St. John's Post Game Thread | Page 15 | The Boneyard

St. John's Post Game Thread

I think everyone is rooting for Solo, he is a good kid, but we have to face facts....All he has shown he can do is shoot the 3. Not a good ball handler, not a great passer, bad rebounder, struggles to defend, and refuses to put the ball on the deck and attack the rim. He's an average player right now and plays poorly in big games. He needs to get tougher and play tougher.
Of course everyone is routing for him. It's been pretty clear for awhile now Solo is a one dimensional player with lot's of liabilities. Not sure why we ever had him and Mullins on the floor together for long stretches tonight.
People said that about McDermott vs Hurley for years. Maybe Pitino can win a few tourney games, no? Hurley has won 13 in the last 3 years 😁
McDermott's issue now is his player quality is really bad. That won't be an issue for StJ/Repole.
 
I think we'll have to run the rest of the season to have a chance at the 1. We aren't going to get a lot of credit beating up on the sludge of the BE if we can't beat StJ 2x and @ Nova. Still in play, but we have to be perfect. If we lose anymore to StJ, I do think it will be a suggestion that we have a capped ceiling in the tourney too. There are much better teams than them out there that are just as big and physical.
Sure, there are better teams that SJ but we match up well with many of them and have beat some of them head to head. The tournament is so unpredicable because matchups make a diffence.
 
What a stat line from Zubi tonight. 21 pts, 10 rebounds, 7 assists. 2 steals and 3 blocks. I made the big mistake thinking Tarris sleepwalker Reed could outplay him. Zubi ate his lunch.
 
Of course everyone is routing for him. It's been pretty clear for awhile now Solo is a one dimensional player with lot's of liabilities. Not sure why we ever had him and Mullins on the floor together for long stretches tonight.

McDermott's issue now is his player quality is really bad. That won't be an issue for StJ/Repole.
What do you think happened to Mullins tonight? He looked great and then he disappeared.
 
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.
 
We need to get some firepower from the portal. St John’s was bigger, more athletic, more physical. The country has adjusted to our offense. We need to get players that can beat defenders.
I disagree. I like the players on Uconn vs players on St Johns. St. john’s team will not make it to elite 8, doubt they even make sweet 16. I can see this UConn team making final 4 or winning it if they clean up their game.
 
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Sure, there are better teams that SJ but we match up well with many of them and have beat some of them head to head. The tournament is so unpredicable because matchups make a diffence.
And they actually call holds.
What do you think happened to Mullins tonight? He looked great and then he disappeared.
They had the best defender in the BE playing him. That was not an easy matchup for Mullins.
 
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.
Yep, he's transformed their team.

We do need to get more athletic moving forward, it's weird Hurley hasn't fixed that.
Landrew and County aren't elite run and jump guys either.
 
What a stat line from Zubi tonight. 21 pts, 10 rebounds, 7 assists. 2 steals and 3 blocks. I made the big mistake thinking Tarris sleepwalker Reed could outplay him. Zubi ate his lunch.
Zuby had a good game for sure but I thought Reed held his own. Early Reed was dominating, but late Zuby was better. Zuby also hit a 3 which is not in Reed's bag. Clearly Reed was more effective defending Zuby than Reibe. Reed still needs to do a better job not fouling and not hedging so far out. At least Reed didn't pick up any fouls away from the basket tonight.
 
I think Pitino owns Hurley's jock if you give them both equally matched up teams. Pitino also recruits teams that he knows will be able to shut the water off on Dan Hurley's actions with lenght and athletecism and the ability to switch 1-5. I'm honestly not even feeling that great about the next matchup - it felt like StJ could have won by more if they hit a couple of their open threes.
You're going overboard. Silas won't turn it over another 10 times next game.
 
This is a game where we could have used Karoma. Did we forget that we beat a lot of very good teams without Reed using Karoma. Reed was awful tonight. He's a liability at the FT line, so many turnovers and how many times can you hedge out 40 feet and lose your man for an easy layup. I also wouldn't mind seeing Millander getting minutes from Smith. Smith dribbles way too much and never finishes at the basket but he keeps forcing.
I noticed this last year against the Johnies, Rick abuses our bigs on their high hedges. Haven’t seen other coaches exploit it to the level that Slick Rick does.
 
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.
I think they improved. One, I think they were playing Mitchell off the bench earlier in the year. They were forcing more Jackson/Sanon then too. The couple of months have given Pitino the opportunity to feel out his rotations, define roles. I like how he uses Darling, who is a gritty little dude.
Yep, he's transformed their team.

We do need to get more athletic moving forward, it's weird Hurley hasn't fixed that.
Landrew and County aren't elite run and jump guys either.
All you need is one of these guys too, not a whole roster of them. Someone that can go out there, like AJx and Steph, and get loose balls, fly for rebounds, get a key steal. We have nothing in that department. Ross absolutely does not quality. If Mitchell and AJx are 10 athletes, Ross is about a 6 at best.

I can't think of many Mitchell level athletes out there. You got Carr at MSU
 
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You're going overboard. Silas won't turn it over another 10 times next game.
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.
 
I watched a ton of his games at Dayton the last few seasons - he isn't very well suited for physical games like tonight's but he has a consistently good handle and is fearless. I'm much more confident with him as the backup point guard for the tournament than if it were Adams, who has more turnovers than assists for a brutal Maryland team this season
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.
 
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.
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
 
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Braylon Mullins was like an NBA pottery pick tonight. Brittle.


No, there are no typos above.
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.
 
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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.
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.
St Johns cant shoot well from. Outside. Any good zone defense will be a problem for them
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.
 
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.
He was impressive. So was Darling (despite limited minutes). Glad we have some real competition in this league. Looking forward to the rematch.
 
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.

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.
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.
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?
 
He was impressive. So was Darling (despite limited minutes). Glad we have some real competition in this league. Looking forward to the rematch.
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.
 
Pitino may have not gotten Demary in the portal, but he did get the better backup PG. I really like Darling.
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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This St. John's team is better equipped than last year's squad to make a tournament run.
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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