St. John's Post Game Thread

[djct1999]

Relatively speaking he was taking care of the ball and got to the line not very many minutes, btw it’s Nowell not Howell.

He again looked overmatched, never got us into our offense, was way off on both free throws and basically dribbled out of control. Relatively speaking of course.

 

[3rdbass]

We

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....

He has been good on D for the most part keeping his man in front of him and blocking shots. It's his offense that has really suffered this year due to his shot being off and not being able to consistently create stuff off the dribble. His handle needs to be tighter and he needs to get a mid range game.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

we should root for the Johnnies.

Haha, no.

 

[Bomber36]

We are what we are. We don’t seem to have a team leader right now.

 

[djct1999]

If I'm Duke I don't wanna see the Johnnies in my bracket.

I think Duke beats them by 20. St. John’s is a flawed team that because of their defensive pressure, is rolling though a pretty bad big East. In the tournament, they may get called for way more fouls. Then what? A good team will steamroll them. I mean, you take away that crazy 8 point possession, this game could have been a lot different. And we aren’t a good team.

 

[3rdbass]

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.

I thought Nowell did better today. Was able to make a couple nice passes espcially the one to Karban on the slip. Of course the turnover was trying to do to much and go one on one a bit an Hurley rightfully took him out. Too bad this learning wasn't being done at the beginning of the season and when it is almost over.

 

[Scoe]

I think Duke beats them by 20. St. John’s is a flawed team that because of their defensive pressure, is rolling though a pretty bad big East. In the tournament, they may get called for way more fouls. Then what? A good team will steamroll them. I mean, you take away that crazy 8 point possession, this game could have been a lot different. And we aren’t a good team.

And Duke is rolling through a weak ACC. Remember an older SDSU beating Bama with 1 and done talent. Scheyer vs Pitino my money is on Pitino but I would put money on Cooper Flagg too we shall find out.

 

[hookshot]

Not so sure about Nowell. His dad has been tweeting some, not so positive things.

Not surprised, he was way underplayed this year, regardless of his still developing status

 

[rip7774]

This team reminds me of the 2020 thru 2022 team. The Championship teams never missed at the rim. This team misses a lot of layups.

Reminds me bc of the poor roster construction. All of them were tough but were flawed due to composition.

 

[3rdbass]

I think Duke beats them by 20. St. John’s is a flawed team that because of their defensive pressure, is rolling though a pretty bad big East. In the tournament, they may get called for way more fouls. Then what? A good team will steamroll them. I mean, you take away that crazy 8 point possession, this game could have been a lot different. And we aren’t a good team.

No St. John's is not a team that will get past the first weekend as they won't be able to get with that kind of D and will foul out. It just shows you how bad we are this year that we couldn't even compete against them. They did hit a lot more shots than they normally do from outside but still St. John's doesn't impress me.

 

[aceboon]

If I'm Duke I don't wanna see the Johnnies in my bracket.

Duke would beat the brakes off those boys, I'm not buying the Big East at all this year

 

[6Nattys4Us]

Two big issues we keep displaying:

1. 5x-6x "oops, I lost control of the ball". Not pressure ones, but either bad handle or bass pass, but really, this keeps happening.
2. Let's leave the same spot open (right in front of our bench) the 3 pt from the baseline that they left 3 different guys wide open to shoot and made St. John's look like a good 3pt shooting team.

And Nowell was decent - if he had made 1 or 2 of those free throws, different minutes. He handled pressure and even got to the foul line and forced Pitino to bench the player. Then Nowell was yanked for Diarra (admittedly HD played some inspired minutes at that point).

Good to see AK make 2 3pt shots again.

 

[F101Voodoo]

It’s really not an overreaction at all. This team has been a complete mess since Maui and this “great” coaching staff has done nothing to fix it. Same mistakes being made 27 games into the season. Same offensive sets that aren’t working, same MTM defense that gets constantly shredded, same lack of fire or willingness to get on the ground and get yourself dirty. We get like 10% of 50/50 balls. That tells you everything you need to know.

There is zero accountability. That’s on the coaches, no one else.

I agree started at Maui and I believe that Maui was was not a fluke. I had the bad feeling even back then that Maui was a bad sign of things to come and. not a good forecast of our future back then. Injury to Mcneeley stagnated his development and just confounded by what is really wrong with AK. And yes this team is flawed. That incessant three peat talk was no help and maybe a negative down side to motivation. It’s like maybe this “team” played as it they were entitled.

 

[UCan3]

I think Duke beats them by 20. St. John’s is a flawed team that because of their defensive pressure, is rolling though a pretty bad big East. In the tournament, they may get called for way more fouls. Then what? A good team will steamroll them. I mean, you take away that crazy 8 point possession, this game could have been a lot different. And we aren’t a good team.

I agree this style of play won’t hold in Tourney…..

There were so many MOVING screens with holds, reach ins that were fouls, and so much else that won’t fly in Tourney.

There are a very good team but no way they can foul a guy on ELBOW and the FACE on his way to basket for a no call….

They are a Sweet 16 team which I think is better than we will do this year.

 

[bendm]

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

How’s this?

Transfer PG / Adams
Ball / Transfer CG
Transfer W / Mullins
Alex / Stew
Reed / Reibe

Outside looking in: Nowell / Mahaney / Furphy / Ross / Abe / Singare

 

[Bomber36]

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.

How do you forget the game was on? If you did, your post should be automatically deleted. This is the worst take ever.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Play Reed and Nowell the rest of the way. It's about next season. The other options had enough chance to show what they can do.

Edit: a late hail Mary to get back in with Nate Ament might not be a bad move..

 

[3rdbass]

0% chance

Yeah i agree. Just too bad he didn't have a whole year to work on his game and develop more.

 

[aceboon]

I thought Nowell did better today. Was able to make a couple nice passes espcially the one to Karban on the slip. Of course the turnover was trying to do to much and go one on one a bit an Hurley rightfully took him out. Too bad this learning wasn't being done at the beginning of the season and when it is almost over.

Yea I agree, the time for development was in the beginning of the season, he wasn't even playing enough against the cupcakes for me and now it's probably too late for that

 

[Drfla]

Total no show. No effort rebounding and missed open 3s while not guarding perimeter at all. Piss poor effort.

I wouldn’t call it a no show. I do think SJU played harder, which should never be the case but seems to be with this year’s team. They need to play harder. Not sure if they have that mentality.
But we outrebounded them but shot poorly, especially from 3 in the first half. And they shot over their head ( 50% from three; they shoot 30% normally and 90+% from the line where they shoot in the 60s in the first half)
normal shooting percentages from them and it’s a single digit halftime lead even with the 8 point play on a terrible call from the refs.
Then our run in the middle of the second half makes it anyone’s ball game.

 

[brihman]

St. John’s is miles better.

If we played them ten times, they would win eight. Nothing we can do.

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.

No lateral quickness

 

[Bomber36]

Yea I agree, the time for development was in the beginning of the season, he wasn't even playing enough against the cupcakes for me and now it's probably too late for that

Agreed. He lack of PT early makes him useless right now.

 

[3rdbass]

How’s this?

Transfer PG / Adams
Ball / Transfer CG
Transfer W / Mullins
Alex / Stew
Reed / Reibe

Outside looking in: Nowell / Mahaney / Furphy / Ross / Abe / Singare

That is 16 players for 15 Positions. I'm sure we will see a lot more movement in the roster than you think unless you think that outside looking in means thy might not be on our roster. Kind of silly since Furphy will get some minutes next year.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Hurley screwed up royally with roster construction. He thought a slight kid from St. Mary's who can't play point guard was going to be our starting point guard. He thought a spot up shooter (AK) was going to be our do everything leader. He thought Ross would show he's an NBA player. He never addressed not having guys who can take people off the dribble. He started the wrong center all season. We don't have the ballhandlers/creators and the team is physically weak outside of Reed.

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.

Coach needs to stop doing interviews/writing books and needs to figure this out. We were physically manhandled and Pitino ate his lunch. Pitino is just getting started there despite his age.

St. John's has an identity and they never go away from it. You can hang with them if they shoot terribly but this was a physical mismatch. We are a team with no identity this season.

Props to Pitino and St. John's, they're really friggin' good and a fun team to watch.

Johnnies will go a long way if they can keep shooting like that. Of course our game plan was to make them jump shooters and we accomplished what we set out to do

 

[djct1999]

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

How is our collective looking? Do we have the nil to get 4 impact transfers?