Season Goals

This game with Georgetown will define the season. If SJU loses, then it would appear SJU finishes second to last in the conference standings. Even though we had more conference wins than last year, we would not show significant improvement in the season. Us fans can talk about the "good wins" all summer long and how we were in the middle of the pack for much of the season but SJU could easily close the regular season on a five game losing streak and a second to last place finish. Those results would hardly be indicative of "progress", nor would there be cause to be optimistic about the Big East Tournament.
Click to expand...

This team and program have made great strides from last year to this year. The talent level on this years team can not even compare to last year. This years team would beat last years team by 30 pts. Our guard play with Lovett and Ponds while young is head and shoulders above what we had last year and will be exceptional next year especially with the addition of Simon. In the frontcourt Owens has surpassed expectations and so has Darien Williams to some extent. Add Ahmed and this years frontcourt is also head an shoulders above last years squad. With Clark coming in next year , and adding a 5th yr frontcourt transfer and maybe a JUCO kid with some skills and our frontcourt will also be much better next year, especially if Owens adds weight and further develops his offensive game. The program has progressed immensely this year compared to last year. There is the potential for this team and program to make same amount of progress next year from this year if the staff can get the right type of frontcourt guys to come in and develop the games of the kids on our current roster further. This season has been a success no matter how you slice it.
Click to expand...

Eloquently and thoroughly stated MG!
Big GTown win today...
It's been a terrific year of progress on many levels. Let's appreciate that!
Thanks.
 
And going from 1 win to 7 in conference, with mostly new players, is a nice accomplishment. And we have the chance to build on that.


Johnnies just accomplished their first season goal. They've managed to avoid the dreaded 20 loss season.
Click to expand...
 
Seth Davis‏ @SethDavisHoops

Assuming Chris Mullin can keep everyone together and healthy, St. John's is gonna be in the tourney next year.
Click to expand...

Which tourney is the question. Big dance will take more talent up front and maybe a big guard option. I wish ahmed and ellison would learn to play smarter because Ponds and Lovett ate option 1 and 2, and both those guys will shoot 5 seconds into a possession when youd like better shots.

Appears to me Mullin has started to figure out coaching isn't all that hard and may be imparting some of his wisdom and maybe guys are listening.
 
Seth Davis‏ @SethDavisHoops

Assuming Chris Mullin can keep everyone together and healthy, St. John's is gonna be in the tourney next year.
Click to expand...
I'm starting to think that but I want the providence win next saturday
Click to expand...

I am sure we all want that Mike but that game will be a real dog fight. They are going to come out hungry and looking for revenge.
Click to expand...

Look, f that lil prick cooley and the revenge factor.

Remember: "Those fuckers stole one from us huh?" Like the refs stole the game or they would have beat us?

Well next Saturday lets steal another one from that SOB and his team.
 
2 wins vs DePaul splits with hall marq gtown butler prov and win at dome vs 'cuse.......if only we took a couple games like minny and del st the season would be a great step. Next year if all stay backcourt should be considered one of the tops in Big East and possibly country. Shamorie Marcus Simon Mussini, Bash Clark yakwe Owens and maybe one more year outta D Will
 
Johnnies just accomplished their first season goal. They've managed to avoid the dreaded 20 loss season.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily! Could lose next 2 regular season, BE T, and either CBI or CIT. :dry:
Click to expand...

On the flipside, the proverbial what if question: ending the season (including any non BET tourney games) at .500? Meaning is that more than surpassing season's goals ... I know wishful thinking ...
 
And some interesting final potential scenarios with three teams 1 game ahead of STJ:

Remaining games:
Seton Hall 8 - 8 : Georgetown (home) and Butler (away)
Providence 8 - 8 : Depaul (home) and STJ (away)
Marquette 8 - 8 : Xavier (away) and Creighton (home)

an interesting ending of the season potentially possible (with STJ beating Providence at home), is the a tie with Marquette because those are two tough teams to beat no matter where. 8-10 tie. (But that means Marquette with the better overall record remains at 7 but it would be so good if STJ can get DePaul in first round ... before ... done!)
 
I do not believe overall record plays a roll in determining tiebreakers.

Hopefully we can get the 7th seed. I will say this, the way Butler is playing if we got to the second round either Nova or Butler will be tough to beat.
 
Through 9 BE games we are 4-5 which given some of our play in December, is better than a lot of us expected. There were some wonderful wins (Butler and Providence) and some woeful shellackings (Hoyas and Nova) but here we are at the midpoint and we have five at home, four on the road left.

Our D is still a huge issue but at least last night will have given our young team a badly needed boost. I see us going 4-5 in the second half.

Xavier - L
Marquette - W
@ Nova - L
The Hall - W (payback)
@ Butler - L
@ Marquette - L
Hoyas - W (payback part deux)
@ Creighton - L
Friars - W (we win another close one)

That leaves us 8-10 in the BE. As a reminder, we won one stinking game in the BE last year... We may not be improving at the speed of light but we are improving...
Click to expand...

Damn your head, Ed Cooley ("Too late!").

I was 8 for 8 on my prediction for the second half of the season but the Friars did not read the memo.

 
Winning 7 league games makes the season a success but 3 off the court decisions by the staff prevented a much better season and maybe even an NIT bid.
1 the transfer of Jones
2 the failure to bring Livingston in or some capable substitute
3 the transfer of Sima
These 3 events left SJU with a front court that couldn't score ,rebound or defend. If two of the above points had been handled differently Yawke would not have been asked to play out of position and wouldn't have been able to score two points and get two rebounds on Wed and be guaranteed 25 min on Sat. There would have been some competition for playing time . Ahmed could have taken some minutes away from Ellison also.
Clark and Simon will help alleviate this problem somewhat next year but two front court players must be added before next year.
 
Winning 7 league games makes the season a success but 3 off the court decisions by the staff prevented a much better season and maybe even an NIT bid.
1 the transfer of Jones
2 the failure to bring Livingston in or some capable substitute
3 the transfer of Sima
These 3 events left SJU with a front court that couldn't score ,rebound or defend. If two of the above points had been handled differently Yawke would not have been asked to play out of position and wouldn't have been able to score two points and get two rebounds on Wed and be guaranteed 25 min on Sat. There would have been some competition for playing time . Ahmed could have taken some minutes away from Ellison also.
Clark and Simon will help alleviate this problem somewhat next year but two front court players must be added before next year.
Click to expand...
Do not know the true story behind the recruitment of Livingston but if the same person or group of persons made the Livingston and Z Brown decisions than they made two mistakes. (That's if we refused to allow the signing of Livingston rather than him just not picking us).
 
How was decision to move away from Brown a mistake ?


[attachment]downloadfile.jpeg[/attachment]
 
You're right NC, perhaps we could even have saved a schollie by putting Zach on a cheerleader schollie.
 
How was decision to move away from Brown a mistake ?


[attachment]downloadfile.jpeg[/attachment]
Click to expand...

I think he meant the mistake was recruiting him in the first place.

That photo though
 
Winning 7 league games makes the season a success but 3 off the court decisions by the staff prevented a much better season and maybe even an NIT bid.
1 the transfer of Jones
2 the failure to bring Livingston in or some capable substitute
3 the transfer of Sima
These 3 events left SJU with a front court that couldn't score ,rebound or defend. If two of the above points had been handled differently Yawke would not have been asked to play out of position and wouldn't have been able to score two points and get two rebounds on Wed and be guaranteed 25 min on Sat. There would have been some competition for playing time . Ahmed could have taken some minutes away from Ellison also.
Clark and Simon will help alleviate this problem somewhat next year but two front court players must be added before next year.
Click to expand...

1. Jones went 8 ppg and 5 rpg to a team that was worse than ours. While he may have qualified for minutes here this season, we would have not won any more than we did. If you try to frame the question as who should SJU have kept, Amar or Jones, the answer was really neither, and both were let loose. The only difference is that with Sima's departure the 6'10 Amar got minutes because we need height. Had Sima not left, Amar would have gotten very little daylight. But don't think Jones would have helped much. Ahmed and Ellison both would have gotten small forward minutes over him.

2. no comment.

3. Sima transfer. transfers are part of the game, and we are a plus in this category at present, which evokes the days when our roster was loaded with transfers who found out pastures weren't greener elsewhere.

Over the last 5 games, we really only had a legitimate shot at winning the 2 home games. Someone posted odds on each of the 5 remaining games, and both GTown and Providence were 50/50 propositions. We got one of two, and Providence definitely had a good game plan and we didn't respond.

7-11 is a great year to bounce back. Next season, without defections, .500 in conference should be the minimum goal, and possibly be a bubble team.
 
No way of knowing if having Jones and Sima available would have made SJU a possible NIT team but don't you feel Jones would have benefitted playing with Ponds and LoVett? As you pointed out transfers are a big part of college basketball but the staff got caught with their pants down when Sima left.
They assumed Yawke's offensive game would improve as we all did but it regressed and he is basically useless on the offensive end. We go into Wed game playing what was considered a good front line who hopefully have packed it in with Owens who is limited to 25 min playing time because of strength and fouling issues, Ali who I hope the staff didn't keep in place of Jonees ,Ahmed and Ellison who should be limited to 10 min backup at guard.
The staff can thank Ponds and LoVett that there is very little noise about their jobs but they have produced a front line that couldn't play in the Maac because of poor planning.
 
Jones was a slow to get his shot off, not great vision, back to the basket rhythm shooter for whom the offense usually stopped moving; i.e. exactly opposite to the offensive approach CM is trying to build.
 
Jones was a slow to get his shot off, not great vision, back to the basket rhythm shooter for whom the offense usually stopped moving; i.e. exactly opposite to the offensive approach CM is trying to build.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness we had that gazelle Alibegowitz to get his minutes.
 
No way of knowing if having Jones and Sima available would have made SJU a possible NIT team but don't you feel Jones would have benefitted playing with Ponds and LoVett? As you pointed out transfers are a big part of college basketball but the staff got caught with their pants down when Sima left.
They assumed Yawke's offensive game would improve as we all did but it regressed and he is basically useless on the offensive end. We go into Wed game playing what was considered a good front line who hopefully have packed it in with Owens who is limited to 25 min playing time because of strength and fouling issues, Ali who I hope the staff didn't keep in place of Jonees ,Ahmed and Ellison who should be limited to 10 min backup at guard.
The staff can thank Ponds and LoVett that there is very little noise about their jobs but they have produced a front line that couldn't play in the Maac because of poor planning.
Click to expand...

1. No. Jones when given the chance, would disappear for long stretches. Between Ponds and Lovett and Ahmed, the best that could have happened is that he would have just tried to rebound offensively when shots were hoisted. Mussini, Ahmed, and Ellison didn't have to be coaxed to shoot, so I think unless Jones could do something else (i.e. rebound against taller opponents) he wouldn't have contributed much.

2. Did they really get caught with their pants down with Sima, or could they by simply playing the guys who had moved ahead of him become aware of his unhappiness and couldn't do anything short of playing him undeservedly. I don't have any info to the contrary that they were shocked.

3. Yakwe is a real enigma. After seeing him play in his 14 point game, which wasn't putbacks and layups, but half spins, short jumpers and strong moves to the hoop, I'd hate to see him transfer to a Big East school and burn us for 2 seasons.

4. I think Owens is still a limited edition model. Play him 35 minutes (if he could stay on the court) and all of his flaws would be exposed. Play him 15-20 and you get a high energy high wire act which get people out of their seats. Still plenty of room for improvement, and we all love him.

5. Roster was just too thin, and all in all staff got a lot out of them. They actually run an offense, and if you noticed, Mussini often will direct a guy like williams (especially) or big men who don't know the plays that well, to a place on the floor.

With this level of talent, although we can take the season out of context and cherry pick the losses that we could have won - basically can do that with every less than mediocre team. It's a program on the rise, and perhaps Simon and Clark will help elevate us to 17 wins or more next season.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top