Villanova Game

Just got home 10minutes ago.

Yeah that was real fun, they kicked our asses in the last 10minutes of the game.
Where was JDR until the last 3 minutes?
And wtf happened to Jordan? Held to 0pnts until 2 FTs late in the game.

I'm boiling right now, now we're 0-3 in the conf.
It is BS that the seniors and CO has to play so much with a freaking bench, and yeah Marillac that's on coach Lavin.
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Lavin is the coach...it all lands on him. I am very disappointed to lose and fall to 0-3, but I am really encouraged by the effort and some of the improvements on offense. I really think this is a game the team will grow from--which is not much of a consolation at this point of the season.

Harrison is becoming a guy that can consistently create for himself and others instead of having to rely on teammates to set him up. He's getting better every single game.

Jordan can't play that badly again, they can't lose 40-21 on the glass, and CO and Dom simply cannot ever get into foul trouble again.
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Can you please clarify what you mean by "improvements on offense"? St. John's competed with Villanova in the 1st half because they were shooting nearly 50% from the field (primarily from D'Angelo and Phil). The 2nd half consisted of bad shot selection (mainly by Phil) and just awful overall play (RySheed was borderline unwatchable).

The only reason SJU was even in this game was because of a stellar game by Harrison. Nothing more, nothing less.
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We have been a very poor half court team all year--even in victory. I agree that Phil and especially Jordan made some inexcusable decisions (again). It is painful to watch the same mistakes get repeated. No, Phil, you cannot force a shot right after you made your last every time regardless of the situation. You caught fire in Syracuse because you took smart SET shots, not because you are Kobe. No Rysheed, you are not--and may never become--a good jump shooter. Every time you miss, it is followed by an easy layups or three pointers by the opposition and usually either immediately precedes or comes smack in the middle of an opponent's run.

That written, Branch was more aggressive than usual and against a very good (and physical) team--that is extremely rare. They worked some good inside looks to CO (awful missed dunk) down low and Pointer at the high post. The ball movement was good for 30 minutes and completely stopped after that. It really didn't even look like St. John's was playing for while...it was actually better basketball out of both teams that I saw in the Ole Miss-Kentucky game prior. Of course, that changed the last ten minutes.

Harrison is just ballin. He is taking it to the defense instead of hoisting jumpers. That is basketball at its finest.
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Good summary...after 30 minutes, we just seemed to succumb...lot of desperation type shots instead of sticking to the plan...
 
This team has no depth, and no size. Gonna be a struggle the rest of the way.
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The team has depth and size. However those pieces are not all-around players and it is clearly too difficult for somebody to figure out what to do with those pieces.

There was absolutely no excuse to get all 15 fouls out of Jones, Delarosa and Alibegovic tonight. It was crystal clear going into the game that Pinkston and Ochefu were going to be too much for Obkepa. If you didn't see it coming before, then it was apparently by the middle of the first half. But instead of trying to get even 2 minutes per half out of the 2 of the 3 big bodies sitting on the bench, we went with a 4 and 5 guard lineup until the guards were exhausted from helping on and trying to defend bigs, Obekpa and Pointer fouled out, and Ochefu had his way with us down low.

This in the face of Rysheed Jordan giving you absolutely nothing. I am sure that Delarosa or Alibegovic could have gone 0-6 from the field with 3 turnovers just as easily as Jordan. However they might have grabbed a couple of rebounds and made Ochefu earn his points from the line instead of taking layup practice.

I'm not saying that we have a roster of 9 starters. But the decision to use 6 players is a choice born of poor coaching.
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Watching Harrison trying to cover Ochefu at the end of the game really pissed me off. I know the game was out of hand at that point, but seriously why is JDR not in there? Trust me, I'm not saying JDR should be out on the court for a Big East team. But the fact of the matter is St. John's has virtually no size outside of Obekpa, JDR, and hopefully ADR soon. Against players like Ochefu and Pinkston, you can use fouls as a way of slowing them down.
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Ochefu didn't even have to leave his feet after putting layup after layup against Harrison. This lack of coaching and/or substituting reminds me of the poor decisions made by Mahoney. Will never forget while playing Arkansas in the NCAA Playoffs and trailing with a little over two minutes remaining in the game Mahoney had the Redmen fall back with no pressure at all. That was the end of his tenure at St.John's. Thank God.
 
Feels like 2 years ago. Harrison scores all the points and we lose.
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I'm sorry, I want Harrison to shoot more.
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I think Harrison is playing about twice as well as he's ever played here. His shot selection has been questionable in the past as he tried to do too much. Considering he's our only reliable scorer the past few games, it's amazing he is hawked by two defenders every time he touches to ball.
 
Francesa mentioning that the crowd at the game was "a little light"

That said, I didn't notice him at the crowd.
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And he's certainly not light
 
Francesa mentioning that the crowd at the game was "a little light"

That said, I didn't notice him at the crowd.
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He was in costume...Johnny Thunderbird
 
This team has no depth, and no size. Gonna be a struggle the rest of the way.
Click to expand...

The team has depth and size. However those pieces are not all-around players and it is clearly too difficult for somebody to figure out what to do with those pieces.

There was absolutely no excuse to get all 15 fouls out of Jones, Delarosa and Alibegovic tonight. It was crystal clear going into the game that Pinkston and Ochefu were going to be too much for Obkepa. If you didn't see it coming before, then it was apparently by the middle of the first half. But instead of trying to get even 2 minutes per half out of the 2 of the 3 big bodies sitting on the bench, we went with a 4 and 5 guard lineup until the guards were exhausted from helping on and trying to defend bigs, Obekpa and Pointer fouled out, and Ochefu had his way with us down low.

This in the face of Rysheed Jordan giving you absolutely nothing. I am sure that Delarosa or Alibegovic could have gone 0-6 from the field with 3 turnovers just as easily as Jordan. However they might have grabbed a couple of rebounds and made Ochefu earn his points from the line instead of taking layup practice.

I'm not saying that we have a roster of 9 starters. But the decision to use 6 players is a choice born of poor coaching.
Click to expand...

Watching Harrison trying to cover Ochefu at the end of the game really pissed me off. I know the game was out of hand at that point, but seriously why is JDR not in there? Trust me, I'm not saying JDR should be out on the court for a Big East team. But the fact of the matter is St. John's has virtually no size outside of Obekpa, JDR, and hopefully ADR soon. Against players like Ochefu and Pinkston, you can use fouls as a way of slowing them down.
Click to expand...


Ochefu didn't even have to leave his feet after putting layup after layup against Harrison. This lack of coaching and/or substituting reminds me of the poor decisions made by Mahoney. Will never forget while playing Arkansas in the NCAA Playoffs and trailing with a little over two minutes remaining in the game Mahoney had the Redmen fall back with no pressure at all. That was the end of his tenure at St.John's. Thank God.
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"Hey, do you know any 6 point plays?" Mahoney's statement to reporters who questioned his strategy of not fouling down the stretch. Could have put Arkansas on line for 3 straight 1 and 1s and fouled their worst FT shooters but that would have required strategy something he and the man he learned from rarely if ever employed down the stretch of close games.
 
This team has no depth, and no size. Gonna be a struggle the rest of the way.
Click to expand...

The team has depth and size. However those pieces are not all-around players and it is clearly too difficult for somebody to figure out what to do with those pieces.

There was absolutely no excuse to get all 15 fouls out of Jones, Delarosa and Alibegovic tonight. It was crystal clear going into the game that Pinkston and Ochefu were going to be too much for Obkepa. If you didn't see it coming before, then it was apparently by the middle of the first half. But instead of trying to get even 2 minutes per half out of the 2 of the 3 big bodies sitting on the bench, we went with a 4 and 5 guard lineup until the guards were exhausted from helping on and trying to defend bigs, Obekpa and Pointer fouled out, and Ochefu had his way with us down low.

This in the face of Rysheed Jordan giving you absolutely nothing. I am sure that Delarosa or Alibegovic could have gone 0-6 from the field with 3 turnovers just as easily as Jordan. However they might have grabbed a couple of rebounds and made Ochefu earn his points from the line instead of taking layup practice.

I'm not saying that we have a roster of 9 starters. But the decision to use 6 players is a choice born of poor coaching.
Click to expand...

Watching Harrison trying to cover Ochefu at the end of the game really pissed me off. I know the game was out of hand at that point, but seriously why is JDR not in there? Trust me, I'm not saying JDR should be out on the court for a Big East team. But the fact of the matter is St. John's has virtually no size outside of Obekpa, JDR, and hopefully ADR soon. Against players like Ochefu and Pinkston, you can use fouls as a way of slowing them down.
Click to expand...


Ochefu didn't even have to leave his feet after putting layup after layup against Harrison. This lack of coaching and/or substituting reminds me of the poor decisions made by Mahoney. Will never forget while playing Arkansas in the NCAA Playoffs and trailing with a little over two minutes remaining in the game Mahoney had the Redmen fall back with no pressure at all. That was the end of his tenure at St.John's. Thank God.
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Far from it that was year one of his tenure where he rode David Cain to the near upset of Nolan Richardson's Razorbacks. You remember the quote by Nolan after the game referring to fouling out Cain. "you cut off the head and the body dies"
By the way that is the same Cain that Looie never played and I spoke with him where he told me he was so frustrated he was going to transfer. Thankfully better thought process prevailed and he had a great senior year under Mahoney after Looie retired.and nearly made Riley's Miami Heat.
 
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