St. John's Post Game Thread

[uconngb]

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

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

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Value is all perception. If you dont see value in my posts, so be it. I really don't care. If you feel good after tonights win, so be it. I really don't care. I know what I saw, I know how I feel. I apologize if that makes you feel uncomfortable. Then again, I really don't care.

I simply asked what you imagine to be the value in your post-game posts today. You appear to decline to answer.

I only asked because you admitted to not knowing what to tell me.

I took that as an opportunity to help you to know what to tell me.

What you wrote above had nothing to do with what I asked or why I asked it.

What message are trying to convey when 3 times you say you really don't care? Is it some kind of passionate triple-strength apathy? I won't believe you really don't care until you tell me six times more.

 

[50cPitchers]

Zero complaints considering our national championship team took an 11 point L to a worse SJ in this exact game last year

 

[husky429]

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

I just looked it up and he's not wrong, funnily enough. It helps some folks remember to breathe through their mouths.

Probably just a habit though. Ray used to do it too.

 

[willie99]

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

 

[housekeys]

Opponents are focused on defending our perimeter game and 3 point shooting. On offense, our opponents are driving to the basket aggressively. They are just making everything physical and creating contact. They are trying to fluster us and get us out of our motion offense and sets we want to run. The officiating allows them to limit our freedom of movement and we need to adjust.

Last year we had a solution. Hawkins could come of screens and curls and come up firing 3's. This year we do not have this weapon. All our shooters are better as set shooters. They are not nearly as good shooting in motion. They must be firmly planted on the floor to put up shots. We really miss Hawkins, but our coaches, I am sure, know this and will come up with solutions.

 

[superjohn]

Man, I love Clingan. I was at the game and he was fun to watch on the sideline, what a teammate.

So sick of Big East refs.

Fun day/night in Hartford

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Anyone else see DH 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.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Was at the game. Few observations:

• Game sadly came down to who could deal with trash officiating better. Thankfully it was us. Val Ackerman is terrible at her job for a number of reasons, the officiating being one of them. The game was not UConn vs St. John’s but rather UConn vs the refs and St. John’s vs the refs.
• Pitino outcoached Hurley in the first half (again, just like in March) but ultimately didn’t have the talent to compete for 40 min like the Iona game. He’s a HOF coach for a reason. Our staff lost the first 20 min.
• Alleyne shot himself out of this one. Really wanted to play hero in his homecoming and thankfully for us he was 1-6 for 2 pts, mostly ill advised mid range shots. Love the kid, but though one for him.
• Didn’t know what we would get from Singare in backup minutes but I was VERY impressed. Granted, it was far from perfect and he’s still very raw, but if he can give us 10 min a game even at a -3 +/- I’ll take that. Definitely a confidence booster and something for him to build on.
• Castle was pretty much awful for the first 30 min but was huge down the stretch. Really wish he made that and one. I’ve been impressed with his attitude the whole season, and that allowed him to break out of his funk towards the end. His confidence with his shooting is absolutely shot still, he really needs to get it back ASAP as it unlocks the rest of his game. Very impressed with his ability to basically play the 4 and snag 7 boards. Shocked he’s only listed with 1 TO, I counted at least 3 but so it goes.
• Joel Soriano was so unimpressive. I didn’t think he deserved First Team preseason but I respected him enough to think he’d be a major problem without Clingan. He wasn’t. And the fouls weren’t even an excuse for him. Just not dominant at all. Looked like he belonged at Fordham where he started his career. Slightly disappointed even we didn’t get to compete with a first team player but not going to be upset about it!
• Glad Samson got his mojo back. And glad it happened early. He’s critical (uhh duh) with Clingan out.
• Newton didn’t have his shot again tonight but a sneaky 15/9/6. Crazy he had that line and didn’t even really play well (4-14 FG). All-American gritty performance when he didn’t have his A game.
• Props to Pitino for icing Cam out first half — don’t think he had a single 3PA. Finished with 15 (2-4 3) but Pitino did the best job scheming him out of his game so far this year. Hurley and co need to do a better job and creating plays for him to get open shots especially vs the zone.
• Speaking of which, UConn continues to be allergic to a zone. Going on 3 coaches now. And they have the players to break it. So do it! How do they not gameplan for it?
• Rough game for Alex. Never got into a rhythm. Thought his defense was pretty solid for his standards with his expanded role.
• Crowd was awesome. Old Mall was rocking!

 

[giddyup]

There is going to be rough patches. Last year the team went into free fall before congealing into an amazing squad. This team is not as good as last year. It is less athletic, less physical (sans Clingan) and slower. It does have a higher BB IQ and better BB fundamentals compared to last years’s squad at this time. Stong execution and scoring efficiency propels this team, whereas last year guys could both grind, flash and really compete above the rim. Should be interesting to see how they adjust to a caveman basketball conference.

 

[BigFanCT]

• Alex needs to figure the shooting thing out soon
• It’s an absolute clown show in the big east with these refs. Ever since we rejoined actually. It’s not just UConn anymore- that was a horrible whistle for both teams tonight. Let them play through anything in the first half and then an absolute chokehold all 2nd half. Val Ackerman is terrible at her job, and someone in this conference needs to get these shmuck “all about me” refs out. Enough is enough.

 

[TheShot1990]

What they’re saying about us. Unaltered quotes from red.fans​

Pregame:

I would have preferred to see Soriano thoroughly outplay a healthy Clingan in a win.
On a side note, I feel like this is the type of thing that will allow UConn supporting cast to improve without Clingan, which then propels them to a repeat championship.

Karaban is the guy I'm a little wary of tonight. Feel like he's a bad matchup for Ludlum. Hope I'm wrong.

Samson can be a tough matchup. Hopefully he doesn't go off tonight.

They’re very confident in the Boneyard. I hate them and their fans. Bunch of clowns wearing Marlboro red sweatshirts splitting kings at Mohegan. Would love a victory tonight.

Annoying, loud mouths like Rutgers transfer Spencer usually kill us.

As much as I hate Uconvict, tonight’s game will tell us where we are and how far we have to go DC or no DC!

Gametime:

LETS GO REDMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I really can’t stand PUKON fans.

Whatever happened to the Coaching box? Hurley is basically the sixth man.

Johnson really hurting us. Where's Clingan?

If I had to pick a player that I wanted an elbow to the face it would be Spencer

Samson Johnson saying "Clingan who?"

Pukon is not flat. They're playing like that because of our defense.

We definitely look like the better team, but Hurley will adjust.

Get those 3rd fouls on Johnson and Karaban.

Alex Karaban is not even in the game - yet

Yeah exactly Danny and they call a total BS foul on Soriano

4 fouls to 0 this half. Good job Hurley.

Ralph Samson Johnson killing us

I really hate Spencer already "Punchable face" lol



That’s the second time this older white haired ref has come over and overruled the other ref in favor of UConn

Every freakin call going against us!

UCONN playing tough D, plus being aided by refs

When’s the last time UConn scored besides a free throw

WTF is it???? Every time we play Yukon in their building, the refs make all the calls go their way!!!

Spencer good at creating non-foul calls.

I'm getting the urge to punch the s* out of Hurley's face.

My new most hated player is Cam Spencer of UConn. Little snake flopping, faking and grabbing and getting no calls…kid plays diirty and seems to get the Duke treatment.
Plays dirty a lot, taunts constantly
He should be playing for Duke with that face

Dear Santa If you can ruin Uconn fans xmas tonight I'll take the Jessica Alba sex tape off my xmas list this year

Ughhh that was a killer

On the next one

 

[UCTitleTown]

I’ll say it St John’s is kinda good

Hard to build a team of all transfers. I couldn't believe when they talked about each player and they were all transfers.

One St. John's player, I forget his name, was great getting position on their free throws. He would consistently beat two UConn players for inside position. It didn't come to anything because St. John's hit the free-throws, but our guys need to work harder on boxing out on free-throws. It will bite us down the line.

 

[AllHusky]

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

Thank god you aren’t dave benedict

 

[AllHusky]

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.

Ah, the worry club! Enjoy a hard fought basketball game between a bunch of kids competing their butts off!

 

[Demo Square]

Hey guys,

That was a Gritty Big East victory against a legendary coach with 14 tough new players who are starting to gel. (they pressed us all game - that's Pitino & that's tough to pull off . St. John's has talent & the coach. Give him & them some time & they will be a tough out later this year. Just as the Huskies were so tough tonight in the second half, refusing to lose or quit on loose balls & rebounds. But Free Throws? Sheesh! 67% sucks!

The Huskies answered the bell in the second half & won it with guts, passion, sharp elbows & playing together - despite missed FT's & three-point slumps galore by many players. Still have lotsa questions about many players' games & Danny's development inabilities. As usual, UConn needs more consistent outside shooters (an annual issue despite Hawkins' incredible shooting form). And to do that, UConn needs to get the ball to Spencer consistently in rhythm. Ball when he's hot. And develop other shooting resources (Newton isn't very consistent outside).

Samson Johnson was THE player of the game today. I must apologize to Samson for questioning his mental focus & game for three years now. He came out with toughness today against the best big man in the league, played both ends, did not foul out, showed some skills besides dunking (long-jump, who knew?), worked within the flow of the offense & scored when he could, Samson proved that he can handle UConn's center position. This is REALLY GREAT NEWS Because.....

I do not think the Donovan Clingan will catch up to his injuries or fitness by the tournament this year. He's been hurt & out of shape for over four months now. And huge 7'2" guys who grow too fast always miss too many games if they get a leg or foot injury - there are too many examples to list in hoops history.

So Samson MUST develop the starting center's dominant mentallity, consistent focus & yes some even some leadership - and stay healthy. He's REALLY gotta stay outta foul trouble, period - because Singare, though willing, is not ready physically for this level. This will test Danny's abilities too, because he's gonna need to develop & use his bench more.

BTW, Jayden Ross is a great corner shooter who was never given enough time to get into rhythm by Hurley. Ross plays like he's afraid of Danny, never a good sign. But he is outside shooting & team play just sitting there on your bench, Hurley! Gime him some time & a green light. A Much better shooter than Solo.

Lots more to add, but we all saw the game, the good, the bad & the ugly win that resulted. Great to watch that toughness in our team & in this monster BE League that we are addicted to watching.

BTW, former players & longtime students of college hoops have to appreciate how Rick Pitino communicates so deftly with his players. Danny is getting better. But Ricky is a motivational master. Watch him at St. John's develop his completely all-new team in the next two years. He is impressive & worthy of his place in the Hall of Fame. At the end of this game, he was almost whispering to his players, keeping everyone calm. Nothing is calm about Danny Hurley. I think that yelling, hyper-critical, ever-insulting coaches like Jimmy Calhoun are a thing of the past.

Enjoy Christmas with your families, my friends. Will be screaming at you again soon in Chat. Ha!

Father Demo

 

[3rdbass]

Needed that win or this place would have been insufferable. Those last 5 min or so from Steph were clutch. Need a full game of that

Yeah I was at the game and he took the game over with more controlled drives than just throwing the ball up in prayer against Soriano like he did in the first half. It was a great crowd and a huge win for the team. Where would be this year without Spencer. I'm glad we picked him up. This makes my annual Xmas trip to Connecticut a great one. LOL!

 

[3rdbass]

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.

Dude you need to lay off the pipe! Relax we improved in the second half and Castle actually showed some of the promise we were hoping for to help seal the win. We are in a 2 game funk maybe 2 and a half if include Gonzaga 2nd half offensively. Teams go through this and have to figure out how to win. We will be fine.

 

[Conquistador]

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

Pal, go eat a rock! Did I say we are the only team? No, I said UConn. Not every other team are the reigning National Champs! So yeah, they come into town and teams get hyped!

 

[Travelman6]

Hurley can't win close games? I recall a 5 point win vs providence, two years ago a 2 OT thriller vs Auburn, an OT vs VCU and St John's, 2 close ones vs Marquette, 2 pt win vs Nova, as well as seton hall in that same season. One of his first seasons vs Florida, cincy and Memphis and that epic vs Houston to end that same season. I remember a close one vs Tulane and so on.

 

[UofCT]

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

Everyone is allowed a bad week. It happens at all levels

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

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

BC might be a tournament team this year. They have a legit talent in Quinten Post.

 

[jibsey]

The way I see it (and I’ve been one to say Castle is not NBA ready) he just needs to see a couple shots fall. Confidence increases in the next couple games. I’m psyched over what I saw Johnson do last night because I didn’t see how we can win without a solid big man and he can fill that bill now I’m sure. He actually has some skills that Clingan does not have.

 

[Improviser]

He actually has some skills that Clingan does not have.

Like those short range jumpers he made, and some quick cutting to get to the basket for dunks.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Probably my biggest 2 takeaways are:
St John's is actually going to be quite good by the end of the year - that on-ball defense was elite
Singare did not look that bad setting screens, rolling, boxing out, and playing defense. Handling the basics pretty well. Nice to see him score a bucket.