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

[quote="Amaseinyourface" post=302551][quote="espken" post=302540]Happy we got a W, but this so called "Organized streetball" will be lead us to double digit deficits more times than not. Heron and Figgy were unconscious but the worst thing about tonight was two made 3's by Simon.[/quote]

I’m not worried about Simon taking 3s because he’ll never take a bad/contested one and he’s proven he can hit those.[/quote]

Not sure he's proven, but I hope you are right about him not taking a bad one when we need a bucket
 
Rutgers was very intimidating during the jump ball at the start of the game.  There was baby Shaq Doorson at 7' 270 who puts down a thunderous dunk and Issa Thiam towering over the 6'5 Heron.  Then reality set in.  Bigger was not going to be better and certainly not faster than the multiple offensive talents on Mullin’s best team to date.
On previous games a below average game by Shamorie Ponds meant certain defeat.  Not tonight with the arrival of Heron and Figueroa who combined for 50 points.  Matt deserves a bonus this season for his last minute recruiting coups. 
The good:  Mully looked like a coach.  Wore a redmen tie and was in total control.  The outside scoring threat of Heron, Clark and Figueroa will be hard to defend and totally negated Rutgers size advantage. 
The bad:  When Clark came out and was substituted by Trimble it became a disadvantage on both ends of the court.  Hopefully Mullin saw that the taller Roberts will be a better option both in athleticism and defense.  The kid has good timing for blocking shots.  Both Dixon and Simon played hard but were ineffective on offense with Simon forcing some running shots when he should have passed.  Not worried about either. 
The ugly:  Marcellus Earlington's shot. The first was a bankshot prayer and the second was indescribable. The kid's physique though is anything but ugly. If he has a growth spurt to 6'8 look out.
 
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[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]

From what I have seen, the best player on this team is Heron. And that's not a knock on Ponds, who is dynamic and still the guy I want to see with the ball in his hands in a close game late. Heron has a combination of size, skill and strength that makes him a nightmare to guard at this level, and likely the next one too. He also looks to be a better 3 point shooter than Ponds. What Ponds can do is score off broken down plays and in a manner that is unique to him. And just when say that Heron is better, Ponds will go off for 35 or 40 and look like he can't be stopped.
 
[quote="we are sju" post=302571][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[/quote]

My point is they probably need to get 55-60 points each night against tough competition from LJ, Heron and Ponds to win. The ultimate distribution of those points is not important to me (meaning next game could be Ponds with 25, Heron with 20 and LJ with 15) I mean Ponds scored tonight 8 tonight but that is with Heron scoring 27 and LJ scoring 23. That is 58 combined for the 3 of them. If Ponds scored say 15 more tonight don't think the other two would have had the same numbers it would have probably come at the EXPENSE of the other two not in addition. Now when they win a game against a solid team and say BOTH Heron and Ponds score less than 10 then you have something That probably means Mikey Dixon stepped up big time off the bench.
 
[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]

I just like the fact that we have so many weapons this year. Last year you knew everything was geared around Ponds. This year we have so many options who can step up.
 
I get some focusing on the 3's tonight but the two important things to hang our hats on tonight were named Figueroa and Heron. I think in the first half Figgy made some amazing plays that put us in the lead.
The second half (in my opinion) was a coming out party for Mustapha Heron. It was pretty clear to me he was the best player on the floor. I think he quickly is becoming the go to guy. This is not to slight Shamorie, but Heron has "it". You could feel/see the confidence he has. He makes shots and you know if he has space they are going in. No hesitation.
 
Heck of a game boys. Hit the boards well for 80% of the game on both offensive and defensive ends. Defense was best I’ve seen it. Ponds was in a rut and we had huge contributions from Figueroa and Heron. Hit all these guys on a big day and nobody is beating us.

Great win, true road game against a power 5 team..
 
[quote="Mean Gene" post=302531]Very good and much needed win. We shot the lights out. If we shoot like this we will be more than fine the rest of the season. When shoot like they did tonight it negates any other deficiencies they might have. Liked what I saw out of Roberts in the little time he had. Would like to see him get some time with the regular rotation guys. All in all a great night. Thought this would be a tough one. Very happy to be very wrong.[/quote]

Totally agree. Couldn't have said it better.
 
Just remember in mid April SJU had neither locked up. Those two SAVED the recruiting class and may save this season.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=302556]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]

Looking forward to seeing the three point numbers that this team produces. A top outside shooting team is something we're just not used to seeing in our uniforms
 
It was a good night to get my first look at this year's team. Lots to enjoy in that performance.

Very nice to see so many different weapons. Doesn't matter which two or three guys may be hot on a given night, we'll be a tough, competitive team -- or, at the very least, entertaining.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=301555]Who for Rutgers would start at SJU?

Better yet if you combined the rosters you don't think SJU would have the 5 best players...Heron, Ponds, Simon, Clark and LJ?

As Mike Vaccaro said no more grading on a curve.[/quote]

After tonight does anyone disagree with what I said earlier about the rosters?
 
[quote="fordham96" post=302584]Just remember in mid April SJU had neither locked up. Those two SAVED the recruiting class and may save this season.[/quote]

All the more reason not to write off a recruiting class until all the dust has settled.
 
Our defense was suffocating! Rutgers certainly got the Big Ten Home Team calls....But it didnt matter...We were clearly the better skilled team and regardless of all the 3s....If we played with that intensity and confidence we will win most games...Really worried about fouls though because like some guys on this board...refs and opposition view "street ball" as bogus...We clearly have great individual talent and if refs let them play....oh boy...
 
Our best moment last season (until the unepected back to back Duke and Villanova wins) was in the Gavitt game with our dominating blowout win against Nebraska. Watching that game made me think we were a tournament team,. Then Lovett went down and the season went on the skids and all hope died with that disaterous start to the Big East season.

This time around I believe we have significantly more weapons than last year and barring additional injuries I again think we should be a tournament team.

I hope this time to look back to our Gavitt game blowout win as a portend of things to come as opposed to one of the few highlights in a disappointing season.
 
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"We came into the huddle and just said we’re not going to be able to do it one-on-one. We bought into that, and it showed." -- Mustapha Heron. #sjubb
Zach B
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=302594]"We came into the huddle and just said we’re not going to be able to do it one-on-one. We bought into that, and it showed." -- Mustapha Heron. #sjubb
Zach B[/quote]

Best quote. That attitude will make a big difference. The team really didn't take many bad shots tonight.
 
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