Taylor also got to the line 5 times per game and made 80% of his opportunities. I fully expect him to be a key, steady guy for us who may well start until Luis gets healthy.
SJU Practices & Player Development
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
He’s 6’6 with a legit guard handle and decent looking shot. Has all the tools to be a top defender.
His finishing needs some work, but I was expecting more noise around him.
L J S A
Well-known member
Same here. Was expecting him to be a clear starter before we started hearing chatter from practice that Luis was kicking ass.
I'm actually getting the feeling that Dunlap wins the starting gig until Luis returns. Might be one of these things where he subs out quickly for Taylor, but just getting the feeling Dunlap wins out.
I guess if you were going to start a freshman, no better situation than to surround him with Jenkins, Dingle, Soriano, and Ledlum.
This would shock me. I don't see Dunlap starting ahead of Alleyne or Taylor, but we'll see what happens.
Larry Wright
Well-known member
Rick has shown he will play best players. If Dunlap one of best 5 he will play. If at some point Wilcher is outplaying Jenkins he will take that spot too.
redmen4life
Well-known member
no way that happens.
rik has already said the freshman can't play defense, aren't physically ready, and the game is too fast for them.
dunlap will have his moments. i see him as an energizer when a 3 is needed. but i can't see him playing for long stretches (yet)
Larry Wright
Well-known member
Rick has always played Freshman and not just the Antione Walker, Ron Mercer, Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Mashburn’s of the world.
Pull up his teams
Pull up his teams
I still see Alleyne starting. Strong defense and shooting and Jenkins and Dingle can pick up his lack of a handle. I knew he wouldn’t stand out in practice like others. The one question I have with his defense is that Pitino loves deflections and he doesn’t take a lot of chances.
Luis, just by piecing together dozens of clips, always looks amazing on offense but not defense.
How much Dunlap plays will come down to how well the starters shoot from deep. I’d Jenkins has a year more like he had at Pacific, Pitino will have to play the best shooter at the 3 to compensate. Hopefully a more selective Ledlum can be around 35% on half the attempts he has at Harvard.
L J S A
Well-known member
It seems like Conway has had more moments in practice than Alleyne. I would be shocked if he's a starter.
Whomever starts tomorrow won’t necessarily start against Pace or in the season opener and that has nothing to do with Luis. It is still fluid.
Don’t be surprised if Conway is in the starting five as he paired up with Soriano, Jenkins and Ledlum when I was there last Saturday than Alleyne, Taylor or Dunlap. But, that was last week.
Joel
nypost.com
Joel Soriano wants to return St. John’s to former glory
Joel Soriano wants to leave college as a winner, as much for himself as for the fans and New York.
nypost.com
IMO, if he can continue to be a more-than-solid rebounder (which I think he will) and give us between 12-15 points consistently (with a 20-plus point game here and there), then he'll pay HUGE dividends for us.
I also love Soriano's attitude.
I want to see what Soriano can do with better coaching and more talented players around him. I think “bigs“ rely more on some of the backcourt players to help get them the ball in the right positions. Already Pitino wanted his weight down and wants him to become more of a 3 point threat. Not that he will be taking a lot of them but at least to be a “threat” is the goal.
Defensively is something that probably needs the most work. Hopefully he cuts down on the ticky tack fouls. We should soon see if Soriano is accepting the challenge with results or is finding his minutes reduced.
One thing I think RP will teach him is to be in the position to receive the ball (like establishing position closer to the basket). Last year he was receiving the ball to far from the basket, and at times he had to put the ball on the floor and he got picked or the ball was deflected. Other times he would have to settle for a jump shot instead of going up hard to the basket and dunking it.
Oh definitely. I don't want to diminish the importance of rebounding...it's incredibly important to a winning team. It's just that I don't see him dominating any other facet of the game. We have become kind of spoiled with his automatic double-digit rebound totals.
Very fair assessment Imo.
Selling him short, ha ha 6'10"
He has
a great attitude to go with his altitude
and is a model teammate.
It wasn't easy to stay cool last year but
he did that plus.
Ledlum, at the 4 second mark of the video, just power through Conway.