St John's post game thread

[freshler40]

I was shouting "get the ball to Tarris" from the stands last night when St John's switched and had Scott on him or Wilcher. If Hass or anyone else had Zuby on the switch and couldn't see over Zuby I was hoping they would pass the ball to the wing and have that player pass it Tarris. St. John's defense was tough but I was disappointed they forget the ball to Tarris on the mismatches from the switches.

This failure to get the ball to our centers is ongoing. We like our 3 pointers too much.

 

[cp176]

I attended my first UCONN game when Pitino brought Louisville in to Storrs. I was a high school coach and I have to say I was floored by what I saw not simply from the brilliant play on the court but from two of the best in the game - Calhoun and Pitino. From the guards ushering Pitino on to and off from the court to the incredible student section and just the crowd in general.

 

[HCCForever]

62 points

After the first 10 minutes, I figured that UConn had a chance for 90. I was way off on that.

 

[alphasigko]

20+ TOs and losing a 14 point lead in a total defensive and offensive collapse. So disappointing SMH. Where was Karaban?

 

[superjohn]

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 don't know what you are responding to but you have post after post where you're obsessed with height. Diarra is our not tall point guard and he was really good until he was run ragged and got hurt. We all know the staff missed on Mahaney and Ahmad is a short freshman who has been hurt most of the season so we don't know what he can do. Solo is really just 6'1 and has been playing great. He played a lot of point guard last night because of our problems at the position.

This team would be filthy good if it had Kemba or Bazz. Mark Sears and Braden Smith were starting point guards in the final 4 last season and they're awesome this season. Sears is 5'10.25 Braden Smith is 5'11. Steven Ashworth is balling this season, he's 5'11.

 

[RuffRuff]

I don't know what you are responding to but you have post after post where you're obsessed with height. Diarra is our not tall point guard and he was really good until he was run ragged and got hurt. We all know the staff missed on Mahaney and Ahmad is a short freshman who has been hurt most of the season so we don't know what he can do. Solo is really just 6'1 and has been playing great. He played a lot of point guard last night because of our problems at the position.

This team would be filthy good if it had Kemba or Bazz. Mark Sears and Braden Smith were starting point guards in the final 4 last season and they're awesome this season. Sears is 5'10.25 Braden Smith is 5'11. Steven Ashworth is balling this season, he's 5'11.players -

All very good players, winning players, defensive disadvantages. Not obsessive as much as preferred. Our big guards swallowed up Smith last year.

Our 1 and 2 are small, intended first guard off bench also small, our defense is pretty pitiful. Correlated? Our offensive system is also built for guards that can see over defenders, the lob, etc. I

 

[superjohn]

All very good players, winning players, defensive disadvantages. Not obsessive as much as preferred. Our big guards swallowed up Smith last year.

Our 1 and 2 are small, intended first guard off bench also small, our defense is pretty pitiful. Correlated? Our offensive system is also built for guards that can see over defenders, the lob, etc. I

We swallowed up everyone last year. They completely destroyed big guard all everything Terrence Shannon two games before and held him to 2-12 shooting. Braden Smith was just 4-12 in the title game but he still had 12 points and 8 assists with only 1 turnover. We really destroyed Purdue because their other guards couldn't even get a shot off against our defense. Loyer had 0 points.

We're struggling at guard because Hass is hurt, we missed on Mahaney, Ahmad has barely been available, and McNeeley missed 5 weeks. Solo isn't tall and has been our best player the past 5 weeks.

 

[RuffRuff]

We swallowed up everyone last year. They completely destroyed big guard all everything Terrence Shannon two games before and held him to 2-12 shooting. Braden Smith was just 4-12 in the title game but he still had 12 points and 8 assists with only 1 turnover. We really destroyed Purdue because their other guards couldn't even get a shot off against our defense. Loyer had 0 points.

We're struggling at guard because Hass is hurt, we missed on Mahaney, Ahmad has barely been available, and McNeeley missed 5 weeks. Solo isn't tall and has been our best player the past 5 weeks.

Totally right - just following trends that win, and what I see as a huge advantage in this system. Plenty of truth in what you are saying but also offers limited upside defensively unless you small guard is a thief.

 

[Martin84]

Mental toughness. That was the difference in this game.

Yah I thought a certain player on this team would be the guy to “will them to victory,” (my fave jim calhoun quote,) but apparently that player isn’t that good. That’s ok. Still still supporting as there are plenty of fun players to watch

 

[Kolumbo]

Didn’t he throw it at his feet? I remember the play, looked like the pass was low.

It was. And AM should have taken the short jump shot.

Pass was chest high. happens at 6:34 of 2nd half. 1:23:26 of this video. Reed's defender came over to defend Mahaney and Mahaney scooped it to Reed. Not saying it was easy but it should have been a slam-dunk making it 54-50.

 

[Flipside]

That kemba team had shown a much higher ceiling at this point. And that team had Kemba. This team does not. It’s ok to be both a fan and realistic

Is this the ceiling referred to? ... someone get Michael Jordan on the line, I misunderstood the roof

 

[SwingDog]

Forty percent is about their average, isn't it? The glaring difference in turnovers says defense was the problem, at least a problem.

I'm sure there were a few breakdowns but I actually liked the overall toughness and tenacity of our defense (and no one fouled out). We made it pretty difficult for them I would say. Where we made it easy for them was with turning the ball over and giving them free extra possessions.

 

[HooperScooper]

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.

So then why did he recruit Nowell? Why recruit any player who you think doesn't fit your "system"?

 

[homunculus]

Drives me insane. Oh yeah, Shabazz did this 10 years ago, it can happen again!! Did you not see our 99 team?

Go look at how many 7 seeds have won the tourney and circle back to me. Outlier. Want to know how many X a 7 seed or higher has won the tourney? Twice ever. We just happened to be on the receiving end of a rarity. And now people think there is some magic dust in Storrs that turns average teams into champs. News alert, it’s not the template.

The endless comps to Huskies of yesteryear. None of that matters. As if a player comp is going to turn them into a past player. Unless you’re making players from the stem cells of past players they are all unique humans with unique traits and personalities.

Were there player comps? Or were there Boneyard doomer comps?

 

[USNavyDog]

Question. Would last years Uconn team been better comparatively than this years St. John's team?

My answer. A resounding......Yes.....by a margin of 15 to 20 points. This years St. John's team would still be no match whatsoever with Clingan, Castle, Newton, and Spencer.

 

[uconnfan68]

Mahaney - Aidan came in drove to the basket and made a nice interior pass but the receiver lost the ball out of bounds. I think it may have been Reed. That would have been a really sweet play if they had finished and looked a lot like Joey C to Sanogo. And that was something which was missing last night.

Aidan should have shot that floater. Sometimes they get too cute.

 

[Scoe]

Question. Would last years Uconn team been better comparatively than this years St. John's team?

My answer. A resounding......Yes.....by a margin of 15 to 20 points. This years St. John's team would still be no match whatsoever with Clingan, Castle, Newton, and Spencer.

Thank you captain obvious that was last years team and this is this years team. You have to roll with what you have.

 

[1999GoodSon]

21-70 his last 6 games. He has absolutely wilted.

Statistics. Hey man everyone sees the same things. My point is only that Alex's body of work since the day he's put on the uniform speaks for itself and deserves our respect not constant ridicule. In what I call "the season of turmoil" a lot of guys and in my opinion the coaches also have fallen way short of expectations. We wouldn't be where we are today in the national spotlight without Alex Karraban. He's got plenty of good work left to show, and we should be pulling for him, not taking potshots from the gallery.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Statistics. Hey man everyone sees the same things. My point is only that Alex's body of work since the day he's put on the uniform speaks for itself and deserves our respect not constant ridicule. In what I call "the season of turmoil" a lot of guys and in my opinion the coaches also have fallen way short of expectations. We wouldn't be where we are today in the national spotlight without Alex Karraban. He's got plenty of good work left to show, and we should be pulling for him, not taking potshots from the gallery.

This is the type of response that annoys me. Literally NO ONE is not pulling for AK. We are all fans of UConn to the highest degree. This idea you can’t point out facts and have an opinion that a guy hasn’t been playing well is so dumb.

 

[Brad Palmer]

All in all we split the 2 games we needed to. Let’s go on a run here with Liam Back. We need to steal on of Marquette, Creighton, St John’s on the road. The road to 23-8 and 15-5 is still obtainable

With 4 BE losses, we'd need to steal 2 of those 3 to go 15-5.

 

[Chelo]

Alex was always the fifth best player on our national championship teams. It was unfair to put all this pressure on him to deliver another championship. He is a great complementary player not a leading role player.

 

[Kolumbo]

Aidan should have shot that floater. Sometimes they get too cute.

He would have gotten stuffed. Nothing cute about it, he drove and made a nice dish instead which could have been a dunk. Look at the video.

 

[FlakeyFoont]

We beat Marquette on the road in front of the biggest crowd to ever watch a Marquette basketball game. Confidence sky high. Ready to burn it up in conference play. We return home, get our star freshman back, are playing a hated Big East rival on campus before a sellout crowd and somehow manage to get smacked down after blowing a 14 point lead.

The Magic 8 Ball says, "Outlook not so good".

 

[mussels]

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.

Good article in the Athletic on exactly that. In our game they went “9 of 26 shots at the rim, 4 of 21 3-pointers, and an absurd 13 of 18 shots between the paint and 3-point line.“ It wasn’t accidental.

“Pitino’s team at St. John’s, just like his teams at Louisville and Kentucky, and at Iona and in Greece, and with the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, spent early workouts going through individual sessions overseen by the head coach. Such one-on-ones are grueling to watch, let alone to endure. Fifteen shots in 30 seconds. Or timed attempts darting around stations scattered all over the court. Over and over. Pitino, the whole time, stands, hands behind his back, shouting directions until the player in front of him stands atop a pool of sweat. All along, every shot is counted and added to a tally. Those numbers, in part, determine how Pitino later decides who can shoot from where and when in what games. Sound strategy. He’s won everywhere.
But then came this preseason at St. John’s. Every day ended with an autopsy revealing a fatal flaw.

St. John’s couldn’t shoot.

“The lowest metrics I’ve seen from my team, ever,” Pitino recently told me.

Pitino and his staff could have very well taken the Sisyphean route. More reps. More shots. More 3s until the numbers changed. Instead, a far simpler decision. Shoot closer.”

Why does Rick Pitino win? The answer is in no-man’s-land

St. John's is playing basketball of a bygone era. And it's working

www.nytimes.com

 

[Deleted at users request]

Pitino and his staff could have very well taken the Sisyphean route. More reps. More shots. More 3s until the numbers changed. Instead, a far simpler decision. Shoot closer.”

Why does Rick Pitino win? The answer is in no-man’s-land

St. John's is playing basketball of a bygone era. And it's working

www.nytimes.com

Take shots that you’re good at taking. What a crazy concept lol