St. John's Post Game Thread

[Tyler2Rings]

what do you imagine is the value in this or any post by you in today's post-game thread?

He is right that SJU is not a great team. We are still in a bit of a funk offensively, partly owing to having to adjust to BE play and partly owing to a number of our guys just not hitting high percentage shots. I believe we will turn it around, Hurley teams always are better at the end of the year. But our product on the court right now is far from great

 

[Stinger92860]

Plus KO punched a guy lol

In the face no less

 

[geohusky]

Surprised at the 36 - 24 points in the paint advantage

 

[Hoopcrazee]

I’ll say it St John’s is kinda good

They're not your mother's Johnnies

 

[auror]

A needed win at home, especially after going behind a couple times. We've very rarely won those types of games in the recent past.

Only 8 turnovers against a Pitino defense is good.

The Newton 3 point attempt from the wing 24 feet away with plenty of time on the shot clock and 40 seconds on the game clock up 2 almost killed me. Maybe it was a 2 for 1 attempt, but damn.

22 FTA in the 2nd half. Refs started calling a lot more of the bumps on rebounds and some more freedom of movement stuff. Called it both ways, but I'm sure Hurley got into them at halftime due to us not attempting a FT for the first 19 min of the 1st half.

Obviously love what Samson did tonight stepping up. He had that huge tip steal late in the 2nd half that was so crazy impressive using his length and athleticism (but then immediately got blocked from behind on the roll on the next play.)

Still gotta work on matchup zone offense. Castle has to drive to finish strong and draw fouls and not just hang in the air avoiding contact.

 

[djct1999]

Karaban is guaranteed to have a rougher year. End of story. Nothing to do with his development, potential, or shooting slump.

Karaban needs to learn how to be the guy, vs. being a teams 4th concern last year. He is getting a lot more attention, and his athletic ability and quickness isn’t there. He needs to become a force from 8 -15 feet, otherwise he will never be sagged off on the 3 point line.

Growing pains exist no matter how successful someone is “supposed” to be.

He’ll come back strong as ever, just like he did last year.

Karaban is the least of our worries. Sure, he is in a slump offensively. Some of that is due to his injured fingers. I don't know much, but I know that we can depend on Alex in the long run.

 

[dennismenace]

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.

Spencer was shooting 44% from 3.

 

[Rico444]

Good win. Needed to tough this one out and they did. Nice to see Hurley win a close one for a change

Newton was great down the stretch. Had a nice drive to the bucket followed by a great outlet pass to Castle for the and 1. 15 pts 6 assists 9 rebounds...another stat stuffing night.

All in all I'm happy. It's going to take some time for the team to settle into not playing with Donovan. I'm glad we got the W while we adjust.

 

[uconngb]

Agreed that Newton and Cam looked tired.

Them playing that many minutes, and remaining effective, is not sustainable.

We need another guard to step up.....hoping Solo can fill that role, but he's regressed the past two games.

He hasn’t regressed…..he hasn’t been played!! And who knows why

 

[dennismenace]

I loved how Johnson caught the ball in the flat and then exploded for 8 yards to collect a key first down. Huge play.

 

[alphasigko]

Singare some decent minutes in relief of SJ... That is quite encouraging.

 

[uconngb]

If you think that is an awful team then you have no credibility.

They lost to BC. I rest my case.

 

[AntG168]

They lost to BC. I rest my case.

98% of teams this year have a wtf loss

 

[uconnfan68]

Well usually very reliable Newton was 6-9. He was exhausted. He played 37 minutes and had to bring the ball up against pressure constantly. I'm sure that played a part in his 4-14 from the field, 1-6 from three, too. Spencer missed 1 FT and played 36 minutes. Hurley will have to figure out a way to get more from the bench because those 2 can't play that many minutes until Clingan comes back. Diarra played 20 minutes so not sure where else to turn for a ball handler. Let Castle handle it more?

Castle was in foul trouble early. Took himself out.

 

[navery12]

We should have blown them out you guys are diminishing expectations

How painful was it to delete the other 6 paragraphs you wrote after we didn't lose that game? Some people just like to be miserable

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Chewing gum helps you breathe better. I saw it in chat so it must be true.

Chewing gum fires neurons in the brain and makes you more alert.

 

[GHSWolverines]

It was a cage fight. I am so happy for SJ. Hopefully this gives him more confidence. Soriano is no schlep. SC stepped it up the last 5 minutes. He is still learning the college game. Just needs to not put pressure on himself.

 

[nycscooby]

IF you think that is a good team, then you don't. I doubt St. Johns even makes the tourney.

He said awful. I don’t think they are awful now and I certainly think they will only get better. Hopefully your reading comprehension will too.

 

[slepers]

Ugly win is better than a pretty loss but my god…….we have regressed 10 levels in one week

Please tell me how many levels are there in your scale

 

[Conquistador]

How did this team lose to BC a few weeks back??

Remember, everyone is hyped up when they play UConn. They always play out of their … when they play UConn!

 

[cohenzone]

The good old days when winning was the point and nobody gave a sheet about beauty points. That’s the coach’s concern. The league is tough and every team will play the way they need to try and win. St. Johns will play the way they need to and Pitino, if he knows nothing else, is pretty good at his job.

 

[Ricker]

We went inside to Clingan play after play vs Seton Hall. I similarly expected St Johns to go to Soriano time after time to foul Samson Johnson out. I think they made a big strategic mistake not doing that steadily. I thank Pitino for the strategic assist.

 

[todbo]

Nice win, marked by a major second half comeback. Good news from the stat sheet: Despite missing Clingan, we outrebounded a team with an excellent 5 man. And 15 assists on 24 field goals is pretty nice. Heart-pounding, tough win. I'm confident that this will not be a long, sad season.

 

[uconngb]

98% of teams this year have a wtf loss

Not to BC. Losing to BC is more than WTF. It’s more like “should we continue our program”

 

[slepers]

I watch games one at a time.
I think I've read you being negative several times in this thread alone.

You are correct that you don't know what to tell me, so I'll help you: what do you imagine is the value in this or any post by you in today's post-game thread?

Thank you