@Tulane, Fri. Dec. 2, 8pm, ESPNEWS/970AM

Excellent ball movement and team BB. Balanced scoring. The negative again is the play of our big men. Almost non existent inside game. I think we are at our best playing small. I like the line up of Ponds,Lovett,BashMussini and a big. 4 3pt threats.Id like to see Bash develop his inside game and spend time at the 4. Our only real inside threat. Bash,Mussini,Ponds and Lovett played great. Enjoyable game and much needed W. Not our best player today but Ellison looked better. For someone who almost beat Mullin in a shooting contest,RF looks like the antithesis in games.But he did rebound well.
 
Obviously things changed for our team when I moved down with Redstormrising and sat with JerseyshoreJohnny behind the team. RSR was sitting 2nd row in front of me then me then JSJ behind ,me. I had to get more camera time than Matt Lauer.

Great game and as always awesome to sit with the best SJU supporter on this board JSJ.

Observations

#1 they serve beer at the arena even though I drank water

#2 this was the 1st time I sat directly behind our bench with Mullin as coach. Mullin was super active on the sidelines ( yes he was arguing with the refs a lot )but he was very active standing and yelling to the players. Now on to the huddles. Mullin was very active in most of the huddles and let me tell you especially after today what drove me crazy last year ( not just the scorers table ) but today was a sign that reinforces what I believe. St Jean wasn't as active in most of the huddles even though he was there and Mullin did talk a lot even though St Jean might have held the clipboard

BUT and I paid ALOT of attention to this tonight since we were sitting so close but when in the huddles during timeouts when Mullin spoke he had the kids UNDIVIDED ATTENTION. Their eyes were locked on him. I was completely paying attention to this the entire time. They were listening to every word of whatever he said. When St Jean spoke I won't mention who but some eyes started to wander and not pay attention. Not all but a couple to a few.

This was my problem with Mullin. He needs to control the huddle like tonight. He is without a doubt the leader of the team and the players take their cue from Mullin. When he is invested they pay attention. It was really good to see and I hope he continues.

Also for people knocking Richmond. He was very active on the sidelines. Stood up a coulple of times when he saw stuff happening but as Mullin was sitting between him and St Jean many times Richmond was reaching behind Mullin and talking to St Jean about I assume things Richmond was seeing on the court. Also 3 times he pulled players over ( Mussini,Bashir and I forget the 3rd ) and sat them in Mullins seat while Mullin was standing and was talking to them about either what they did or things that were happening on the court because he was pointing and gesturing to things on the court

Also these kids are good kids and they were all talking to each other on the bench and cheering the other kids on

Also when Mullin pulled Lovett out at the end Lovett on his own came over to Mullin and hugged him.

Mullin hasat even close to lost the team but without a doubt the team is looking at him as their leader and I hope Mullin embraces that during games because I swear when he spoke every kid was hanging on his words in the huddles not the same way with others

All in all a great game and always great to hang out at games with redstromrising and JSJ and also now redmenguy

A fun trip
 
And special shout at to Monte and ccnobz because of those 2 I doubled down on the game so tomorrow is going to be a pigout day for me with Nawlins food
 
Nice win, nothing more, nothing less at this stage but good to see the fans can be just as negative after a win as after a loss. Now if the team can learn to be nearly as consistent..................
 
Thank you mjmaherjr, , for your observations. Apparently Chris stated that he does not read these boards is not true after your observation of St. Jean being less active in the huddles.
 
Thank you mj maherjr for your observations. Apparently Chris is reading these boards from your comments regarding St . Jean taking a less active roll in the huddles and Chris more in charge.
 
Apparently Chris is reading these boards from your comments regarding St . Jean taking a less active roll in the huddles and Chris more in charge.
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Let's hope Coach Mullin does not rely upon the posters on Redmen.com for coaching tips.
 
Good win, we certainly needed one like that.

I think the most important takeaway is that we played much differently. Many posters have already commented on the great ball movement and active defense. These are the same components that Mullin pledged to target after the Delaware State game. It does give me confidence when I see evidence that a coach is aware of deficiencies and can successfully address them.

Now, I completely realize that this young team may revert back to poor habits as soon as they are challenged by a high caliber pressure defense. But, I am more patient when I know the coach can diagnose and facilitate adjustment.

#TrustTheProcess
 
streaky players = streaky team
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Agree and think we will experience more of it. However, the ball movement that we saw last night can help offset that as we have enough streaky shooters to ensure that 1 or 2 can contribute on any given night - as long as we are continuing to probe for a good shot (and not the 1st one).

I know we have to take this game with a grain of salt as Tulane is not a good team (and neither are we). The silver lining is that they were obviously made aware of their shortcomings re: ball movement and defensive energy. The effort showed. Whether it will remain or be good enough down the road remains to be seen, But, it's a start.
 
Good win, we certainly needed one like that.

I think the most important takeaway is that we played much differently. Many posters have already commented on the great ball movement and active defense. These are the same components that Mullin pledged to target after the Delaware State game. It does give me confidence when I see evidence that a coach is aware of deficiencies and can successfully address them.

Now, I completely realize that this young team may revert back to poor habits as soon as they are challenged by a high caliber pressure defense. But, I am more patient when I know the coach can diagnose and facilitate adjustment.

#TrustTheProcess
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The ball movement like you mentioned was fantastic last night and the passes were really crisp most of the time
 
Good win, we certainly needed one like that.

I think the most important takeaway is that we played much differently. Many posters have already commented on the great ball movement and active defense. These are the same components that Mullin pledged to target after the Delaware State game. It does give me confidence when I see evidence that a coach is aware of deficiencies and can successfully address them.

Now, I completely realize that this young team may revert back to poor habits as soon as they are challenged by a high caliber pressure defense. But, I am more patient when I know the coach can diagnose and facilitate adjustment.

#TrustTheProcess
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no matter how good or bad a team is we should at least have ball movement like last night. If we don't hit the shots then whatever happens happens but the ball movement is key and last night it was fantastic and the passes crisp that were getting our guys really good looks in the basket. Especially the 2 threes by Ponds right in front of us in the corner
 
Tulane looked really young and inexperienced to me.
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they might have been drinking from the beer txt the concession stand sells. They definitely had to be after the game
 
Good and desperately needed win. My main beef is WTF are our big men doing hoisting up 3 pointers all game, leaving the guards to do the offensive rebounding? That will kill us in Big East play.
 
Talking about making the "Extra" pass I thought I was watching the vintage Red Holzman Knick teams where if you didn't find the open man you sat.

Far cry from the current Knicks, the Spurs closest thing to those Holzman teams, and now the Tulane-game JOHNNIES!

Chris, if you are reading this, find Red Holzman's playbook and take a bunch of pages from it. Get these kids playing team defense, see the man-see the ball. Always find your teammate and hit the open man and we will be a much better team. It wouldn't hurt if we had the talent of those teams, and the heart and hustle of Dave DeB!
 
The ball movement is a very good sign.
Even on nights when we don't shoot this well, moving the ball well can keep us in the game.

Plus, if the bigs ever learn to catch and finish, the ball movement will give us some easy scores.


Defense, especially transition D, is still very much a concern. I liked that we took a few charges though. That's a step in the right direction.
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A very good win against a team with a front line as offensively challenged as ours. Yakwe has been a big disappointment thus far playing less aggressive and dragging his feet. A future David Russell or Willie Glass will be a big stretch but unless he learns some offensive moves he may be relegated to a backup roll by next season.
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Comparisons to DR or WG were grossly unfair to the kid to begin with. The kid was and is extremely raw. Would have expected some improvement this year, but certainly not to the level some on here were expecting. He's a freak athlete with tweener size and zero offensive skills. He will likely never be a 3, and is going to have to develop some really good skills to even contribute as a 4. I would say that his lack of improvement is somewhat disappointing, but not overwhelming surprising.
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Monte - all fair points about Yakwe
But, to me, he looked better on offense last year than this year
Not improving is one thing - regressing is another
That's on him and the coaching staff
Lack of player development can only hurt future recruiting
The staff needs to do a better job with Yakwe and Sima in particular
These guys were expected to be major contributors and haven't been to date this year
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Agree that he looked better offensively last year. He had some pretty big games, but then he also had some games were he was non-existent. Posters tend to pin their hopes and expectations on the flashes of brilliance, which is certainly not unusual. Frankly I see Sima as more of a disappointment. He actually looked much better early last year than he did when he returned from his injury, and so far this year. Both kids would have been well served as back ups to veteran players. We have no such luxury unfortunately.
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I would agree. Other than improving his stroke, particularly from the FT line, Sima has not appreciably improved his low post game and, more importantly, does not go after rebounds aggressively at all. He's young and still developing. But, really needs to understand that his best path to being a steady contributor is defense and rebounding - as it will be a while longer before he develops the agility to score around the basket.
 
[i]A very good win against a team with a front line as offensively challenged as ours. Yakwe has been a big disappointment thus far playing less aggressive and dragging his feet. A future David Russell or Willie Glass will be a big stretch but unless he learns some offensive moves he may be relegated to a backup roll by next season.[/i]

David Russell he is never going to be. Willie was on great teams; scary with the ball outside of 8 feet from the basket, better comparison.
 
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