SI.com: When the undefeated teams will get their first loss..

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fordham96

Well-known member
Says SJU will get first loss on 12/29 at SHU in first BE game. Hope not, I plan to be there:

[URL][URL]https://www.si.com/colleg...teams-gonzaga-kansas-virginia-michigan-nevada[/URL][/URL]

ST. JOHN’S
Chris Mullin’s St. John’s squad will keep rolling through non-conference play, but the Big East will be a whole different beast. They open conference competition at Seton Hall, which we predict will bring the Red Storm to 12­–1 on the season. It’ll be a close loss but the start of a tough two-week stretch for St. John’s. With Marquette, Georgetown and Villanova all coming right after, the Red Storm will set the tone for the season in that late December/early January window. Villanova is still struggling to find its footing, which means a team like Marquette could snatch up the Big East title, but as long as the Wildcats continue to wander a bit it could also easily be St. John’s to win. Kamar Baldwin and Butler also look like they could be in the running if the rest of the Bulldogs' squad steps up.

Prediction: at Seton Hall on Dec. 29
 
[quote="fordham96" post=306883]Says SJU will get first loss on 12/29 at SHU in first BE game. Hope not, I plan to be there:

[URL][URL]https://www.si.com/colleg...teams-gonzaga-kansas-virginia-michigan-nevada[/URL][/URL]

ST. JOHN’S
Chris Mullin’s St. John’s squad will keep rolling through non-conference play, but the Big East will be a whole different beast. They open conference competition at Seton Hall, which we predict will bring the Red Storm to 12­–1 on the season. It’ll be a close loss but the start of a tough two-week stretch for St. John’s. With Marquette, Georgetown and Villanova all coming right after, the Red Storm will set the tone for the season in that late December/early January window. Villanova is still struggling to find its footing, which means a team like Marquette could snatch up the Big East title, but as long as the Wildcats continue to wander a bit it could also easily be St. John’s to win. Kamar Baldwin and Butler also look like they could be in the running if the rest of the Bulldogs' squad steps up.

Prediction: at Seton Hall on Dec. 29[/quote]

Second to last unbeaten team, according to these guys (they have Nevada running the table through the Mountain West tournament, which is definitely a possibility).
 
I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.
 
[quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]

1-3 would not be the end of the world with that schedule. We would need to start playing well immediately after that, but I do believe it can be overcome.

0-4 would be the only real disaster to come out of that stretch, IMO. Go 2-2 (or better), and I think we would be in great shape going forward.
 
I've mentally prepared myself for 2-3. That being said I think the end of our schedule really favors us
 
[quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]
Would take 2 & 2 and hope for 3 & 1 in next four when schedule reverses in terms of home and away tilts. No gimmes in BE and all the preseason propaganda about having best backcourt in country, NBA style, sweeps of certain teams etc. means squat. Time to expect a battle every BE game.
 
[quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]

I think 4-0 or 3-1, but I won't be surprised by anything.
 
0-4, 1-3, 2-2, 3-1 and 4-0 all are still possibilities at this point. haha

Seton Hall will not be our first loss BTW

I will take the optimistic outlook I usually take because I believe this team will be in sync by the time Big East play starts and say 3-1 at worst
 
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[quote="Eric" post=306896]0-4, 1-3, 2-2, 3-1 and 4-0 all are still possibilities at this point. haha

Seton Hall will not be our first loss BTW

I will take the optimistic outlook I usually take because I believe this team will be in sync by the time Big East play starts and say 3-1 at worst[/quote]

I hope you don't mean that our first loss will come before Seton Hall?
 
[quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]

There are some parallels to Lavin's 2014-15 team, his last. That team was kind of thin depth wise, 3 guards (Harrison, Jordan, Greene) with a fourth coming off the bench, Branch. 11-1 start with only loss to a top 10 Gonzaga team at MSG. Beat Minnesota, beat Syracuse up at the Dome and played Duke in February and played them real tough leading a good portion of the way thru the 2nd half. A Duke team that went on to win the whole thing in April.

That team opened conference play with...you guessed it Seton Hall. Started 1-4 in the conference but did recover for 10-8. I expect more out of this team however.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=306900][quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]

There are some parallels to Lavin's 2014-15 team, his last. That team was kind of thin depth wise, 3 guards (Harrison, Jordan, Greene) with a fourth coming off the bench, Branch. 11-1 start with only loss to a top 10 Gonzaga team at MSG. Beat Minnesota, beat Syracuse up at the Dome and played Duke in February and played them real tough leading a good portion of the way thru the 2nd half. A Duke team that went on to win the whole thing in April.

That team opened conference play with...you guessed it Seton Hall. Started 1-4 in the conference but did recover for 10-8. I expect more out of this team however.[/quote] You make a good point. We had a real solid top six. But w/O depth fatigue and injuries will kill a season. Hoping for Keita to return and no injuries to the core.
 
Seton Hall’s offense is the worst in the Big East right now, and even then, it’s only propped up by Myles Powell. They also don’t rebound well. They are well-coached and will come in with a chip on their shoulder. I don’t want to see us lose this one though. If we play hard in defense and play with intensity at both ends, we have more than enough firepower. Contain Powell and it won’t be our first loss, unless we keep putting up poor-effort games like the last one. One game at a time though, on to Princeton!
 
[quote="fordham96" post=306883]Says SJU will get first loss on 12/29 at SHU in first BE game. Hope not, I plan to be there:

[URL][URL]https://www.si.com/colleg...teams-gonzaga-kansas-virginia-michigan-nevada[/URL][/URL]

ST. JOHN’S
Chris Mullin’s St. John’s squad will keep rolling through non-conference play, but the Big East will be a whole different beast. They open conference competition at Seton Hall, which we predict will bring the Red Storm to 12­–1 on the season. It’ll be a close loss but the start of a tough two-week stretch for St. John’s. With Marquette, Georgetown and Villanova all coming right after, the Red Storm will set the tone for the season in that late December/early January window. Villanova is still struggling to find its footing, which means a team like Marquette could snatch up the Big East title, but as long as the Wildcats continue to wander a bit it could also easily be St. John’s to win. Kamar Baldwin and Butler also look like they could be in the running if the rest of the Bulldogs' squad steps up.

Prediction: at Seton Hall on Dec. 29[/quote]

I hope the players aren't reading this and getting big heads.
 
[quote="gman" post=306904][quote="fordham96" post=306883]Says SJU will get first loss on 12/29 at SHU in first BE game. Hope not, I plan to be there:

[URL][URL]https://www.si.com/colleg...teams-gonzaga-kansas-virginia-michigan-nevada[/URL][/URL]

ST. JOHN’S
Chris Mullin’s St. John’s squad will keep rolling through non-conference play, but the Big East will be a whole different beast. They open conference competition at Seton Hall, which we predict will bring the Red Storm to 12­–1 on the season. It’ll be a close loss but the start of a tough two-week stretch for St. John’s. With Marquette, Georgetown and Villanova all coming right after, the Red Storm will set the tone for the season in that late December/early January window. Villanova is still struggling to find its footing, which means a team like Marquette could snatch up the Big East title, but as long as the Wildcats continue to wander a bit it could also easily be St. John’s to win. Kamar Baldwin and Butler also look like they could be in the running if the rest of the Bulldogs' squad steps up.

Prediction: at Seton Hall on Dec. 29[/quote]

I hope the players aren't reading this and getting big heads.[/quote]

If these kids get big heads over beating a very mediocre Georgia Tech team after trailing by 16 in the 2nd half and needing almost the entire game to pull away from a 0-7 Mt. St. Mary's team at home then they have big problems.
 
I'm thinking 2-2 in those first four BE games with 3-1 very achievable. I don't believe we will lose to Hall, but could see us losing any of the other 3 (but don't believe we will lose all 3).
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=306901][quote="fordham96" post=306900][quote="Moose" post=306888]I think 1-3 is something everyone needs to look long and hard at to start the BE. Might be a tough pill to swallow if they start that way after going undefeated in non conference but that's a tough 4 games to start the BE. Willard is a good coach, Marquette is a good team, winning at Gtown has never been easy for SJU of late and Nova is still Nova.[/quote]

There are some parallels to Lavin's 2014-15 team, his last. That team was kind of thin depth wise, 3 guards (Harrison, Jordan, Greene) with a fourth coming off the bench, Branch. 11-1 start with only loss to a top 10 Gonzaga team at MSG. Beat Minnesota, beat Syracuse up at the Dome and played Duke in February and played them real tough leading a good portion of the way thru the 2nd half. A Duke team that went on to win the whole thing in April.

That team opened conference play with...you guessed it Seton Hall. Started 1-4 in the conference but did recover for 10-8. I expect more out of this team however.[/quote] You make a good point. We had a real solid top six. But w/O depth fatigue and injuries will kill a season. Hoping for Keita to return and no injuries to the core.[/quote]

That team wasn't as good as this one. They didn't shoot nearly as well from three or from the FT line. I loved Harrison, but he was not athletic enough to separate from good defenders in close games and, while he had a terrific handle for a SG, he isn't the natural PG Ponds is. In close games we can give the ball to Ponds to protect the ball and to finish games from the line. They didn't have a guy like that.

That team didn't really do anything extremely well except for maybe blocking shots. They also had a ton of negative energy and inner turmoil from Rysheed Jordan's trips home to Obekpa getting suspended and having some beef with other players. That whole SDSU tournament game was very deflating. We were so thoroughly outmatched and Fisher knew it going in. He was so confident and smug the entire week before the game.
 
Maybe it the nostalgia talking but I don’t know if our current team would beat that 2015 team. Don’t forget that the senior year version of Dom Pointer was truly insane. That man was on a mission. DLo wasn’t healthy the whole season but when he was he was fantastic.
 
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May be fun to compare different SJU teams after this squad completes a successful season, not now.
 
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I don't think Willard is a good coach, putting aside my general dislike and view that he's a slimeball. But I think that will be a tough game because (a) Seton Hall has some size that is playing well right now and teams with size will obviously present issues and (b) for whatever reason, their home floor has been a house of horrors for us over the past decade+. Lavin's best two teams lost games there by a decent margin, even though we were the superior team by far those years. The only game in the past 10 or so years I can recall us winning was when we played that horrible Seton Hall team in the snowstorm in front of about 500 people at the Roc and Obekpa hit the walk-off FT.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=306927]May be fun to compare different SJU teams after this squad completes a successful season, not now.[/quote]

That is the key the idea. I think it is fair to perhaps expect more but the idea that THIS team based on how they have played so far is BETTER at this point than any team prior such as the 2014-15 or 2010-11 teams lacks merit. I mean how you claim this team that has struggled mightily against weak competition is better than a team that won more against quality opponents?
 
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