In my first post a couple of months ago, I identified myself as a life-long St. John's fan who tends to see the glass half full. The half full approach was severely tested by Saturday's DePaul debacle, but after a couple of days removal, here goes my attempt at regaining some perspective.
We have 6 solidly BE caliber players (counting Marcus) and a solid back of the rotation role player who had his best game of the year Saturday;
If that group plays together and plays smart, we can win games and be competitive in most all of our games - we have shown competitiveness in ASU, Hall & Creighton games;
Three of our top six (Owens, Clark & Simon) have exceeded pre-season expectations and all three will be back next year;
Ahmed shot more free throws than anyone on the team last year and shot 68% - his FT shooting can and should improve in the second half and Simon has shown improvement in that area over recent games as well - getting those two up to 70% from line would be huge;
Ahmed has looked better from three over last few games;
Ponds shooting percentage from three point range was .375 last year - his horrendous first half shooting is bound to improve a lot over second half.
However, in order for glass not to be on the way to empty, a few things need to change:
Players (especially Shamorie) need to play and be coached (offensively & defensively) with more discipline
Eliminate long threes early in shot clock
Rebound, rebound, rebound.
Also need Marcus healthy for any serious run.
We have 6 solidly BE caliber players (counting Marcus) and a solid back of the rotation role player who had his best game of the year Saturday;
If that group plays together and plays smart, we can win games and be competitive in most all of our games - we have shown competitiveness in ASU, Hall & Creighton games;
Three of our top six (Owens, Clark & Simon) have exceeded pre-season expectations and all three will be back next year;
Ahmed shot more free throws than anyone on the team last year and shot 68% - his FT shooting can and should improve in the second half and Simon has shown improvement in that area over recent games as well - getting those two up to 70% from line would be huge;
Ahmed has looked better from three over last few games;
Ponds shooting percentage from three point range was .375 last year - his horrendous first half shooting is bound to improve a lot over second half.
However, in order for glass not to be on the way to empty, a few things need to change:
Players (especially Shamorie) need to play and be coached (offensively & defensively) with more discipline
Eliminate long threes early in shot clock
Rebound, rebound, rebound.
Also need Marcus healthy for any serious run.
