Schedule

Nah I sat third row last night. Heron was way off. He wasn't finishing despite taking a number of good shots and he was forcing ones because he got frustrated. He was bickering with the refs and just didn't have it. That's fine. The important thing, as I mentioned in a earlier post, is that Ponds comes out each game looking to facilitate and when others are involved and playing well, he continues that roll instead of pulling the Shamorie show. I thought the Rutgers game was a great example of that and I hope it is a point of emphasis going forward.



[quote="Desco80" post=303984][quote="SJU11phd" post=303972][quote="Marillac" post=303962][quote="SJU11phd" post=303960][quote="Marillac" post=303955]I think this schedule is a thing of beauty. I don't believe we are a very well coached team and I don't see the signs of us becoming one. VCU is as good of a team as we could have beaten at this stage (if we weren't absolutely on fire).
.[/quote]

Fixed.[/quote]

I don't think it's fair to judge Mullin's coaching based on the garbage he had the first three years. I've heard from a very knowledgeable and trusted sources that our offensive practices are extremely impressive.

Let's see how this season plays out. I think things will be fine if we can keep the talent rolling in.[/quote]

I'm glad the practices are impressive but the product on the court is garbage. St. John's was 1000 times more talented than VCU (who isn't even a Kenpom top 100 team), but the coaching staff basically let Ponds hijack this game, and let him do whatever he wanted for better or worse.

I'm shocked that many on here and social media are praising Ponds. What he did tonight was completely embarrassing. You could see the disdain on the faces of Heron and Figueroa, who were left to watch Ponds jack up contested 35 foot 3s, and take the ball up dribble around for 10 seconds then jack up a ridiculous shot without ever passing.

The blame has to go on the staff. Notice how in the Rutgers game when the ball was more evenly distributed we won in a blowout, and in all these "great" games by Ponds we were left to have to make miracle comebacks against teams with majorly inferior talent. I'm glad we have a bunch of easy games coming up (with the exception of maybe the GT game) because there are major issues that need to be worked out, and this staff has got to find a way to play Roberts and Greg Williams at least a few minutes a game.

I've said this many times before, but with Chris Mullin as head coach this program is going no where. I'd be ecstatic to be wrong, but my belief is stronger than ever after watching this circus act on display tonight.[/quote]

I agree. I dont understand the praise for Ponds' game last night. Yes, he hit the game winner, and we are all glad he did.
But the second half he was all hero ball. No ball movement. Just Isos and token screens at the top of the key. Hes lucky he got to the line as often as he did.
Clark was definitely off last night, but I dont think the same can be said for Heron. He simply wasn't given the ball. It was Ponds vs the world. His defense was also shit poor. Most of those late closeouts on 3pt shooters were his fault. Imo it was clear he was trying to impress the scouts in attendance, and if anything his selfish play probably had the opposite effect.

If we dont play unselfish and move the ball we are not going to be above .500 in league play.[/quote]
 
Fran F came to our exhibition and picked up his ticket that Matt A left for him. I was behind him at the Will Call window. Last night he was hanging with Matt before the game and they looked pretty chummy. I highly doubt he would take a cheap shot at Matt or at any coaching staff for that matter.

Did he really criticize the coaches for pulling a player for taking a bad shot? I think I recall that as his specialty.

One criticism that color commentators could make about our staff is that they give players too much freedom to shoot -not that I long for the days of seeing our best shooters being benched for taking open threes.
 
[quote="Marillac" post=303955]I think this schedule is a thing of beauty. I don't believe we are a very good team but I see the signs of us becoming one. VCU is as good of a team as we could have beaten at this stage (if we weren't absolutely on fire).

We've been tested with a big man from BG, solid guards, and now a pressing team. Throw in the last minute close game experience and that is all you can ask for.

I'm looking forward to some cupcakes before and after Ga Tech to get Roberts and Williams some experience and for our guys to gel more. Just gotta survive that Ga Tech game.[/quote]

VCU won 18 games last year and have some good players back...plus some transfers.
This was a good win.
 
[quote="Moose" post=304031][quote="Ray Morgan" post=304025]I thought Fran had another good night calling the game. He repeated his comment from the night before about transfers being "bought and paid for", and made it pretty clear he meant dirty recruiting practices. He also called SJU a less disciplined version of Virginia Tech, meaning he was thinking "not as well coached". Mullin wants his guys to move the ball, but believes that pulling a guy after a questionable shot selection destroys confidence. He would rather a bad shot than a turnover. I am sure there are no contrarian opinions on his staff. Maybe that is the source of resistance to adding to or changing the staff. Who knows, but it makes sense.

Another point harped on here is our huge talent advantage against everyone we faced. You know who has a huge talent advantage every game? Duke. They have the first 3 picks in the draft. Every mock draft I saw had Heron undrafted, and Ponds undrafted or late second round. We had a slight talent advantage over VCU. But they have more size, more depth, and guys like Vann that can play. We also have a team full of scorers with no real quarterback. Some here think it doesn't matter. it's positionless basketball. I think it also results in aimless basketball. Back to the topic. We have some easy games on paper coming up. That's where our talent advantage should really show. Yet the guys have shown they can play down to the competition. Staff needs to get that in their heads, and work to keep it from happening.[/quote]

How did you interpret the bought and paid for comment? I was a bit confused there?[/quote]

Meaning their leverage is gone.
 
The narrative we should running teams out of the gym every night is ridiculous. The talent gap between a bottom conference teams (including mid majors) and top level teams is much closer than it was 10+ years ago. Teams play hard, and the 3 point goal is the great equalizer (of course the poor perimeter defense doesn’t help).
 
Last edited:
[quote="newsman13" post=304060][quote="Marillac" post=303955]I think this schedule is a thing of beauty. I don't believe we are a very good team but I see the signs of us becoming one. VCU is as good of a team as we could have beaten at this stage (if we weren't absolutely on fire).

We've been tested with a big man from BG, solid guards, and now a pressing team. Throw in the last minute close game experience and that is all you can ask for.

I'm looking forward to some cupcakes before and after Ga Tech to get Roberts and Williams some experience and for our guys to gel more. Just gotta survive that Ga Tech game.[/quote]

VCU won 18 games last year and have some good players back...plus some transfers.
This was a good win.[/quote]

Strongly disagree. They were picked to finish towards the bottom of the A10 which will probably be a 1 bid league this year, and aren't even a top 100 Kenpom team. This would have been a bad loss. Thankfully we pulled it out.
 
[quote="Amaseinyourface" post=304061][quote="Moose" post=304031][quote="Ray Morgan" post=304025]I thought Fran had another good night calling the game. He repeated his comment from the night before about transfers being "bought and paid for", and made it pretty clear he meant dirty recruiting practices. He also called SJU a less disciplined version of Virginia Tech, meaning he was thinking "not as well coached". Mullin wants his guys to move the ball, but believes that pulling a guy after a questionable shot selection destroys confidence. He would rather a bad shot than a turnover. I am sure there are no contrarian opinions on his staff. Maybe that is the source of resistance to adding to or changing the staff. Who knows, but it makes sense.

Another point harped on here is our huge talent advantage against everyone we faced. You know who has a huge talent advantage every game? Duke. They have the first 3 picks in the draft. Every mock draft I saw had Heron undrafted, and Ponds undrafted or late second round. We had a slight talent advantage over VCU. But they have more size, more depth, and guys like Vann that can play. We also have a team full of scorers with no real quarterback. Some here think it doesn't matter. it's positionless basketball. I think it also results in aimless basketball. Back to the topic. We have some easy games on paper coming up. That's where our talent advantage should really show. Yet the guys have shown they can play down to the competition. Staff needs to get that in their heads, and work to keep it from happening.[/quote]

How did you interpret the bought and paid for comment? I was a bit confused there?[/quote]

Meaning their leverage is gone.[/quote]

If so then he could have come up with a much better analogy
 
[quote="Moose" post=304106][quote="Amaseinyourface" post=304061][quote="Moose" post=304031][quote="Ray Morgan" post=304025]I thought Fran had another good night calling the game. He repeated his comment from the night before about transfers being "bought and paid for", and made it pretty clear he meant dirty recruiting practices. He also called SJU a less disciplined version of Virginia Tech, meaning he was thinking "not as well coached". Mullin wants his guys to move the ball, but believes that pulling a guy after a questionable shot selection destroys confidence. He would rather a bad shot than a turnover. I am sure there are no contrarian opinions on his staff. Maybe that is the source of resistance to adding to or changing the staff. Who knows, but it makes sense.

Another point harped on here is our huge talent advantage against everyone we faced. You know who has a huge talent advantage every game? Duke. They have the first 3 picks in the draft. Every mock draft I saw had Heron undrafted, and Ponds undrafted or late second round. We had a slight talent advantage over VCU. But they have more size, more depth, and guys like Vann that can play. We also have a team full of scorers with no real quarterback. Some here think it doesn't matter. it's positionless basketball. I think it also results in aimless basketball. Back to the topic. We have some easy games on paper coming up. That's where our talent advantage should really show. Yet the guys have shown they can play down to the competition. Staff needs to get that in their heads, and work to keep it from happening.[/quote]

How did you interpret the bought and paid for comment? I was a bit confused there?[/quote]

Meaning their leverage is gone.[/quote]

If so then he could have come up with a much better analogy[/quote]

He used the perfect analogy. Bought and paid for means corrupted by money or bribed. He brought that comment up right away last night, and laughed, and said "I didn't say it, soem friends said it" Then said it's like getting the car after it's been paid for. Not only does he know how corrupt the system is, everyone knows it. The biggest recruit Mullin has had is Matt A. He knows the transfer market, and works very hard to level the playing field. Classy job by VCU coach Rhoades giving Matt a warm hug and whispering something to him, which had to be congrats on the baby. I also thought Rhoades was classy at the end, pointing to his arm to show the refs they missed the foul, but then quickly to the greeting line for handshakes and embraces with the SJU staff.
 
[quote="Marillac" post=303963][quote="SJU61982" post=303958][quote="Marillac" post=303955]I think this schedule is a thing of beauty. I don't believe we are a very good team but I see the signs of us becoming one. VCU is as good of a team as we could have beaten at this stage (if we weren't absolutely on fire).

We've been tested with a big man from BG, solid guards, and now a pressing team. Throw in the last minute close game experience and that is all you can ask for.

I'm looking forward to some cupcakes before and after Ga Tech to get Roberts and Williams some experience and for our guys to gel more. Just gotta survive that Ga Tech game.[/quote]

Don't sleep on Princeton. We've been somewhat vulnerable to backdoor plays, with no big man. Nobody does it better then them.

You can also be assured that they will play a smart, well disciplined game. Won't be an easy W, IMO.[/quote]

Princeton is capable of beating us any given year.[/quote] so are most teams :)
 
[quote="SJU11phd" post=303972][quote="Marillac" post=303962][quote="SJU11phd" post=303960][quote="Marillac" post=303955]I think this schedule is a thing of beauty. I don't believe we are a very well coached team and I don't see the signs of us becoming one. VCU is as good of a team as we could have beaten at this stage (if we weren't absolutely on fire).
.[/quote]

Fixed.[/quote]

I don't think it's fair to judge Mullin's coaching based on the garbage he had the first three years. I've heard from a very knowledgeable and trusted sources that our offensive practices are extremely impressive.

Let's see how this season plays out. I think things will be fine if we can keep the talent rolling in.[/quote]

I'm glad the practices are impressive but the product on the court is garbage. St. John's was 1000 times more talented than VCU (who isn't even a Kenpom top 100 team), but the coaching staff basically let Ponds hijack this game, and let him do whatever he wanted for better or worse.

I'm shocked that many on here and social media are praising Ponds. What he did tonight was completely embarrassing. You could see the disdain on the faces of Heron and Figueroa, who were left to watch Ponds jack up contested 35 foot 3s, and take the ball up dribble around for 10 seconds then jack up a ridiculous shot without ever passing.

The blame has to go on the staff. Notice how in the Rutgers game when the ball was more evenly distributed we won in a blowout, and in all these "great" games by Ponds we were left to have to make miracle comebacks against teams with majorly inferior talent. I'm glad we have a bunch of easy games coming up (with the exception of maybe the GT game) because there are major issues that need to be worked out, and this staff has got to find a way to play Roberts and Greg Williams at least a few minutes a game.

I've said this many times before, but with Chris Mullin as head coach this program is going no where. I'd be ecstatic to be wrong, but my belief is stronger than ever after watching this circus act on display tonight.[/quote]

Excellent post SJU11phd , agree 1000%
 
[quote="jcoggs" post=304725]How many wins in the big east assuming they go 12-1 OCC to make the tournament.[/quote]

With our weak schedule, we have to go 13-5 in conference with at least one win in the Big East Tournament. That’s 26-7. That should do it. Anything less and we are on the bubble unless we somehow beat Duke.
 
Respectfully disagree that we need to go 13-5 in BE. 12-6 has never been worse than 4th in BE and BE will get 4 in. I also think 23-8 regular season and 1 win in BE tourney likely gets us in.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=304738]Respectfully disagree that we need to go 13-5 in BE. 12-6 has never been worse than 4th in BE and BE will get 4 in. I also think 23-8 regular season and 1 win in BE tourney likely gets us in.[/quote]

That sounds about right but the two losses by Nova put a wrench in everything and the overall parity of the conference at least looking at it right now, and things could get real ugly especially if you look at the individual team RPI and not just the conference as a whole.
 
Paul Massell wrote: NCJohnnie wrote: Respectfully disagree that we need to go 13-5 in BE. 12-6 has never been worse than 4th in BE and BE will get 4 in. I also think 23-8 regular season and 1 win in BE tourney likely gets us in.

That sounds about right but the two losses by Nova put a wrench in everything and the overall parity of the conference at least looking at it right now, and things could get real ugly especially if you look at the individual team RPI and not just the conference as a whole.

Agree that there does appear to be more parity than usual in BE, but just don't see us getting less than 4 teams in.

BTW, still plenty of opportunity for BE to get big wins:

Nova plays Kansas,
Johnnies play Duke,
Creighton plays Gonzaga,
Marquette plays Kansas State & Wisconsin,
Hall plays Kentucky,
Butler plays Indy.
Of course winning those games easier said than done, but multiple opportunities exist.
 
Last edited:
“Cannibalization” in Big East with no “gimmes” means not too many great league records imo.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=304742]
BTW, still plenty of opportunity for BE to get big wins:
Nova plays Kansas,
Johnnies play Duke,
Creighton plays Gonzaga,
Marquette plays Kansas State & Wisconsin,
Hall plays Kentucky,
Butler plays Indy.
Of course winning those games easier said than done, but multiple opportunities exist.[/quote]

Any of those would be a good win. I believe in every case, the BE team would be the underdog. 2-3 wins would be great but getting shutout would be realistic.
 
Georgia Tech plays Wednesday night at Northwestern. They could well be coming off a loss when they play us Saturday. GT game would seem to be our toughest remaining OOC game before start of BE season.
 
@NYPost_Brazille

St. John's will face its first top 100 opponent on Saturday. Georgia Tech is No. 77 in KenPom. Highest-rated team it has faced so far is No. 111 VCU. #sjubb
 
12-6 should be safe even if Big East metrics are way down as they are trending, especially if we handle rest of OOC. But 7-2 at home / 5-4 on the road as one reasonable sample path to 12 conference wins is no small task.

11-7 probably going to be way too close for comfort unless the wins are concentrated at the top of the conference and/or we beat Duke. In either event probably looking to pick up a win or 2 in the BET to feel better about punching a ticket in that scenario.

Will likely need to be pretty dominant at home and a little better than .500 on road for our case to be low drama in March.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top