@West Virginia, Fri., Dec. 1, 7p, ESPN-2

jerseyshorejohnny said:
Latest Twitter Comments From Zach:

What's up everyone. Solid win last night, even if it was ugly. Some thoughts:

- Appreciate Joel Soriano. The Big man is having a monster season. He's scoring more with less shots. He's defending well. He's doing everything Rick Pitino has asked of him. He's surpassed my expectations of him so far. Most importantly, Soriano has played his best when his best has been needed. You saw it against North Texas, Utah and West Virginia. He's this team's rock. He got the better of West Virginia star Jesse Edwards yesterday.


The absence of RJ Luis Jr. is going to hurt. He's exactly what this team is missing, a shot creator on the wing and a strong rebounder. He's missing so much time. Pitino suggested Jan. 2 against Butler as a realistic return date. I think we see more three-guard lineups with Luis out. I liked the look of Nahiem Alleyne, Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle. Hope we see more of it.
- I think two things can be true of last night: St. John's did a bad job of adjusting to the officials and the game was called poorly. Way too many whistles. But St. John's kept West Virginia in the game by fouling too much. Defense remains an issue.

- Found Pitino's positive tone after the win interesting. Expected him to be more negative. Obviously, I'm still learning him. He zigs when you expect him to zag. Clearly, he was happy to win a true road game and felt his team overcame adversity from foul trouble. Still, thought this was not a good performance.
- Alleyne should be playing more, especially with Luis out. I get that Pitino wants him to be more than just a scorer on the offensive end, but he makes an impact. He had four rebounds yesterday, which was important. I'd like to see him play 25 minutes or more.

- Lastly, the NET rankings come out on Monday. I expect St. John's to be in the 60's. Currently, they have a Ken Pom of 60. Not great, but could be worse. What is very good, though, is their non-conference strength of schedule of 82. That number was in the 300s the last few years. Major improvement that matters.
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I think the OOC schedule last year was designed to keep CMA’s “winning record” inflated and intact. I don’t mind some of the L’s as long as they are from real caliber teams.
 
PARedman said:
Last night Dunlap looked like he wanted to get rid of the ball as soon as he got it, and Edjifore can't put the damn ball in the basket even when he's right on top of it. Dunlap's a frosh and good reason to think he'll develop and become the long range shooter we need but Edjifore...I don't know.
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Hope you are right about Dunlap. As a freshman, I don’t have much in the way of expectations for contributions but as a 4 star frosh, I look for confidence and effort. While the effort is there I don’t see the confidence as I see in Wilcher and in Storr last year. And while I’m sure his confidence may grow, I see him at best as a long term project. Hope I’m wrong about that.
 
Eric said:
Yes that was me. But if you read the thread you would think we lost as most posts are negative. So to my point negativity brings out more interest than the good in the team.
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I wouldn’t call the posts negative but more about concerns. Here we are approaching the Big East schedule and our guard play is inconsistent, our depth, as illustrated by 2 points from our entire bench other then Allyne, is not what coach has touted, RJ Luis has once again been sidelined with no definite return date and our offense looks at times like freelance play. Yes I know it may all eventually be corrected but were we not all looking forward to a strong start in conference play?
 
I think it’s fair to say the team is a big work in progress, so obviously concerns are on the mind of people. Why would they not? Speaking for myself, I’m also scarred by our slow starts in Big East play. The last thing I want is to dig ourselves a preventable hole in Dec/Jan.
 
Silly Donovan said:
I wouldn’t call the posts negative but more about concerns. Here we are approaching the Big East schedule and our guard play is inconsistent, our depth, as illustrated by 2 points from our entire bench other then Allyne, is not what coach has touted, RJ Luis has once again been sidelined with no definite return date and our offense looks at times like freelance play. Yes I know it may all eventually be corrected but were we not all looking forward to a strong start in conference play?
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I hear what you are saying. Sure there are question marks still. But we just toughed out a win on the road in a tough place to play with so many reasons we could have lost that game. I’d rather bask in that.

And sure we had minimal bench contribution this game but we all know from game to game things play out differently. It’s happening all over college basketball today more so than ever it seems. Kentucky looks great against Miami the other day. Then lays an egg at home vs Wilmington. Plenty of other examples as well.
 
carmineabbatiello said:
Why play the white boy at all in a game like this? I know freshman, experience et all and maybe he'll become more Mullin than Lyson someday, but he should be getting his feet wet only in 46 point alumni blowouts and hopefully against Sacred Heart and the like. If you absolutely must play a white kid...then go with the other one. While neither appear Big East ready skillwise, at least Conway has a body that doesn't seem so overmatched.
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Are you kidding me with this statement why play the white boy? You mean the 4 star freshman? Oh I guess we can forget Chris mullin playing days that white bot couldn't shoot. Larry bird John Stockton just without blinking . Oh Conway another highly regarded player on our team? Imagine if it was said in reverse . Racism I won't tolerate.
 
While the concerns are legit, we finally have a championship head coach to guide us through the journey. Never been able to say that in the modern era. We knew incorporating 12 new faces with only two returning players would take time. Just barely in December but the sky is falling posts are mind boggling.

Pitino has a blueprint for success like no other SJU coach of years past. Trust the process and enjoy the ride.
 
espken said:
While the concerns are legit, we finally have a championship head coach to guide us through the journey. Never been able to say that in the modern era. We knew incorporating 12 new faces with only two returning players would take time. Just barely in December but the sky is falling posts are mind boggling.

Pitino has a blueprint for success like no other SJU coach of years past. Trust the process and enjoy the ride.
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njfan said:
Are you kidding me with this statement why play the white boy? You mean the 4 star freshman? Oh I guess we can forget Chris mullin playing days that white bot couldn't shoot. Larry bird John Stockton just without blinking . Oh Conway another highly regarded player on our team? Imagine if it was said in reverse . Racism I won't tolerate.
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I think RP was delighted to get Brady Dunlap this spring . He was a ND commit until Brey retired at SBend . Like others have said , we haven’t gotten many 4 Star Recruits over the last decades.
Yes , I haven’t counted them . Trust me , it’s not a lot .
I think Pitino is thinking Wilcher and Dunlap are Players he’s going to need next season , when our entire Starting 5 depart . Give them some Baptism now . Dunlap will get stronger and put on muscle. . Rick will see to that .
Brady’s Rep is as a Shooter and you don’t want to give up on Shooters too soon . They are a different class than other Players and Coaches realize they don’t all have to be Whippets or Greyhounds to play College BB .
 
SJU85 said:
I think he was looking to get rid of ball quickly because of the plays that were called. As Alleyne said in the postgame interview, they are looking to play with pace, move the ball quickly to get a good shot. I noticed he last three was shot flat with no arc, and thatks not him. Pitino mentioned it during the postgame conference. I noticed when Dunlap with back to the bench, Pitino spoke to him as he got to the bench and motioned with his arm as if releasing a shot. I really look forward to his, Zuby’s and Wilcher’s development.
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Dunlaps best skill is that three point shot. He hasn’t been able to display it yet. We need to run some plays for him, run him off ball screens some kick outs, gotta get him those JJ Reddick looks…

Otherwise he is a step or two slow out there and needs time to develop which is fine as a freshmen
 
SJUDave said:
Dunlaps best skill is that three point shot. He hasn’t been able to display it yet. We need to run some plays for him, run him off ball screens some kick outs, gotta get him those JJ Reddick looks…

Otherwise he is a step or two slow out there and needs time to develop which is fine as a freshmen
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I watch a ton of a basketball game off the ball and was very impressed with Dunlap’s ball denial on the wings vs. WV; I don’t believe he is slow at all. I feel expectations are off the charts unrealistic for both he and Wilcher. As I said in a previous post, I think both of them were integral parts in turning the tenor of the WV game around, there are a lot of contributions to a win that don’t show up in a box score.
 
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