St. John's Post Game Thread

[dennismenace]

Huh? Rick was at Iona in 23, who we destroyed in the tournament then I’m pretty sure we went 3-0 against them in 24

Talking about before that such as when he was at Louisville where he beat us twice in 2014: 81-48 3/8/14 and 71-61 3/15 and 2011 79-78 1/29/11. We won the NC those years. When he was at Providence though not champion years for us he beat us 4 straight times 1985-87.
He is an advocate of pressure defense, at times suffocating defense because he believes it translates into offensive confidence. JC and Dan Hurley at times did/do as well. Teams that are successful against us don't sit around waiting for us to work all our offenses. They believe that we can be beaten by taking us out of our rhythm and going transition (speed the game up). A lot depends on who we have for personnel for this to succeed. We need to beat these teams by tightening up our offense, minimize turnovers and doing things like making free throws where we can beat ourselves at times.

Rick is a HOF coach despite some of his antics. He is a competitor above all and he is going to give you a long evening or afternoon if you are not fully prepared. Some of our players got a lesson last night that hopefully they learn from. It may well (hoping so) be a good wake up call when Dan Hurley starts talking to them about toughness going forward.

 

[dennismenace]

If he doesn't get you, no evil thing will.

Reminds me more of Bella Lugosi

 

[AllHusky]

They won't make it out of the first weekend.

2nd weekend

 

[Rich]

So remind me where we are now:

1) Hurley sucks and was outcoached by the Crypt Keeper;
2) Our players are trash and evidence we can't recruit
3) The team's record was a mirage
4) Karaban is over-rated

Have I got this right? Someone tell me if I've got this right.

LOL

 

[jpeakin]

4 starters' FT % is above 81%. then Reed at 56%, Riebe 50%.

Last night we were at 41%

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Comes close to what?

Comes close to what?

The D in Duke stands for Dominance.

 

[Captbluefin]

It is just me that thinks this is a problem? And the Hurley comments about Eric in the presser after X game.

Seems like the families of both freshman are not happy..

Granted posting that last night by Mr Mullins doesn’t seem appropriate to me..

 

[navery12]

View attachment 116854

It is just me that thinks this is a problem? And the Hurley comments about Eric in the presser after X game.

Seems like the families of both freshman are not happy..

Granted posting that last night by Mr Mullins doesn’t seem appropriate to me..

The Reibe stuff is nonsense and meaningless, as is this. Especially this one, getting frustrated during a loss doesn't seem like a big deal

 

[aboogieee]

From everything I’ve seen, Braylon’s dad seems all in. UConn has to do a better job getting shooters open, and the shooters need to learn how to replace.

 

[RuffRuff]

View attachment 116854

It is just me that thinks this is a problem? And the Hurley comments about Eric in the presser after X game.

Seems like the families of both freshman are not happy..

Granted posting that last night by Mr Mullins doesn’t seem appropriate to me..

IDK - I think he's a fiery, passionate dad who wants to win as much as he wants to see his kid do well. Not a great look, but not that big a deal.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

He’s awful - which sucks, bc I used to really like him. Still, would rather Gus and JJ than Fanta and Donny any day of the week.

No way. I've never been a huge fan of Gus but last night was noticably bad. Wondering who an out of bounds was off when the call was a foul, saying Tarris had 3 fouls when it was 2, saying Alex had fouled out as he inbounds it. We didn't even get Raf who usually makes it tolerable

 

[Nameless]

The sloppiness was caused by St John’s ball pressure D. Everyone keeps saying in forced errors but for the most part Johnnie’s forced us to play faster and play more one on one which isn’t our game and it led to 15 turnovers.

Meant to respond to this last night but was tired. I agree their pressure lead to a lot of the sloppy play. But some of it was totally unforced. Reed tripping over his feet when he had 1 guy in front of him and a clear path to an easy layup is one example off the top of my head. We are capable of playing much more composed than we did last night, even when facing the really tough defensive pressure SJU is known for.

I'm confident we will look much better when we play them at home

 

[T-Squared]

View attachment 116854

It is just me that thinks this is a problem? And the Hurley comments about Eric in the presser after X game.

Seems like the families of both freshman are not happy..

Granted posting that last night by Mr Mullins doesn’t seem appropriate to me..

The kid needed to break free of the tough defensive blanket that St. John’s put on him. Can’t find him if he can’t get free of the defender.

 

[Rich]

The kid needed to break free of the tough defensive blanket that St. John’s put on him. Can’t find him if he can’t get free of the defender.

I may be isolated in this opinion but I don't think Mullins is as clear cut a case of 'One and Done' as a lot of people may believe. He strikes me as a kid that could use a second year if for no other reason than to get stronger and prove he can play through aggressive point of attack man defense. That is the stuff that gets you paid in the NBA.

 

[ArizonaHsky]

I may be isolated in this opinion but I don't think Mullins is as clear cut a case of 'One and Done' as a lot of people may believe. He strikes me as a kid that could use a second year if for no other reason than to get stronger and prove he can play through aggressive point of attack man defense. That is the stuff that gets you paid in the NBA.

But the money is going to be to hard to pass up. Its not like UConn has a lot of NIL money to throw at him. He is definitely a 1st rounder.

 

[Travelman6]

St Johns already won @Nova.

I was thinking @Shall but typed Nova for whatever reason. Shall might need that win by the time they get to March so hope that motivates them...

 

[Huskie5life]

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.

They've improved significantly IMO. Keep in mind, they only returned a single starter from last year (Zuby) it's a team full of transfers. Chemistry takes a while. Keep in mind, they also played Michigan in an exhibition game before the season and only lost by 2...in OT.

 

[Huskie5life]

The whining about the refs and free throw attempts is a little sad, guys. UConn shot 42% from the line. Also, FT attempts vs actual fouls is a big difference. 23 fouls vs 15. Of course SJU is going to have more foul shot attempts when a team is losing at the end and has to foul to try to get back in the game and the other team is in the bonus.

Also, SJU is built on athleticism, not great shooters. They score most of their points in the paint. All of their top scorers are trying to get to the rim. They go to the line more than any other team in the Big East if I'm not mistaken. That's not the refs fault. It's their style of play.

I think people are forgetting they had the #1 ranked transfer portal and were pre-season ranked #5 in the country overall. (Although I'd argue that pre-season rankings are kind of useless at this point)

 

[dennismenace]

Pitino has his players turn the thugball setting up to 11 and it makes every one of these games competitive, especially with Big East refs

Danny referred to the front line of AS's as having some big axx men. Maybe we should consider one or two in the portal this year. Take a look at most of the Big East teams. We are very tall and mostly quite thin.

 

[3rdbass]

The kid needed to break free of the tough defensive blanket that St. John’s put on him. Can’t find him if he can’t get free of the defender.

Yeah his lack of strength really showed in this game especially when guard Mitchell but it was easy to see he had a tough time getting away from St. John's defenders who are stronger than him.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I may be isolated in this opinion but I don't think Mullins is as clear cut a case of 'One and Done' as a lot of people may believe. He strikes me as a kid that could use a second year if for no other reason than to get stronger and prove he can play through aggressive point of attack man defense. That is the stuff that gets you paid in the NBA.

He will be defended at the next level just like he was defended last night by St Johns. But he still goes and he will get stronger over the summer. It will have to be a focus of any team that drafts him.

 

[DogMania]

The doom and gloom is wild.

Yeah we made mistakes in a hostile environment against a very good and physical team.

We also got hosed by the officials and got out shot at the FT line by 20 and still had a chance to win.

We have lost 2 games. One of those by 4 to the #1 team in the country without Reed and Mullins.

The offense seems to be fixed mostly, which is what everyone was worried about.

The one thing we really need to fix is the lineup rotations. Hurley has a bad habit of sticking Smith/Stewart/Reibe on the floor all at once which just can’t happen. They went on a 16-1 run with those 3 on the floor in he first half.

I've mentioned the same thing a number of times this season. Hurley needs to bring in the bench one or max two players at a time with three to four starters on the floor. This wholesale line change has not worked out well at all. And this was a game where that was not going to work under any circumstances.

Smith is now getting the Ross treatment on the Yard. He's had a few solid games, and one recently against PC. He's capable, and I think would have better results if he came in the game for a 2 or so minute stretch with 3 to 4 scorers on the floor. He does dribble too much and needs to distribute the ball sooner. He too often misses that first open teammate. I hope he can learn and develop since he has some offense game and is pesty enough on the other end of the floor where he usually holds his own. He needs to get better, but Hurley needs to put him in situations where he can be successful.

The starters having to play long stretches against SJ's relentless physical play wore our starters down. Spotting them between whistles for a couple minutes might have helped, but all in all, they underperformed in so many areas (FTs, TOs, RBs, etc.) that were too much to overcome.

 

[Lafayette]

Did you really pummel two St. John’s fans?

Yes, be let's leave out the details - this is a family friendly board (oftimes)

 

[aboogieee]

I miss the days where Oop-ing to our big would get us 10 points a game easy. Every drive to the lane you thought it may be an alley oop to a big. Now it's virtually never.

I think about this a lot. Silas deserved at least one year with Samson.

 

[Kemba15]

I think about this a lot. Silas deserved at least one year with Samson.

I probably said to the guy next to me at MSG last night 3x “Samson dunks that!”