SJU Portal Targets

Status
Not open for further replies.
sjc88 said:
I seem to remember the same obsessive compulsive threads last year expressing disappointment. We basically had Joel and nothing else and it turned out to be fine. I think I’ll wait to see what Pitino puts together. I trust the guy and he’s not sitting on his hands.
Click to expand...
I was one of the ones preaching patience last off season, in spite of the fact that I didn't agree with Rick's decision to jettison most of the roster. But in reality it didn't turn out to be fine, since we didn't dance last season. And I firmly believe that had he held on to a few more of Anderson's kids we would have danced. But that's water under the bridge at this point.

So, I most certainly get the lack of patience this off season by some in our fan base. Rick and Co. need to do a much better job this off season than they did last. They get a pass for last season, but no more passes for not dancing.
 
Last edited:
Beasts of the East said:
I sometimes have a hard time taking swipes at player performances because basketball is such a team game.

I thought Shamorie Ponds got off to a great start in his final season here. He was playing great, the team was winning and he was surrounded by a solid cast - Figueroa, Clarke, Owens, Simons, etc.

Media guys started projecting us as a dark horse final four team.

At some point and for a prolonged period, his teammates could not make wide open shots Ponds provided via drive and dish. Ponds, frustrated and trying to win, started driving in a packed lane against 2 or 3 guys, or hoisting shots over zones from 25 feet out. Everything is related and spacing is important even when you can slice up a defense the way Ponds could.

Soriano started the season off so well, it looked like he was solidly in the draft, maybe as high as late first round. Then he saw double and triple teams whenever he saw the ball. Under control he would pitch it out, where there were few reliable outsider shooters from a group that were all touted to be good 3 point shooters. Soriano was getting sometimes less than 10 shots per game and sll seemed contested. He lost that swagger and confidence. By season's end he was playing more high post than posting up and started to play a lot better even if not dominant.

Putting Soriano at the high post also opened things up for Jenkins and Luis to penetrate. The team found itself, Dingle started plaing like we expected, Ledlum was an asset, etc.

It's a team game and sometimes individuals are only as good as their teammates are playing.
Click to expand...
Not Owens
 
monte said:
I was one of the ones preaching patience last off season, in spite of the fact that I didn't agree with Rick's decision to jettison most of the roster. But in reality it didn't turn out to be fine, since we didn't dance last season. And I firmly believe that had he held on to a few more of Anderson's kids we would have danced. But that's water under the bridge at this point.

So, I most certainly get the lack of patience this off season by some in our fan base. Rick and Co. need to do a much better job this off season than they did last. They get a pass for last season, but no more passes for not dancing.
Click to expand...
I don’t think that not getting to the dance correlates with not keeping players from our previous roster. Just curious to hear which players you think would have benefited this team to get us there.

My thoughts about the team RP put together is that it took to long to gel. I’m sure you’ll agree that they were finally playing their best basketball the last month of the season and had they made the dance, would have done some damage. Early season injuries I believe only contributed to the late gelling of this team.
 
Demo said:
I don’t think that not getting to the dance correlates with not keeping players from our previous roster. Just curious to hear which players you think would have benefited this team to get us there.

My thoughts about the team RP put together is that it took to long to gel. I’m sure you’ll agree that they were finally playing their best basketball the last month of the season and had they made the dance, would have done some damage. Early season injuries I believe only contributed to the late gelling of this team.
Click to expand...
The team never gelled, we just played DePaul and Georgetown 4 times at the end. We all looked at the end of the schedule from day 1 as our chance to rack up wins.

We did not have the talent to press, we could not defend the guard position, we did next to no driving and kicking, and we had by far the worst ball movement of any power 6 team that I saw all year. The only time our team looked like they were in the same page was out of a timeout when they were running a set from Pitino and weren’t thinking.

The roster needs to be drastically improved from last season. I mean, it can’t even be on the same planet. We were so far away from being off the bubble it isn’t even funny.
 
redmanwest said:
Well Luis did not pass that test, though I'd argue that Zubi did. Luis is more a Kevin Williams sixth man, instant offense off the bench, but too erratic to be a dependable starter, based on past performance.
Click to expand...
Will you acknowledge that he won some games for us in our wins down the stretch? What games did Zubi have such an impact?
 
Marillac2 said:
The team never gelled, we just played DePaul and Georgetown 4 times at the end. We all looked at the end of the schedule from day 1 as our chance to rack up wins.

We did not have the talent to press, we could not defend the guard position, we did next to no driving and kicking, and we had by far the worst ball movement of any power 6 team that I saw all year. The only time our team looked like they were in the same page was out of a timeout when they were running a set from Pitino and weren’t thinking.

The roster needs to be drastically improved from last season. I mean, it can’t even be on the same planet. We were so far away from being off the bubble it isn’t even funny.
Click to expand...
This is not accurate. Yes, we had those 4 in the bag. But after the dismal stretch, we played very well in the last 7 or 8 games incld the BE tourney, beating Crighton, Butler away, Seton Hall, and playing UCONN tougher than most anyone all year.
 
Silly Donovan said:
Averaged 11ppg and 4.7 assists for a team that finished 14th in the Big 12, and now we can go to war with UConn?
Click to expand...
I mean, that's one way to look at it.

He also averaged 31mpg for Arizona in 2022-2023 on the 8th rated team in the country with 10 points and 5 assists, leading the entire conference in apg (he was 2nd the year prior). Also likely becomes our best 3pt shooter on day one.

His defense and turnovers are concerns, but we can't pretend like we're above getting a guy like that.
 
gman said:
Kriisa has been suspended twice by the NCAA…28 games in total
Click to expand...
good- so he's got that out of the way...

Seems like we are gonna need a specific thread on this kid. Mods!

If he is the lesser of 2 guards we bring on... nice. If this is THE guard we bring... need a big sophmore jump from Sim

....Love making definitive April predictions...
 
“He’s a very intelligent basketball player, and his IQ is off the charts, in terms of basketball IQ,” interim head coach Josh Eilert said. “He’s been doing everything with us since day one. Now, a lot of it recently here has been on scout team, but he knows our plays inside and out, and he can really be that coach on the floor.”
 
Seems somewhat questionable especially given our lack of speed last year and ricks comments regarding it. Wouldn’t be my choice but he is as good as anyone in the country on spot up 3s. Hope he wouldn’t be a 30 minute guy with ball in his hands.

I can think of one player in particular who Krissa would fit very well with..
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top