@Xavier, Wed., Jan. 31, 6:30p, FS-1

I’ve said it wasn’t a great shot. Point was It’s nowhere near the abomination my guy marillac is making it out to be.
The shot in a vacuum probably wasn’t that bad. I haven’t watched it back.

The decision to shoot (and not pass it to Soriano) is inexcusable, though. At the end of every close loss we have the same discussion about the pivotal moment. It’s always a Jenkins jumper and it’s never Soriano.
 
It's insane that we had 2 players who had outstanding games, and we couldn't manage to get any significant contribution from the other 10.
Frankly, I think we are playing with a few hobbled players who are clearly not 100%.
Alleyne, Dingle and RJ Luis are the "other" players that can get points on the board but none were in shape to defend the quicker X players.

Pitino was hoping that Wilcher would respond to being given the start but two very bonehead defensive mistakes seems to have pushed Pitino over the edge. It was not a very good look for Pitino to do that to a freshman that HE put into the starting position and it set the tone for a number of questionable Pitino substitutions during the game.

Maybe it's me but I have yet to see what others on this forum see in Taylor. While he tries on defense and is a willing passer, he provides almost ZERO offensive threat to an opposing team. He is incredibly easy to guard. Whatever Pitino paid in NIL for him, he should have dipped into his salary and donated money to the NIL kitty to keep David Jones and AJ Storr who likely would have made this team a top 10 team and a tournament team for sure. Not sure who fed Pitino anything negative about either of those two players but their loss now appears to be a huge blunder.

Pitino needs size and talent on the wings and neither Storr or Jones are on this team so Pitino will have to be creative in his use of RJ Luis, Traore and Zuby against big teams like Uconn.
 
Xavier handed us the game on a platter with that Ousmane foul out and then technical. Soriano was eating that backup alive. And we respond with one Soriano jumper as you pointed out.

To lose with anything other than dump downs to Soriano is completely inexcusable.

We had no business being in that game late. Olivari is a low IQ player too. He just makes more shots than our guys.

Settling for a Jenkins 3 while we were in the double bonus with Soriano against an overmatched backup center is exactly what Miller wanted.
Agree that was a horrible decision at that point in the game. But if you believe that is the play that lost us this game, you were obviously asleep during the rest of the game.
 
Agree that was a horrible decision at that point in the game. But if you believe that is the play that lost us this game, you were obviously asleep during the rest of the game.
Of course there could be 20+ plays through the course of a game that contributes to a Loss... but with 3 mins to go- tie game... Ousmane fouled out... Soriano HAS to touch the ball down low each time down.
 
I don't necessarily disagree with the critique of Jenkins' decisions late as amply detailed above, including the shot that is being spotlighted. Yes, perhaps better to go to Soriano in that instance. But it is myopic to posit that such and such a play determines the overall game. To me the game was lost over the 24 minute period spanning the halves when St. John's allowed itself to be down 11 points to a team that one simply must beat if tourney hopes are legitimate. What about the dozens of decisions made by every player on the team who saw minutes during that stretch? Without Jenkins that deficit is 18 or 20, easily, and without him there is no comeback so as to be tied near the end. Until there is a significant global upgrade in talent level across the entire team, it is bizarre to me to blame Jenkins for isolated instances and plays with the insinuation he is primarily to blame for the overall loss. Jenkins is the opposite of whatever challenges this team has in pulling out wins against the upper division teams.
 
The point is he shoots the pull up jumper very well and as a result doesn’t get to the line as much .

I’m happy with it and presumably so does RP .

Screenshot 2024-02-01 at 3.42.20 PM.png
This is Jenkins' shot chart this year. With his FT% being at almost 80%, it is simply a better value shot to try to get to the line (let alone get their guy in foul trouble -- or in this specific scenario, challenge Xavier's backup bigs), then settle for midrange jumpers.

(I also recommend everyone to get an account with https://cbbanalytics.com/ -- you can get all of this info for free)
 
Of course there could be 20+ plays through the course of a game that contributes to a Loss... but with 3 mins to go- tie game... Ousmane fouled out... Soriano HAS to touch the ball down low each time down.
I agree, however I don't think we got a single stop on defense after Ousmane fouled out. We couldn't defend without fouling down the stretch. Even if they got it to Soriano every time down the court after the foul out (which I would not be opposed to), unless they defended better I don't think it would have mattered. It would, however, be a nice indication that they recognized a mismatch and went at it but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome.
 
I agree, however I don't think we got a single stop on defense after Ousmane fouled out. We couldn't defend without fouling down the stretch. Even if they got it to Soriano every time down the court after the foul out (which I would not be opposed to), unless they defended better I don't think it would have mattered. It would, however, be a nice indication that they recognized a mismatch and went at it but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome.
Maybe continue scoring and get us to OT perhaps.... I'm partially clowning around.
 
I agree, however I don't think we got a single stop on defense after Ousmane fouled out. We couldn't defend without fouling down the stretch. Even if they got it to Soriano every time down the court after the foul out (which I would not be opposed to), unless they defended better I don't think it would have mattered. It would, however, be a nice indication that they recognized a mismatch and went at it but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome.
I have to re-watch the final sequence, (as i feel Quincy hit a shot late in the shot clock after a scramble)... but i feel going down low to Joel- the way the officials were calling the game- would have probably yielded FTs if not a potential and-1.... again... hypotheticals... Jenkins was having a hell of a game- that shot of his would have been my 1b to posting Joel 1a
 
The shot in a vacuum probably wasn’t that bad. I haven’t watched it back.

The decision to shoot (and not pass it to Soriano) is inexcusable, though. At the end of every close loss we have the same discussion about the pivotal moment. It’s always a Jenkins jumper and it’s never Soriano.
It’s my opinion that the Olivari 3 pointers late were not necessarily all on Jenkins , if at all. You seem to nip pick those 2 plays and ignore the entirety of the last 2 minutes , 37 seconds when X went 13-2 run .

One of the Olivari 3’s was him getting a loose ball and launching a 3 from the deep corner Kind of lucky he came up with the ball but , he nailed it .

The shot that Olivari made from deep in center court seems to have occurred with him as a trailer on the play . He made a great shot .



The Announcers said throughout the game that he was one of the best 3 point shooters in the BE , if not the Country .


Team defense collapsed on the final minutes , picking nits on one player , whom you have trashed all season ,is your own Crusade .

We have 2 impact players on this team , Soriano and Jenkins . Everyone else are role players .

In the BE , 2 impact players isn’t enough . Pitino knows it and the League’s Coaches know it .

The top tier of the BE teams all have guards who are quick and skilled . Teams that have solved our defense are Guards that can go coast to coast and blow by our defense .. We don’t have a Answer because we don’t have comparable talent .
Pitino has gotten a lot , so far , out of our 2 best players . But , beyond them , …….
 
Kind of silly IMO that Soriano suddenly has become the 2nd coming of Kareem, he had a good 2nd half, no question, but Jenkins was 11-15, 2-3 from 3 when he took a good shot that missed, period end of story………….
To say nothing about Sorianos foul shotting over the last several games- generally maked only one of two. I have noticed the longer he takes at the line brfore he shoots, almost guaranteed to be a miss.
 
Oh, OK, a crypt then. It's not the Garden and never will be! The Subway base and others far West of it are not making the trip. Now if it is a NCAA game, maybe,
For the most part, and Nova being the exception, they haven’t exactly been making the trip to the Garden either. And those giveaway tickets at CA helps also.
 
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