St. John's Post Game Thread

[navery12]

Obviously not happening now but he was on the preseason lists

 

[giddyup]

Team is a complete miss in construction. Little athleticism, slow, no real pGs.. and no solutions. Hope Hurley keeps his mouth shut and starts accepting this is his doing.

 

[IndyLives]

Very disappointing game today. Not because we lost, but the way we played. At no time did it feel like UConn had a chance to win.

Very disappointed in Hurley's coaching, recruiting & player development this year. His whole demeanor seemed to change with the Lakers/New Contract news cycle. He didnt seem hungry (just angry) at any point this year, and it reflected on the team.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

I forgot the game was on but I’m happy for Pitino. He has built something special. If we can’t win this year, we should root for the Johnnies. A title game of Duke and St. John’s would be epic.

 

[dennismenace]

St. John’s is miles better.

We’re slow, not remotely athletic enough, weak in the middle and we play positionless basketball in that no one is good at any particular position.

SJU has three kids that would start at point for UConn right now.

LOL.

 

[Gurleyman]

When we had Nowell, Ball, Mahaney, McNeeley and Karaban on the floor (i think) I thought to my self " this is the smallest lineup I've ever seen".

We rolled with Bazz-Boat-Kromah-Giffey-Daniels down the stretch in the final four. Closest I can think of.

 

[Huskiefan78]

We

I echo this completely. I love AK too but man that just was not winning basketball from him today. It felt like he couldn’t catch a single pass or rebound today even if it was placed perfectly in his hands. The last two years his IQ and 3 point shot were all we needed because he was surrounded by stud athletes. This year his lack of athleticism is getting majorly exposed because the supporting cast isn’t there, he was getting destroyed defensively and on the glass today

Agreed. AK is fantastic as a complement piece. He is not good enough to be a go-to option, plain and simple. Perhaps most unfortunately, he has shown he is not an NBA player this year. He is too slow and poor on defense and off the dribble, and too inconsistent as a shooter.

Don't even get me started on how bad he has been in big moments this year either....

 

[IndyLives]

Pitino reminded us this season why he is a Top 5 all-time college coach. He's always been a winner, wherever he's been.

 

[navery12]

I'm excited about our recruiting class but I'm not seeing the strength/athleticism in them. Braylon has the athleticism and quick twitch but he's pretty slight. Question marks with the other guys.

Agreed, I think those guys are likely to be guys coming in off the bench as role players their freshman year, maybe even Mullins. I wanted him starting at the 3 but if Karaban is back we're going to need to recruit a big PG and a big wing to start at the 3

 

[Hoophound]

I’m skipping ahead so I don’t know what’s been mentioned but—Reed should have remained in the game. We were on a run, why pull him?

Nowell belonged today. He did more good than bad and was handling pressure no problem. I would have let him go and hoped this game was his coming out party. He went to the bench and we never saw him again that I recall. We also turned the ball over like crazy without him.

Why doesn’t Stewart attempt to score more? Give him a green light, we are desperate here.

Liam is not a pg. He’s a helper. Creighton was an isolated incident.

SJU was bigger, faster and stronger. Whatever Pitino is doing, watch closely. He put together a roster of pitbulls. We should have no problem crushing him in the portal era yet here we are all finesse getting beaten to death physically.

Dan is a fighter. He’ll learn from this season, but for now, he should let Reed play and give Nowell some on the job training. It can’t hurt.

 

[Drfla]

I hate them and I hate Pitino.

Tight D but No X and O. They fought inside to make layups. And made 3’s uncharacteristically.

SJU defense looks like Georgetown in the 80s. Commit 40 fouls cause they can’t/won’t call them all.

 

[86.578]

SOFT Top to bottom

 

[Chin Diesel]

An entirely predictable result when you don't match SJU intensity, play scared, miss wide open 3's and let them shoot 40% on 3's.

 

[aceboon]

I’m skipping ahead so I don’t know what’s been mentioned but—Reed should have remained in the game. We were on a run, why pull him?

Nowell belonged today. He did more good than bad and was handling pressure no problem. I would have let him go and hoped this game was his coming out party. He went to the bench and we never saw him again that I recall. We also turned the ball over like crazy without him.

Why doesn’t Stewart attempt to score more? Give him a green light, we are desperate here.

Liam is not a pg. He’s a helper. Creighton was an isolated incident.

SJU was bigger, faster and stronger. Whatever Pitino is doing, watch closely. He put together a roster of pitbulls. We should have no problem crushing him in the portal era yet here we are all finesse getting beaten to death physically.

Dan is a fighter. He’ll learn from this season, but for now, he should let Reed play and give Nowell some on the job training. It can’t hurt.

I really don't see it, and him going to the line in the first half and looking like Shaq is kinda indicative of where his confidence is.

 

[blkknight1]

The problem with Reed playing more is he still commits stupid fouls. He will foul out a lot faster.

 

[jibsey]

you're right, Pitino doesnt know his X and O's.

All I said, was he's the among best game planners and x and o coaches to EVER do it (I added the bold this time). (ps- x and o's also describes defensive assignments, and trapping, mid-range quick hitters, out of bounds plays, how they designed to kick it directly to corner for open 3 when we run high hedge rotation early etc). Aren't many better i've seen in last 40 yrs., independent of how he runs a program.

My punctuation on here is bad, but your post seems kinda gibberish?

Your first sentence is a lie, because I never said he wasn’t a good coach or didn’t know X and O’s.
I said St, John’s outworked and outdefended us today and it was their superior athleticism and effort not some elaborate game plan drawn up by Pitino that was the reason today. His NIL talent was better than ours. Not hard to understand.

 

[cellocgg]

I hate the Big East man. When will we finally be free from this place...it's like Val and the refs have it out for us

 

[uconngb]

Team is a complete miss in construction. Little athleticism, slow, no real pGs.. and no solutions. Hope Hurley keeps his mouth shut and starts accepting this is his doing.

BINGO

 

[Jaydumo20]

Hopefully this stops all the "No team will want to see us on their side of the bracket" posts.

I still think this may be true. As a program, March has been different than the regular season. This wasn't a good loss, it was pretty bad. It actually felt a lot like the reg season Louisville losses during that title run. But in march things were different.

I know this isn't that same team, but UConn's success in March, even with flawed teams, is hard to dispute.

 

[superjohn]

Agreed, I think those guys are likely to be guys coming in off the bench as role players their freshman year, maybe even Mullins. I wanted him starting at the 3 but if Karaban is back we're going to need to recruit a big PG and a big wing to start at the 3

Yep, we're on the same page. We need that big proven point guard and need a proven 3. That also won't be it, I think we're going to see something like 4 new faces next season in addition to the freshman. I'm very high on Mullins, he's an even better shooter than Liam and more explosive than Liam but Liam has a significantly bigger frame and came from the best high school team ever assembled.

 

[3rdbass]

To be fair, this is what I expected from him coming off the injury. I’ve said it before but that high ankle really messes with shooters. It’s the equivalent of a shoulder for a pitcher - the mechanism from which everything happens. You lose your lift and then everything else is out of whack. Then he somehow pulled off that 38 point game out of muscle memory - but has come back down to earth. It’s like that first day you play golf after you haven’t played and you randomly hit it great, but then the second or third time reality sets in

He did look badly swallowed up around the rim today and looked weak trying to squeeze shots off in traffic, which would have me a bit worried as a scout. The athleticism doesn’t exactly go down at the next level. But the shooting problems wouldn’t worry me at the moment and a more spread out floor could help a little with finding space.

Yeah I still have high hopes for him but not sure he is going to have the same impact that Stephon Castle is having due to his athletic ability. I know the ankle is probably impacting that on both his shot and his lift. He is having issues getting by people on the perimeter too. Just something to point out but he normally does have the best defender on him which he won't have in the NBA.

 

[husky429]

Liam looks overmatched Physically at times in this league. I wonder if there is a chance he coms back to work on getting a little quicker and better defender. Not sure he is ready for the next level yet.

0% chance

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

Tristen Newton should be getting an appreciation thread today.

 

[JMick]

Yep, we're on the same page. We need that big proven point guard and need a proven 3. That also won't be it, I think we're going to see something like 4 new faces next season in addition to the freshman. I'm very high on Mullins, he's an even better shooter than Liam and more explosive than Liam but Liam has a significantly bigger frame and came from the best high school team ever assembled.

We have to get at least three proven transfers. Preferably four or five. At least we won't need to worry about recruiting them while we're still playing well into March lol

 

[UCan3]

I echo this completely. I love AK too but man that just was not winning basketball from him today. It felt like he couldn’t catch a single pass or rebound today even if it was placed perfectly in his hands. The last two years his IQ and 3 point shot were all we needed because he was surrounded by stud athletes. This year his lack of athleticism is getting majorly exposed because the supporting cast isn’t there, he was getting destroyed defensively and on the glass today

Same here.

AK was soooooo slow on his feet…. On offense and defense… Unguarded he can shoot lights out but throw a body at him and he looks much more like a role player. That is not a criticism in any way.

He simply gets caught behind picks on defense after falling 4 fake after fake, slow recovery, leaving his guys unguarded. It may be just foot speed which I don’t know what he can do about that.


It is hard when someone is such a good student, kid and all around teammate turns out to be something else than what he was advertised. And that’s not Alex’s fault BTW…. I am glad he can stay another year and develop.