St. John's Post Game Thread

[uconngb]

All of the nonsense that they can get away with against the rest of the conference came back to bite them.

That's a preview of how our season ends if they don't off the nonsense. And maybe get a lil tougher.

This pretty much sums it up

 

[RuffRuff]

Duke and Michigan play eachother in a couple of weeks

Michigan also plays Illinois and Nebraska again

So a 1 seed is still very much in play.

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.

 

[Donyell 360]

He wasn’t really impactful at all. I understand the gravity he attracts, but good-to-great players deal with it better. AK was great ij the second half and he attracts similar gravity. It’s hard to not be somewhat disappointed in Solo right now.

I think everyone is disappointed with Solo, especially his biggest fans. We thought he would be competing for Big East POY and headed to the first round NBA draft. The good news is he has the rest of this year and next to put it all together. Rooting for him!

 

[FearThePups]

Unfortunately this is literally Malachi’s nightmare matchup. He just really struggles with this kind of pressure and physicality.

Unfortunately we are now seeing Smith isn’t a high end D1 player. Neither was Mahaney. Better for them to stay in a mid major environment.

 

[RashadRay11]

And at least he had fight in him! He was a dog! Some of our other players want to be gentlemen. Frick that, man! Show some fight. AK no show and look scared.

A “no show” with 17 points? You’re incorrect.

 

[superjohn]

Agree - Mitchell is a better defensive piece than anyone they had last year and Pitino knows how to use him right. That Dylan Darling is a ballsy little dude. He's not a full game guy, but Pitino played him when it mattered and he showed up. Sanon and Jackson are kind of empty jerseys.

They're way better than they were early in the season. Last year's team just blitzed you with pressure but they were small and couldn't shoot. They don't blitz you quite the same this season but they're a lot bigger and they can shoot pretty good now.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I’m genuinely curious to know whether UConn basketball has ever lost a game where they shot 55%. I asked Gemini and ChatGPT, but they’re both too stupid/lazy to be able to pull box scores to search.

 

[sdglast]

I think everyone is disappointed with Solo, especially his biggest fans. We thought he would be competing for Big East POY and headed to the first round NBA draft. The good news is he has the rest of this year and next to put it all together. Rooting for him!

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.

 

[uconngb]

Do you not look at box scores of BE games vs tournament games?

It’s absolutely a thing with the refs in this conference. St John’s doesn’t defend with their hands?????

Idk if it’s just a boomer thing to never blame the refs or what but 31-12 FTs is a problem with the refs. It’s also consistent in this league vs when we play non league games in the last 3-4 years.

It’s just whining to blame the refs. Plain and simple. And not a good look. Refs did not decide this game. This, poor FT shooting and just some very low basketball IQ basketball plays. I don’t know what the hell Tarris is thinking half the time but he makes so many dumb plays per game it’s silly.

 

[AdamaNation]

We certainly needed someone to step up but we couldn't make clutch plays when it counted. Mullins missed shots. Reed missed shots in the paint. Silas missed FT's. Reibe was a non-factor. Ross and Stew disappeared. And SJ hit shots. Pretty simple. Hopefully Ball has his best great game when it counts most.

We shot better than SJ. Ft disparity crushed us and the early turnovers hurt. I thought we played tough. Alex wasn’t as scared of Hopkins like days past. Reed Zuby was good until it wasn’t. Mullins has brass ba!!s. Silas had that fire!!!! The real issues to me were smith again being a non factor vs bigger guards, Stewart continues to turn the ball over and may have the worst +\- on the team by a lot, the 15 stumbles slips and falls.. what the heck was that? And odd turnovers with minimal pressure. In all, we hung with a team with 2 big east POY and played good but not great. We played tough and I feel we still had some gas. We win in OT. Danny avoids a tech that was waiting for him and this was the wirst officiated game of the year. Another reason why we will thrive in the tourney and SJ will get dumped early. Bad both ways early but a pulled jersey. Trip on Silas. Lane violation. Travel on the pg and another on zuby. All that and we lose by essentially a possession. I feel good and that was a good test.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

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.

 

[DCKembaFan]

My takeaway from this game isn't that UConn isn't that good, but that St. John's has seriously improved. St. John's beat a team that has beaten really good opponents. It just sucks that they dropped the ball in non-conference to become a top-25 team now instead of top-10.

 

[superjohn]

It’s just whining to blame the refs. Plain and simple. And not a good look. Refs did not decide this game. This, poor FT shooting and just some very low basketball IQ basketball plays. I don’t know what the hell Tarris is thinking half the time but he makes so many dumb plays per game it’s silly.

We get grabbed more than any other team in the league and it hurts us because of the way we play but St. John's flat out deserved to beat us.

They were the tougher team tonight.

 

[RuffRuff]

They're way better than they were early in the season. Last year's team just blitzed you with pressure but they were small and couldn't shoot. They don't blitz you quite the same this season but they're a lot bigger and they can shoot pretty good now.

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.

 

[Kemba15]

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.

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 😁

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Smith is essentially unplayable against good competition.

except, of course, for his excellent games against BYU, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona.

Lots of recency bias gets posted here but Smith is the only player on the Boneyard who consistently gets “past” bias.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

 

[Donyell 360]

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.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

 

[Donyell 360]

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.

 

[aceboon]

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.

 

[Scottobot]

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.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

 

[superjohn]

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.

 

[Donyell 360]

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.

 

[superjohn]

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.

 

[KembaRunner]

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.

 

[RuffRuff]

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

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

 

[Donyell 360]

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.