Chief’s Briefs - St John’s Edition

[alphasigko]

Not sure about you, but Creighton and Marquette have been killing my brackets for years. I hope St John’s can do something positive for a change.

True Dat about Marquette and Creighton. I had Creighton in the FF last season losing to UConn in the final game. Fully wishful thinking!

 

[Chief00]

Whether he’s a five or four, and high hedging don’t matter here. Something else is missing, he played much better last year backing up Clingan. He had some spectacular blocks, and was very sure of himself around the rim. I think the answer is he needs to go back to being a backup again but this time to Reed. Reed starts, plain and simple, and at times, on occasion even bring in Samson for someone other than Reed.

I agree, that seems to be the role that fits his skillset, overall knowledge of game. His rebounding is inadequate given that we don’t have guards that are 6-5/6-6 who can rebound and defend in the paint. One reason the high hedge is a foul machine and a rebounding vulnerability this year more than last year. He is out of position near half court to do either.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I agree. They seem to have the BE teams figured out.
But I don't see them as exceptionally talented and don't see them being as successful outside the conference.

They won’t have the Big East refs to help them out either. Expect two or three to get into early foul trouble with all that wild dog bumping, grabbing and arm swatting.

 

[dogpause]

St John’s won’t make it past the sweet sixteen. And I love saying it.

I completely disagree. They play a high voltage version of Big East Basketball that travels, is hard to prepare for, creates fouls and turnovers, collects rebounds, and includes a swagger that has propelled past UConn teams to great heights. Not letting sour grapes taint my appreciation for what they are doing. They're a Big East brother, so I'll be cheering for them in the tournament. I'm a fan of great coaching, and Pittino has done a helluva job, he deserves his due.

 

[Edward Sargent]

They're tougher that's for sure. We got punked on the offensive glass and they beat us to most loose balls.

This team isn't as talented as the last few years but we also don't have anywhere near the same toughness those teams had.

We actually had 3 more offensive rebounds than they did. Interesting stat that Tarris had 6 offensive rebounds and no defensive rebounds! Our problem was exemplified by that 30 second stretch where we missed 10 shots but got 8 offensive rebounds!

 

[Edward Sargent]

We are gambling our game on 3 pointers many from long distances. That's fine at times but I do not see a plan B when the gamble is losing or at least sticking to it. One or two possessions later we are back to hoisting bricks abandoning plan B. Plan B today would have kept us in striking distance (e.g. 8-10 points). Plan B sometimes is continually going inside to Reed or attacking the rim, etc.

Another issue is that we have no reliable spark off the bench, offensively speaking. Having that missing option when our shots aren't falling is deadly and severely limits our winning chances.

We don't have a reliable spark off the bench defensively speaking either!

 

[gtcam]

We actually had 3 more offensive rebounds than they did. Interesting stat that Tarris had 6 offensive rebounds and no defensive rebounds! Our problem was exemplified by that 30 second stretch where we missed 10 shots but got 8 offensive rebounds!

Read loves hitting the offensive boards but is never in position to effectively crash the defensive glass

 

[Chief00]

I got a lot of criticism here not liking Danny’s “3-peat” preseason narrative when we had only 1 returning starter coming back.
So I was not one of the poster here, who over estimated the talents of our players. But, there are many here who did.
Having said that, I don’t think many of our issues get resolved by being harder on the players or telling everyone to be tougher. Sure we need to be tough but the missed evaluations of who should start/play, lack of coherent inbounds plays, poor fundamentals on screening and Bigs over committing on the high hedge near half court leading to late catch up type paint fouling or open 3’s - begs to also include a lot of mechanical fundamental teaching.

 

[Chief00]

Read loves hitting the offensive boards but is never in position to effectively crash the defensive glass

I know my connecting this to overcommitting on the high hedge, drives many crazy. But, there is a clear connection. In Reed’s case we have a guy who has rebounding skills but it is a tough thing to be in position to do starting from the top of the circle above the foul line.
Most of the work on a rebound is done before a shot goes up.

 

[Chief00]

I completely disagree. They play a high voltage version of Big East Basketball that travels, is hard to prepare for, creates fouls and turnovers, collects rebounds, and includes a swagger that has propelled past UConn teams to great heights. Not letting sour grapes taint my appreciation for what they are doing. They're a Big East brother, so I'll be cheering for them in the tournament. I'm a fan of great coaching, and Pittino has done a helluva job, he deserves his due.

Agree, I dislike Pitino but he’s a great coach.

 

[RuffRuff]

I completely disagree. They play a high voltage version of Big East Basketball that travels, is hard to prepare for, creates fouls and turnovers, collects rebounds, and includes a swagger that has propelled past UConn teams to great heights. Not letting sour grapes taint my appreciation for what they are doing. They're a Big East brother, so I'll be cheering for them in the tournament. I'm a fan of great coaching, and Pittino has done a helluva job, he deserves his due.

I'm super excited to see how they matchup against some of the top teams out there because they are so different.

Games against Houston & Tennessee would be brawls. They were a point away from squaring away with Tenn in the early season, but this StJ team has come light years since then. I'd be of particular interest to see them play Houston, because they'd go toe to toe on defensive ferocity, but have so much more size on the perimeter and Houston has little guards that shoot threes.

Would be wild to see them play a Kentucky or Bama and see how those two teams respond to long defenders in their players shirts.

I also like their potential in the tourney. That is a group of men and they have versatility based on matchups, and Pitino can outcoach just about anyone. They run into a Duke, a kid like Smith would be a nightmare matchup for them as a hyper fast rocket ship. Duke got manhandled by Tennessee a couple tourneys ago and would be wild to see how freshmen respond to what they do. StJ will absolutely be the team I watch most closely outside of Uconn. Michigan next, as dying to see how that two big man offense works in the post season. I actually think we'd match up well with them.

 

[jibsey]

It’s very difficult to predict how our team matches up against anyone at this point. We certainly are capable of losing to bad teams and we can hang with the good ones for the most part.