The First Coaches Poll for the 2014 Season

We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.
 
You are predicting a double digit win without seeing either team play? This site gets funnier by the day

No prophet is accepted in his own house and the fools shower him with their scorn.

TobinGrad has a vision. I share that vision and wish it to be spread throughout the land.

Paul, are you Johnny Appleseed?

I'm a believer. This team is going to be really good.

Me too. I was one of the maniacs that picked them to finish elite 8 or better in the poll a few days ago.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

If what you're saying is true, that's the best thing I've heard in a long time. I respect coach, but I hated the matchup zone.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'

I guess the thing is, you have to play very good man before you can play a very good zone. Given that, man is a lot easier to play at this juncture. That being said, a zone has to figure in Lavin's plans. A great zone is much better d than straight man if played well.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

Whitesell was brought in for good reason, I fully expect him to be worthy of his salary. We will see his influence from the 1st game.

Unless Wisc is extremely hot from beyond the arc for the entire game, I see SJU pulling away as the game goes on. I think it will be a double digit win and will make the BE and nation take notice from the starting gate.

I only bring it up because I read an interview with coach that indicated we weren't really changing anything per se, just would be more effective because we had better and more experienced personnel. He was asked by Espn about our anemic offense and why we had to settle for so many low percentage jump shots...

He said: "The numbers that you're looking at? They're going to change but it's not like we're going to be doing anything so very different. It will be because we finally have some balance, including a perimeter attack."

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-col...trics-fixes-st-johns-south-carolina-wisconsin

Not sure what exactly lavin meant but i know that Whitesell wasnt brought in and paid a high salary to fetch coffee. I think it will be evident in the exhibitions that the offense, both in execution and style is clearly better than last season and it wont just be due to experience

If we have an offense that alone will be an immediate upgrade over last season. That aside I do agree, Whitesell has the type of reputation that should take us to another level tactically. And in fairness to the staff last year, we just didn't have the personnel consistently enough. We actually got going pretty good there for a while when Branch hit is stride in the middle of the Big East schedule. When he got hurt and Harrison got suspended things fell apart on that end of the floor. The combination of playmakers and individuals who can put it in the hoop this year should cure a lot no matter what we run. Running good stuff will only make us that much better.

I'm a fan of mixing the half-court defense up between zone and man, but am not nearly as concerned with that as long as we press. It's something we haven't done a lot of (probably for a variety of reasons) since Lavin's first year with that 3/4 court trap, but I can't identify a single good reason not to get back to some sort of 70+ foot pressure on a very regular basis this year.
 
Wisconsin rarely, if ever, gets the best talent in the Big 10 but, consistently competes with Indiana, Mich State, Mich,Ohio St. etc for the league title.Ryan is one of those Coaches that teach Basketball that transcends individual talent and has a system year in and year out. I doubt our talent/depth will scare the Badgers at all.

Let's hope the additional year of experience will contribute to better D, better rebounding, better shooting and making free throws.. All of those need be present to win this game.

And, if its close, Ryan is a better bench Coach than Lavin, hands down.

This would be a defining WIN for the Johnnies to start the season.. I hope it happens but, it doesn't all go down the drain if it doesn't.
 
Wisconsin rarely, if ever, gets the best talent in the Big 10 but, consistently competes with Indiana, Mich State, Mich,Ohio St. etc for the league title.Ryan is one of those Coaches that teach Basketball that transcends individual talent and has a system year in and year out. I doubt our talent/depth will scare the Badgers at all.

Let's hope the additional year of experience will contribute to better D, better rebounding, better shooting and making free throws.. All of those need be present to win this game.

And, if its close, Ryan is a better bench Coach than Lavin, hands down.

This would be a defining WIN for the Johnnies to start the season.. I hope it happens but, it doesn't all go down the drain if it doesn't.

The state of Wisconsin also seems to have more big men than New York these days, and the Badgers usually land two of them a year. They don't usually have the prettiest stats, but they are well coached and rarely out of position, so our bigs need to bring their A games.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'

I guess the thing is, you have to play very good man before you can play a very good zone. Given that, man is a lot easier to play at this juncture. That being said, a zone has to figure in Lavin's plans. A great zone is much better d than straight man if played well.

I think a great man d is better then great zone D. If you can play great man defense, why play a zone?
 
I think a great man d is better then great zone D. If you can play great man defense, why play a zone?

The reason to play zone defense is obviously to stay out of foul trouble. However, with the depth we have this year, I don't think that's an issue. I say man to man with apologies to Bill Rafftery.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'

I guess the thing is, you have to play very good man before you can play a very good zone. Given that, man is a lot easier to play at this juncture. That being said, a zone has to figure in Lavin's plans. A great zone is much better d than straight man if played well.

I think a great man d is better then great zone D. If you can play great man defense, why play a zone?

Because a zone can collapse and cut off access to the basket forcing opponents to shoot over a zone.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'

I guess the thing is, you have to play very good man before you can play a very good zone. Given that, man is a lot easier to play at this juncture. That being said, a zone has to figure in Lavin's plans. A great zone is much better d than straight man if played well.

I think a great man d is better then great zone D. If you can play great man defense, why play a zone?

Because a zone can collapse and cut off access to the basket forcing opponents to shoot over a zone.

Absolutely, but great man does the same thing. I'm not anti-zone and there is definitely a time and place for it just think that sometimes they are over done or over thought and prefer man to man.
 
We probably have a better chance of beating Cuse in mid December than Wisconsin in early November. Integrating all these pieces is not going to be easy during game #1.

Strongly disagree! We just had two extra weeks of practice and 5 games against professional teams. We have three new guys they've never seen and a new system that even the fans don't know about. We know what Bo Ryan will do and we've seen their guys together. Advantage St. John's.

We have a new system?

We have supposedly abandoned the old Dunlap matchup for the 2-3. We also didn't run a heckuva lot of pressure last year and I expect that to change dramatically with Whitesell on the staff and the personnel in place.

I also expect the offense to look different with the new skills available.

Was the dumping of the zone reported or something your 'hearing'

I guess the thing is, you have to play very good man before you can play a very good zone. Given that, man is a lot easier to play at this juncture. That being said, a zone has to figure in Lavin's plans. A great zone is much better d than straight man if played well.

I think a great man d is better then great zone D. If you can play great man defense, why play a zone?

Because a zone can collapse and cut off access to the basket forcing opponents to shoot over a zone.

Absolutely, but great man does the same thing. I'm not anti-zone and there is definitely a time and place for it just think that sometimes they are over done or over thought and prefer man to man.

There is a reason NBA had long outlawed zone defenses of any kind, even though there has been a dizzying number of rule changes.

http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_history.html

The idea of a defender hanging out in the lane guarding no one is still illegal - (I think) :

2001-02
• Illegal defense guidelines will be eliminated in their entirety.
• A new defensive three-second rule will prohibit a defensive player from remaining in the lane for more than three consecutive seconds without closely guarding an offensive player.

I'm going to presume that the NBA wants people to come to games, presumably to see scoring, slam dunks, acrobatic moves to the hoop, and not 65-62 nail biters.

Still and all, it takes real ability to play a good zone. For the longest time, SJU has played a zone poorly, validating every coaches postulation that the ball moves faster than a zone can. Etched in every ticket holder's minds is an endless loop of the ball swinging to the weak side, where the worst shooters are transformed into Larry Bird, draining wide open threes time and time again.

So given that, for now, I'd agree that SJU has to play primarily man until we show we can play a great zone. However, I don't think we can be a team that threatens to go deep into the NCAA tourney until we play the zone well - at least in spurts of switching between man and zone.
 
“@CasualHoya: BREAKING: Georgetown's Josh Smith has been cleared by the NCAA to play for Hoyas this semester!”
 
“@CasualHoya: BREAKING: Georgetown's Josh Smith has been cleared by the NCAA to play for Hoyas this semester!”

Is that the UCLA widebody who put a hurt on us two years ago?
 
He's talented, but he can't stay on the court for more than 5 mins at a time. Unless he is in better shape now.
 
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