St. John's Post Game Thread

[Marat]

What’s the relationship between Hurley and Pitino.
The handshake between the two seemed pretty cold. They walked briskly by the other, gave a quick handshake and kept moving on. There’s usually a short chat with shoulder slapping before head coaches move on down the line.
Any personal animosity between the two or just each’s fiery competitiveness, especially Pitino since he was on the losing end ?

I don't after game, why he walked by quickly, but before game they were chatting for some time . I guess nothing else to add after game.

 

[willie99]

It’s fun to read all of the thoughts before you comment. Funny thing is I agree with those naysayers who are concerned as well as the fact that a win is a win.

Hey both games had its ugliness for sure and if you aren’t a bit nervous about what you’ve seen, you are lying to yourself. Look the dynamic of this team changed dramatically with DC down. The other teams no longer dropping 2-3 guys down when he gets the ball or trying to keep him from getting it therefore leaving others open for looks. They will need to adjust no doubt and who knows for how long.

Very happy with the win no doubt, they gutted one out and it’s huge to assure they’re not 0-2. But it’s not pretty right now and it does make you very nervous about who they can be. I look at Castles inability to finish early as a positive though. He’s a really good basketball player and smart as well. He will figure it out and did at the end. I mean the fact he gets where he wants and when he wants is impressive now it’s up to him to think of how to get better shots off, pull up short bank home 8 footers. I think he will and he is a key moving forward.

Samson was really good even getting respect to take 3 long steps for a dunk lol. Thrilled with his game but he’s a foul away from us playing too small. Singare looked fine, certainly battled his heart out. Good for him.

I could go on and on but they need the week off to continue to work on what they will see from every Big East team moving forward. If I’m the other staff and I see the refs are letting teams beat up Newton and Spencer then why not? They need Castle and Alex to help take that away with more aggressive finishing and creating shots.

And I still want to see a 2-3 mixed in on occasion because I’m sick of blow bys!

Truth is, I'm not worried my friend. I'm enjoying the ride. There will be bumps and curves and rock fights, it's how you navigate those contingencies that matter most. In Dan I trust, as well as Newton and Karraban and Cam and Diarra and all our experienced kids

The truth is, without Donovan, we're not national title favorites, but we're still really good

 

[willie99]

I don't after game, why he walked by quickly, but before game they were chatting for some time . I guess nothing else to add after game.

Then maybe my take about stealing Alleyne is wrong

 

[willie99]

On Johnson's late game dunk. I didn't see his feet, I just know he covered a lot of ground without dribbling

I was waiting for it to be waived off, momentarily, before resuming my celebration

 

[Scrappy3]

Hurley made a reference to it, and certainly isn’t the only one, but college hoops is old this year, with so many people in their fifth years. You've got 23 year olds with five years of coaching and college strength/conditioning all over rosters. They’re quicker and stronger than 19 year olds, and they often play defense like grown men. We do have Newton and Spencer as 5th year guards which helps, but our wings and bigs are comparatively young - it didn’t hurt us in most non-conference games, but perhaps we have seen it a little with Seton Hall and St. John’s both being pretty old. Other than Clingan, we are getting muscled off our spots, and bumped off our cuts, and the windows to attack are pretty small, especially without great floor spacing. We won’t get much older and stronger between now and March, but hopefully we can adjust.

We made a huge investment in younger players i a year we prob could use 1-2 vets instead. Two freshmen dont even play.

 

[Sky ball]

Dan hurley wins his first ever close game woooo

Fire Hurley...Game to close

 

[elmcityboy]

On Johnson's late game dunk. I didn't see his feet, I just know he covered a lot of ground without dribbling

I was waiting for it to be waived off, momentarily, before resuming my celebration

i thought the same thing live. but sanogo would often get the same hop step coming off of the pick-and-roll and it was basically never called, so i am sure that's how the players are taught.

regardless of whether it was a travel, he took off from about 10 feet out!! pretty incredible athleticism.

 

[Deleted at users request]

One good thing I’d like to point out.

How cool and smart it was to have a game at XL during the holiday break. I personally saw a lot of people who don’t live in CT back home for the break at the game and it seems like it was super loud and packed because of more people who were probably doing the same.

Great job by the schedulers for getting this one at XL! Perfect timing for the holidays and I’m sure that made helped a lot of family and friends build some very memorable moments together.

 

[HuskyPride87]

They lost to BC. I rest my case.

FAU lost to Bryant. They must be a garbage team too. Boy, you can really tell which posters don’t know a damn thing about this sport.

 

[Improviser]

He needs to become a force from 8 -15 feet, otherwise he will never be sagged off on the 3 point line.

He moves well without the ball and has a high BB IQ. He can put it on the floor.

Seems like something he is capable of doing if he puts his mind to it.

He puts a ton of time into working out after hours. I think he will progress further if he plays closer to the basket more of the time.

 

[dennismenace]

I have no voice. Someone else is going to have to make the Christmas Eve Toast

We won a rockfight, nothing bad to take away from this game. If you thought we were going to roll St John's, and / or if you laid the 11 points, well that's just on you

Everybody is going to give us their best

And Rickey is just getting started at St John's. His comment after the game that we were "decent" is Rickey being Rickey. Lots of battles in the years ahead. It will get everyone's passions boiling. Good for the league to have big bad Rickey back in town. Good to knock them on their a%*&$ for starters.

 

[dennismenace]

Anyone else see Dan Hurley giving the double finger to some schmuck(s?) in the stands right before he turned around to join the handshake line at the end of the game???

What was that about? Anyone at the game in that section know?

Otherwise, unlike against SHU, I thought UConn played hard and won by out-toughing STJ. Offense still not there, but otherwise UConn played better in every other aspect tonight than they did in the last game.

Huge props to Samson who I thought would get taken to the woodshed by Soriano. Gives hope with DC being out 2-4 weeks.

Sounded like the crowd was really loud on TV. That had to help in Hartford.

 

[aburks41]

Yes, Castle's performance late was very encouraging, forget about point guard, we need him to bring what Andre Jackson brought to the team and he did that yesterday.

I wonder if the staff should try to use some of those Andre Jackson plays that we saw late in the season, for Castle. Especially if he’s not much of a threat to shoot from outside right now. Teams are going to end up sagging off him and daring him to shoot. His driving ability is pretty near elite, but they might need to put him in some different spots to find open shooters.

 

[uconngb]

down to who could deal with trash officiating better. Thankfully

FAU lost to Bryant. They must be a garbage team too. Boy, you can really tell which posters don’t know a damn thing about this sport.

Comparing FAU to St John’s shows what you know. SJU will not sniff the NCAAs

 

[Icehawk]

This felt a lot better than SH where I was pretty sure from the jump we were going to take a L, last night I didn’t feel like we were doomed. Was it the best or prettiest maybe not but a W is what matters.

Good game from Johnson - loved those push shots, Singare showed some promise (he seems pretty quick and put in effort), but I don’t like watching Castle stand around near the corner - he needs to slash more to the basket and keep in motion.

SJ is all transfers, they could become a bit of a machine later in the season as they get time together.

 

[freshler40]

One good thing I’d like to point out.

How cool and smart it was to have a game at XL during the holiday break. I personally saw a lot of people who don’t live in CT back home for the break at the game and it seems like it was super loud and packed because of more people who were probably doing the same.

Great job by the schedulers for getting this one at XL! Perfect timing for the holidays and I’m sure that made helped a lot of family and friends build some very memorable moments together.

Loved the Fox overhead scans of Hartford. Saturday night during a holiday week with a tough win was beyond great!

 

[Palatine]

Lol…..yes, we are the only team that every other school gets hyped up for. What a crock.

We are the only reigning National Champion. You think that doesn't bring something special and totally unique?

 

[Bazz2014]

Per Hurley post game, the team had 1 practice to prep for the game after finding out there was no Don. To me, that makes the team win, and especially what SJ did last night, more impressive/gutsy.

The good news is, the coaches and team now have a long layoff, and 2 games worth of BE game film, to assess what the weaknesses are, what we need to retool knowing Clingan is gone for a while, and fine tune things for the rest of the conference slog. They dont need to recreate the wheel but I would imagine there are tweaks that can maximize Castle’s skill set, improve the offense against various zone looks, create a legit 5-out set for when Karaban is at the 5 when needed, etc.

This staff has proven they can adjust- they now have a decent runway of rest/practice time to make whatever’s changes are needed to ride out the storm til Clingan is back.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So I missed a bit last night, watched the whole game this morning. Honestly it seems worse than it is. The problems:
1. Alex isn’t shooting. Normal Alex is at least +6 points last night.
2. Newton is being abused and is also not shooting well. He doesn’t seem to be responding well to not getting the calls. Has to adapt and get the confidence back. Normal Newton is about +8 last night.
3. Diarra was terrible. I think he’s falling into the “I have to do something when I’m in“ trap. That something needs to start with defense, then passing and distributing. Scoring is way down the list.
4. Castle is in ISO mode. His rep is as a facilitator and I’m not seeing enough of that. His ISO moves tend to lead to doubles and turnovers. His one sweet move he stepped on the baseline. Still he battles on D and the boards. Would like to see him cutting without the ball instead of just attacking off the dribble.

The talent is there.

 

[IndyLives]

Hurley called out DC's fitness last night in the presser. That was very eye-opening. Hurley has a lot of Calhoun in him.

 

[uconngb]

We are the only reigning National Champion. You think that doesn't bring something special and totally unique?

I think it’s completely overplayed. The refs don’t have it out for us and every team doesn’t play their best game against us. Sometimes we just stink, like against the Hall. Need to stop trying to make excuses and look in the mirror.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I think it’s completely overplayed. The refs don’t have it out for us and every team doesn’t play their best game against us. Sometimes we just stink, like against the Hall. Need to stop trying to make excuses and look in the mirror.

OK, we stink. We all agree that we are a bad basketball team. You win.
Now what ? What should the boneyard do about this ? How can the boneyard help the team ? Is enjoying the win and trying to find things to be happy about after a win hurting the team ?

 

[The Yakk]

Comparing FAU to St John’s shows what you know. SJU will not sniff the NCAAs

He was comparing St. John's to Bryant not FAU, but I suspect that reading comprehension is not one of your strong suits.

 

[AllHusky]

Per Hurley post game, the team had 1 practice to prep for the game after finding out there was no Don. To me, that makes the team win, and especially what SJ did last night, more impressive/gutsy.

The good news is, the coaches and team now have a long layoff, and 2 games worth of BE game film, to assess what the weaknesses are, what we need to retool knowing Clingan is gone for a while, and fine tune things for the rest of the conference slog. They dont need to recreate the wheel but I would imagine there are tweaks that can maximize Castle’s skill set, improve the offense against various zone looks, create a legit 5-out set for when Karaban is at the 5 when needed, etc.

This staff has proven they can adjust- they now have a decent runway of rest/practice time to make whatever’s changes are needed to ride out the storm til Clingan is back.

Good lord, such a voice of reason!! On the money Bazz2014. Go Huskies!

 

[AllHusky]

OK, we stink. We all agree that we are a bad basketball team. You win.
Now what ? What should the boneyard do about this ? How can the boneyard help the team ? Is enjoying the win and trying to find things to be happy about after a win hurting the team ?

Nope, see Bazz2014 for cool, calm and reasoned words. Stay away from gb if you don't want to be bummed out!!

 

[notEwekon]

We barely won against an awful team. I’m in no way happy about that

Corny

 

[Dogdeacon]

So I missed a bit last night, watched the whole game this morning. Honestly it seems worse than it is. The problems:
1. Alex isn’t shooting. Normal Alex is at least +6 points last night.
2. Newton is being abused and is also not shooting well. He doesn’t seem to be responding well to not getting the calls. Has to adapt and get the confidence back. Normal Newton is about +8 last night.
3. Diarra was terrible. I think he’s falling into the “I have to do something when I’m in“ trap. That something needs to start with defense, then passing and distributing. Scoring is way down the list.
4. Castle is in ISO mode. His rep is as a facilitator and I’m not seeing enough of that. His ISO moves tend to lead to doubles and turnovers. His one sweet move he stepped on the baseline. Still he battles on D and the boards. Would like to see him cutting without the ball instead of just attacking off the dribble.

The talent is there.

Yeah, it seems to me issue with UConn guards generally (1.Cam, 2.Newton, 3. Diarra 4. Ball) is they arent pushing the ball quickly enough and not initially attacking. Then Castle sees this and thinks; “I’m the best one-on-one player on the floor so I need to “ and he forces the issue AFTER the half court defense is set. Need to transition more quickly and look to Drive and create at beginning of each possession to at a minimum stretch the defense.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Okay, for the first time this season, I’m officially worried.

Earlier, I thought of this team as a great offensive team, able to work inside out, with great outside shooting and freshmen that would be developing as the season goes on. The Clingan injury changes a lot of things. Three point shooting is a genuine concern, and none of the freshmen are developing.

Karaban – this is perhaps the biggest surprise for me. His shot is so off right now. He’s not just going through a streak where they’re not dropping, they don’t look good at all. I’m thinking the finger has to be causing that. This is affecting his overall offensive rhythm. And he’s getting exploited defensively.

Spencer – Confidence in his shot is not there like it was. He’s not hunting it like he was before. Great effort by him overall though. I like that he recognizes times where he has to try and create something when the team is not going well.

Newton – I love Newton. I have said since early last year that this team goes as Newton goes. He’s the one guy on the team that can create offense on his own. Singlehandedly kept us in the Kansas game. Two limited games in a row though. Seems to have lost confidence in his three point shooting. Even his free throw shooting has been off?! He needs to provide offensive toughness when things are not going well. Did just enough of it to win tonight, especially late. Smart foul at the end.

Diarra - Seems to be maxing out his potential. I think his upside is limited, but he has played tough. Smart tough dude.

Johnson - I have never seen the upside of Johnson that many have on this board. He’s been a pleasant surprise to me this season. Very happy for him, great story. Great game from him tonight.

The freshmen- NONE of them have improved. This is concerning..

Castle – Just simply has not shown he is an NBA pick. A non-shooter who isn’t creating anything off the dribble. Was ineffective in the middle against the zone tonight. You can see the ability, and I think he will find himself. We absolutely need it. He showed some things late in the game tonight.

Ball – Great athlete that completely lacks confidence right now.

Stewart and Ross – Have not shown enough to even get off the bench. Hurley needs to develop them.

Singare – I thought he provided some decent minutes tonight. Some light there.

How do you exhibit unofficial worry?
Or does the "official" designation have some sanctioning body?

 

[3rdbass]

One good thing I’d like to point out.

How cool and smart it was to have a game at XL during the holiday break. I personally saw a lot of people who don’t live in CT back home for the break at the game and it seems like it was super loud and packed because of more people who were probably doing the same.

Great job by the schedulers for getting this one at XL! Perfect timing for the holidays and I’m sure that made helped a lot of family and friends build some very memorable moments together.

Yeah it was my one time to watch a game as I visit in CT for family during the holidays and this is the one game they played then. We had seats in Section 202 and DD. Those seats sucked so in the 2nd half we moved down to empty seats in Section 114 about 6-7 rows down. A lot better game and more connected to the game moving down. Great crowd and really loud!!!!

 

[uconngb]

He was comparing St. John's to Bryant not FAU, but I suspect that reading comprehension is not one of your strong suits.

Um, no Einstein. He was saying FAU isn’t bad just cuz they lost to Bryant just like SJU isn’t bad just cuz they lost to BC. You might be the dumbest person on here. WOW