UNC- ASH

[Jack Williams]

I was at the game on Friday and I understand people's bad reaction to it (it was ugly), but I think some people might be a bit harsh here.

The sky is not falling, bad losses do happen. For example: Wednesday Canisius beat Temple by ten points. I am sure some fans of Temple were pretty upset with a double digit loss to a team from the MAAC (who also had lost to Stonybrook earlier this year). However just three days later that same Temple team ended #3 ranked Syracuse's undefeated season by beating them in the Garden. Which is the real Temple team, the one that lost on Wednesday to Canisius or the one on Saturday that beat Syracuse?

We played really well to build our 17 point lead against UNC-Asheville. With Branch finally on board It was the first time we were able to use our full roster of ten scholarship players to press full court. It was effective and we looked sharp and energized. We were dominant! It made my mind drift to conference byes and long NCAA tournament run fantasies

During the second half 23-4 run by Asheville we looked listless, with no flow on offense and no intensity on defense. The rotating of our ten players that brought energy to the floor in the first half stopped and several guys were glued to the bench down the stretch. The coaches stopped subbing and pressing full court. The players who were on the court were lacking intensity until Asheville was up by seven. I am not sure why the coaches changed tactics or why the guys on the court were not as intense as they needed to be, but this is a relatively young group who will have their growing pains.

Like Temple's uneven week I believe the truth about where we are right now is in between the two levels of performance we saw in the Asheville game. That being said the talent we have here gives me reason to believe we are going to improve, find more consistency and be a winning team in conference play. Give it a chance it is early yet.

A few years ago (during Norm's last year) some were saying that Dwight Hardy, DJ Kennedy, Justin Brownlee, Paris Horne and Justin Burrell were not talented enough to be D1 players. Yet under Lavin we found out that there was more talent there than anyone thought. It just needed to be molded properly and given time to grow.

Although I liked that team, I believe our current group has far more upside than that group did. It will happen for this group too. We just need to be patient (easier said than done) and trust the process.

Temple just beat #3 Cuse. Did our team do that? No. End of discussion...bad comparison. Yes every team has bad losses, but we still haven't beat any national studs. This would hurt a lot less if we beat #16 Baylor or Murray State. We did not. When you mix losing to the teams that might be better with losing to teams that are supposed to be cupcakes, it's a recipe for the Big East basement. Our best win is Detroit right now. We are a team with tons and tons of the best recruits in the country...we need to do better and fast. How long do we have to wait for this team to be better than just good once every decade? This is why I said no way we win 20 games at the beginning of the season...SJ has been as bad as the Mets in the past decade. There is no excuse to make at this point...we are just a bad team. Notice most of the other Big East teams don't have this problem...they mostly beat who they should and beat other good teams. Other teams find ways to score efficiently...we don't. All we do is stand 5 ft beyond the 3 pt arc, weave it around with no one open, and when there's 7 seconds left we panic, play iso and shoot a bad shot that clunks off the rim. I'm sick of this crap. And stop saying it's still early...we are basically at the mid point of the season. It's put up or shut up time. Our season is derailed unless we can pull off a few big upsets and get back in the conversation i.e. L'Ville, G'Town, Cincy, etc. You just know either Seton Hall, DePaul, or Providence will beat us, so it makes it all the more important to beat some big guys like we couldn't do last year until the end.

All he is saying is we can turn this around, as Temple did. This Asheville loss has been our only bad loss of non conference play, so everyone just calm down, and lets see how we do in conference play.

 

[LINY89]

I was at the game on Friday and I understand people's bad reaction to it (it was ugly), but I think some people might be a bit harsh here.

The sky is not falling, bad losses do happen. For example: Wednesday Canisius beat Temple by ten points. I am sure some fans of Temple were pretty upset with a double digit loss to a team from the MAAC (who also had lost to Stonybrook earlier this year). However just three days later that same Temple team ended #3 ranked Syracuse's undefeated season by beating them in the Garden. Which is the real Temple team, the one that lost on Wednesday to Canisius or the one on Saturday that beat Syracuse?

We played really well to build our 17 point lead against UNC-Asheville. With Branch finally on board It was the first time we were able to use our full roster of ten scholarship players to press full court. It was effective and we looked sharp and energized. We were dominant! It made my mind drift to conference byes and long NCAA tournament run fantasies

During the second half 23-4 run by Asheville we looked listless, with no flow on offense and no intensity on defense. The rotating of our ten players that brought energy to the floor in the first half stopped and several guys were glued to the bench down the stretch. The coaches stopped subbing and pressing full court. The players who were on the court were lacking intensity until Asheville was up by seven. I am not sure why the coaches changed tactics or why the guys on the court were not as intense as they needed to be, but this is a relatively young group who will have their growing pains.

Like Temple's uneven week I believe the truth about where we are right now is in between the two levels of performance we saw in the Asheville game. That being said the talent we have here gives me reason to believe we are going to improve, find more consistency and be a winning team in conference play. Give it a chance it is early yet.

A few years ago (during Norm's last year) some were saying that Dwight Hardy, DJ Kennedy, Justin Brownlee, Paris Horne and Justin Burrell were not talented enough to be D1 players. Yet under Lavin we found out that there was more talent there than anyone thought. It just needed to be molded properly and given time to grow.

Although I liked that team, I believe our current group has far more upside than that group did. It will happen for this group too. We just need to be patient (easier said than done) and trust the process.

Temple just beat #3 Cuse. Did our team do that? No. End of discussion...bad comparison. Yes every team has bad losses, but we still haven't beat any national studs. This would hurt a lot less if we beat #16 Baylor or Murray State. We did not. When you mix losing to the teams that might be better with losing to teams that are supposed to be cupcakes, it's a recipe for the Big East basement. Our best win is Detroit right now. We are a team with tons and tons of the best recruits in the country...we need to do better and fast. How long do we have to wait for this team to be better than just good once every decade? This is why I said no way we win 20 games at the beginning of the season...SJ has been as bad as the Mets in the past decade. There is no excuse to make at this point...we are just a bad team. Notice most of the other Big East teams don't have this problem...they mostly beat who they should and beat other good teams. Other teams find ways to score efficiently...we don't. All we do is stand 5 ft beyond the 3 pt arc, weave it around with no one open, and when there's 7 seconds left we panic, play iso and shoot a bad shot that clunks off the rim. I'm sick of this crap. And stop saying it's still early...we are basically at the mid point of the season. It's put up or shut up time. Our season is derailed unless we can pull off a few big upsets and get back in the conversation i.e. L'Ville, G'Town, Cincy, etc. You just know either Seton Hall, DePaul, or Providence will beat us, so it makes it all the more important to beat some big guys like we couldn't do last year until the end.

All he is saying is we can turn this around, as Temple did. This Asheville loss has been our only bad loss of non conference play, so everyone just calm down, and lets see how we do in conference play.

SF blowing us out of the water was not a bad loss? We also dominated Murray State and kept their POY candidate in check and somehow lost. Every game against a mid major is like watching Armando Benitez closing for the Mets...it's always an adventure and we never get those 3 straight outs to close out a game...we always let them back in it. There is only ONE game we clearly looked like the better team and that was vs. SC. FGCU, NJIT, HC, Fordham, UNC Asheville, etc. are NOT supposed to be adventures. Every single one of those games the cupcakes played with us as if we belonged in their conferences. That's very scary. As someone else pointed out, our 8-4 record is very misleading. We can easily have a 6-6 or even 4-8 record right now the way we let these cupcakes stick around. People wonder why we get no national respect...they wonder why no one goes to games...they wonder why the media doesn't care about us and sees us as basement dwellers...they wonder why younger fans don't spend their money on this team. Well, watch what we do. You won't see Cuse, L'Ville, G'Town, UConn, ND, Cincy, or even Nova or Providence getting blasted by SF and losing to Asheville on a 23-4 run. Right now the only team we are just as good as if not better than is DePaul in the Big East. Every game that goes by I wonder if this team can ever turn it around and ever become a real factor. Thank god we didn't go to the ACC...we can't even beat Asheville and SF imagine Duke, UNC, Cuse, Pitt in conference play? Losses don't get much more embarrassing than this and now the recruits will think to themselves "Well, looks like SJ is typical SJ again...".

 

[doodyny33]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

 

[LINY89]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Forget the record or seeing individual improvement...I just want to see us beat an actual good team first. Also, the Dunlap talk is ridiculous. When he was here this team won 13 games. We still had almost no offense. Why do people assume we are missing him? Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts? I can find reasons for tons of teams to get excited for but not us. We keep saying "just wait for...." and we wait and wait, and nothing happens. If this team wants respect and fans in the seats, it's time for them to give a reason. Go out and beat L'Ville or G'Town. Go out and beat Cincy. New York sports are completely cursed save for Giants, Yankees, and Rangers. It's amazing how so many NY teams fail expectations so often. The Isles, Jets, Mets, Knicks, and SJ have disappointed 95% of the time and given hope 5% of the time. SJ winning 1 tourney game in what 12 years? If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

 

[redmannorth]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts?

If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

Joe3 you are nuts, plain and simple.

My biggest problem this season by far is that instead of our coach building on the 13 wins of last season with the 5 proven returning players he had and adding JS in Moe's place he completely started over which makes little sense if any to me. Did you ever stop to think for a minute that Phil, Amir and Dom instead of being comfortable in their roles are all no longer comfortable? They are all good players who have flaws in their games. If they feel their minutes are threatened, and in each case by inferior talent, perhaps they just cant produce to the level they should. You calling them busts 12 games into their sophomore season when each has had some great games this season is just nuts on your part or demonstrates a complete lack of maturity on your part.
The world isn't black or white and neither is our team. All 3 players could play better but perhaps they aren't being used properly. Time will tell but try to support your team.
I was around in the early 80s and I can tell you this, the style of play was boring, many teams hung with us who should not have, we almost without fail beat the teams we were supposed to, we almost without fail lost to the teams we were supposed to loose to, and our recruiting left a ton to be desired of.
I am optimistic because Coach Lavin and staff have raised our recruiting to levels never before known at SJU. The talent is there, now they have to figure out how to improve the product.

 

[LINY89]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts?

If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

Joe3 you are nuts, plain and simple.

My biggest problem this season by far is that instead of our coach building on the 13 wins of last season with the 5 proven returning players he had and adding JS in Moe's place he completely started over which makes little sense if any to me. Did you ever stop to think for a minute that Phil, Amir and Dom instead of being comfortable in their roles are all no longer comfortable? They are all good players who have flaws in their games. If they feel their minutes are threatened, and in each case by inferior talent, perhaps they just cant produce to the level they should. You calling them busts 12 games into their sophomore season when each has had some great games this season is just nuts on your part or demonstrates a complete lack of maturity on your part.
The world isn't black or white and neither is our team. All 3 players could play better but perhaps they aren't being used properly. Time will tell but try to support your team.
I was around in the early 80s and I can tell you this, the style of play was boring, many teams hung with us who should not have, we almost without fail beat the teams we were supposed to, we almost without fail lost to the teams we were supposed to loose to, and our recruiting left a ton to be desired of.
I am optimistic because Coach Lavin and staff have raised our recruiting to levels never before known at SJU. The talent is there, now they have to figure out how to improve the product.

Just use this as a barometer: St. John's beat Asheville 105-50 last time they met in 1998. We have more talent on this team and lost by 7. Something is seriously wrong.

 

[STJ11Redmen]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts?

If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

Joe3 you are nuts, plain and simple.

My biggest problem this season by far is that instead of our coach building on the 13 wins of last season with the 5 proven returning players he had and adding JS in Moe's place he completely started over which makes little sense if any to me. Did you ever stop to think for a minute that Phil, Amir and Dom instead of being comfortable in their roles are all no longer comfortable? They are all good players who have flaws in their games. If they feel their minutes are threatened, and in each case by inferior talent, perhaps they just cant produce to the level they should. You calling them busts 12 games into their sophomore season when each has had some great games this season is just nuts on your part or demonstrates a complete lack of maturity on your part.
The world isn't black or white and neither is our team. All 3 players could play better but perhaps they aren't being used properly. Time will tell but try to support your team.
I was around in the early 80s and I can tell you this, the style of play was boring, many teams hung with us who should not have, we almost without fail beat the teams we were supposed to, we almost without fail lost to the teams we were supposed to loose to, and our recruiting left a ton to be desired of.
I am optimistic because Coach Lavin and staff have raised our recruiting to levels never before known at SJU. The talent is there, now they have to figure out how to improve the product.

Just use this as a barometer: St. John's beat Asheville 105-50 last time they met in 1998. We have more talent on this team and lost by 7. Something is seriously wrong.

What are you talking about? St. John's made the Elite 8 that year.

 

[LINY89]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts?

If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

Joe3 you are nuts, plain and simple.

My biggest problem this season by far is that instead of our coach building on the 13 wins of last season with the 5 proven returning players he had and adding JS in Moe's place he completely started over which makes little sense if any to me. Did you ever stop to think for a minute that Phil, Amir and Dom instead of being comfortable in their roles are all no longer comfortable? They are all good players who have flaws in their games. If they feel their minutes are threatened, and in each case by inferior talent, perhaps they just cant produce to the level they should. You calling them busts 12 games into their sophomore season when each has had some great games this season is just nuts on your part or demonstrates a complete lack of maturity on your part.
The world isn't black or white and neither is our team. All 3 players could play better but perhaps they aren't being used properly. Time will tell but try to support your team.
I was around in the early 80s and I can tell you this, the style of play was boring, many teams hung with us who should not have, we almost without fail beat the teams we were supposed to, we almost without fail lost to the teams we were supposed to loose to, and our recruiting left a ton to be desired of.
I am optimistic because Coach Lavin and staff have raised our recruiting to levels never before known at SJU. The talent is there, now they have to figure out how to improve the product.

Just use this as a barometer: St. John's beat Asheville 105-50 last time they met in 1998. We have more talent on this team and lost by 7. Something is seriously wrong.

What are you talking about? St. John's made the Elite 8 that year.

Thought that was 99 my bad...anyway I was in 4th grade when they made the Elite 8 this is what I'm talking about though...the last time we were a great team I can't even remember. My point remains though...we cannot dominate bad teams. Take any DIII team right now and I'm not even confident going into those matchups. From the exhibitions vs. DII and DIII teams to the cupcake part of our schedule with SF, Asheville, NJIT, Holy Cross, Fordham, etc. we have not looked like the much better team save for the SC game. I remember at Marist if we played ANY major conference team I was extremely worried we would get blown out and we usually did. Now as a SJ fan, I'm scared of every opponent big and small, name brand or not. I can only hope that 1 day SJ will handle mid majors like the superior team that they are. Of course every once in a while a cupcake will give a major team a scare, but they usually go down by 15-20. This season is on the brink.

 

[ras]

. What good is talent if we cant win. This was supposed to be the year we would make some noise. We look good on paper, the problem is we look bad on the court. We struggled in to many games this year ,barely winning against cupcakes we should have blownout. Every game is the same, we cant rebound,play D and we use up the shot clock and throw up a desperation shot as time runs out, and this is against mediocre competition. I am not a pessimist, I am a realist, I was expecting more. I also think Lavin using Branch for so few minutes,when we needed him more and it was also an opportunity for him to gain exp before the BE. He should have played 30 min that game, and redshirting Gift w Sanchezs improbability of qualifying were bad decisions.

 

[STJ11Redmen]

There is more than enough talent on this team to be very good. GG or Sanchez would help, yes, but even so, this could be a very good team. They need to gel, and the second year kids need to start playing like it. Only Harrison seems to be doing better (or as well) as last year. Sampson is great. But, if Pointer, Greene and Garrett could show some development as was reasonable to expect, we would be very competitive.

I think this is the cause of people's frustration. We all expected Sampson, Obekpa, Balamou, etc. to play like freshmen in the beginning. But we did think Pointer, Garrett, and Greene would step up after logging so many minutes last year. And up to this point, we really haven't seen any improvement from any of them. In fact, I could argue those players have regressed on the defensive end.

The sky is not falling, but at this time the excitement going into this season has been decimated. I'm hoping our coaching staff works these players hard in practice so they come out with a chip on their shoulder against Villanova and Cincinnati. Otherwise, I think there's going to be a lot of fans who just write this team off again. Bad losses like UNC Asheville can be overcome. So if these kids really think they are so good, go out and string a full 40 minute game together. Up until now, I haven't seen it yet.

Why can't we just admit Garrett, Pointer, Greene are busts?

If you weren't alive in the mid 80's to see this team, there is zero reason to be excited anymore.

Joe3 you are nuts, plain and simple.

My biggest problem this season by far is that instead of our coach building on the 13 wins of last season with the 5 proven returning players he had and adding JS in Moe's place he completely started over which makes little sense if any to me. Did you ever stop to think for a minute that Phil, Amir and Dom instead of being comfortable in their roles are all no longer comfortable? They are all good players who have flaws in their games. If they feel their minutes are threatened, and in each case by inferior talent, perhaps they just cant produce to the level they should. You calling them busts 12 games into their sophomore season when each has had some great games this season is just nuts on your part or demonstrates a complete lack of maturity on your part.
The world isn't black or white and neither is our team. All 3 players could play better but perhaps they aren't being used properly. Time will tell but try to support your team.
I was around in the early 80s and I can tell you this, the style of play was boring, many teams hung with us who should not have, we almost without fail beat the teams we were supposed to, we almost without fail lost to the teams we were supposed to loose to, and our recruiting left a ton to be desired of.
I am optimistic because Coach Lavin and staff have raised our recruiting to levels never before known at SJU. The talent is there, now they have to figure out how to improve the product.

Just use this as a barometer: St. John's beat Asheville 105-50 last time they met in 1998. We have more talent on this team and lost by 7. Something is seriously wrong.

What are you talking about? St. John's made the Elite 8 that year.

Thought that was 99 my bad...anyway I was in 4th grade when they made the Elite 8 this is what I'm talking about though...the last time we were a great team I can't even remember. My point remains though...we cannot dominate bad teams. Take any DIII team right now and I'm not even confident going into those matchups. From the exhibitions vs. DII and DIII teams to the cupcake part of our schedule with SF, Asheville, NJIT, Holy Cross, Fordham, etc. we have not looked like the much better team save for the SC game. I remember at Marist if we played ANY major conference team I was extremely worried we would get blown out and we usually did. Now as a SJ fan, I'm scared of every opponent big and small, name brand or not. I can only hope that 1 day SJ will handle mid majors like the superior team that they are. Of course every once in a while a cupcake will give a major team a scare, but they usually go down by 15-20. This season is on the brink.

They did make it in 99 but they played Asheville in November of 98.

 

[otis]

Like I said a few pages back, it looks like the St.John's players are more interested in making an individual play that will qualify for the highlight film on ESPN than playing a cohesive team offense and hard nose team defense.

Based upon results thus far this season, Kenpom predictis St.John's finishing with losing records of 14 & 16 overall and just 6 & 12 in conference. Let's hope Kenpom's predictions do not prove correct.

 

[ras]

It seems like this years teams results are barely better than last years w 6 players and FR starters. We have more depth and exp. Ill say one thing about last years team ,they played their tails off. This years team should look back a year.

 

[Moose]

Like I said a few pages back, it looks like the St.John's players are more interested in making an individual play that will qualify for the highlight film on ESPN than playing a cohesive team offense and hard nose team defense.

Based upon results thus far this season, Kenpom predictis St.John's finishing with losing records of 14 & 16 overall and just 6 & 12 in conference. Let's hope Kenpom's predictions do not prove correct.

Is Ken Pom ever right? Computers don't win and lose ballgames.

 

[STJClass_2013]

Like I said a few pages back, it looks like the St.John's players are more interested in making an individual play that will qualify for the highlight film on ESPN than playing a cohesive team offense and hard nose team defense.

Based upon results thus far this season, Kenpom predictis St.John's finishing with losing records of 14 & 16 overall and just 6 & 12 in conference. Let's hope Kenpom's predictions do not prove correct.

Is Ken Pom ever right? Computers don't win and lose ballgames.

I agree we should just enjoy the ride. And the world didn't end of Friday so there will be more basketball to come. And I see a bright future.

 

[Class of 72]

Like I said a few pages back, it looks like the St.John's players are more interested in making an individual play that will qualify for the highlight film on ESPN than playing a cohesive team offense and hard nose team defense.

Based upon results thus far this season, Kenpom predictis St.John's finishing with losing records of 14 & 16 overall and just 6 & 12 in conference. Let's hope Kenpom's predictions do not prove correct.

Is Ken Pom ever right? Computers don't win and lose ballgames.

I agree we should just enjoy the ride. And the world didn't end of Friday so there will be more basketball to come. And I see a bright future.

The Mayan legend had nothing to do with the world coming to an end. It was about the beginning of a new life. That is why hopefully we will see a re-birth of this team in the new year. That God will deliver us a Gift and an olive Branch to start Big East play.
Heck, if Cal, with the top recruiting class in the country and 26,000 fans packed into their arena can be unranked, anything is possible! LOL!
Merry Christmas and to all a good night.

 

[LINY89]

Like I said a few pages back, it looks like the St.John's players are more interested in making an individual play that will qualify for the highlight film on ESPN than playing a cohesive team offense and hard nose team defense.

Based upon results thus far this season, Kenpom predictis St.John's finishing with losing records of 14 & 16 overall and just 6 & 12 in conference. Let's hope Kenpom's predictions do not prove correct.

Is Ken Pom ever right? Computers don't win and lose ballgames.

I agree we should just enjoy the ride. And the world didn't end of Friday so there will be more basketball to come. And I see a bright future.

Would love to see the same bright future as you. What am I missing? We are wasting Harrison and Sampson's great years by sucking everywhere else. It's very possible that Harrison is gone after this year and almost certainly after his 3rd year. Time is running out to build around him and win. Pretty soon we will have to start from scratch while doing nothing as a team full of top 100 studs. There is something seriously wrong if you lose to some cupcakes and barely hang on vs. others with so many top players. We are basically a bottom level Big East team right now. Why are you so hopeful?

 

[MJDinkins]

Would love to see the same bright future as you. What am I missing? We are wasting Harrison and Sampson's great years by sucking everywhere else. It's very possible that Harrison is gone after this year and almost certainly after his 3rd year. Time is running out to build around him and win. Pretty soon we will have to start from scratch while doing nothing as a team full of top 100 studs. There is something seriously wrong if you lose to some cupcakes and barely hang on vs. others with so many top players. We are basically a bottom level Big East team right now. Why are you so hopeful?

He's entitled to be hopeful, as you're entitled to occasionally derail threads, and be an annoyance.

Listen! Things can change for the better or worse. There is a chance we could crap the bed the remainder of the season or the light comes on, and this team gets it going. I've been watching sports for many years and have seen teams start off like firestarters and then flame out. I've seen teams start off like they couldn't beat a team full 8 year old kids, but then suddenly things begin to click for some reason or another.

If we end up being below .500 in conference play, then I'll be front and center with you (and, a few others) when it comes to taking shots at the team. Otherwise, let's get behind this bunch and see what's in store during the first month of the conference season.

 

[LINY89]

Would love to see the same bright future as you. What am I missing? We are wasting Harrison and Sampson's great years by sucking everywhere else. It's very possible that Harrison is gone after this year and almost certainly after his 3rd year. Time is running out to build around him and win. Pretty soon we will have to start from scratch while doing nothing as a team full of top 100 studs. There is something seriously wrong if you lose to some cupcakes and barely hang on vs. others with so many top players. We are basically a bottom level Big East team right now. Why are you so hopeful?

He's entitled to be hopeful, as you're entitled to occasionally derail threads, and be an annoyance.

Listen! Things can change for the better or worse. There is a chance we could crap the bed the remainder of the season or the light comes on, and this team gets it going. I've been watching sports for many years and have seen teams start off like firestarters and then flame out. I've seen teams start off like they couldn't beat a team full 8 year old kids, but then suddenly things begin to click for some reason or another.

If we end up being below .500 in conference play, then I'll be front and center with you (and, a few others) when it comes to taking shots at the team. Otherwise, let's get behind this bunch and see what's in store during the first month of the conference season.

You honestly think we should go .500 in conference play? Not even a champion UConn team could do that a few years back, but we can as a team who got blown out by SF and just lost to Asheville?

 

[MJDinkins]

Would love to see the same bright future as you. What am I missing? We are wasting Harrison and Sampson's great years by sucking everywhere else. It's very possible that Harrison is gone after this year and almost certainly after his 3rd year. Time is running out to build around him and win. Pretty soon we will have to start from scratch while doing nothing as a team full of top 100 studs. There is something seriously wrong if you lose to some cupcakes and barely hang on vs. others with so many top players. We are basically a bottom level Big East team right now. Why are you so hopeful?

He's entitled to be hopeful, as you're entitled to occasionally derail threads, and be an annoyance.

Listen! Things can change for the better or worse. There is a chance we could crap the bed the remainder of the season or the light comes on, and this team gets it going. I've been watching sports for many years and have seen teams start off like firestarters and then flame out. I've seen teams start off like they couldn't beat a team full 8 year old kids, but then suddenly things begin to click for some reason or another.

If we end up being below .500 in conference play, then I'll be front and center with you (and, a few others) when it comes to taking shots at the team. Otherwise, let's get behind this bunch and see what's in store during the first month of the conference season.

You honestly think we should go .500 in conference play? Not even a champion UConn team could do that a few years back, but we can as a team who got blown out by SF and just lost to Asheville?

I've said from the beginning we should be at or above .500. That was when I thought Sanchez would be aboard. Regardless, I still think we should be at or above .500 in conference play.

What does it matter what UCONN done a couple years ago? What does that have to do with the price of cheese?

I've also seen plenty of teams lay eggs in games, and they still end up having a good season. Hopefully, one day you'll see everything isn't black and white, then possibly you'll start to see more clearly.

 

[otis]

MJ

Did you ever seen Mr. Sanchez play in person?