Thoughts So Far

M

McClancy

Member
12 games in, no terrible losses, progress is being made. Defensively, this team is much better(thank you Simon!)and it shows in the wins/losses. Huge problem moving forward is the reliance on the 3 pt shot, there are possessions where it looks like no one is allowed inside the circle. Threes get attempted and there is no offensive rebounders at all, it's not even an afterthought. Cold spells(master of the obvious) will doom this team because there will never be any 2nd shots. I think if St joes stays in the zone, the Johnnies lose that game.
Onto the players, Justin Simon, to me, is the MVP, smart player, doesn't try to do things he's not capable of, plays bigger then his measurements, just makes everybody better. Only wish he had a shooting touch.
Trimble, not doing anything special, but isn't embarrassing himself.
Marvin Clark, big upgrade from what we watched the last few years but I thought we were getting more of a banger. He just wants to stand in the corner and shoot 3s. Mullin needs to pull him aside and tell him;" I want 12 rebounds from you tonight".
Looks like Owens will always be "Twiggy", but his shot blocking and hustle make him a huge contributor.
Ahmed seems to have cooled down on the craziness a little, he needs to finish better though, he misses way too many chances right at the rim.
Ponds can be so much better, the shot will come around but he needs to get his head into the defensive game, loses his man away from the ball a lot. I feel his rebounding stats are jaded because he's standing under the basket when he should have been guarding his man.
Baby steps for Yawke, he's be doing well establishing position down low and his hands have better better, just don't want to see him taking jump shots.....ever.
 
Just some stats for comparison 2016 full season vs. 2017 OOC season,understand tougher BE competition accounts for some less positive numbers but interesting to see if their defensive stats hold up for upcoming BE schedule and if offense can be improved.

Statistic. 2017. 2016

Rebounds. 37.6. 34.4
Assists. 12.8. 13.5
Turnovers. 12.4 13.1
Steals 9.2. 6.8
Blocks. 6.7. 6.0
FT. 75%. 72%
FG Pct. 42%. 43%
3ptFG pct. 32%. 36%
Scoring OFF. 74.2. 76.8
Scoring DEF. 62.8. 78.7
DEF FG pct. 37%. 46%
3ptFG DEF. 31%. 37.5%
A/TO Ratio. 1.0. 1.0
 
My only thought so far is that this team has to thump PC at CA next week and start the real season with a good win.
 
My only thought so far is that this team has to thump PC at CA next week and start the real season with a good win.
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FWIW Kenpom gives StJohn’s a 69% chance of defeating Providence College on Thursday December 28th with a score of 73 to 68..... let’s hope.
 
It's obvious watching the games that the team defense is much improved over last year but the statistics show just how significant this improvement has been. The opposition is probably tougher this year and SJU is not slowing the pace down so this improvement is strictly due to the addition of Clark and Simon and the hard work of players and staff.
To reduce the number by some twenty per cent is noteworthy.
 
My only thought so far is that this team has to thump PC at CA next week and start the real season with a good win.
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FWIW Kenpom gives StJohn’s a 69% chance of defeating Providence College on Thursday December 28th with a score of 73 to 68..... let’s hope.
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I'll take that prediction and score happily. I wonder if that's with or without LoVett? I think we can beat them in a packed house in CA without Marcus. Might be tough, but hopefully we can prevail. And thinking we can beat DePaul w/o Marcus in CA also. I'm just praying he returns primed and healthy for the G*Town game in MSG on 1/9/18.
 
My only thought so far is that this team has to thump PC at CA next week and start the real season with a good win.
Click to expand...

FWIW Kenpom gives StJohn’s a 69% chance of defeating Providence College on Thursday December 28th with a score of 73 to 68..... let’s hope.
Click to expand...

This could be the most important game this season. A loss would put SJU in a hole at vulnerable point in their season.

PC is picked 3rd in the BE pre-season poll. Based on the pre-season games, they are not living up to this ranking. They are lucky to have pulled out a couple of their wins on their home court. Houston opened a 20 point lead on them. They came back to cut it to eight, but looked hesitant with the ball and Houston had no trouble stopping them.

Johnnies need to come out strong and keep them in their rut. A win here avoids a poor start to BE season. A convincing win puts PC into a tailspin.
 
I believe the best defensive team I ever saw was the Ewing led Hoyas. In many games, there would be a close first half, but the Hoyas would come out in a press that literally obliterated the opposition. Ewing was the best college defender I'd ever seen, and he made guys like Joe Klein (Arkansas, NBA), and Sam Bowie (Kentucky, NBA) look like grade schoolers.

This team (so far) has played the best straight up man I've seen an SJU team play in forever. Of course that doesn't mean they will lock up BE caliber teams, but it's really encouraging to see how well this team has played D so far.
 
Walton was a much more polished player overall, but in no way, shape, or form was the defensive monster that Ewing was. As a basketball player, Walton was supremely better, and could shoot and pass as a collegian - was a great passer from the high post. Ewing was a fearsome intimidator. I remember the first time we played Ewing, they came out in a zone and his massive wingspan seemed wider than the lane. It reminded me of one of those monsters that would battle Godzilla in the Japanese dubbed movies.
 
people forget, Wennington played ok vs Ewing back in the day. Not like he stopped him but kept him honest especially offensively. Bill played in the league for a while too as 2nd center with the bulls too. Good player.
 
Career College Stats

Walton Ewing

Points 20.3 15.3
Rebounds 15.7 9.2
Assists 5.5 .9
Blocks 3.4

I guess they didn't keep stats on blocks when Walton played, but Ewings block stats seem to be about what Tariq Owens gets for us the past two years. My guess is that Walton's block stats would have far surpassed Ewing's.
 
There was a throwback element to Walton's game, maybe influenced by him being a lefty. So many of his offensive moves were based on his footwork and pivoting ability it reminded me of watching Russell and Johnny Kerr.
 
Career College Stats

Walton Ewing

Points 20.3 15.3
Rebounds 15.7 9.2
Assists 5.5 .9
Blocks 3.4

I guess they didn't keep stats on blocks when Walton played, but Ewings block stats seem to be about what Tariq Owens gets for us the past two years. My guess is that Walton's block stats would have far surpassed Ewing's.
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I don't think you can prove your case with stats when you compare different eras and west coast vs. east coast basketball. IF you do that that Chamberlain is hands down over Russell, and that's in the very same era.
 
There was a throwback element to Walton's game, maybe influenced by him being a lefty. So many of his offensive moves were based on his footwork and pivoting ability it reminded me of watching Russell and Johnny Kerr.
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Don't know what hand Walton wrote with but as for playing basketball he was not a lefty.
 
Chamberlain was the better offensive player and Russell the better defensive player. I will always be a Russell fan as he was a better team oriented player. Walton was better the Ewing in every aspect of the game, plus a better team player. Actually I will go out on a limb and state that Walton was the best two way center (offense and defense) to ever play the college game. Ewing was not nearly as intimidating as you make him out to be. Those Georgetown teams had power forwards who were more physical than Ewing, and rebounded better than Ewing.
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Chamberlain was the better offensive player and Russell the better defensive player. I will always be a Russell fan as he was a better team oriented player. Walton was better the Ewing in every aspect of the game, plus a better team player. Actually I will go out on a limb and state that Walton was the best two way center (offense and defense) to ever play the college game. Ewing was not nearly as intimidating as you make him out to be. Those Georgetown teams had power forwards who were more physical than Ewing, and rebounded better than Ewing.
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Agree that when Walton was at his best -- sadly because of injuries that was only for a couple of years, including an NBA title -- he was the complete package. He did it all and did it while making his teammates better. Wilt, however, was without question the greatest physical presence the NBA has ever seen ... and probably ever will see.
 
Chamberlain was the better offensive player and Russell the better defensive player. I will always be a Russell fan as he was a better team oriented player. Walton was better the Ewing in every aspect of the game, plus a better team player. Actually I will go out on a limb and state that Walton was the best two way center (offense and defense) to ever play the college game. Ewing was not nearly as intimidating as you make him out to be. Those Georgetown teams had power forwards who were more physical than Ewing, and rebounded better than Ewing.
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Russell could more afford to be team oriented as he had a deep team loaded with talent. But you are right as personality wise he was more of a team oriented person than Wilt who probably wasn't thinking about the team when he was banging those 20,000 broads.
 
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