St. John's Post Game Thread | Page 13 | The Boneyard

St. John's Post Game Thread

St Johns cant shoot well from. Outside. Any good zone defense will be a problem for them
 
RuffRuff said:
No, but we likely won't shoot 55% from the field either. You can play around with the box all you want. No one else on the team had more than 1 TO. StJ had a better assist to FG ratio than us tonight, which never happens.
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They're a bad matchup for us but I think we'll win the next one.

Their pressure and athleticism hurt us. We aren't going to get more athletic before the next matchup but I expect us to be better prepared for it and be able to negate it/punish matchups more
 
U
Dove said:
Braylon Mullins was like an NBA pottery pick tonight. Brittle.


No, there are no typos above.
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It’s the first time he’s played in a game against an opponent this physical and intense.

Mullins is a competitive kid, I’d bet the house that the next time he plays St. John’s he’ll adjust.
 
Donyell 360 said:
I hope you are right about Smith playing better outside the BE. It does seem like he has regressed since the start of conference play. It looks to me like he is not having much fun. Look what happened to Aiden last year. What makes you think he can recover from this? Until I see him play with confidence, it is hard for me to have any confidence in him. If he can just tread water for a few minutes while Silas rests, that would be great. But our bench is digging holes for our starters right now. It is not just Smith but Smith is the most glaring problem because he is so small and ineffective scoring the ball (except when he is wide open for 3). But he is not playing SG. He is playing PG. He is too small to rebound the ball. He doesn't even keep guards in front of him. He is pesky. That is his best attribute. He brings energy on D. It's just not nearly enough.
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It's honestly perplexing watching him out there dribble his face off in an offense that is totally not that. I'm not sure if he's simply not able to understand how to run sets and actions at this point. He came from a system that allowed for all of that dribbling.
SaeHusky said:
St Johns cant shoot well from. Outside. Any good zone defense will be a problem for them
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Their not terrible - Sellers shoots it at 38%, the other three guys that take more of their points are between 35-37%. Not amazing but not bad.
 
RuffRuff said:
Biggest different is Mitchell - I think he might be the best pure athlete in CBB. Kid was a top ten McD AA that could just never figure out how to shoot a basketball. Mitchell is Pitino's swiss army knife - the put back offensive rebound there in the final minutes was really impressive. He's everywhere, really disruptive. Would love to start finding guys like him once in awhile for the same reason. A kid like Ross has nothing on him, Mitchell so much bigger, stronger and more athletic.
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He was impressive. So was Darling (despite limited minutes). Glad we have some real competition in this league. Looking forward to the rematch.
 
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FreeDogs said:
Holding and grabbing has been happening all year. This is the first game this year that I've seen a jersey pull on a screen called. Worst game called all year? Not sure you've watched many games.
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FreeDogs said:
Holding and grabbing has been happening all year. This is the first game this year that I've seen a jersey pull on a screen called. Worst game called all year? Not sure you've watched many games.
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FreeDogs said:
Holding and grabbing has been happening all year. This is the first game this year that I've seen a jersey pull on a screen called. Worst game called all year? Not sure you've watched many games.
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30 to 13 in free throws in a big east top 25 big east game. First game you seen all year a jersey hold call? and I’m the one who hasn’t seen many games lol?
 
Donyell 360 said:
He was impressive. So was Darling (despite limited minutes). Glad we have some real competition in this league. Looking forward to the rematch.
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One of those guys where even if he's not scoring, he's making the whole team better by doing all the other stuff (opposite of a guy like Solo), and very disruptive.

Pitino may have not gotten Demary in the portal, but he did get the better backup PG. I really like Darling.
 
RuffRuff said:
Pitino may have not gotten Demary in the portal, but he did get the better backup PG. I really like Darling.
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He's averaging 5 & 2 this year. Not exactly a home run, but yes he's been better than Smith for sure. At least he can shoot it.

That Illinois performance from Smith seems like a lifetime ago. Hurley basically has to tell him to stop pounding the rock and stop shooting inside the arc. Defend, move the ball, don't be a detriment offensively.
 
superjohn said:
This St. John's team is better equipped than last year's squad to make a tournament run.
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Maybe? I can also see them losing in the first weekend again.

They haven’t done anything in the tournament yet and have an elderly coach, it’s weird how people think they are back to be a perennial threat to win it all
 
Lefty2one said:
He's averaging 5 & 2 this year. Not exactly a home run, but yes he's been better than Smith for sure. At least he can shoot it.

That Illinois performance from Smith seems like a lifetime ago. Hurley basically has to tell him to stop pounding the rock and stop shooting inside the arc. Defend, move the ball, don't be a detriment offensively.
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I think his season totals are weighted down by the fact he was barely used early. His averages are likely better than that now. He plays in more control and is an animal on defense at the POA. Smith is a total wild card, not even sure what he's going to do out there.
 
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aceboon said:
I don't really buy that St Johns has "improved" since the beginning of the season, they're just built to dominate the Big East with their roster construction. I posted on here when they were struggling in the non conf portion of the schedule that they would still clean up once conference play started. They did the same thing last year, they just played less tough non conf games.
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I would say overall they have improved, especially since the loss to Providence. Like UConn, they've had a number of close wins to inferior opponents but have had more wins by wider margins. To me, the thing that sets them apart is conditioning, not that they're in better physical shape than the Huskies. Hurley said in the post-game presser, when you play against St. John's, unlike lesser opponents, your passes need to be crisp and your ball handling solid otherwise they will turn you over and convert on the other end- and that's exactly what happened. They scored 20 points off TO's tonight. UConn has to be sharper and crisper on 2/25/26 if they want to get the win. Even you even cut that in half, the Huskies win by a point. It seems like they were caught off guard by the Red Storm's telegraphing of passes and also at times their quickness of the dribble in one-on-one situations. St. John's was clearly a cut above what the Huskies have been seeing over the past several weeks.
 
DawgEnjoyer said:
Maybe? I can also see them losing in the first weekend again.

They haven’t done anything in the tournament yet and have an elderly coach, it’s weird how people think they are back to be a perennial threat to win it all
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I don't think the poster was saying that - he was saying they're better built to make a run than last year. They are.

Popped over on the StJ board to take a peak, they're general feedback is that this Uconn team is a finesse outside of Reed/soft team - not sure that isn't accurate. We do need to get tougher & more athletic in our roster makeup.
 
RuffRuff said:
I don't think the poster was saying that - he was saying they're better built to make a run than last year. They are.

Popped over on the StJ board to take a peak, they're general feedback is that this Uconn team is a finesse outside of Reed/soft team - not sure that isn't accurate. We do need to get tougher & more athletic in our roster makeup.
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I popped over there too. It's amazing when you go to the other board and it's as if we all watched 2 different games. No one is talking about the foul disparity over there as if it wasn't a factor. We are all degenerates, aftera all

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I'm pretty discouraged that we have a very financially backed coaching staff that still has not learned how to educate our young men on how to inbound the ball without every single inbounding seeming like it's the end of the goshdarn world
 
Lefty2one said:
He's averaging 5 & 2 this year. Not exactly a home run, but yes he's been better than Smith for sure. At least he can shoot it.

That Illinois performance from Smith seems like a lifetime ago. Hurley basically has to tell him to stop pounding the rock and stop shooting inside the arc. Defend, move the ball, don't be a detriment offensively.
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He was horrible tonight, no doubt. But it was just three games ago against PC where he was awesome and Danny said “Mali’s back” several times in the presser.
 
UC4L said:
30 to 13 in free throws in a big east top 25 big east game. First game you seen all year a jersey hold call? and I’m the one who hasn’t seen many games lol?
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It's the first deliberate hold I've seen called on the opposing team when our guys have tried to curl around a screen.
 
RitzLuce1 said:
They have punked us 3 times in a row. People are saying they are a bad matchup for us because they are physical and athletic. Well they will still be more physical and athletic when we play them at home. So what’s the solution? I see nothing other than Big East ref conspiracy theories.
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The game is at home with a better UConn team this year. Road upsets happen, no big deal
 
aceboon said:
I don't really buy that St Johns has "improved" since the beginning of the season, they're just built to dominate the Big East with their roster construction. I posted on here when they were struggling in the non conf portion of the schedule that they would still clean up once conference play started. They did the same thing last year, they just played less tough non conf games.
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Partially agree. They’re genuinely better, they wouldn’t have won otherwise, but their playstyle works into the Big East as a whole. The best version of those gritty, physical athletes and the only team better than them is also one of the few that’s not like that
 
The Viking said:
I'm pretty discouraged that we have a very financially backed coaching staff that still has not learned how to educate our young men on how to inbound the ball without every single inbounding seeming like it's the end of the goshdarn world
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St Johns is definitely more athletic than we are and every time they made a basket, the crowd was buzzing, absolutely going wild. The pace was hectic. I thought we were at least ok with inbounding. If you want to get on the coaching staff about something, how about we start with making the team take a million free throws each practice. I cannot comprehend how you can be this bad at free throw shooting at this level, particularly Reed.
 
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jpeakin said:
If you want to get on the coaching staff about something, how about we start with making the team take a million free throws each practice. I cannot comprehend how you can be this bad at free throw shooting at this level, particularly Reed.
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4 starters' FT % is above 81%. then Reed at 56%, Riebe 50%.
 
Dove said:
A road game vs a Quad 1 team.

Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins...Hurley and Murray have to figure this combo out.

Silas and Alex are warriors.

UConn is a Title contender. Tonight was tough. Hurley was not at his best.
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Not a great coaching night. Starters averaged 34 minutes, and continued to shy away from the actual rim. It affected fouls drawn, rebounds, and baskets made. It forfeited the advantages of depth.

Silas continued his growth into the mixed-comfort situation we've seen since RJ Cole. Loosely speaking, he's newly been showing that, roughly speaking "he can do anything, but he can't to do everything." The overstretching of his capacity showed tonight in the turnovers & missed free throws. He can't be asked to do so much, and certainly not with so much talent otherwise available.

When Silas and Alex went deeper and all the way to the basket, it increased the challenge to the opponent's defense as we've seen in other games. Reed's soft hands, Alex's floater, and mid-range shots from Solo & Braylon & Silas are a truly valuable team skillset, but sometimes it establishes an avoidance of contact that weakens the team.

When Silas goes to the basket, good things happen. Simply put, others follow his lead, and it fills out the team's multi-level ability to score. It worked that way with Tristen Newton.

All the high-speed aspirants are working toward 'completion.' It's that time of year.

Tonight's game could be no more than a repeated pattern that get ironed out in the next month or disappear in the NCAAs, when St. John's may be like Pitt or Louisville have been in the past - teams we could't solve, but didn't have to play after the Conference season.

The healthy 9-man roster has now played 4 games. It's time to mature the offensive scheme, roles, rotations, and maximizing the many options we've seen and also believe are untapped.

Ball protection is as important as ball movement and pace management.

Shooting (& making) free throws must be emphasized & improved.

It is not a casual observance that the game could have been a win. But the outcome wasn't at all unfair or unwarranted. Good lessons are contained in this game; may they be learned and grow as mid-winter seeds planted.
 
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Deepster said:
I don’t agree with this. You can’t control your players turning the ball over stupidly or making free throws. If they are better protecting the ball, especially in the first half and 80% FT Silas hits FTs you’d never have posted that.
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Not sure if this is coaching but Pitino's team implemented their game plan to perfection by getting us out of our halfcourt offense. Hurley's team did not implement their game plan by making them have to defend in the half court. - Make sense?
 
Credit to St. John’s, they’re finally playing like the gang of mercenaries they were assembled to be. That was the best game they’ve played this year of the half dozen or so I’ve watched.

It’s funny, nobody is even trying to explain away the FT disparity this time. SJ is a physical, violent team and we took the ball to the basket all game.

Granted, if we got more FT’s we probably would have just missed them, which is the biggest frustration for me and the biggest concern. Also a good half of our turnovers were unforced.

In the end though I’m not worried by this loss, outside of jockeying for seeding, and a 1 is still very much in reach. It’s the same old story: Pitt, Louisville, now St John’s. There aren’t a lot of teams out there like this, and there’s only one Rick Pitino. It’s really only a problem if we face St John’s in the tournament, which we won’t, because they have a max of 2 games there.
 
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