Vanderbilt, Mon., Nov. 23, 2:30 PM, ESPN2 & 970 AM

I know this does not take away from what happened, but I'm happy for Dial, that he was able to get those 2 baskets at the end. I'm sure he busts his behind in practice, nice to see him rewarded.
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One of the best plays of the game for SJU was Holyfiled to Dial... In all seriousness we will probably need Holyfield more. He is one of the only guys with a decent handle and seems like an overall solid basketball player. You can argue that playing the walkon is detrimental to the long term but having our guys get killed for the rest of the season is also going to hurt any learning experience when you simply cannot execute. Even if we still only won 5-10 games this season, there would be a lot more future building with Lovett on the floor. I sure hope there is still some fight going on there.

Whatever we can do to get Mussini off the ball would help offensively. Didn't see enough of Dial to know if he has any handle but that is our biggest problem. It was less evident today because they didn't need to pressure us but even in the half court larger guards coming out kill us because we have neither size nor speed and then we can't shoot the three either. Mussini is creative at times but not enough of the total PG package to be consistently effective to give us some inside/out.
 
Reading every post in this thread, there seem to be 2 recurring themes.

Statement: Coach Mullin should not wear shorts because he has not paid his dues.
Answer: He paid his dues since the early 80's. Besides that, everyone wears shorts in Maui.
Statement: Durand Johnson is stinking the joint up.
Answer: When you play at this level, missing a year of competitive basketball is an enormous challenge. Durand may never be what he was, who knows. Recovering from an injury and a long layoff is a difficult task.

Overall, things are not that complicated. Coach Mullin and staff are here to bring in better players. That is the secret to success for every coach. Coaching acumen is overrated in college. You get great players, you go the NCAA and maybe win a championship. You have what we have at this point, you take your lumps. Great players, especially smart ones that understand how difficult it is to make the NBA and stay there, will want to come here to learn under 2 hall of famers.
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You shouldn't wear shorts when you have milk white skin.. Irish pro players should be allowed to wear long pants. At least they weren't his SJU short shorts.
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I gather you are therefore not a fan of Sheamus or Paige. Compared to them, Mullin looks like he fell asleep in a tanning booth.
 
I knew that Vandy was a great team going into this game and that we were far, far away from being great. Coming off an emotional comeback over Rutgers, I thought if we played well we could keep it under 15. If it was DePaul vs Vandy, I would have picked Vanderbilt by 30. But SJU is my team so somewhere in the back of my brain I have to trick myself into imagining a scenario where we get super hot from 3, shoot perfect from the line and they have a bad day. I'm okay with deluding myself for a game because that's a lot of what fandom is. I'm also a Buffalo Bills fan who has believed we'd make the playoffs every year for the past 15 playoff-less seasons. I think part of being a good fan is having enough self-awareness to realize when your disappointment comes from your own unreasonable expectations. It's okay to let folks be disappointed we lost by 37 to Vanderbilt without jumping all over them. If they're upset because they think we have the talent where we should be competing with Vandy, then I think it's okay to yell at them a little bit. Anyway, I'm excited to watch my Bills beat the Patriots by 50 tonight in Monday Night Football which I think is a totally reasonable expectation.
 
92-55 oh well

Not that anyone wants to hear it but there was one huge positive, only 8 Turnovers.
Maybe part of that was that it was a blowout, and Vandy didn't play pressure def. Still though, it was only 8 Turnovers.
I'm thinking we have a real shot at Wake tomorrow. Are they any better then RU?
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Wake's leading IU by 4 with 40 seconds left in the first half
Does that tell you anything?
One win at Maui would be great
 
I know this does not take away from what happened, but I'm happy for Dial, that he was able to get those 2 baskets at the end. I'm sure he busts his behind in practice, nice to see him rewarded.
Click to expand...

One of the best plays of the game for SJU was Holyfiled to Dial... In all seriousness we will probably need Holyfield more. He is one of the only guys with a decent handle and seems like an overall solid basketball player. You can argue that playing the walkon is detrimental to the long term but having our guys get killed for the rest of the season is also going to hurt any learning experience when you simply cannot execute. Even if we still only won 5-10 games this season, there would be a lot more future building with Lovett on the floor. I sure hope there is still some fight going on there.

Whatever we can do to get Mussini off the ball would help offensively. Didn't see enough of Dial to know if he has any handle but that is our biggest problem. It was less evident today because they didn't need to pressure us but even in the half court larger guards coming out kill us because we have neither size nor speed and then we can't shoot the three either. Mussini is creative at times but not enough of the total PG package to be consistently effective to give us some inside/out.
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Now Moose is going to go postal, and it's all your fault.

But I agree with both points. Holifield should get some minutes. He may or may not have high D1 skills, but he is a solid all-around player who understands the game and how to play. Used appropriately, he won't hurt you and I think he can make the team better.

I also agree that it would be better for Mussini and for the team if someone else was the primary ball-handling option.
 
If you want to be a competitive team, games like this are yardsticks.

Sure we can fool ourselves by starting the season with 10 low D1 squads, and win most of our games against the LIUs, St. Francis', etc. This gives our team a reason to head back into practice and know they have a lot of work to do if we want to play competitively against Nova, GTown, Butler, Providence or the rest of the teams they will be looking up at in the Big East standings. I'm happier that we caught Vandy playing well, then if Vandy played poorly and we felt good about losing by 8 or 10. Wakeup call that still only counts for one loss.
 
Just cause I did not heap praise on CM like everyone else does not mean i have come to a conclusion on him at all... my comments were merely to state that I would expect a first time coach with no track record as a head coach to toe the line a little more than he does.
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thats fair, and for the record I think the praise is unwarranted atm as well, as he hasn't done anything yet as a coach (W/L wise). I just feel many people are trying to fit what happens into their own view of Mullin rather than reserving judgment until we have something of substance to judge CM on as a coach.
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We probably won't know for a couple seasons before we have somewhat of an idea what Mullin ultimately brings to the table. I like what the staff is doing on the recruiting front, and look forward to how we finish the 2016 class. I like the direction, but being cautious at this point.

Some folks tend to speak in absolute due to it being the honeymoon stage or having an agenda. As, you stated, reserve judgement 'til we have something of substance to judge Mullin on as a coach.
 
I know this does not take away from what happened, but I'm happy for Dial, that he was able to get those 2 baskets at the end. I'm sure he busts his behind in practice, nice to see him rewarded.
Click to expand...

One of the best plays of the game for SJU was Holyfiled to Dial... In all seriousness we will probably need Holyfield more. He is one of the only guys with a decent handle and seems like an overall solid basketball player. You can argue that playing the walkon is detrimental to the long term but having our guys get killed for the rest of the season is also going to hurt any learning experience when you simply cannot execute. Even if we still only won 5-10 games this season, there would be a lot more future building with Lovett on the floor. I sure hope there is still some fight going on there.

Whatever we can do to get Mussini off the ball would help offensively. Didn't see enough of Dial to know if he has any handle but that is our biggest problem. It was less evident today because they didn't need to pressure us but even in the half court larger guards coming out kill us because we have neither size nor speed and then we can't shoot the three either. Mussini is creative at times but not enough of the total PG package to be consistently effective to give us some inside/out.
Click to expand...

Now Moose is going to go postal, and it's all your fault.

But I agree with both points. Holifield should get some minutes. He may or may not have high D1 skills, but he is a solid all-around player who understands the game and how to play. Used appropriately, he won't hurt you and I think he can make the team better.

I also agree that it would be better for Mussini and for the team if someone else was the primary ball-handling option.
Click to expand...

I have developed a lot of respect for Mussini. He is new to this country, new to college, playing out of position, and is giving up size and strength in every match-up. Yet his body language always seems to be positive, he plays his ass off, and he makes plays. He is the only ball handling option at the moment. He will do much better as a complementary player next year. You have to like this kid.
 
This is going to take time. This was going to be a challenging tournament from the start. No Lovett, Ellison and Williams didn't help. We're going to take some lumps this year. Just look for individual and team growth. Look for signs of understanding how to run the sets, improvement in execution of plays, sets and the gameplan and enjoy whatever progress and wins come our way. We have a long long long way to go, but we'll get there.
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I can agree.
 
Vandy is a terrific team.. Kind of like Wisconsin last year.. What struck me was their size compared to ours. They were just bigger, stronger, quicker.. Our guys looked like Munchkins next to them.. Chris will get better players and more physically strong kids as he recruits his own type players. Mussini and Sima, are going to become better.They have talent. Balamou just could not do anything inside against Vandy but, it wasn't from lack of effort. Vanderbilt also shot well from outside. Everything they put up went in!

The way the Commodores played today, I doubt many teams in the Top 25 would have beaten them.So, move on.
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Comparing Vandy to the NCAA finalist might be premature, let's see how they do against the big boys - but you may be right.
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Nature of the beast (no pun, intended, lol), as some fans tend to overrate a team after said team beats the poop out of their--or, in this case, our--team. Vandy probably will be a formidable squad this season, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see 'em exit during the first weekend of the tournament. They may even have a few hiccups in the SEC.
 
I have developed a lot of respect for Mussini. He is new to this country, new to college, playing out of position, and is giving up size and strength in every match-up. Yet his body language always seems to be positive, he plays his ass off, and he makes plays. He is the only ball handling option at the moment. He will do much better as a complementary player next year. You have to like this kid.
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My comments were not to knock him. I really like him and his future. I think it is just too much to ask, the way he is being utilized.
 
V
IMO, the only real negative with this team so far is the extremely poor play of Durand Johnson who outside of the short stretch against UMBC has done vey little positively and an awful lot negatively,
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Forces everything, horrible shot selection. To date, not the experienced, smart leader envisioned by some. In my world, enjoying development of Mussini & Sima, keeping things in perspective.
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It's a good news...bad news story...The good news is the worst players are the seniors,,,the bad news is the worst players are the seniors
 
This is going to take time. This was going to be a challenging tournament from the start. No Lovett, Ellison and Williams didn't help. We're going to take some lumps this year. Just look for individual and team growth. Look for signs of understanding how to run the sets, improvement in execution of plays, sets and the gameplan and enjoy whatever progress and wins come our way. We have a long long long way to go, but we'll get there.
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I can agree.
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Only the Shadow and Nostredamus know for sure but I and others have no doubt about this program, it's direction AND "Ws" do not matter circa 2015-16. "We got the ingredients!"
Forgedaboudit :)
Attitude? Check
Atmosphere? Check
Recruiting progress? Check
Coaching staff knowledge of game Check
Conditioning? Check
Lure of NYC Check
Hustle? Check.
Yes! We"re doing the hustle...hustling (gradually) back into a top twenty program where we belong.

all the best
Enjoy Hawaii for those there!!
Come back with a win...better still come back with your good attitude and effort.

All the best!
SS&G ? Check
 
I know this does not take away from what happened, but I'm happy for Dial, that he was able to get those 2 baskets at the end. I'm sure he busts his behind in practice, nice to see him rewarded.
Click to expand...

One of the best plays of the game for SJU was Holyfiled to Dial... In all seriousness we will probably need Holyfield more. He is one of the only guys with a decent handle and seems like an overall solid basketball player. You can argue that playing the walkon is detrimental to the long term but having our guys get killed for the rest of the season is also going to hurt any learning experience when you simply cannot execute. Even if we still only won 5-10 games this season, there would be a lot more future building with Lovett on the floor. I sure hope there is still some fight going on there.

Whatever we can do to get Mussini off the ball would help offensively. Didn't see enough of Dial to know if he has any handle but that is our biggest problem. It was less evident today because they didn't need to pressure us but even in the half court larger guards coming out kill us because we have neither size nor speed and then we can't shoot the three either. Mussini is creative at times but not enough of the total PG package to be consistently effective to give us some inside/out.
Click to expand...

Now Moose is going to go postal, and it's all your fault.

But I agree with both points. Holifield should get some minutes. He may or may not have high D1 skills, but he is a solid all-around player who understands the game and how to play. Used appropriately, he won't hurt you and I think he can make the team better.

I also agree that it would be better for Mussini and for the team if someone else was the primary ball-handling option.
Click to expand...

I have developed a lot of respect for Mussini. He is new to this country, new to college, playing out of position, and is giving up size and strength in every match-up. Yet his body language always seems to be positive, he plays his ass off, and he makes plays. He is the only ball handling option at the moment. He will do much better as a complementary player next year. You have to like this kid.
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Mussini is our only shooting option. It was obvious from the start as Vandy overplayed him, switching on every pick.
Now, speaking of switching. We did a terrible job of getting around screens allowing them to take open threes.
Our so called zone was pitiful. Didn't we know they have solid three point shooters? It's called scouting.
I like Balamou in the low post but get some height on the shot.
Still impressed with Sima, need to get more touches.
Obviously this is a year of learning from our mistakes.
I don't know about you but can someone shut Bill Walton up.
 
V
IMO, the only real negative with this team so far is the extremely poor play of Durand Johnson who outside of the short stretch against UMBC has done vey little positively and an awful lot negatively,
Click to expand...

Forces everything, horrible shot selection. To date, not the experienced, smart leader envisioned by some. In my world, enjoying development of Mussini & Sima, keeping things in perspective.
Click to expand...
It's a good news...bad news story...The good news is the worst players are the seniors,,,the bad news is the worst players are the seniors
Click to expand...

My guess is that DJ is feeling the pressure to be a leader but isn't comfortable in that role. He needs to get over that and just play solid instead of forcing it.
 
Indiana loses to Wake
Indy coach, Dwight Shrute, not happy.

Another beating tomorrow?
 
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