St John's post game thread

[superjohn]

They’re just not that good - like top 25/30-ish.

Ball handling is a huge issue - only Diarra is mildly competent at it and he’s absolutely worn out. We’ve wrung everything out of that kid. If we gave up 50 turnovers in two games against Marq and SJU, we would give up 70 against Houston and Auburn. Pray we do not draw them.

Defense is crap. Again, Diarra is the only good defender on the roster and again, we have squeezed him dry. (But Ross! No. He’s not. Not yet.) Offense is efficient, but is entirely dependent on threes being made. There’s no plan B because we do not have a single player who is effective going to the rim. Alex and Samson are non-factors WAY too often for guys who have been here as long as they have.

Also, they do this thing where they give up a mini-run in losses where they seem to give up for like three or four minutes. They give away a gap that they do not have the time or the ability to close. Just kinda soft.

This year is a bridge year to whatever comes next.

I agree with a lot of this but Liam is effective going to the rim. Kid is a man out there and one of the best freshman we've ever had. It will be sad if this team can't go far and we missed watching him for 5 weeks.

Dude was beyond rusty the first half...bricking everything, having trouble with his handle and even had trouble catching the ball. He shot like cr@p but was still our best player and he's always our dog/emotional leader out there. Finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in his first game after missing 5 weeks of basketball.

 

[cp176]

St. John’s defense was the story. When it is hard to catch a pass in the frontcout at all, it is tough to win.

 

[mauconnfan]

Alex has lost a ton of money. And I hate that. This all sucks.

That would depend on NIL wouldn’t it? I mean he’s not even G League material as of now is he? There’s more money in college staying.

 

[mauconnfan]

McNeeley was a bright spot

And that’s not good when he’s 4-15 and your star player. He and Tarris only bright spots.

 

[mauconnfan]

How does a “good” team struggle so much to get off a shot within its offense. It’s like St. John’s was the ‘85 Bears.

It’s because you don’t have a PG that scares the opponent. Newton could make plays, our guards not so much.

 

[mauconnfan]

Teams have learned how to defend us

But the only reason they’ve learned how to guard us is because we have very guardable players. When only one guy can take a defender off the dribble you’re in huge trouble. Solo shows flashes but inconsistent at best. Just not a good offensive unit and then there’s defense

 

[mauconnfan]

What would Mahaney have done playing 35 minutes tonight?

Mahaney is not our starting PG do why would he play 35 minutes?

 

[homunculus]

Sloppy play, throwing the ball away, AK still ice cold, missing wide open shots, missing free throws.

Another loss by <=6, which is all of them except Dayton. I still think there’s a corner that can be turned here but the hour is getting late.

 

[TheHorde]

Mahaney is not our starting PG do why would he play 35 minutes?

The premise was we would have lost by more if Diarra hadn’t played to rest what’s bothering him. Nowell wasn’t available. If Diarra sat, Mahaney would have had to play huge minutes, right?

 

[Husky Alien]

Because coach h decided to ride AK even though stewie had played well.

And that's how you reward someone who played incredibly well. He was active on D, scoring, and was on the verge of having his best game in a UConn uniform? I'm a coach Hurley fan but you got to go with the hot hand, Stewie should have played some good minutes in the 2nd half imo.

 

[mauconnfan]

The premise was we would have lost by more if Diarra hadn’t played to rest what’s bothering him. Nowell wasn’t available. If Diarra sat, Mahaney would have had to play huge minutes, right?

But it’s not like it would’ve made much difference right, I mean HD turned it over way too much and couldn’t penetrate to make plays. We’re a mess at PG no matter and that as well as AK is the problem.

 

[RuffRuff]

Yeah it’s crazy when people say different times like Kemba, Shabazz, and Boat wouldn’t bust everybody in this eras booty.

Those were players you can drop on mars and they can get a bucket.

This place loves to live in the past.

2025, top two teams

Guards
Duke - 6’6” and 6’6”
Auburn - 6’7” and 6’4”

It’s trending boys. Coaches evolve, systems evolve.

The team that won it last year was 6’5” and 6’4”. Year before 6’5” and 6’5”. It’s even more important in running Hurley’s system effectively.

 

[TheHorde]

But it’s not like it would’ve made much difference right, I mean HD turned it over way too much and couldn’t penetrate to make plays. We’re a mess at PG no matter and that as well as AK is the problem.

I think there’s a reason the staff only let AM play like 6 minutes with HD that hobbled and no other options. And it’s not good.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think there’s a reason the staff only let AM play like 6 minutes with HD that hobbled and no other options. And it’s not good.

Like I said it’s not good either way. He didn’t look too hobbled he just didn’t play well no excuse for the turnovers at all.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

Mahaney passed up a wide open 3 at one point, I was screaming for him to take the shot. I thought he was brought in for his shooting ability? He passes up every open look he gets.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Unless you make them, which the Johnnies do.

This is something that has always puzzled me. The best shot is the one you can make reliably. If you shoot 40% from the arc, great. If you shoot 25% from 3 and 50% from midrange then the latter should be your go-to.

Sure, getting to the rim raises the 2 point percentage. But Richmond and Luis were deadly on midrange shots, and the team 50% on 2’s overall and 19% on 3’s. So it’s not just that the Johnnie’s make the midrange shots, it’s also that they are poor from 3.

 

[djct1999]

Saint John's had a great switching man to man in your face defense especially inside against Reed. We need to start our offense earlier, guard penetration, if possible. We did get trapped on the baseline several times resulting in turnovers. Need a shooter from inside the foul line. They had several to great effect.

This is how every team in America will guess is moving forward. Marquette showed the blueprint, St. John’s perfected it. By switching, it prohibits any sort of back door cut and our guys aren’t fast enough to separate. My guess is, unless like adds another wrinkle, we will struggle offensively going forward. The verdict is out.

 

[djct1999]

I agree with a lot of this but Liam is effective going to the rim. Kid is a man out there and one of the best freshman we've ever had. It will be sad if this team can't go far and we missed watching him for 5 weeks.

Dude was beyond rusty the first half...bricking everything, having trouble with his handle and even had trouble catching the ball. He shot like cr@p but was still our best player and he's always our dog/emotional leader out there. Finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in his first game after missing 5 weeks of basketball.

At this point, I’d make him a point forward and have him bring the ball up. Have Hass come off the bench for a more effective 15-20 mins. It’s Liam’s show now.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Great to see Liam back and knocking the rust off. Clearly the biggest two issues right now are a) AK needs to find his game quick, and b) Diarra needs to get healthier.

This is a top ten team if we can get them back playing well.

I think this is accurate. A tough loss but "tough" in the best way a loss can be. These are important games at important times.

 

[Deepster]

McNeeley hit a 3 at 9:15 to make it 51-45 and Karaban made a free throw with 7:12 left to make it 52-48. Next points came at 2:54 with Reed hitting 2 free throws to make it 60-54 SJU.. Just an awful 2nd half collapse. The rest was conversation.

I think the collapse started with ten minutes left in the first half. We started out on fire and ended up down at the half.

 

[REB1094]

I think the collapse started with ten minutes left in the first half. We started out on fire and ended up down at the half.

Unfortunately that's the trend this year. Play exceptionally well for short periods of time and then play average-to-poorly for the other 32 minutes

Starting to remind me more of 21-22 than 22-23

 

[Hunt for 7]

AK has not been the same since the concussion.

 

[Hunt for 7]

This place loves to live in the past.

2025, top two teams

Guards
Duke - 6’6” and 6’6”
Auburn - 6’7” and 6’4”

It’s trending boys. Coaches evolve, systems evolve.

The team that won it last year was 6’5” and 6’4”. Year before 6’5” and 6’5”. It’s even more important in running Hurley’s system effectively.

I was saying this before the year started. It was a clear issue. CBB is about guard play. Yes wings are important but when you have big guards that can penetrate it’s a whole different game. We have Liam who can penetrate. Ball is improving and if he comes back next year I think he will be better. He needs to spend all summer working on ball handling and going to the rim. It should be a physical summer for him running through pads and having coaches swipe at the ball to teach him how to play through contact. He could be star if he had an average ability to get to the hoop in crunch time.

 

[Deepster]

1) We have had trouble inbounding the ball all season. Pitino pressured us on every made basket and prevented our offense from getting set for a good 12-16 seconds every possession. Hurley never cracked the code on that.

2) Last year we ran offense through Donovan outside the paint. Pick and rolls, slips for alley oops, back door passes to Alex. When our centers have the ball outside the paint it’s all 100% dead clock that does NOTHING offensively. Both are pretty horrible passers.

 

[uchusky32]

Yup. Passing up shots he should take for worse shots is brutal. I’d rather see him go 0-10 than that.

I think what really changed the game vibe was bricking his 4th or 5th open 3 in the first half and then fouling St. John’s on a 3 for the 4 point play. Took the air out of the gym and kickstarted their 15-2 run.

Yes, I said that in the chat last night. That sequence was the killer. He became deflated. Didn't even look for a shot after that. But we didn't change our offense. And the ball would wind up stuck on the perimeter with the shot clock running out. Leading to us chucking up airballs.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mahaney is not our starting PG do why would he play 35 minutes?

He would have gotten swallowed whole and spit out. There is a reason he didn’t play much, and the minutes he has he looked scared.

1) We have had trouble inbounding the ball all season. Pitino pressured us on every made basket and prevented our offense from getting set for a good 12-16 seconds every possession. Hurley never cracked the code on that.

2) Last year we ran offense through Donovan outside the paint. Pick and rolls, slips for alley oops, back door passes to Alex. When our centers have the ball outside the paint it’s all 100% dead clock that does NOTHING offensively. Both are pretty horrible passers.

When not turning the ball over, the StJ full court ran a good 10 seconds off the shot clock before we even STARTED our offense, which after a few flips around the perimeter, drove us into panic as the clock wore down.

If you looked at the physical matchups on the court last night, we had one advantage - Tarris over Zubi. Tarris had 12p 15r and 3 blocks last night. He was dominant inside. With every perimeter defender smothering our 1-4, have no idea why we didn’t just find a way to dump it into Tarris to let him attempt to find offense near the basket. He would have gotten doubled quick, but also would have had a chance to find higher quality shots than we were seeing down the stretch. We had zero counter.

 

[mauconnfan]

He would have gotten swallowed whole and spit out. There is a reason he didn’t play much, and the minutes he has he looked scared.

When not turning the ball over, the StJ full court ran a good 10 seconds off the shot clock before we even STARTED our offense, which after a few flips around the perimeter, drove us into panic as the clock wore down.

If you looked at the physical matchups on the court last night, we had one advantage - Tarris over Zubi. Tarris had 12p 15r and 3 blocks last night. He was dominant inside. With every perimeter defender smothering our 1-4, have no idea why we didn’t just find a way to dump it into Tarris to let him attempt to find offense near the basket. He would have gotten doubled quick, but also would have had a chance to find higher quality shots than we were seeing down the stretch. We had zero counter.

7 shots from the spot we had an advantage. You’d think they would have thrown it in more but honestly we don’t have great interior passers out there.

 

[TheHorde]

Like I said it’s not good either way. He didn’t look too hobbled he just didn’t play well no excuse for the turnovers at all.

Didn’t look too hobbled? Wow agree to disagree. When this season is over I would not be at all surprised if we hear he played through an MCL sprain or slight meniscus tear. To my eyes he’s a different player than he was even 2-3 weeks ago. If he wasn’t a senior and if the team had better options, I bet he’d be sitting.

 

[Stinger92860]

Does anyone know what Nowell's injury is? We need him bac…..

It’s unclear that he has ever been here. Someone else compared him to Alterique, right now that sounds about right.

 

[RuffRuff]

7 shots from the spot we had an advantage. You’d think they would have thrown it in more but honestly we don’t have great interior passers out there.

Yup - and a half of those were probably offensive rebounds.

Sometimes you have to look at the court and ask yourself, who has the advantage one on one? We didn’t have any last night outside of Tarris. It’s why we used Adama the way we did in 2024. If a team is extending pressure that you can’t figure out, the counter is feeding into the low post. It just never seemed to cross the mind.

Outside of playing poorly, AK isn’t doing much in terms of leading this team into strategical adjustments. He’s good at ensuring pieces moving in the right direction in a script that is working, but doesn’t see the floor creatively. Very mechanical. Even his interviews feel stock at this point. Great kid but more and more feels like part of a conveyer belt than a manager.