@Xavier, Wed. Jan. 17, 8:30pm, CBS SN/570AM

Thanks for the excellent effort tonight. Once again no one expected this game to be as close as it was. I have to believe that Kanter would not have so many easy putbacks at the close of the game had Owens been able to rest, he along with the rest of the team were exhausted.
Agreed with Mullin pulling Ahmed after he fell asleep on the outer bounds score from Macura, however probably should have substituted earlier for Trimble who didn't take a shot in the second half.
Don't believe we had any second shots in the game. Can't expect any if Owens is the only one staying around after a shot.
Yakwe and Amir did their usual foul ups in 4 and 2 minutes of playing time. Yakwe walked on his first touch and allowed Kanter to rebound over his back, and had his opponent score 5 straight points. That led to a quick exit and no return. Alibecovig picked up two fouls in his short stay - what a surprise!
Playing with six players we need 10 timeouts.
Can't forget the outstanding offensive game by Simon.
I liked the early defense forcing Xavier to taking shots as the shot clock ran out. Tough to do all game.
We have to enjoy the effort, regardless of losses, looking forward to the next game. Got to give credit to coach Mullin.
 
Seven straight losses this Big East Season.

Four of these games we exceeded expectations:

Five point loss to #23 Seton Hall on the road
Seven point loss to #25 Creighton on the road
Six point loss to #11 Xavier on the road
Seven point loss to #1 Villanova at home

In all of these games we were double digit underdogs and we were competitive throughout the game.

In three of these losses we fell way below expectations:

Abysmal home loss to Providence by twenty two
Abysmal home loss to Depaul by seventeen
Mediocre performance in a home loss to Georgetown by three

At 0 and 7 there is nothing positive when you look at that record. However four times we played well against nationally ranked teams. The three bad performances really has soured the view of the season for most observers. The question is are we closer to the team that showed talent in our four good efforts or are we closer to the team that played poorly in the other three games.

I am a glass half full guy and since I watch every game faithfully I see the hope in our good efforts. The results (seven straight losses) is beyond frustrating but I am hoping that we continue to show up and play competitive ball and avoid the types of games like our three bad losses.
 
Seven straight losses this Big East Season.

Four of these games we exceeded expectations:

Five point loss to #23 Seton Hall on the road
Seven point loss to #25 Creighton on the road
Six point loss to #11 Xavier on the road
Seven point loss to #1 Villanova at home

In all of these games we were double digit underdogs and we were competitive throughout the game.

In three of these losses we fell way below expectations:

Abysmal home loss to Providence by twenty two
Abysmal home loss to Depaul by seventeen
Mediocre performance in a home loss to Georgetown by three

At 0 and 7 there is nothing positive when you look at that record. However four times we played well against nationally ranked teams. The three bad performances really has soured the view of the season for most observers. The question is are we closer to the team that showed talent in our four good efforts or are we closer to the team that played poorly in the other three games.

I am a glass half full guy and since I watch every game faithfully I see the hope in our good efforts. The results (seven straight losses) is beyond frustrating but I am hoping that we continue to show up and play competitive ball and avoid the types of games like our three bad losses.
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Great post and I agree with almost all of it. Appreciate that you are a glass half full positive person but if we were the team that gave 4 great efforts against real good teams we should not have lost the 3 home games against lesser teams than those 4. There is a big difference between winning and losing and you can't lose all your games and be considered a good team which at 3-4 you could actually say. Difference between losing by 10 as opposed to 8 is 2 points. Difference between winning by one and losing by one is two points but is a lot different than the difference between 10 and 8 points. Man if we were 3-4 and 13-6 overall the season would look quite different and most of us would feel a lot different.
 
I am not one for moral victories but these guys are playing the best they can, you can't blame the kids for not playing above their god given talent. We gassed out at the end. Not sure why Ali gets any playing time, he is a liability every minute he plays, I find it hard to believe the balance of the options are worse than letting him play also why was Ahmed or Yakwe not used to rest some guys? This better be a wake up call to Mullin that he needs to recruit better or not rely on a roster that has at best 3 BE caliber players. Right now we are the laughing stock of the league, we all got our hopes up based on pre-season cupcake team wins, I hope this does not cause Mullin to fall off the wagon because it hurts me real bad just watching from my couch.

I am going back to rooting for my alternate team where I attended after SJU, the MSU Spartans. Honestly it is hard being an SJU fan, All my buddies ask me why I keep torturing myself with this program. How can I even defend or rationalize year 3 of Mullin reign and 0 wins in BE play to anyone?
 
good game but the fucking threes from every big east team comes down to coaching
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I have to agree. Our guys have lazy body language while defending the three. You have to get out there and get in the shooter's grill. These lackadaisical half-leaps and arm waves don't cut it.
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Here we go again. The three point defense drives me crazy. You can't lay off your man to help in the middle, To see shooters such as Blueitt wide open taking the three pointers is sickening. Our opposition hits the threes because they are wide open.
 
First, congratulations to Justin Simon who played the game of his career.  Game ball to him!  This is as close to a moral victory as we will get and a good example of both the talent we have and the talent we lack.
This a game we should have won by 5 as I had predicted. ;)
We played hard for all 40 minutes.  We played smart for 35 minutes.  Then there was that 5 minute stretch where Shamorie Ponds missed 3 shots in a row, two which were lay ups.  He normally has enough finger roll for those shots but like most of the rest of the team he was playing tired and this is yet another example where having Marcus LoVett  may have made a difference. 
We were outrebounded by about a thousand bounds, or at least it looked that way.  Rooks and Keita can't suit up fast enough. While Chris Mullin has been doing a decent job of managing a very short bench his attempt at a Lavin "teaching moment" again hurt the team more than inspire Ahmed.  Not bringing in Yakwe to spell either Owens or Clark at key times also may have contributed to their fatigue.  If Mullin continues his teaching moments and has little use for his very short bench I'm not sure he realizes that, as Chris Mack was breaking winning records at Xavier,  he is on track to become the coach to have the worst 3 year losing record in Big East history.  I'm too tired to fact check that but at this point I doubt anybody really gives a crap anymore. To think that Norm Roberts, who really inherited a decimated program never finished last ( he was 13th in a 16 team BIG BIG EAST ) makes this staff's lack of accomplishment truly astonishing. 
A final note and that is that a good coach knows how to manage his players once the game begins.  Xavier hit the most 3 pointers this season against St. John's.  Chris Mack, when asked about that, was clear as to why when he said "we took what the defense gave us".  Yes, we give away 3 pointers, rebounds and we give away games. What hurts and embarrasses us as fans is all the hype, all the boastful ads about being New York City's team, makes it doubly harder to be taken seriously after continual false advertising. This program should never ever raise ticket prices ever again and season ticket holders should have their package prices cut by 50% as a loyalty bonus. There may come a day when students will need to be paid just to attend the games because giving away tickets doesn't seem to work.
 
I am not one for moral victories but these guys are playing the best they can, you can't blame the kids for not playing above their god given talent. We gassed out at the end. Not sure why Ali gets any playing time, he is a liability every minute he plays, I find it hard to believe the balance of the options are worse than letting him play also why was Ahmed or Yakwe not used to rest some guys? This better be a wake up call to Mullin that he needs to recruit better or not rely on a roster that has at best 3 BE caliber players. Right now we are the laughing stock of the league, we all got our hopes up based on pre-season cupcake team wins, I hope this does not cause Mullin to fall off the wagon because it hurts me real bad just watching from my couch.

I am going back to rooting for my alternate team where I attended after SJU, the MSU Spartans. Honestly it is hard being an SJU fan, All my buddies ask me why I keep torturing myself with this program. How can I even defend or rationalize year 3 of Mullin reign and 0 wins in BE play to anyone?
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"Laughing stock of the league" - you are kidding of course. Playing tough to the end against Seton Hall, Creighton, Villanova and Xavier is to their credit and certainly nothing to be ashamed of.You are missing something if you find it hard to be a fan, obviously only wins can change that. You can't rationalize the lack of wins. I don't care if we continue to lose because I know why. And I will never ever say I find it hard to be a fan.



 
First, congratulations to Justin Simon who played the game of his career.  Game ball to him!  This is as close to a moral victory as we will get and a good example of both the talent we have and the talent we lack.
This a game we should have won by 5 as I had predicted. ;)
We played hard for all 40 minutes.  We played smart for 35 minutes.  Then there was that 5 minute stretch where Shamorie Ponds missed 3 shots in a row, two which were lay ups.  He normally has enough finger roll for those shots but like most of the rest of the team he was playing tired and this is yet another example where having Marcus LoVett  may have made a difference. 
We were outrebounded by about a thousand bounds, or at least it looked that way.  Rooks and Keita can't suit up fast enough. While Chris Mullin has been doing a decent job of managing a very short bench his attempt at a Lavin "teaching moment" again hurt the team more than inspire Ahmed.  Not bringing in Yakwe to spell either Owens or Clark at key times also may have contributed to their fatigue.  If Mullin continues his teaching moments and has little use for his very short bench I'm not sure he realizes that, as Chris Mack was breaking winning records at Xavier,  he is on track to become the coach to have the worst 3 year losing record in Big East history.  I'm too tired to fact check that but at this point I doubt anybody really gives a crap anymore. To think that Norm Roberts, who really inherited a decimated program never finished last ( he was 13th in a 16 team BIG BIG EAST ) makes this staff's lack of accomplishment truly astonishing. 
A final note and that is that a good coach knows how to manage his players once the game begins.  Xavier hit the most 3 pointers this season against St. John's.  Chris Mack, when asked about that, was clear as to why when he said "we took what the defense gave us".  Yes, we give away 3 pointers, rebounds and we give away games. What hurts and embarrasses us as fans is all the hype, all the boastful ads about being New York City's team, makes it doubly harder to be taken seriously after continual false advertising. This program should never ever raise ticket prices ever again and season ticket holders should have their package prices cut by 50% as a loyalty bonus. There may come a day when students will need to be paid just to attend the games because giving away tickets doesn't seem to work.
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You must have been the kid in public school that would go around poking everyone, then looked the other way saying "what me? I was in the corner playing with the building blocks." Lavin's gone, get over it. Maybe he will hire you as an assistant next time he coaches. Could be awhile.
 
First, congratulations to Justin Simon who played the game of his career.  Game ball to him!  This is as close to a moral victory as we will get and a good example of both the talent we have and the talent we lack.
This a game we should have won by 5 as I had predicted. ;)
We played hard for all 40 minutes.  We played smart for 35 minutes.  Then there was that 5 minute stretch where Shamorie Ponds missed 3 shots in a row, two which were lay ups.  He normally has enough finger roll for those shots but like most of the rest of the team he was playing tired and this is yet another example where having Marcus LoVett  may have made a difference. 
We were outrebounded by about a thousand bounds, or at least it looked that way.  Rooks and Keita can't suit up fast enough. While Chris Mullin has been doing a decent job of managing a very short bench his attempt at a Lavin "teaching moment" again hurt the team more than inspire Ahmed.  Not bringing in Yakwe to spell either Owens or Clark at key times also may have contributed to their fatigue.  If Mullin continues his teaching moments and has little use for his very short bench I'm not sure he realizes that, as Chris Mack was breaking winning records at Xavier,  he is on track to become the coach to have the worst 3 year losing record in Big East history.  I'm too tired to fact check that but at this point I doubt anybody really gives a crap anymore. To think that Norm Roberts, who really inherited a decimated program never finished last ( he was 13th in a 16 team BIG BIG EAST ) makes this staff's lack of accomplishment truly astonishing. 
A final note and that is that a good coach knows how to manage his players once the game begins.  Xavier hit the most 3 pointers this season against St. John's.  Chris Mack, when asked about that, was clear as to why when he said "we took what the defense gave us".  Yes, we give away 3 pointers, rebounds and we give away games. What hurts and embarrasses us as fans is all the hype, all the boastful ads about being New York City's team, makes it doubly harder to be taken seriously after continual false advertising. This program should never ever raise ticket prices ever again and season ticket holders should have their package prices cut by 50% as a loyalty bonus. There may come a day when students will need to be paid just to attend the games because giving away tickets doesn't seem to work.
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You must have been the kid in public school that would go around poking everyone, then looked the other way saying "what me? I was in the corner playing with the building blocks." Lavin's gone, get over it. Maybe he will hire you as an assistant next time he coaches. Could be awhile.
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Geez Ray, even when I knock Lavin, as in mocking his teaching moments, and praise Norm, you miss the fcken point. What were you "special ed" in school? At least I'm consistent with what I say and I don't ask you to do as I do. Guys like you must watch all the games free on the telly and probably don't invest a dime in the program or school. Keep watching the "Honeymooners" because the live version at St. John's is over.
 
This game was proof that we can play with the cream of th Big East. We fall short—with LoVett’s injury—because of zero nada zilch ‘depth’. But we have talent and grit. And—with luck—may even get deeper than next year’s projected very deep roster with 1 or 2 additional recruits. This is the most frustrating year in a long time— because we finally have Big East caliber talent. Next year may bring redemption.
 
This game was proof that we can play with the cream of th Big East. We fall short—with LoVett’s injury—because of zero nada zilch ‘depth’. But we have talent and grit. And—with luck—may even get deeper than next year’s projected very deep roster with 1 or 2 additional recruits. This is the most frustrating year in a long time— because we finally have Big East caliber talent. Next year may bring redemption.
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I don't even wanna hear this moral shit, we're still 0-7.
But we're good at it, we been doing it for so long.
 
We don't rebound at all. Can't remember the last SJU team that did rebound. I hope some of the new kids will help with that.
 


“You are what your record says you are.”

- Bill Parcells
 

Yes, we heard all the excuses a coach can come up with,what's the sense of being competetive if you lose every game in confer. We could have paid $100,000 no let me correct that we could have pd 30,000 and got someone to give us an 0-7 start Now shooting ,rebounding,set plays are our deficiencies I can not say it defense because we are playing it better than lats yr and hanging in there with conr teams but we have too many players that come into the game and give us nothing. These are the players staff has recruited so they are accountable. It can't be every other staff in the confr recruits better talent. Something is really wrong. The players we have put out 100% Last nite is another example of a game we should have won but at the end we g0 7 mins without a basket.where we that exhausted we be able to play at the end. I REMEMBER COACH SAYING THAT WE WILL BE IN THE BEST SHAPE. Oh well,as coach say forget about this game lets think about next game
 
Terribly frustrating but I wake up this morning trying to figure out how are we playing competitive basketball against tough competition not being able to rebound at all, not being able to shoot threes at a reasonable percentage and giving up threes at a pathetic rate.
If the big transfer on the bench was eligible would that have resulted in a couple of wins? If Ponds hadn't lost his three point shooting accuracy would that mean another couple and if we had another big east player or two to give some rest to players could they defend the three better?
What is this team doing right that enables them to compete when they are so outclassed in the above categories?
 
We can beat G’town next time around . So , maybe we can get to 5-6 Wins . Ponds shot is officially MIA and 6-20 won’t win games . He got fouled a lot but, these refs were awful . We got calls .Mulliin and Richmond need to get Ponds alone in the Gym for just 3 point work . He did miss a few where he got in close but , didn’t finish . And , Clark , who played very well offensively , had only 1 rebound again . Our guys just don’t or won’t rebound . Often no one is underneath . Simon had Career game . Ahmed was pretty much nothing and was benched for bad D.
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0 % chance we get 5-6 wins. If we get 5 wins I will pay for a dinner for you at Capital grill ( not including wine ) but all you can eat personally
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Mike I will take that offer and prefer Waterzooi for a hamburger and all the Belgian beer I can drink in a lunch hour.;)
 
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