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

[Sherman Sheridan & Grant]

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.

Great post!!

On the last play; from where the ball was inbounded from and less than 3 seconds IMO there are 4 basic options in no particular order; all are high risk plays, let's face it is a very low percentage play any way you look at it -
1) High lob to the basket - very risky since it needs a perfect, lengthy pass with perfect timing between thrower and catcher; also contact under the basket is probably going to be ignored so it is relatively easy to disrupt the play
2) Pick for a jumper into the short corner - tough play because even if a pick frees the shooter there is a small window to complete the pass with the harassment of the inbounds defender; you also are feeding the ball into the corner to a player moving away from the basket and not squared up for the shot
3) Pick for a jumper into the middle of the court (key area) - again and even more than the corner jumper because he has to go hard to the ball the shooter's momentum is moving away from the basket and his back is basically to the basket even if he is coming from the far side of the court rather than up the middle; very difficult shot at best
4) Two man game play (the one they ran) - again very high risk although it is the one that provides two options; Sima, in this case, can either go hard to the basket or pitch back to Mvouika, obviously he did neither. The downside, it needs an instantaneous decisive read from Sima, which just as obviously didn't happen. Sima can pass and score from in low, but..............

It is always easy to second guess a single play but the position of the ball out of bounds makes that a very difficult place to score from in 3 seconds; much better chance if the ball is farther down the court where options exist to pass to a player facing the basket and squared up because the defense has to be concerned with the legitimate threat of running something going to the basket.

RMN, Logen
Both great posts
To catch my breath with all the intense discussions and put everything (W L effort of players mistakes recruits style of play publicity) in a succinct context:

It's all good and as positive as any of us could have expected!
And no one on planet earth can disagree that.......our future is very bright!

all the best

 

[stjohnschris]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

I like my couch and I don't think I want to share it with you. On a different subject, our coach is (to my assessment) displaying characteristics of good leadership...surrounding himself with great minds, each bringing a different expertise to the table. A poor leader forges through by assuming he knows best (simply because he's the "head coach" making millions of dollars), and not delegating or deferring. Was it the best designed play in the end? Maybe not, but I have no problem with a first year coach delegating responsibilities to other members of the coaching staff. It would be embarrassing to have a well paid head coach let pride and ego get in the way of achieving the best results for the team.

 

[logen]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

As long as we are nitpicking it was a little less than 3 seconds. The only other time I can remember a remotely similar situation was against Rutgers and Mullin drew up a play for a jumper by Johnson that he hit. Next, what does money have to do with it, maybe Chris felt St. Jean had the right play and let him earn his money? Better for Mullin (or any leader) to defer when the object is to get it right if deferring is the best option. Second guessing and criticism of Mullin is off the charts IMO, everyone forgets this is his FIRST season as a coach, so he shouldn't be willing to learn, he should just puff his chest out, let everyone know he is the BOSS even if he feels it is the wrong decision at the time? That makes no sense to me and in case you couldn't tell I have NO problem with what transpired. My favorite coach, Al McGuire, RARELY did what most would call conventional coaching leaving most of it to Hank Raymond. One of the best attributes a leader can have is knowing what they don't know and being egoless enough to defer to his team when they think that is the right decision.

 

[we are sju]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. .

I think the plan was to run a settee play against ottoman to ottoman defense. But that got tabled so he went back and sat on the bench.

I don't know about anyone else but my couch could have drawn up a better last play

 

[Section9]

I drove home thinking we got one of the worst ref jobs in sju history with that loose ball foul. I guess you guys saw differently on tv

1st have was beyond sickening. 2nd half was fun to watch. Very sloppy though

How is it that this late in the season we are so horrible at ft's ?

Also that last play we had one one of the worst I have ever seen

Yakwe was great today

If Sima catches it and passes back to Mvouika which is what I believe he was supposed to do we might think differently. Mvouika was open. I think we can all agree Sima trying to dribble and make a post move was horrendous in that situation.

Also, up 3 Ellison walked right into that trap on the sideline. I think he thought they were going to foul. Worst part is if he gives it put right away Mussini is wide open in the corner to kill some clock and get fouled.

It's not the first time this year we've beaten full court pressure, got the ball over half court and passed it to someone near the sideline at or near halfcourt which is the perfect place for the defense to trap.

 

[salty dog]

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

I don't know may be tough to beat a team six straight times in a season.

 

[ghostzapper]

Was at the game yesterday but was actually too drained to think about posting before this.

There was so much in this game.Personally I wish that there was a full game replay available so that I could have watched it again to put some perspective from my immediate gut reaction. One thing that was clear to me watching live was that the game was horribly officiated. I thought we were especially jobbed in the last couple minutes of the game.

As for the critical last call I would like to defend Ron Mvouika a little bit here. He is a very emotional player, a seemingly great teammate and is very demonstrative out on the court. Now after watching the highlights (Thanks to Tom In Salem for posting them) I think he is pretty blameless on that last foul. If you isolate on Ron on that last sequence (starting at 2:20) you will see him hammered by Khadeem Carrington # 0 on that play. Carrington leaped on Mvouika and was clearly all over his back. It was by far the most egregious foul of the sequence on a play that was a total scrum for a critical rebound. After that, the call that was actually made on Ron was tame and somewhat lame by comparison.

That being said the call made on Ellison at the top of the key while guarding Whitehead was flat out absurd. Additionally on one of Seton Hall's few baskets down the stretch (a floater in the lane) there was an obvious push off by the shooter that was not called.

The crowd was big and emotional during the second half, but the booing which was exceedingly loud was directed solely at the refs for doing a terrible job. I believe they deserved it. The passionate Seton Hall fans sitting right behind me thought the refs did a terrible job (on both sides all game) and seemed almost guilty about the way they had won.

Of course no team that commits that many turnovers (21) and shoots that poorly from the line (41.7%) can look anywhere other than in the mirror when looking at the reasons for the loss. However that same group can be proud of the fire and heart they displayed coming back from a lackluster first half and a huge deficit in a game where few gave them a chance to win.

Personally I love this group. The results may not show in the win column and the losses may be frustrating to the team and the fans (yesterday's the most frustrating) but game to game they have fire, show improvement and play their guts out. I am sorry that there is only one more home game for me to go out and cheer these guys on because they deserve it.

On a separate note: At the beginning of the season I thought Sima had a nice stroke from the line. In November he shot 65% (13 for 20) and even when he missed his form looked pretty good. Since then (which started with him hurting his hand prior to his broken hand injury) he has been abysmal shooting free throws at 25% (11 for 44). I wonder how this can be addressed going forward. It clearly makes him a liability to be on the court when the game is close. If you consider that the last play went to him it would have been painful to see him go to the stripe with the game on the line and watch him brick two. I hope that Chris can work with him and restore his stroke to where it was before the hand injury.

Like most everyone here I see many positives going forward. Our freshman class is talented. Ellison has improved greatly and has proved that he is a Big East Talent. Mussini always lays it out on the floor, is a smart player, has a great shooting touch and will fill a valuable role for us next season and beyond. Sima is a defensive force, can put the ball in the basket, has a good feel for the game and will only get better with time. Yakwe was amazing yesterday. He has absurd athleticism, has improved more than anybody could have imagined and seems like he could definitely be a big star in the near future.

Of course you never know about recruits until they are here, but the reported talent level of next year's group added to our current group should get us to a place where St. John's is a force again in conference and beyond.

 

[fan5577]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

It has been said that St. Jean is the coach responsible for offensive sets; that said all the coaches, including Chris, were in a huddle away from the players and discussing the play call. I would not conclude that Chris had no input.

 

[TonyinFairfield]

Was at the game yesterday but was actually too drained to think about posting before this.

There was so much in this game.Personally I wish that there was a full game replay available so that I could have watched it again to put some perspective from my immediate gut reaction. One thing that was clear to me watching live was that the game was horribly officiated. I thought we were especially jobbed in the last couple minutes of the game.

As for the critical last call I would like to defend Ron Mvouika a little bit here. He is a very emotional player, a seemingly great teammate and is very demonstrative out on the court. Now after watching the highlights (Thanks to Tom In Salem for posting them) I think he is pretty blameless on that last foul. If you isolate on Ron on that last sequence (starting at 2:20) you will see him hammered by Khadeem Carrington # 0 on that play. Carrington leaped on Mvouika and was clearly all over his back. It was by far the most egregious foul of the sequence on a play that was a total scrum for a critical rebound. After that, the call that was actually made on Ron was tame and somewhat lame by comparison.

That being said the call made on Ellison at the top of the key while guarding Whitehead was flat out absurd. Additionally on one of Seton Hall's few baskets down the stretch (a floater in the lane) there was an obvious push off by the shooter that was not called.

The crowd was big and emotional during the second half, but the booing which was exceedingly loud was directed solely at the refs for doing a terrible job. I believe they deserved it. The passionate Seton Hall fans sitting right behind me thought the refs did a terrible job (on both sides all game) and seemed almost guilty about the way they had won.

Of course no team that commits that many turnovers (21) and shoots that poorly from the line (41.7%) can look anywhere other than in the mirror when looking at the reasons for the loss. However that same group can be proud of the fire and heart they displayed coming back from a lackluster first half and a huge deficit in a game where few gave them a chance to win.

Personally I love this group. The results may not show in the win column and the losses may be frustrating to the team and the fans (yesterday's the most frustrating) but game to game they have fire, show improvement and play their guts out. I am sorry that there is only one more home game for me to go out and cheer these guys on because they deserve it.

On a separate note: At the beginning of the season I thought Sima had a nice stroke from the line. In November he shot 65% (13 for 20) and even when he missed his form looked pretty good. Since then (which started with him hurting his hand prior to his broken hand injury) he has been abysmal shooting free throws at 25% (11 for 44). I wonder how this can be addressed going forward. It clearly makes him a liability to be on the court when the game is close. If you consider that the last play went to him it would have been painful to see him go to the stripe with the game on the line and watch him brick two. I hope that Chris can work with him and restore his stroke to where it was before the hand injury.

Like most everyone here I see many positives going forward. Our freshman class is talented. Ellison has improved greatly and has proved that he is a Big East Talent. Mussini always lays it out on the floor, is a smart player, has a great shooting touch and will fill a valuable role for us next season and beyond. Sima is a defensive force, can put the ball in the basket, has a good feel for the game and will only get better with time. Yakwe was amazing yesterday. He has absurd athleticism, has improved more than anybody could have imagined and seems like he could definitely be a big star in the near future.

Of course you never know about recruits until they are here, but the reported talent level of next year's group added to our current group should get us to a place where St. John's is a force again in conference and beyond.

Great post, Ghost. You captured my feelings perfectly as I too was at the game and too frustrated about it to post so soon.

To me, it's clear that Sima's left hand injury is affecting his play. Although he made some nice blocks yesterday, watching him, he clearly does not want to catch the ball with both hands and is favoring his right. From the very first game he came back, I thought maybe he should sit out the remainder of the season and get fully healed. Maybe be back for the BE Tournament. It's not like his presence is going to turn our season around. My concern is that he will re-injure the hand and potentially make it worse.

 

[fan5577]

Was at the game yesterday but was actually too drained to think about posting before this.

There was so much in this game.Personally I wish that there was a full game replay available so that I could have watched it again to put some perspective from my immediate gut reaction. One thing that was clear to me watching live was that the game was horribly officiated. I thought we were especially jobbed in the last couple minutes of the game.

As for the critical last call I would like to defend Ron Mvouika a little bit here. He is a very emotional player, a seemingly great teammate and is very demonstrative out on the court. Now after watching the highlights (Thanks to Tom In Salem for posting them) I think he is pretty blameless on that last foul. If you isolate on Ron on that last sequence (starting at 2:20) you will see him hammered by Khadeem Carrington # 0 on that play. Carrington leaped on Mvouika and was clearly all over his back. It was by far the most egregious foul of the sequence on a play that was a total scrum for a critical rebound. After that, the call that was actually made on Ron was tame and somewhat lame by comparison.

That being said the call made on Ellison at the top of the key while guarding Whitehead was flat out absurd. Additionally on one of Seton Hall's few baskets down the stretch (a floater in the lane) there was an obvious push off by the shooter that was not called.

The crowd was big and emotional during the second half, but the booing which was exceedingly loud was directed solely at the refs for doing a terrible job. I believe they deserved it. The passionate Seton Hall fans sitting right behind me thought the refs did a terrible job (on both sides all game) and seemed almost guilty about the way they had won.

Of course no team that commits that many turnovers (21) and shoots that poorly from the line (41.7%) can look anywhere other than in the mirror when looking at the reasons for the loss. However that same group can be proud of the fire and heart they displayed coming back from a lackluster first half and a huge deficit in a game where few gave them a chance to win.

Personally I love this group. The results may not show in the win column and the losses may be frustrating to the team and the fans (yesterday's the most frustrating) but game to game they have fire, show improvement and play their guts out. I am sorry that there is only one more home game for me to go out and cheer these guys on because they deserve it.

On a separate note: At the beginning of the season I thought Sima had a nice stroke from the line. In November he shot 65% (13 for 20) and even when he missed his form looked pretty good. Since then (which started with him hurting his hand prior to his broken hand injury) he has been abysmal shooting free throws at 25% (11 for 44). I wonder how this can be addressed going forward. It clearly makes him a liability to be on the court when the game is close. If you consider that the last play went to him it would have been painful to see him go to the stripe with the game on the line and watch him brick two. I hope that Chris can work with him and restore his stroke to where it was before the hand injury.

Like most everyone here I see many positives going forward. Our freshman class is talented. Ellison has improved greatly and has proved that he is a Big East Talent. Mussini always lays it out on the floor, is a smart player, has a great shooting touch and will fill a valuable role for us next season and beyond. Sima is a defensive force, can put the ball in the basket, has a good feel for the game and will only get better with time. Yakwe was amazing yesterday. He has absurd athleticism, has improved more than anybody could have imagined and seems like he could definitely be a big star in the near future.

Of course you never know about recruits until they are here, but the reported talent level of next year's group added to our current group should get us to a place where St. John's is a force again in conference and beyond.

could not agree more, even with bad calls, lower the turnovers, make just 60% from the line and it is a runaway win!!

 

[we are sju]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

It has been said that St. Jean is the coach responsible for offensive sets; that said all the coaches, including Chris, were in a huddle away from the players and discussing the play call. I would not conclude that Chris had no input.

Paultz new avatar disagrees with this post

I am just joking and every time something comes up I don't need to preface it by saying I am a Mullin guy but his huddle actions probably need to be adjusted next year.

 

[redken]

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.

Shooting .367 (last year an equally poor .366) isn't going to get it done at the next level, especially when a lot of his baskets come by taking it to the basket.

 

[jerseyshorejohnny]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. .

I think the plan was to run a settee play against ottoman to ottoman defense. But that got tabled so he went back and sat on the bench.

Very clever !!!

 

[TRabinowitz]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

It has been said that St. Jean is the coach responsible for offensive sets; that said all the coaches, including Chris, were in a huddle away from the players and discussing the play call. I would not conclude that Chris had no input.

Paultz new avatar disagrees with this post

I am just joking and every time something comes up I don't need to preface it by saying I am a Mullin guy but his huddle actions probably need to be adjusted next year.

Agreed on all accounts. It was a putrid play call (and Mullin even said during the post game presser that the ball was SUPPOSED to go to Sima). It is a fundamental no-no not to throw the ball to someone with their back to the basket in closing seconds, and especially Sima with a bandaged hand. Very little movement during the play and Durand Johnson HAS to be an active part of the play. With 2.5 seconds left you can't count on a kick-out. The guy that initially gets the ball should be someone who can legitimately make a play with it.

 

[we are sju]

You know I bet Ron's insistence on trying to slap the ball away at the end there probably had something to do with all the jawing going back and forth.

 

[we are sju]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

It has been said that St. Jean is the coach responsible for offensive sets; that said all the coaches, including Chris, were in a huddle away from the players and discussing the play call. I would not conclude that Chris had no input.

Paultz new avatar disagrees with this post

I am just joking and every time something comes up I don't need to preface it by saying I am a Mullin guy but his huddle actions probably need to be adjusted next year.

Agreed on all accounts. It was a putrid play call (and Mullin even said during the post game presser that the ball was SUPPOSED to go to Sima). It is a fundamental no-no not to throw the ball to someone with their back to the basket in closing seconds, and especially Sima with a bandaged hand. Very little movement during the play and Durand Johnson HAS to be an active part of the play. With 2.5 seconds left you can't count on a kick-out. The guy that initially gets the ball should be someone who can legitimately make a play with it.

He hadn't played in awhile and if he got fouled it would have been a problem but would not have been a bad play to get Felix the ball there and have him go to the rim. (Unless he had fouled out and I forgot, then scratch that)

 

[sj88]

Does anyone else find it a bit odd that our couch, who makes millions of dollars, isn't involved in the huddle down 1 with 5 seconds to go in the game. I have seen this in previous games and was perplexed. How can this be possible? It's pretty embarrassing that Mullin doesn't have the aptitude to design plays in pressure situations.

It has been said that St. Jean is the coach responsible for offensive sets; that said all the coaches, including Chris, were in a huddle away from the players and discussing the play call. I would not conclude that Chris had no input.

Paultz new avatar disagrees with this post

I am just joking and every time something comes up I don't need to preface it by saying I am a Mullin guy but his huddle actions probably need to be adjusted next year.

Agreed on all accounts. It was a putrid play call (and Mullin even said during the post game presser that the ball was SUPPOSED to go to Sima). It is a fundamental no-no not to throw the ball to someone with their back to the basket in closing seconds, and especially Sima with a bandaged hand. Very little movement during the play and Durand Johnson HAS to be an active part of the play. With 2.5 seconds left you can't count on a kick-out. The guy that initially gets the ball should be someone who can legitimately make a play with it.

I too was confused at the play call being at the game. Watched the final play again. Ron inbounds the ball to Sima he puts his head down dribbles gets stripped. If you watch Ron steps onto court in corner and is wide open. Maybe it was suppose to go to him in corner after he inbounded the ball. Who knows

 

[Section3]

I drove home thinking we got one of the worst ref jobs in sju history with that loose ball foul. I guess you guys saw differently on tv

1st have was beyond sickening. 2nd half was fun to watch. Very sloppy though

How is it that this late in the season we are so horrible at ft's ?

Also that last play we had one one of the worst I have ever seen

Yakwe was great today

If Sima catches it and passes back to Mvouika which is what I believe he was supposed to do we might think differently. Mvouika was open. I think we can all agree Sima trying to dribble and make a post move was horrendous in that situation.

Also, up 3 Ellison walked right into that trap on the sideline. I think he thought they were going to foul. Worst part is if he gives it put right away Mussini is wide open in the corner to kill some clock and get fouled.

I think the staff is now attempting to hammer home the need to be less careless with the ball to both Ellison and Mussini. I notice that both are getting quick hooks as soon as a blatant mental error is made...

 

[mjmaherjr]

Was at the game yesterday but was actually too drained to think about posting before this.

There was so much in this game.Personally I wish that there was a full game replay available so that I could have watched it again to put some perspective from my immediate gut reaction. One thing that was clear to me watching live was that the game was horribly officiated. I thought we were especially jobbed in the last couple minutes of the game.

As for the critical last call I would like to defend Ron Mvouika a little bit here. He is a very emotional player, a seemingly great teammate and is very demonstrative out on the court. Now after watching the highlights (Thanks to Tom In Salem for posting them) I think he is pretty blameless on that last foul. If you isolate on Ron on that last sequence (starting at 2:20) you will see him hammered by Khadeem Carrington # 0 on that play. Carrington leaped on Mvouika and was clearly all over his back. It was by far the most egregious foul of the sequence on a play that was a total scrum for a critical rebound. After that, the call that was actually made on Ron was tame and somewhat lame by comparison.

That being said the call made on Ellison at the top of the key while guarding Whitehead was flat out absurd. Additionally on one of Seton Hall's few baskets down the stretch (a floater in the lane) there was an obvious push off by the shooter that was not called.

The crowd was big and emotional during the second half, but the booing which was exceedingly loud was directed solely at the refs for doing a terrible job. I believe they deserved it. The passionate Seton Hall fans sitting right behind me thought the refs did a terrible job (on both sides all game) and seemed almost guilty about the way they had won.

Of course no team that commits that many turnovers (21) and shoots that poorly from the line (41.7%) can look anywhere other than in the mirror when looking at the reasons for the loss. However that same group can be proud of the fire and heart they displayed coming back from a lackluster first half and a huge deficit in a game where few gave them a chance to win.

Personally I love this group. The results may not show in the win column and the losses may be frustrating to the team and the fans (yesterday's the most frustrating) but game to game they have fire, show improvement and play their guts out. I am sorry that there is only one more home game for me to go out and cheer these guys on because they deserve it.

On a separate note: At the beginning of the season I thought Sima had a nice stroke from the line. In November he shot 65% (13 for 20) and even when he missed his form looked pretty good. Since then (which started with him hurting his hand prior to his broken hand injury) he has been abysmal shooting free throws at 25% (11 for 44). I wonder how this can be addressed going forward. It clearly makes him a liability to be on the court when the game is close. If you consider that the last play went to him it would have been painful to see him go to the stripe with the game on the line and watch him brick two. I hope that Chris can work with him and restore his stroke to where it was before the hand injury.

Like most everyone here I see many positives going forward. Our freshman class is talented. Ellison has improved greatly and has proved that he is a Big East Talent. Mussini always lays it out on the floor, is a smart player, has a great shooting touch and will fill a valuable role for us next season and beyond. Sima is a defensive force, can put the ball in the basket, has a good feel for the game and will only get better with time. Yakwe was amazing yesterday. He has absurd athleticism, has improved more than anybody could have imagined and seems like he could definitely be a big star in the near future.

Of course you never know about recruits until they are here, but the reported talent level of next year's group added to our current group should get us to a place where St. John's is a force again in conference and beyond.

you made an excellent point about the booing. Hope the kids didn't think it was for them. We were all boing the refs and yelling at them as they ran off the court. If I wasn't worried about my phone getting traced I would have thrown my cell phone at them I was so pissed

 

[stjohnschris]

I drove home thinking we got one of the worst ref jobs in sju history with that loose ball foul. I guess you guys saw differently on tv

1st have was beyond sickening. 2nd half was fun to watch. Very sloppy though

How is it that this late in the season we are so horrible at ft's ?

Also that last play we had one one of the worst I have ever seen

Yakwe was great today

If Sima catches it and passes back to Mvouika which is what I believe he was supposed to do we might think differently. Mvouika was open. I think we can all agree Sima trying to dribble and make a post move was horrendous in that situation.

Also, up 3 Ellison walked right into that trap on the sideline. I think he thought they were going to foul. Worst part is if he gives it put right away Mussini is wide open in the corner to kill some clock and get fouled.

I think the staff is now attempting to hammer home the need to be less careless with the ball to both Ellison and Mussini. I notice that both are getting quick hooks as soon as a blatant mental error is made...

Ellison and Balamou got yanked 4 seconds into the second half! Lazy, unfocused inbound play. That kind of sparked the whole second half in an odd way.