St. John's-Marquette Game Thread

You really see the youth of this team when they start to fall behind. Instead of continuing to do what they have been doing to get the lead, they tend to rush shots and take ill-advised threes. Saw it againt Louisville and in tonite's game. But that is what young teams do. Next year they will not make the same mistakes, and with more depth they will be able to withstand the lose of a player to fouls.

With that, i see us beating georgetown sunday, and hopefully start a mini winning streak. This team still has lots of W's in them this year. and a whole mess of W's in the years to come.  
 
they seemed to get in the most trouble when we were still in the game and we passed too much...right into the hands of marquette players.

i'm just hoping we can pull out enough wins to make the nit.
 
We just don't have anything close to a distributor on the floor. When the leading assist man is Phil Greene with 2.3 APG, that about sums it up.

Looking forward to see how they bounce back against Georgetown.
 
 Greene played terrible Cant wait for Branch
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can't put it on green. he's not a point guard. the loss was a team effort.
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All the more reason Branch was such a huge pickup. His vision will transform this team. A few bigs and another scorer and we're rolling next year. We simply can't win when we have a starter foul out. We have nobody else.
 
Harrison fouling out obviously changed the game, we can't afford to have him sitting for any long stretch. I didn't like the call on his 4th foul, thought he slid past and avoided the charge, but the 5th foul was definitely deserved.

Our youth showed tonight in that second half. Turnovers led to easy Marquette baskets and once Johnson-Odom got hot it was a wrap. He's a senior and did what needed to be done, took the game over.

Tough night, but back to back road games and playing a savy Marquette team, not totally shocked they handled us. Thery are just bigger, stronger guys. We'll get there. 
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Block/charge call is tough - I saw the fouls just the other way; to me, the 4th seemed obvious and the 5th questionable but hey no matter. Harrison opefully will learn to pullup and pop the short J in those situations. Need to build on the 1st half and forget about the second.
 
 I'll add that Gardner wouldn't have had nearly the day he did if we had an eraser like Obekpa in there. Need to land Obekpa to counter guys like Gardner who's shots would have been swatted into the cheap seats by a guy like obekpa.
 
 Looks to me that the Hall and Rutgers who did not have our recruiting class is doing much better than us. I ask you is it coaching or are
their players better ? Seems .like every team has better shooters
 
 Looks to me that the Hall and Rutgers who did not have our recruiting class is doing much better than us. I ask you is it coaching or are
their players better ? Seems .like every team has better shooters
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Seton hall is lead by 2 seniors and a soph. Both Theodore and Pope were highly recruited. Their freshman talent is nowhere near as good as ours, but they are playing well now because they have balance and experience.

Rutgers is young, but also returns some experienced and talented kids? Their best two are carter and Mack. After that thugh, they are getting proudest ion from Biruta, Miller, Poole and Austin Johnson, none of whom are freshmen. and didn't have any of their guys not qualify, they have the depth that we don't.

We're ALL freshmen and one juco and only 7 of us. Simple as that. 
 
 Marquette was too fast, penetrating deep and handing off for easy layups. Our zone was terrible in the second half, the middle was wide open. The same thing happened last year at UCLA, penetrate and pass off to Josh Smith for easy baskets.
 
 I'll add that Gardner wouldn't have had nearly the day he did if we had an eraser like Obekpa in there. Need to land Obekpa to counter guys like Gardner who's shots would have been swatted into the cheap seats by a guy like obekpa.
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I would love to see Obekpa at St J's next yr but he is currently a raw, thin high school player while Gardner is a grown man playing high level D1 ball who uses his bulk well around the basket. Does one need only be mentioned as a possible Johnny before he is annointed as the second coming of Bill Russell. Don't be so sure he would be swatting all his shots into the cheap seats. BTW i thought the same thing about Pelle and how as that worked out for us. Just saying. As Bill Parcells used to say: don't be so quick to annoint, and let's not put him in Canton just yet. 
 
 I'll add that Gardner wouldn't have had nearly the day he did if we had an eraser like Obekpa in there. Need to land Obekpa to counter guys like Gardner who's shots would have been swatted into the cheap seats by a guy like obekpa.
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I would love to see Obekpa at St J's next yr but he is currently a raw, thin high school player while Gardner is a grown man playing high level D1 ball who uses his bulk well around the basket. Does one need only be mentioned as a possible Johnny before he is annointed as the second coming of Bill Russell. Don't be so sure he would be swatting all his shots into the cheap seats. BTW i thought the same thing about Pelle and how as that worked out for us. Just saying. As Bill Parcells used to say: don't be so quick to annoint, and let's not put him in Canton just yet. 
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Obekpa is raw. What he is though also is an awesome shotblocker. He's raw on offense for sure, but Gardner got so many because Gift isn't the greatest defender and doesn't block shots all that well. It would have been different for sure, mark my words. Pelle has nothing to do with it. Pelle too is an awesome shotblocker and better overall talent than obekpa. We were just missing somebody challenging in the paint.
 
 I'll add that Gardner wouldn't have had nearly the day he did if we had an eraser like Obekpa in there. Need to land Obekpa to counter guys like Gardner who's shots would have been swatted into the cheap seats by a guy like obekpa.
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I would love to see Obekpa at St J's next yr but he is currently a raw, thin high school player while Gardner is a grown man playing high level D1 ball who uses his bulk well around the basket. Does one need only be mentioned as a possible Johnny before he is annointed as the second coming of Bill Russell. Don't be so sure he would be swatting all his shots into the cheap seats. BTW i thought the same thing about Pelle and how as that worked out for us. Just saying. As Bill Parcells used to say: don't be so quick to annoint, and let's not put him in Canton just yet. 
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Obekpa is raw. What he is though also is an awesome shotblocker. He's raw on offense for sure, but Gardner got so many because Gift isn't the greatest defender and doesn't block shots all that well. It would have been different for sure, mark my words. Pelle has nothing to do with it. Pelle too is an awesome shotblocker and better overall talent than obekpa. We were just missing somebody challenging in the paint.
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Only mentioned Pelle because it seems we are jinxed in terms of ever getting a great shot blocker.
 
 Greene played terrible Cant wait for Branch
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Greene has a tendency to turn his back to the basket when dribbling, doesn't see the whole floor.
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I think Greene is pretty much in over his head right now but in fairness he is not a point guard and has probably done as well as could be expected. Forget the offensive end though, his biggest failing by far is his lack of understanding of defensive balance; gets caught way too often not back on D when Harrison or Pointer penetrate.
 
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