Chief’s Briefs - St John’s Edition

[Chief00]

At this point, we put this behind us and move on to the NCAA’s. Let’s hope Demary’s ankle isn’t as bad as it looked given the timeframe. Let’s support our team!

Give St John’s credit, they played great with lots of effort. The things we did wrong in our 20 point wins, that I was criticized for mentioning, we did wrong against SJ, but they capitalized on those things. Things such as our 16 turnovers, which led to 24 points. Or our 16% 3 point FG % (3-19), which we have seen as recently as our last game. A lack of fast breaks, with only 4 fast break points.

Other people will beat up the team today and they gave us lots of material to do that, but I won’t endlessly go on. We did try to comeback but could not get over the 8-10 point hump and then it collapsed.

Big picture, it seemed like we had a strategy to get it into Reed, but the pivot from Euro ball offense was confusing to many players, who did not find their fit in the scheme on the fly. We are also not built for physicality other than Reed.

I will say this it was interesting bReEDiNg took a preemptive shot at Hurley, 7 minutes into the game with a technical for apparently stomping his foot loudly, despite the loud roar of the crowd. It is absolute malfeasance for bReEDiNg to do one of our games but 2 out of 3 in the conference tournament was a definite message by the league office. No mistake about it.

But, on to the next adventure - Selection Sunday.

 

[freescooter]

The tech seemed over the top. I don’t normally agree with you on officiating but that was egregious.

We lack physical players. We lack depth. As I said before Hurley love smaller point guards. I don’t get it. Diara, last year the kid from Philly, Smith. Diara was the only one to work out. We also don’t have a guy who can come off the bench and light it up for a few minutes like Joey California did. Diara kind of played that role in 2024. Maybe they thought Ross would do it.

 

[GHSWolverines]

If we have a chance to make any noise in March Madness, Demary has to be available. Otherwise it will be a quick exit and we get eliminated in the round of 32. I could go on with our weaknesses but I am about to go out for breakfast with my family and I want to enjoy it.

 

[Chief00]

The tech seemed over the top. I don’t normally agree with you on officiating but that was egregious.

We lack physical players. We lack depth. As I said before Hurley love smaller point guards. I don’t get it. Diara, last year the kid from Philly, Smith. Diara was the only one to work out. We also don’t have a guy who can come off the bench and light it up for a few minutes like Joey California did. Diara kind of played that role in 2024. Maybe they thought Ross would do it.

Tristen Newton & Hassan Diarra were physical PG’s, but true the others were not.

 

[Chief00]

If we have a chance to make any noise in March Madness, Demary has to be available. Otherwise it will be a quick exit and we get eliminated in the round of 32. I could go on with our weaknesses but I am about to go out for breakfast with my family and I want to enjoy it.

I hear you but keep in mind the games we won. Also, you really need to be good, to play well given tge grabbing and holding the Val Breedings of the Big East allow against our players. Time to depart the conference.

 

[jorge34]

I hear you but keep in mind the games we won. Also, you really need to be good, to play well given tge grabbing and holding the Val Breedings of the Big East allow against our players. Time to depart the conference.

It’s been time to depart this idiotic conference for quite a while. They don’t play basketball, but rather some basketball-rugby hybrid.

 

[Kitaman]

Its concerning that we have a hard time inbounding the ball. Also equally disturbing is our lazy passes creating turnovers/deflections.

Its March and having these two issues on our team is not Championship level play. I just think we are not as sharp as we need to be and certainly not at the point were opposing teams fear us.

If we get to the Finals we will have to have our A game and nothing less.

 

[businesslawyer]

The game was ugly for three reasons.

1. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. Just like we didn’t in Milwaukee with a share of the regular season title on the line. Part of that was I’m sure it was easier for them to get up for the game with the revenge factor, but part of that is this team since Big East play started just doesn’t play with full urgency and intensity all the time.

2. The shooting. Despite not being able to hit a 3 to save our lives, we got back to within 7 in the 2d half. Had any of Karaban, Ball or Mullens gotten hot, coming back would not have been impossible. This played into the key possession of the game. Down 10 with the ball coming out of the 8 minute TO, we had a possession with a bunch of offensive rebounds and multiple shots, including good looks from 3 for both BM and Solo. They both missed. That was basically the end of the game.

3. I don’t like complaining about refs, and this game didn’t have egregiously bad calls (for the most part), but this was a game where St. John’s bumped and held just constantly, and not only did the refs from the opening whistle say that was o.k., but we got called for offensive fouls twice in the first half for responding by trying to get the offenders off our guys with the ball. We won’t win games against good teams if constant mild fouls aren’t called when we have the ball. St Johns played really really well against us the way the game was called, and probably played themselves into a pod in Philly alongside us next weekend, but if they play like that they’re going to give up 35 foul shots and lose in the second round. Big East games need to be called like games are called in the rest of the country.

This was a pretty strange season. I don’t want to beat on a team that won as many games as they did, and were within 40 minutes of having earned a #1 seed, BUT, just like Chief talks about his warning signs, the absolute truth is we played our best ball early in the season with Mullens out and being integrated into the team as opposed to once he settled in as a starter. That’s not a knock on him, although he was particularly awful yesterday, but sometimes the pieces don’t fit the way the coach thought they would when the season started. And with Karaban, Ball and Mullens playing together, the pieces just didn’t fit well. Too much finesse, too high a percentage of 3 balls, too many players who need the ball in their hands to be effective, not enough athleticism, physicality and defense. And while Ross had a good tournament (not as good yesterday but still needed for D and athleticism), that’s why we miss Stewart in ways that aren’t always obvious.

 

[jibsey]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

 

[businesslawyer]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

From being there last night, and without wanting to replay the entire season, yes, it was true last night. There were possessions where St. John’s would physically bump and impede our movements in ways were you could have easily called 3 defensive fouls on any one possession. The officiating was not “unfair” — they called and didn’t call the same things both ways — but we don’t defend where we’re constantly fouling and daring the refs to ruin the flow of the game by constantly blowing the whistle.

 

[CTBasketball]

That was a pretty unenjoyable experience as brain dead St Johns fans berated me and my family for 2 hours.

 

[Chief00]

Its concerning that we have a hard time inbounding the ball. Also equally disturbing is our lazy passes creating turnovers/deflections.

Its March and having these two issues on our team is not Championship level play. I just think we are not as sharp as we need to be and certainly not at the point were opposing teams fear us.

If we get to the Finals we will have to have our A game and nothing less.

Agree with your observations. Having said that, now is the time to support our guys and coaches more than ever.

 

[Chief00]

That was a pretty unenjoyable experience as brain dead St Johns fans berated me and my family for 2 hours.

Thanks for supporting our team when it was difficult to do so.

 

[Kolumbo]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

I honestly can't even tell what should or should not be called, but the calls and non-calls are certainly not consistent. SJU was so much more physical than UConn and yet Reed had 2 fouls and Reibe had 3 fouls at the half. Ejiofar had 0. That affects everything about the game - the first half results, the game flow and then someone like Reed having to dial it back for fear of fowling out. It is impossible to play the way Ejiofor played while collecting just 1 foul. sure Darling had 4 fouls but who gives a sheet.

And the kicker, when Ejiofor smacked Demary over the head knocking him out of the game. No call.

 

[Mets1432]

Silas non call foul

This has been a foul in basketball since the game was created. Just because it was clean on the ball, doesn't make it less of a foul.

Honestly there is argument it should of been a Flagrant 1. But it is for sure a common. The push in the back and the forearm to the face.

If I was Danny, I would of got ejected over this.

 

[Glastonhusky]

The tech seemed over the top. I don’t normally agree with you on officiating but that was egregious.

We lack physical players. We lack depth. As I said before Hurley love smaller point guards. I don’t get it. Diara, last year the kid from Philly, Smith. Diara was the only one to work out. We also don’t have a guy who can come off the bench and light it up for a few minutes like Joey California did. Diara kind of played that role in 2024. Maybe they thought Ross would do it.

Agree about the tech. I think generally Hurley likes bigger guards, he recruited Newton and Silas is a bigger guard, County next year is also a bigger guard. We do need to hit the portal hard this off season, we need to get more athletic, more size and ball handlers.

 

[ucp990411]

The game was ugly for three reasons.

1. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. Just like we didn’t in Milwaukee with a share of the regular season title on the line. Part of that was I’m sure it was easier for them to get up for the game with the revenge factor, but part of that is this team since Big East play started just doesn’t play with full urgency and intensity all the time.

2. The shooting. Despite not being able to hit a 3 to save our lives, we got back to within 7 in the 2d half. Had any of Karaban, Ball or Mullens gotten hot, coming back would not have been impossible. This played into the key possession of the game. Down 10 with the ball coming out of the 8 minute TO, we had a possession with a bunch of offensive rebounds and multiple shots, including good looks from 3 for both BM and Solo. They both missed. That was basically the end of the game.

3. I don’t like complaining about refs, and this game didn’t have egregiously bad calls (for the most part), but this was a game where St. John’s bumped and held just constantly, and not only did the refs from the opening whistle say that was o.k., but we got called for offensive fouls twice in the first half for responding by trying to get the offenders off our guys with the ball. We won’t win games against good teams if constant mild fouls aren’t called when we have the ball. St Johns played really really well against us the way the game was called, and probably played themselves into a pod in Philly alongside us next weekend, but if they play like that they’re going to give up 35 foul shots and lose in the second round. Big East games need to be called like games are called in the rest of the country.

This was a pretty strange season. I don’t want to beat on a team that won as many games as they did, and were within 40 minutes of having earned a #1 seed, BUT, just like Chief talks about his warning signs, the absolute truth is we played our best ball early in the season with Mullens out and being integrated into the team as opposed to once he settled in as a starter. That’s not a knock on him, although he was particularly awful yesterday, but sometimes the pieces don’t fit the way the coach thought they would when the season started. And with Karaban, Ball and Mullens playing together, the pieces just didn’t fit well. Too much finesse, too high a percentage of 3 balls, too many players who need the ball in their hands to be effective, not enough athleticism, physicality and defense. And while Ross had a good tournament (not as good yesterday but still needed for D and athleticism), that’s why we miss Stewart in ways that aren’t always obvious.

You hit the nail on the head. Too much finesse. With Karaban at the 4, wouldn’t it make sense to have a more physical player at the 3, like Ross or Stewart. Would it be possible that when recruiting Mullens he was told he would be a starter and also did not want to diss Solo with not starting him? Easier to tell Ross and Stewart that they would be coming off the bench than Solo.

 

[Kolumbo]

Silas non call foul

This has been a foul in basketball since the game was created. Just because it was clean on the ball, doesn't make it less of a foul.

Honestly there is argument it should of been a Flagrant 1. But it is for sure a common. The push in the back and the forearm to the face.

If I was Danny, I would of got ejected over this.

That was so blatant including the push in the back. The knockdown is what caused the ankle injury. And the announcer called it "aggression" without even considering the fouls. Just awful. It was an 11 point game at the time of the assault.

 

[boog204]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

Honestly, him whining has gotten old. We were a very physical team 23 and 24 and my memory is nobody complained. Then we became soft as butter last year and all of a sudden the league is against us and him bla bla bla. I mean 90% of our screens the last four years are illegal. Samson would get called at least 1-2 a game.

 

[DRBackup]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

Well, they got away with this, at least... Feel pretty confident that allowing that kind of contact is indicative of something

 

[Spaceman213J]

I didn't get why the Hurley & staff didn't catch the no call and asked for a review. I know there were concerns about Demary's leg at the time, but there should be someone who should have got Hurley's attention and demand the refs take a look at it.
Best case, the refs charge a flagrant and it could end up being a 2 to 6 or 7 point swing. At the least, you make the refs see they blew a pretty obvious call.

I get Hurley's frustration at the foul on Reed. Reed lowered the shoulder to create space, but was fouled on the catch. Was pushed again after he landed and then had an extend forearm in his back, which used to an automatic foul. It was, at least, for SJ every time he was on the floor the previous 4 years.

 

[SaeHusky]

The game was ugly for three reasons.

1. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. Just like we didn’t in Milwaukee with a share of the regular season title on the line. Part of that was I’m sure it was easier for them to get up for the game with the revenge factor, but part of that is this team since Big East play started just doesn’t play with full urgency and intensity all the time.

2. The shooting. Despite not being able to hit a 3 to save our lives, we got back to within 7 in the 2d half. Had any of Karaban, Ball or Mullens gotten hot, coming back would not have been impossible. This played into the key possession of the game. Down 10 with the ball coming out of the 8 minute TO, we had a possession with a bunch of offensive rebounds and multiple shots, including good looks from 3 for both BM and Solo. They both missed. That was basically the end of the game.

3. I don’t like complaining about refs, and this game didn’t have egregiously bad calls (for the most part), but this was a game where St. John’s bumped and held just constantly, and not only did the refs from the opening whistle say that was o.k., but we got called for offensive fouls twice in the first half for responding by trying to get the offenders off our guys with the ball. We won’t win games against good teams if constant mild fouls aren’t called when we have the ball. St Johns played really really well against us the way the game was called, and probably played themselves into a pod in Philly alongside us next weekend, but if they play like that they’re going to give up 35 foul shots and lose in the second round. Big East games need to be called like games are called in the rest of the country.

This was a pretty strange season. I don’t want to beat on a team that won as many games as they did, and were within 40 minutes of having earned a #1 seed, BUT, just like Chief talks about his warning signs, the absolute truth is we played our best ball early in the season with Mullens out and being integrated into the team as opposed to once he settled in as a starter. That’s not a knock on him, although he was particularly awful yesterday, but sometimes the pieces don’t fit the way the coach thought they would when the season started. And with Karaban, Ball and Mullens playing together, the pieces just didn’t fit well. Too much finesse, too high a percentage of 3 balls, too many players who need the ball in their hands to be effective, not enough athleticism, physicality and defense. And while Ross had a good tournament (not as good yesterday but still needed for D and athleticism), that’s why we miss Stewart in ways that aren’t always obvious.

Excellent post. We are better off with only 2 of Mullins, Ball and Karaban on the floor at any given time. However with Stewart out its hard to only play 2 at a time

 

[RitzLuce1]

Honestly, him whining has gotten old. We were a very physical team 23 and 24 and my memory is nobody complained. Then we became soft as butter last year and all of a sudden the league is against us and him bla bla bla. I mean 90% of our screens the last four years are illegal. Samson would get called at least 1-2 a game.

The “very physical” 23 and 24 teams (that dominated the NCAA tournament) were routinely out shot at the free throw line in big east play. People have been talking about this since the first year in the league.

 

[EnochRoot]

The no call when Zuby floored Demary (causing his injury) was about as bad of a no-call I’ve seen this year.

That said, Reed plays the shortest 6’11” I’ve ever seen a 5 play.

 

[housekeys]

My question is for the Boneyard coaches who have watched and analyzed this on replay. Hurley said he had to break down the tape but alluded to clutching, grabbing, holding and the physicality of the game and what BE refs allow. He has talked about this ALL season.
For anyone who rewatched it is that true #1and secondly is getting to OOC again really going to fix it? We for the most part played worse in the BE than against highly ranked OOC opponents early in the year.
Did St. John's get away with a ton of non calls? We had 16 they had 17 personal fouls. Free throws were us 11-14 and them 13-17.
I only bring it up because this seems to be what Hurley is hanging his hat on.

"Non calls" are not a BY excuse, it is a real thing. Playing physical without fouling (I.e. non calls) is a skill. All coaches, coach it, but some teams are better at it than others. In the NCAA, it depends on how the game is officiated AND if the opposing team is good at the above mentioned skill. The often mentioned FTA disparity and turnovers that have haunted UConn tells us that they are not good at the "skill".