Sonoma State Game

Yes, Mase, posted from the game, from a few rows behind the bench.

I like this team, although it will struggle early. They also seem to like one another, and no bad attitudes evident in any way.

If they can get Sima, Lovett and Johnson going together then this team will be hard to defend.  Lots of potentially great role players.  And I think they will be good on defense just based on the physical talent, and Mullin will get them to work.  But they need Lovett.  Mussini isn't the answer there.  Long term I like Ellison and maybe Williams and Holifield on the wing, but for now it has to be Johnson as the third piece of the pie.


Add Yakwe and Owens next year and look out.
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LFM
thanks for all your observations here - I can see why CO & Jordan are not around " no bad attitudes" will be tolerated - I explained to my non basketball friend how many sports teams overlook "bad attitudes" because of talent at all costs approach - good for Chris Mullin & staff to bite the bullet this year...
 
Yes, Mase, posted from the game, from a few rows behind the bench.

I like this team, although it will struggle early. They also seem to like one another, and no bad attitudes evident in any way.

If they can get Sima, Lovett and Johnson going together then this team will be hard to defend.  Lots of potentially great role players.  And I think they will be good on defense just based on the physical talent, and Mullin will get them to work.  But they need Lovett.  Mussini isn't the answer there.  Long term I like Ellison and maybe Williams and Holifield on the wing, but for now it has to be Johnson as the third piece of the pie.


Add Yakwe and Owens next year and look out.
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LFM
thanks for all your observations here - I can see why CO & Jordan are not around " no bad attitudes" will be tolerated - I explained to my non basketball friend how many sports teams overlook "bad attitudes" because of talent at all costs approach - good for Chris Mullin & staff to bite the bullet this year...
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Appreciated the post . As I said I am not expecting too much this yr . We have a good amount of talent. I expect them to learn and play hard and steadily improve from game to game Hard work will yield positive results Think this yr will be enjoyable and next yr we will be much much better
 
Observations from game today and taking into account its early (things will improve) and we played a D2 team...

1) Sima most impressive player
2) Not impressed w/Johnson, Williams or Mvouika - hope this is a case of rust
3) Mussini will be better off the ball
4) Ellison sat out a lot; Looks like has ability but didnt show much today
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As for point 2,I can't emphasize enough how hard it is to sit out a season or 2, especially because of injuries that require a surgery and rehab. Would like to see at least a little more from these 3, but am not surprised considered the long layoffs. Mussini will gain a ton of experience this season, but is likely to back up Lovett next year. With the minutes he has to play this season, he is more likely to lose weight rather than gain some. One of 9 from 3? That's disappointing. This team is so much less athletic than I hoped. After watching Sampson, Obekpa, Jordan, Harkless and especially Pointer, you can see the difference. That's why one of 9 will not get it done against any half way decent squad. Long season ahead, with some embarrassing blowouts likely. Just hope those that say it will hurt recruiting are way off on this one. Mullin will take some time to grow into his job, too. At least he looked more engaged today.
 
My observations with 6 minutes or so to go in the scrimmage:

Sima.  Physical skills, runs the floor boxes out, good timing on blocks, some post game, needs some development, future pro.  Complete package in a year.  Zendon good to work with him.

Mussini.  Miscast at the point.  Only true guard with balamou and Lovett out.  Very slight build.  Needs to hit the weight room.  Did not keep up with his man on D.  Didn't look for his shot, but likely because he was at the point.  Missed many free throws.

Williams.  Great length, athleticism, runs the floor, willing to shoot the 3 but missed all attempts.  Valuable piece, needs development, could become special.

Ellison.  Good all-around player.  Good understanding of the game.  Instinctive player.   Should become outstanding defender for a 2 or a 3.  A smaller, poor man's Justice Winslow.

Holifield.  Glue guy.  Great energy.  Very good defender.  Can shoot some and pass some.  Team player.  Will be super role player.  Did not do badly at point with Mussini on the bench even though he's not a point.  Makes good decisions.  A basketball player.  May not have the size speed or shooting ability at the high D1 level but will make himself valuable.

Christian Jones.  Got lots of minutes.  No idea why.  Showed better heart and hustle but makes too many mistakes, physical and mental.  Not a good finisher and will be over matched against BE competition. 

Mvouika.  Smart, plays defense, showed no offensive game.  Should either be a defensive sub to give a guard or SF a few minutes of rest or a spot shooter if he shows he can hit from 3.

Alibegovic.  Didn't get much run.  Looks about the same as last year.

Johnson.  Showed nothing.  Expect better based on rep and past performance.  Looks as though he's knocking off a lot of rust.

Needs:  Lovett and Balamou for a true PG and depth at guard spots.  Backcourt of Lovett and Mussini may be too small, Holifield and Mvouika may work their way in at the 2 against bigger teams, especially if Mussini is outmatched on the defensive end.

Long athletic front court should be good in any combination centering around Sima.  Should be good either running the floor or in the halfcourt. 

Offense:  nice ball movement, player movement, great sharing the ball for a group of players new to one another. 

Defense.  Man to man, appropriate for the length and athleticism of the team and with Sima to clean up for mistakes (very similar to Obekpa in that role).  Mussini a weak link.

Bench.  St Jean doing the x and o work at timeouts and during the game.  Mullin a big picture guy.  Seems to be in an NFL head coach role with an offensive coordinator.  Sets the philosophy and makes big picture decisions, delegates x and o work.  Likely much more involved in player development in practice and in pregame strategy development.

Overall.  Will struggle early, especially without Lovett and Balamou.  Lots of potential to develop.  Should improve as the year goes on.  If a foundation is built and the team comes together and improves over the year, potential for a big step next year with addition of more long athletic bodies in Yakwe and Owens.  Bright future if Mullin can hold them together through the growing pains and they improve and feel good about themselves in the last quarter of the season.
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Let me get this straight. With what you saw tonight Williams can be special but Mussini is your new whipping boy?
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So Mussini went o for 6 He is a great shooter Soon you will see him hitting consecutive 3s He has not been playing off guard where he can spot up and shoot. His game will elevate when Lovett plays
 
Sima's poise is beyond his years even if his game is not perfect he doesn't push like many big time freshman do trying to prove themselves. Disagree that Mussini is out of his depth. He's a freshman leading a leaderless team in a foreign land. What he needs short of Lovett and someone taking the reigns as our go to scorer, is time. Ellison is not finishing and making some mistakes, but he has that killer instinct that needs to come out in at least one of our players but it would be a lot to ask for him to take that on this season.

Overall you can see some development from the first exh game and that is what we want to see. Obviously if Williams and Johnson start scoring the way we need them to, this team will take a big step forward. On the floor leadership is a big question

TOs some improvement, but still a big problem. FT shooting looking good. *Nice to see that Holifield played with some confidence and Jones continues to be aggressive and looking to be a rebounder.
 
http://nypost.com/2015/11/07/st-johns-bounces-back-convincingly-after-horrid-debut/
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Just for the record, anyone who thought Mussini was a point guard was looking at his size not his game. He will be much, much more valuable if LoVett is eligible.
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He'll be much more valuable next season when we have a back court of Lovett and Ponds.
The world needs cheerleaders too.
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Oh okay, thanks for your very objective, mature and unbiased view. Actually, I think he was first recruited by your boy so you ought to be kinder so when it turns out Mussini can play you can tell us again what a legendary recruiter he really was.
 
Impressions from today's game-
Sima going to be a real player; team seems slow and unathletic; coaching, ???; crowd?

How many scholarships available for next class? Hope we don't lose Ponds.

:sick:
 
Went to the game today as well (thanks to all those who replied to my post regarding tickets, by the way). Here are some thoughts….

Obviously a better performance than Wednesday. Sonoma State didn't have the team STAC did and didn't press as aggressively as them, but I definitely saw improvement.

In terms of sideline presence, Mullin seemed to be much more vocal and actively involved today than Wednesday, at least according to ppl that were there on Weds. I do hope he'll take over the in-timeout instruction. He's still feeling out his role, and this is one of the things that will take time because the guy has never coached anywhere at any level in his life. It's a bit unusual to have an assistant consistently leading charge in timeouts, but its not unusual for an assistant to be tabbed with scouting opponents and game planning. I was hoping for Mullin to hire a practice-planning/gameplanning with a bit more experience, but I'll give him benefit of the doubt he found a 24-yr-old prodigy here in St. Jean. Time will tell.

Sima was terrific. Obekpa was an other-worldly shot blocker and lets remember Sima did this against a smaller lineup, but I do think other than pure shot blocking, Sima will be a much better overall player than Obekpa. If Chris ever hit a jump hook I would've creamed myself, and Sima did it over both shoulders. He also looks like he could be a better one-on-one defender on bigs than Chris was.

Mussini's struggles are worrisome. He couldn't stay in front of anyone defensively, and it really wasn't because of size in a lot of cases. His confidence also seems VERY shaky. When things weren't going well for him he seems to drop his head when driving quite a bit. Hope the staff can get his confidence back up, because we'll need him to play at least some PG, even if Lovett is eligible.

I actually thought Darien Williams was better much today than he was vs STAC or in the scrimmage, mostly because he played within himself. He didn't forcefully put the ball on the floor offensively or try and do anything too crazy like he did the first two times we saw him. I think he's still shaking off rust from not having played for a while, and I don't think this is him as a "finished product" so to say.

Ellison wasn't very effective today, but I still really love him as a player going forward. He's so good at drawing contact, and we'll need that type of offense. Looks like in time he'll also be able to effectively guard multiple positions.

I won't believe anything Christian Jones does in exhibitions. We've seen him be good in these D2 games in previous years. Gotta see how he does against D1 opponents.

Durand Johnson's struggle are puzzling. I'm hoping he's not the type of player that disengages when he's not getting his shots, but haven't liked what we've seen from him.

Holifield was a really pleasant surprise. Great energy, played within himself and looked like he more than belonged on the floor. We had some stretches of poor energy and I think he's the type of guy that his energy could be contagious if he's on the floor in sporadic stretches.

We really need Lovett and Felix ASAP. Not sure yet how I'm feeling about Wagner on Friday.
 
Went to the game today as well (thanks to all those who replied to my post regarding tickets, by the way). Here are some thoughts….

Obviously a better performance than Wednesday. Sonoma State didn't have the team STAC did and didn't press as aggressively as them, but I definitely saw improvement.

In terms of sideline presence, Mullin seemed to be much more vocal and actively involved today than Wednesday, at least according to ppl that were there on Weds. I do hope he'll take over the in-timeout instruction. He's still feeling out his role, and this is one of the things that will take time because the guy has never coached anywhere at any level in his life. It's a bit unusual to have an assistant consistently leading charge in timeouts, but its not unusual for an assistant to be tabbed with scouting opponents and game planning. I was hoping for Mullin to hire a practice-planning/gameplanning with a bit more experience, but I'll give him benefit of the doubt he found a 24-yr-old prodigy here in St. Jean. Time will tell.

Sima was terrific. Obekpa was an other-worldly shot blocker and lets remember Sima did this against a smaller lineup, but I do think other than pure shot blocking, Sima will be a much better overall player than Obekpa. If Chris ever hit a jump hook I would've creamed myself, and Sima did it over both shoulders. He also looks like he could be a better one-on-one defender on bigs than Chris was.

Mussini's struggles are worrisome. He couldn't stay in front of anyone defensively, and it really wasn't because of size in a lot of cases. His confidence also seems VERY shaky. When things weren't going well for him he seems to drop his head when driving quite a bit. Hope the staff can get his confidence back up, because we'll need him to play at least some PG, even if Lovett is eligible.

I actually thought Darien Williams was better much today than he was vs STAC or in the scrimmage, mostly because he played within himself. He didn't forcefully put the ball on the floor offensively or try and do anything too crazy like he did the first two times we saw him. I think he's still shaking off rust from not having played for a while, and I don't think this is him as a "finished product" so to say.

Ellison wasn't very effective today, but I still really love him as a player going forward. He's so good at drawing contact, and we'll need that type of offense. Looks like in time he'll also be able to effectively guard multiple positions.

I won't believe anything Christian Jones does in exhibitions. We've seen him be good in these D2 games in previous years. Gotta see how he does against D1 opponents.

Durand Johnson's struggle are puzzling. I'm hoping he's not the type of player that disengages when he's not getting his shots, but haven't liked what we've seen from him.

Holifield was a really pleasant surprise. Great energy, played within himself and looked like he more than belonged on the floor. We had some stretches of poor energy and I think he's the type of guy that his energy could be contagious if he's on the floor in sporadic stretches.

We really need Lovett and Felix ASAP. Not sure yet how I'm feeling about Wagner on Friday.
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Come on Theo. It's not too late to hop on the Jones bandwagon. Will be the best Jones since Shelton this year :)
 
Sounds like Theo and I came away seeing a lot of the same things.

Moose for the record I am not down on Mussini. It's tough to say much about him in a game where he was basically the only real guard playing. And he mostly did not look to shoot because he was playing point and tried to pass first, to his credit.

However, he has a very small build, he was awful at the line, and anyone he was defending blew past him at will. IMHO he cannot be your starting point guard - which again is the role he got stuck with tonight, not his fault. From what I saw he will not be able to defend a BE guard unless we are playing zone. Any legit guard will be able to go over or past him at will.

I'm assuming his intended role is spot up shooter, and that's fine, he may be great at that.

None of the players I saw tonight are finished products. Some are farther along than others, and a lot of them have a lot of potential. I wouldn't read too much into this game or the STAC game, I think the staff is treating them like the scrimmages they are and just giving some guys some run.

At least I hope so because if Chistian Jones gets meaningful minutes for us in league play we are in deep trouble. Even if it means sacrificing a win or two the minutes would be better spent developing Williams and Ellison.

I guess that makes CJ my "whipping boy," in which event I plead guilty.
 
Went to the game today as well (thanks to all those who replied to my post regarding tickets, by the way). Here are some thoughts….

Obviously a better performance than Wednesday. Sonoma State didn't have the team STAC did and didn't press as aggressively as them, but I definitely saw improvement.

In terms of sideline presence, Mullin seemed to be much more vocal and actively involved today than Wednesday, at least according to ppl that were there on Weds. I do hope he'll take over the in-timeout instruction. He's still feeling out his role, and this is one of the things that will take time because the guy has never coached anywhere at any level in his life. It's a bit unusual to have an assistant consistently leading charge in timeouts, but its not unusual for an assistant to be tabbed with scouting opponents and game planning. I was hoping for Mullin to hire a practice-planning/gameplanning with a bit more experience, but I'll give him benefit of the doubt he found a 24-yr-old prodigy here in St. Jean. Time will tell.

Sima was terrific. Obekpa was an other-worldly shot blocker and lets remember Sima did this against a smaller lineup, but I do think other than pure shot blocking, Sima will be a much better overall player than Obekpa. If Chris ever hit a jump hook I would've creamed myself, and Sima did it over both shoulders. He also looks like he could be a better one-on-one defender on bigs than Chris was.

Mussini's struggles are worrisome. He couldn't stay in front of anyone defensively, and it really wasn't because of size in a lot of cases. His confidence also seems VERY shaky. When things weren't going well for him he seems to drop his head when driving quite a bit. Hope the staff can get his confidence back up, because we'll need him to play at least some PG, even if Lovett is eligible.

I actually thought Darien Williams was better much today than he was vs STAC or in the scrimmage, mostly because he played within himself. He didn't forcefully put the ball on the floor offensively or try and do anything too crazy like he did the first two times we saw him. I think he's still shaking off rust from not having played for a while, and I don't think this is him as a "finished product" so to say.

Ellison wasn't very effective today, but I still really love him as a player going forward. He's so good at drawing contact, and we'll need that type of offense. Looks like in time he'll also be able to effectively guard multiple positions.

I won't believe anything Christian Jones does in exhibitions. We've seen him be good in these D2 games in previous years. Gotta see how he does against D1 opponents.

Durand Johnson's struggle are puzzling. I'm hoping he's not the type of player that disengages when he's not getting his shots, but haven't liked what we've seen from him.

Holifield was a really pleasant surprise. Great energy, played within himself and looked like he more than belonged on the floor. We had some stretches of poor energy and I think he's the type of guy that his energy could be contagious if he's on the floor in sporadic stretches.

We really need Lovett and Felix ASAP. Not sure yet how I'm feeling about Wagner on Friday.
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Come on Theo. It's not too late to hop on the Jones bandwagon. Will be the best Jones since Shelton this year :)
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Better than Tyler?
 
Clearly Mussini;

* As noted in his history, he has little PG experience
* Has trouble stopping the ball & it is easy at this point to blow by him.
* Is a heady, hard working player who will do well playing off the ball & spotting a starting PG, either in future or when LoVett returns. LoVett is not Tyler Ennis btw & will need some time. Most freshmen do.
* Should not be focal point of Johnny fan ire. He will be a capable four year player, but is now just one piece of a less than stellar "pie". Focusing on him as main problem on the squad is counter productive IMO.
 
Clearly Mussini;

* As noted in his history, he has little PG experience
* Has trouble stopping the ball & it is easy at this point to blow by him.
* Is a heady, hard working player who will do well playing off the ball & spotting a starting PG, either in future or when LoVett returns. LoVett is not Tyler Ennis btw & will need some time. Most freshmen do.
* Should not be focal point of Johnny fan ire. He will be a capable four year player, but is now just one piece of a less than stellar "pie". Focusing on him as main problem on the squad is counter productive IMO.
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Agree, sorry if my post (s) were taken otherwise.
 
When I get home tonight I plan to post my human interest story from today's game...from coach kaiser to Pervus Ellison to Anthony Mason Junior to Holifield hitting a jmo shot - I think this we will shoot not understand the basket - start a new "no- perimeter" strategy!
We are going in the right direction - this year imp WsLs don't count.

Sorry for typos...later
:)
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9 pm - Home earlier than I thought!
Haven't read all the posts herein but did notice one comment about growing pains...(Lawfanman) indeed
And so.......
1.Coach Kaiser good to see him, still dealing with his SO loss...needed help up and down the stairs BUT he was there! so many spending time with him - good to see the human, family touch! Warmth in the air!
2.Pervis Ellison, the proud father and clearly supportive of what Chris Mullin has unfolding! He told me about his Louisville team losing to SJU in the NIT preseason tourney here in NY (I guess it was at MSG)
3. Great to see Zendon chatting with the big men and Mitch Richman so into the game, almost fury like from all the assistant coaches - and the kids seemed to listen & respect what was happening;
4.Anthony Mason Jr. - again my " thing" can they announce former players rather than have them strolling along looking lost & unnoticed?
5. Brian Mahoney with daughter and granddaughter in tow - so proud of his 30+ years affiliated with SJU; at one time Chris waved to him - reciprocal loyalty! I found that to be a nice moment!
6.( I believe) Chris promised the best conditioned and hardest working team ( or one of them) - imo I think they are!!! he did not promise Ws and without an outside game well...was Holifield the only player to sink a jumper?
7.justified hope in the atmosphere - as we know just a matter of an upgrade in the talent & with our staff it will happen;;
8.consensus - might have been broadcast on this site already - Lovett won't play...
9. Is there a translator or does Mussini understand enough Englush? Just an observation - saw someone behind the bench talking with him often;
10.No lobster rolls...

all the best
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#8, you mention Lovett won't play.
Did you mean this season?
 
My only problem with Sima is that he's too damn nice... needs to develop a mean streak when he's on the floor. If he does that and continues to put on the lbs... kid will be a MONSTER for us in the near future.
 
There's no doubt this team is going to struggle but there's a lot to look forward to during this season. No need to be down on the guys (especially the first yr players) just yet. Let's find out how they react when the lights go on and they get knocked around
 
Went to the game today as well (thanks to all those who replied to my post regarding tickets, by the way). Here are some thoughts….

Obviously a better performance than Wednesday. Sonoma State didn't have the team STAC did and didn't press as aggressively as them, but I definitely saw improvement.

In terms of sideline presence, Mullin seemed to be much more vocal and actively involved today than Wednesday, at least according to ppl that were there on Weds. I do hope he'll take over the in-timeout instruction. He's still feeling out his role, and this is one of the things that will take time because the guy has never coached anywhere at any level in his life. It's a bit unusual to have an assistant consistently leading charge in timeouts, but its not unusual for an assistant to be tabbed with scouting opponents and game planning. I was hoping for Mullin to hire a practice-planning/gameplanning with a bit more experience, but I'll give him benefit of the doubt he found a 24-yr-old prodigy here in St. Jean. Time will tell.

Sima was terrific. Obekpa was an other-worldly shot blocker and lets remember Sima did this against a smaller lineup, but I do think other than pure shot blocking, Sima will be a much better overall player than Obekpa. If Chris ever hit a jump hook I would've creamed myself, and Sima did it over both shoulders. He also looks like he could be a better one-on-one defender on bigs than Chris was.

Mussini's struggles are worrisome. He couldn't stay in front of anyone defensively, and it really wasn't because of size in a lot of cases. His confidence also seems VERY shaky. When things weren't going well for him he seems to drop his head when driving quite a bit. Hope the staff can get his confidence back up, because we'll need him to play at least some PG, even if Lovett is eligible.

I actually thought Darien Williams was better much today than he was vs STAC or in the scrimmage, mostly because he played within himself. He didn't forcefully put the ball on the floor offensively or try and do anything too crazy like he did the first two times we saw him. I think he's still shaking off rust from not having played for a while, and I don't think this is him as a "finished product" so to say.

Ellison wasn't very effective today, but I still really love him as a player going forward. He's so good at drawing contact, and we'll need that type of offense. Looks like in time he'll also be able to effectively guard multiple positions.

I won't believe anything Christian Jones does in exhibitions. We've seen him be good in these D2 games in previous years. Gotta see how he does against D1 opponents.

Durand Johnson's struggle are puzzling. I'm hoping he's not the type of player that disengages when he's not getting his shots, but haven't liked what we've seen from him.

Holifield was a really pleasant surprise. Great energy, played within himself and looked like he more than belonged on the floor. We had some stretches of poor energy and I think he's the type of guy that his energy could be contagious if he's on the floor in sporadic stretches.

jones improved greatly, footwork and confidence....dont know how you can say positives about Williams and Ellison. I hope they become great players but they both looking overmatched from both D2 teams. sorry but the truth




We really need Lovett and Felix ASAP. Not sure yet how I'm feeling about Wagner on Friday.
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Mussini will be an effective contributor when paired with Lovett. He needs to work on his footwork when defending. Freshman can improve through the staff's concentration on player development.
 
What's going on with Amar? I think we may be better served playing him at the 5 maybe? He hasn't looked comfortable in either game but def brings that toughness on D and rebounding.

I like Holyfield. Kid has moxie. Think we should play him early to spell guards.

I am kind of surprised Williams isn't a better defender his length is crazy.

I like our effort on D. We funnel to rim protector and rotate pretty well.

I hope they look good on Friday. Be nice to start the year well.
 
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