St. John’s (2020-21)

[quote="redmannorth" post=401715][quote="Monte" post=401713][quote="Room112" post=401709][quote="TheArtest15" post=401708]Im really excited for this season and think our depth is going to be way better than last year but I do have something that I keep thinking about this team that is bothering me a little bit.

I remember last year they would have major droughts scoring. This was with LJ on the floor as well. They had a lot of times empty possessions with nothing run and no one creating their own shots. A lot of the time Dunn would bail the team out and get to the line. Is anyone else scared that we will struggle to score this year? I know LJ had a down year last year but he still was able to score. Hopefully Julian can take the go to guy role this year[/quote]

I'd say that is a legitimate concern yes. Not sure Julian is that type of player. Maybe he will be.[/quote]


I like Julian a lot. He's a nice player who far exceeded expectations last year. I am no where near as high on him going in to this year as many(not you) on this board are.[/quote]

Julian proves Logens point 1000%. An unheralded player who finished all BE and ended the season almost averaging a double double. Fit in seamlessly , zero headaches , super coach able, team leader going into his sophomore season.
So tiring this morning endless star debate.[/quote]

Agree with everything you're saying, which is exactly why I said what i said about him. Sometimes the experts way underestimate a kid(like Julian) and sometimes they overestimate a kid. I think Julian will have another nice year for us. I do not think he will become a go-to guy on offense.
 
[quote="Monte" post=401716]
Agree with everything you're saying, which is exactly why I said what i said about him. Sometimes the experts way underestimate a kid(like Julian) and sometimes they overestimate a kid. I think Julian will have another nice year for us. I do not think he will become a go-to guy on offense.[/quote]

His style is so understated that it is hard to think of him as a scorer. I do think he can hit the big shot when needed (off a pass) and he'd be one of my first options depending upon the matchups, but I don't see him as a 15ppg+ scorer at least not as a soph. I also don't think there is anything wrong with him not being the the go to guy. He's already proven that he is a mature, skilled player that pretty much everyone underestimated.

Another improvement this season will be two guys that at crunch time are practically automatic from the free throw line. That can and likely will be the difference in games that we lost last season. The fact that Moore will be playing big for us and can hit FTs is significant. A LOT of the impact of bigs (drawing fouls for one thing) is lost at the FT line.
 
Our scoring is going to be more balanced this year. Posh can really score, Dunn, Williamsnis healthy. Hopefully Cole can get going a bit from the wing, in addition to Earlington and Champagnie and now we have interior scoring options which we didn’t have before in Toro and Moore who can even play out to the wing. Our depth will allow lots of different looks from different players.

Yes Figueroa was a good scorer but I think we added enough pieces to more than make up. Our offense will be a lot more effective overall with added PG play and interior options.
 
Balanced scoring hopefully Posh able to create easy baskets for others with his passing play uptempo and play killer D which creates turnovers and easy baskets. I’m fine with that. As someone else had mentioned as long as I don’t see the Mullin team shoot and retreat BS I’ll be happier
 
Unlike past decades (wow, not just a few barren years) the words I like for 2020-21 team include:

balance,
depth,
physicality,
options,
defense
a team in shape with
players who play hard
AND finally, drum roll...
a team that is and players who are fun to watch!
hope there is a season.
All the best

[attachment=1698]CB14168F-AC27-4E04-9556-D357DFA6B752_4_5005_c.jpeg[/attachment]
 
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[quote="Monte" post=401713][quote="Room112" post=401709][quote="TheArtest15" post=401708]Im really excited for this season and think our depth is going to be way better than last year but I do have something that I keep thinking about this team that is bothering me a little bit.

I remember last year they would have major droughts scoring. This was with LJ on the floor as well. They had a lot of times empty possessions with nothing run and no one creating their own shots. A lot of the time Dunn would bail the team out and get to the line. Is anyone else scared that we will struggle to score this year? I know LJ had a down year last year but he still was able to score. Hopefully Julian can take the go to guy role this year[/quote]

I'd say that is a legitimate concern yes. Not sure Julian is that type of player. Maybe he will be.[/quote]


I like Julian a lot. He's a nice player who far exceeded expectations last year. I am no where near as high on him going in to this year as many(not you) on this board are.[/quote]

Totally agree with you on this. Love Julian but also don't want to go nuts thinking he is the savior this year. We all know what can happen sophomore year (Yakwe). But I do think Julian has everything in him to be a solid player, not a go to but Like Paul Said a very steady good player.
 
I don’t think this team is built to have a “go to” guy. I think the style of play and the talent level is such that they need to hit the open man and play team basketball. I think the approach is run the offense. Any number of guys may have to step up and hit the shot. We all watched Shamorie Ponds be the “go to guy”. At the end of games much of our team stood around and hoped he would make a play, hit a shot. Sometimes it worked great. Other times it didn’t. No one on this team has that talent. That is also not a bad thing.
 
Not saying L J is not a good basketball player but think his talents and decisions where
Exaggerated Mo Cole will easily replace him
 
[quote="sjc88" post=401815]I don’t think this team is built to have a “go to” guy. I think the style of play and the talent level is such that they need to hit the open man and play team basketball. I think the approach is run the offense. Any number of guys may have to step up and hit the shot. We all watched Shamorie Ponds be the “go to guy”. At the end of games much of our team stood around and hoped he would make a play, hit a shot. Sometimes it worked great. Other times it didn’t. No one on this team has that talent. That is also not a bad thing.[/quote]

As nice as that sounds, it's not valid. You don't have a go to guy when you don't have at least one guy who can create his own shot one on one, either off the dribble from the outside, or taking it to the hoop, and score at least 6 of ten times in doing so, and come up big in big moments. Every team loves to have at least one or two guys who can do that. In the absence, and what you are referring to, is have 3,4, or 5 guys who will knock down the open shot off of a pass in big moments, eliminating the need to put it on one guy in a big moment. Unfortunately, we haven't had either of those situations in quite a while, which is why the last three times we eked our way into the NCAAs we were a quick and easy out.
 
The story I heard when I lived in Boston was that JoJo White was a great shooter, but only going to his right. Somehow the Celtics managed to find him going to his right to the tune of two championships. We don't know yet if CMA will coach a team to the level of not just finding the right guy but the right guy for the right shot at the right time against the right defender. We don't know but I wouldn't put it past him.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=401815]I don’t think this team is built to have a “go to” guy. I think the style of play and the talent level is such that they need to hit the open man and play team basketball. I think the approach is run the offense. Any number of guys may have to step up and hit the shot. We all watched Shamorie Ponds be the “go to guy”. At the end of games much of our team stood around and hoped he would make a play, hit a shot. Sometimes it worked great. Other times it didn’t. No one on this team has that talent. That is also not a bad thing.[/quote]

Fair enough but none of us knows at present if any one of Champagnie, Dunn, Williams or Earlington will take the next step and become that player. It could also be Cole or Moore and Toro gives us a low post presence we have severely been lacking. In any event even if none of the players becomes that go to guy we will still have 5 players on the floor at all times who will be able to finish and must be guarded and not left wide open. Looking forward to watching this group play and to having some semblance of a season.
 
Being a really effective go-to guy also means knowing when to act as a decoy in a clutch situation, so that a secondary player is left open for a shot. We've seen it time and time again in games. One of the biggest ever was the Nova Championship game winner by Jenkins. The D was keying on Arch and he found Jenkins for the open 3. Ponds was not that kid of player(like Arch). He certainly had the talent to be, but he would have forced a shot rather then act the decoy. Having a go-to guy(s)on the floor changes the defensive strategy. Yes we can be an ok team without a go-to guy(s), but I can't remember the last time we had a very good team without one or two of those kinds of players. Sometimes they appear out of nowhere(IE Hardy, Hatten, Harvey, etc). Let's hope someone like that appears this year.
 
The big problem that this team has had over the years was lack of post presence. Hopefully this year having a post presence will open up the floor a lot more. The problem is we aren't that great of a shooting team either. Hopefully guys have improved but we shall see.
 
St John’s is expected to host St Peter’s for its opener on Nov. 25 per source. Contract has yet to be signed. #sjubb
Zach B
 
[quote="TheArtest15" post=401838]The big problem that this team has had over the years was lack of post presence. Hopefully this year having a post presence will open up the floor a lot more. The problem is we aren't that great of a shooting team either. Hopefully guys have improved but we shall see.[/quote]

Good point. When you have dominant inside players, defenses have to sag to help out. When that happens, good teams have guys that don't miss many kick outs when they are wide open. I don't think we have that kind of talent in the paint at this point, but we haven't had that in a very long time (Brownlee?)

I believe this is a team that will try to score a lot of points in transition. Play hard nosed D, create turnovers, steals, bad passes, then push the ball up the court for higher percentage shots. At this point I'm not as confident if we were a walk the ball up, half court offense. That's not CMA basketball.
 
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Update: St Johns-St Peter’s now official for Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. #sjubb gets La Salle the next day at 2 p.m.
Zach B
 
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