" post=302562][quote="fordham96" post=302559]Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.[/quote]


On the downside note we won by 20 really w/o Ponds doing much. I agree about fools gold threes and talented big teams giving us a problem. Just think winning dominantly w/o our best player having a normal game does kind of balance the other stuff out.[/quote]

I love Ponds I am just not sure how much better he is than Heron or even LJ. My point is they all are not going to score 25 points each night. So the tradeoff for Ponds scoring 8 was both LJ and Heron accounting for over 50 themselves. So I don't see it so much as a bright spot that they won despite Ponds' light load tonight.
 
What I really like about this team is that I think at least 3 of the starting 5 (ie, Ponds, Heron and LJ) have both the the skill-set and will to take a game over in tight situations. And that is not a slight against MC or JS, who are both very good basketball players who, as we have seen, play with a lot of heart.

I will be very interested to see, after 4-6 weeks, how Keita does when he’s inserted back into the lineup. Either he will add what we need (height, presence in middle) or the team chemistry will be interrupted. I think that with this talent it’s more likely to be the former, as opposed to the latter.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=302568][quote="we are sju" post=302562][quote="fordham96" post=302559]Couple of things.

1)Remember when Zach wrote that article in early spring talking about how the SJU roster coming back (assuming Ponds came back because he had just declared) had the chance to be the best since 1999 Final 8 team . Except he wrote that BEFORE SJU had landed LJ and Heron. Which shows you he actually didn't know what he was talking about. Because LJ and Heron are clearly the difference makers along with Ponds on this team. They were brilliant tonight. The freshmen Williams, Roberts and Earlington are going to struggle to get any burn against good competition. And that is why the recruiting has to pick up. They need to get more out of their freshmen.

2)Their overall team speed and perimeter talent is legit. I don't expect to make 15 threes every night but they have ballers outside the paint. I didn't care that Rutgers made a lot of 3 against their first 2 opponents, they haven't faced talent like SJU has on the perimeter. SJU was going to make them guard them all over the court and that made it difficult for them.

3)Now the downside. Again Rutgers is picked to finish dead last in the Big 10 for a reason. They have a lot of holes. SJU is going to eventually face teams that will exploit their weaknesses. They will face teams that can go inside and out and will make some early 3's that will force SJU to stay honest on perimeter. Keita will need to come back and help. I don't see Roberts or Earlington developing fast enough to help.[/quote]


On the downside note we won by 20 really w/o Ponds doing much. I agree about fools gold threes and talented big teams giving us a problem. Just think winning dominantly w/o our best player having a normal game does kind of balance the other stuff out.[/quote]

I love Ponds I am just not sure how much better he is than Heron or even LJ. My point is they all are not going to score 25 points each night. So the tradeoff for Ponds scoring 8 was both LJ and Heron accounting for over 50 themselves. So I don't see it so much as a bright spot that they won despite Ponds' light load tonight.[/quote]

Ponds driving the ball is still our best shot IMO. Thought was a real good sign he did not force while LJ and Heron went crazy
 
Very confident we’re going far this season but going to taper excitement following this particular game. You can usually tell how poor a team is based on how bad they miss shots. Rutgers were banging shots with full force against the backboard and side of the rim all night. They exhibited the touch of a rapist with their shooting tonight. Would be surprised if they win more than 10 games this year.
 
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[quote="sirvoo" post=302572]Rutgers were banging shots with full force against the backboard and side of the rim all night. They exhibited the touch of a rapist with their shooting tonight. Would be surprised if they win more than 10 games this year.[/quote]

Haha! Agree with your entire post.
 
Lost in the warranted Heron and Fig praise is Simon played his best game this season. Way more in control and poised and back to where I thought he was at the end of last season. Also while bizarre to see Heron playing the 5 on D for extended periods, I find the coaching criticisms just sad. These guys came prepared and did what they needed to do. Year after year we've had teams play down to lesser competition. This team had major mismatches and overcame them. I certainly did not expect the 3 pt shooting but I was more impressed with the defense. Not only were we effective against a MUCH bigger team but we contained their 3 pt shooting - a scorching hot 3pt shooting team. I would have been happy with one of those but fully expected to get outshot.
 
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