Seton Hall, Sun. Feb. 21, Noon, FS1 & 570 AM

[redken]

For me, the silver linings were. . .

1) leaving a game, for the 1st time in a while, feeling really agitated (vs. disgusted) that we blew an opportunity.
2) fact that our young guys were instrumental in comeback despite free throws and turnovers
3) Inside defensive presence and toughness demonstrated by Yakwe and Sima...SH was absolutely afraid to come inside mid 2nd half

Didn't see the replays but thought that we got jobbed down the stretch.

No senior leadership and lack of point guard really hurt.

Terrible last play..there was absolutely nothing that Sima could do with back to basket and 2.6 seconds left...didn't belong in middle of play unless it was drawn up for him to immediately pass back to a shooter...would have preferred to inbound to Yakwe could at least have turned to the baseline

Anyway, very exciting and all signs are positive

[NOTE: Spoke to another fan who shared a conversation he had with a non-SJ coach who told him that we have Grad Senior big coming in who will be best player on team...Perhaps Paultz et al...have an idea...encouraging news that hopefully can accelerate our ascent

Did hear Matt was targeting fifth year interior guy, but no clue who. The "best player on the team" comment may just be fan hyperbole I suspect. We are good at that.

The assessment was coming from the coach...the guy I spoke to actually didn't know the target..in any case, point taken, we have heard enough hype before

This is pure speculation, but Jimmy Hall (formerly of Hofstra and now with Kent State) will be a graduate senior. He was mentioned in an article about possible 2016 transfers, but to my knowledge has never been linked to SJU. He is a nice player originally from Brooklyn.

While he didn't know who it was, he didn't think it was the Hofstra kid...who knows...guess we will find out...

Hall is shooting .733 from the line (and .482 FG%) ... sign him up!

Edit: On second thought ... Just read that he was one of four Hofstra players who stole about $10,000 of laptops, iPads, etc. from fellow students. Everyone deserves a second chance, but that was some serious stuff.

 

[ipd200]

Johnson was in Whitehead's head in the 2nd half. He should get some credit for Isaiah's crappy game

 

[Wolfie]

Actually, hope I'm wrong, and Whitehead achieves his best potential (as a player and a human), but looked like a wise guy to me. The kid is a super talent. That said, I worry about his 'makeup'.

 

[mjmaherjr]

For me, the silver linings were. . .

1) leaving a game, for the 1st time in a while, feeling really agitated (vs. disgusted) that we blew an opportunity.
2) fact that our young guys were instrumental in comeback despite free throws and turnovers
3) Inside defensive presence and toughness demonstrated by Yakwe and Sima...SH was absolutely afraid to come inside mid 2nd half

Didn't see the replays but thought that we got jobbed down the stretch.

No senior leadership and lack of point guard really hurt.

Terrible last play..there was absolutely nothing that Sima could do with back to basket and 2.6 seconds left...didn't belong in middle of play unless it was drawn up for him to immediately pass back to a shooter...would have preferred to inbound to Yakwe could at least have turned to the baseline

Anyway, very exciting and all signs are positive

[NOTE: Spoke to another fan who shared a conversation he had with a non-SJ coach who told him that we have Grad Senior big coming in who will be best player on team...Perhaps Paultz et al...have an idea...encouraging news that hopefully can accelerate our ascent

Did hear Matt was targeting fifth year interior guy, but no clue who. The "best player on the team" comment may just be fan hyperbole I suspect. We are good at that.

The assessment was coming from the coach...the guy I spoke to actually didn't know the target..in any case, point taken, we have heard enough hype before

This is pure speculation, but Jimmy Hall (formerly of Hofstra and now with Kent State) will be a graduate senior. He was mentioned in an article about possible 2016 transfers, but to my knowledge has never been linked to SJU. He is a nice player originally from Brooklyn.

While he didn't know who it was, he didn't think it was the Hofstra kid...who knows...guess we will find out...

Hall is shooting .733 from the line (and .482 FG%) ... sign him up!

Edit: On second thought ... Just read that he was one of four Hofstra players who stole about $10,000 of laptops, iPads, etc. from fellow students. Everyone deserves a second chance, but that was some serious stuff.

we could use another player on the court who could lead our team in steals to help our defense

 

[Knight]

Watching the game on TV, I thought Coach St. Jean was trying to sell the last play to the staff, succeeded, then rushed to show the play to the team, like 5-10 seconds before play resumed. Anyone else see that?

 

[dee]

I know Ellison had some mistakes down the stretch, but he deserves a lot of credit for his defense against Whitehead today. Forced him into his worst game of the season, as he was a non factor for most of the game.

I believe this team can, with some luck, win the BET

 

[Ray Morgan]

Does anyone know if Sima is a distance relative to Marvin Webster? Seems to have very small hands for a man his size.

 

[rawdognyc]

I know Ellison had some mistakes down the stretch, but he deserves a lot of credit for his defense against Whitehead today. Forced him into his worst game of the season, as he was a non factor for most of the game.

I believe this team can, with some luck, win the BET

Especially if we play Depaul in the first round, second round, semi and finals we Def can pull it off

 

[Knight]

Does anyone know if Sima is a distance relative to Marvin Webster? Seems to have very small hands for a man his size.

Especially when one hand is taped.

 

[redfazed]

We were 11.5 dogs in this game, down by 18 points in the first half, and we ended up taking it down to the wire. The atmosphere at MSG for the second half was fantastic. Considering how superior Seton Hall is to us--on paper-- I'll take it. I even liked the dust-up at the end of the game. Assuming Whitehead comes back next year, this could be the beginning of a great new Big East rivalry.

 

[MJDinkins]

I know Ellison had some mistakes down the stretch, but he deserves a lot of credit for his defense against Whitehead today. Forced him into his worst game of the season, as he was a non factor for most of the game.

I believe this team can, with some luck, win the BET

 

[bamafan]

Watching the game on TV, I thought Coach St. Jean was trying to sell the last play to the staff, succeeded, then rushed to show the play to the team, like 5-10 seconds before play resumed. Anyone else see that?

Even before his hand injury Sima was not strong with the ball, since, even less so. To give him the ball with 2.6 seconds to go 15-18 feet from the basket was pure folly no matter who drew up the play and who endorsed it.

 

[fuchsia]

Had the sense that Whitehead was exposed a little by coach. Announcers kept talking about forcing him left and Ellison and all others guarding him seemed to get with the program. As our talent improves the level of defensive scheming in CM and Mitch and Zen could be scary, particularly with bigs that let us put extra pressure on outside play.

 

[weathermannyc]

Watching the game on TV, I thought Coach St. Jean was trying to sell the last play to the staff, succeeded, then rushed to show the play to the team, like 5-10 seconds before play resumed. Anyone else see that?

I've had that concern all year. That's an adjustment that has to be made from the NBA to college. You need more time to diagram a play and explain all of the options at this level than you do in the pros.

 

[SJU85]

Does anyone know if Sima is a distance relative to Marvin Webster? Seems to have very small hands for a man his size.

So does Patrick Ewing.

 

[SJU14]

Watching the game on TV, I thought Coach St. Jean was trying to sell the last play to the staff, succeeded, then rushed to show the play to the team, like 5-10 seconds before play resumed. Anyone else see that?

Even before his hand injury Sima was not strong with the ball, since, even less so. To give him the ball with 2.6 seconds to go 15-18 feet from the basket was pure folly no matter who drew up the play and who endorsed it.

I think the idea of the play was to get Sima the ball and for him to kick out to an open shooter when the defense collapses on him. Unfortunately, he tried to make a move and lost the ball.

 

[MarkRedman]

At least I was yelling and screaming at the TV again during the second half
If we were in contention for post season play, the ending would have destroyed me
But, given our circumstances, I can live with it
I wonder how many (or few) times, one of our guys hit 2 FT's in a row this season
Should be a major area of focus - after all, they're supposed to be FREE!!
BTW, not terribly impressed with Whitehead - seems to have a poor attitude to me

 

[Ray Morgan]

Does anyone know if Sima is a distance relative to Marvin Webster? Seems to have very small hands for a man his size.

Especially when one hand is taped.

Makes that last play call all the more puzzling. I'm guessing that the staff figured our guards have a hard time getting open, and all of SH's bigs had fouled out. I was surpised Sima was even on the floor for the last few seconds.

 

[paultzman]

At least I was yelling and screaming at the TV again during the second half
If we were in contention for post season play, the ending would have destroyed me
But, given our circumstances, I can live with it
I wonder how many (or few) times, one of our guys hit 2 FT's in a row this season
Should be a major area of focus - after all, they're supposed to be FREE!!
BTW, not terribly impressed with Whitehead - seems to have a poor attitude to me

Whitehead has had a good season adjusting to the point, but in my opinion needs to stay another year & continue to mature. Yesterday he gets credit for making key FTs at the end, but overall played poorly. I think it is 50/50 he comes back.

 

[redmannorth]

Prior to the game :
11 point underdogs
Delgado will kill us
Whitehead will kill us
Hall playing to dance
Hope we don't get blown out
Who will attend early Sunday morning MSG may be empty?

Lo and behold we were getting blown out at half time by one of the better teams in the Big East but we came back. We fought and clawed and made a great game out of it. Delgado and Whitehead had terrible games. We showed something very special in front of a damn good crowd. Do I feel bad for coach and staff you bet and of course all of the fans in attendance , but when you sit back and reflect we exceeded everyone's expectations in respect of this game. Too bad we lost but in terms of the big picture things will be great. Our free throw shooting will improve, Sima's hand will get better and he will be an outstanding center and a great half of a tandem with Yakwe. Ron M will be replaced by a jcaa next season , what an improvement that will be. We add two dynamic guards to our backcourt and Johnson's minutes will be split among Richard F , Owens , Williams ( hope he recovers ) and we will see who else.
Too bad we lost but a great sign of things to come.