St. John's Post Game Thread

[willie99]

A bad game, maybe the worst I've experienced in the BET

We can't shoot, I don't get it, because I've seen this team shoot. How have they lost their confidence?

We can beat anyone, or we can lose too

Our crowd was sensational, we did our best to pick them up

Moving on to the dance. Let's go Huskies

 

[Hurleyman216]

Lots of dumb comments about roster construction and coaching in this thread. It’s a simple analysis:

1) We have a talented roster that is one of the best 5-6 teams in the country
2) We need to shoot 30% from 3 to beat top 25 teams
3) Our offense requires freedom of movement which we generally don’t get with the physicality/officisting in our league.


When #3 doesn’t happen it often causes us to also miss out on #2. 2 of our 3 Q1 losses came against the most physical team in the country. The other came while missing 2 of our starters. The sky isn’t falling.

 

[SwingDog]

I know this sucks, but it's literally the same team that boatraced SJU a few games ago, it's not the team construction.

True, but we needed to have a counter for adjustments St. John's would make for this game. You knew Pitino wasn't going to use the same gameplan he used in Hartford. They put a lot of pressure on the perimeter shooters this time. Hurley needed to be able to plan for that and we needed to execute, but it didn't look like we were prepared. I didn't have a good feeling when were down 10-0 to start the game.

 

[Valleyfan]

Lack of certain upperclassmen taking a leap. in fact doing the exact opposite. Some juniors have rapidly regressed.

All the returning upperclassmen regressed, except Ross. Don’t expect a deep run in the dance, lucky if we get a W at all.

 

[UCFan1513]

Lots of dumb comments about roster construction and coaching in this thread. It’s a simple analysis:

1) We have a talented roster that is one of the best 5-6 teams in the country
2) We need to shoot 30% from 3 to beat top 25 teams
3) Our offense requires freedom of movement which we generally don’t get with the physicality/officisting in our league.


When #3 doesn’t happen it often causes us to also miss out on #2. 2 of our 3 Q1 losses came against the most physical team in the country. The other came while missing 2 of our starters. The sky isn’t falling.

Great points

 

[Scrutineer]

Yup. 2 of the 4 misses were open 3s missed by Mullins and Ball. Ball had so much time to shoot his with no one within 10 feet of him. If any of those 3s go down, we are looking at a 7 pt deficit with real game pressure on St John's and the Garden rocking.

If.............you want to be winners you make those shots, as we all well know from the great plays past champions made.

My Dad had a saying for situations with "ifs".
"If the dog didn't stop to sh_t he would have caught the rabbit". I think he was right.

 

[RashadRay11]

All the returning upperclassmen regressed, except Ross. Don’t expect a deep run in the dance, lucky if we get a W at all.

Wild.

 

[UCFan1513]

All the returning upperclassmen regressed, except Ross. Don’t expect a deep run in the dance, lucky if we get a W at all.

Bro stop. We’re not losing to a 15 seed. This team won 29 games they’re not lucky to win a first round game

 

[uconn13]

potential galore
dysfunction galore
flip a coin

 

[Donyell 360]

So many of you complain how soft the team is but here you are complaining that they are no fun to watch. Don't be a soft fan. We got embarrassed, again, but we need to be tough too. Don't give up on the team. Don't stop trying. Let's get behind them and hope for the best. Here are some positive takeaways from an otherwise frustrating and forgettable game:

Reed was terrific. He did not dominate Ejiofor this time but he did enough. The team kept feeding him. Unfortunately doing so kind of took everyone else out of their game. Need to find the right balance. But can't complain about his effort.

Ross needs to play more. It is still frustrating that he won't drive to the basket and when he does he loses the ball because his handle is still very much a work in progress, but he brings too much positives to sit him. It is fun seeing him step up.

Reibe looked awful in the previous two matchups with SJ but he was pretty good today. He is a serviceable backup for Reed. It is a great luxury when you have 10 fouls to give with 2 quality bigs.

Malachi is still frustratingly undersized and out of control but he has been so bad, the past few games have actually been encouraging. He made some positive plays. We are toast if Demary can't go, but as much as I hate to admit it, we need Smith to give us something. The past few games have given me hope that we can at least survive his minutes.

Mullins looked lost out there but I credit Mitchell's defense. Mullins was very good against G'Town. I think it is just a bad matchup for him. Good news is he probably won't have to face Mitchell again this year.

Team has been hitting their free throws the past few games. They don't get to the line much but nice to see they can hit them sometimes.

True, 3-19 from 3-pt range won't get it done. But if we had hit a few shots at key moments, this could have been a close game. That possession where there got 3 offensive rebounds and missed 4 straight was a killer. But if they had converted, it would have been a huge momentum change. The point was, we can beat good teams when we shoot decent from 3. When we shoot 16% we probably lose, but that's true of any team. We just need to get hot at the right time. So you are telling me there's a chance? I hear ya!

 

[UCFan1513]

potential galore
dysfunction galore
flip a coin

Agree, and kind of makes March a wild (fun) ride with a team like this. 2014 was kind of that way. Can’t be a wagon every year.

 

[TheHorde]

Lots of dumb comments about roster construction and coaching in this thread. It’s a simple analysis:

1) We have a talented roster that is one of the best 5-6 teams in the country
2) We need to shoot 30% from 3 to beat top 25 teams
3) Our offense requires freedom of movement which we generally don’t get with the physicality/officisting in our league.


When #3 doesn’t happen it often causes us to also miss out on #2. 2 of our 3 Q1 losses came against the most physical team in the country. The other came while missing 2 of our starters. The sky isn’t falling.

What about defense, free throw shooting, getting to the line ourselves, turnovers, rebounding, and overall toughness?

 

[RuffRuff]

Lots of dumb comments about roster construction and coaching in this thread. It’s a simple analysis:

1) We have a talented roster that is one of the best 5-6 teams in the country
2) We need to shoot 30% from 3 to beat top 25 teams
3) Our offense requires freedom of movement which we generally don’t get with the physicality/officisting in our league.


When #3 doesn’t happen it often causes us to also miss out on #2. 2 of our 3 Q1 losses came against the most physical team in the country. The other came while missing 2 of our starters. The sky isn’t falling.

We shall see - many here are counting on #3 to be the golden ticket, falling on our OOC games, last year's Florida game and the 2023 OOC games. Is Hurley that smart? End of day, all we really remember is the Big Dance - I won't care a blink about the BE reg or tourney if we make a run. Many holding out for 3 to be real - let's see this year. Anything short of the Elite 8 and we can this theory. If they make it to the F4 somehow, theory goes into lights.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Actually it’s you all. We’re north of the Mason Dixon.

Until I moved to Louisville, I'd have just said, "All of you knew where to come."

Let’s not lose perspective here.

Are we an all-time great team like ‘24? No.

Are we the favorites? No.

But we have the possibility of winning it all if it all hits correctly. There are only a dozen teams who that is true for and we are one if them.

St John’s is like the football team who dominates in the outdoor, cold-weather, physical football games. So they look great in that environment. But put them in an indoor, turf field game in the Super Bowl…and they are not the same team. UConn is the opposite. Get outside of the BE with more freedom of motion and less physicality—-and we are one of the elite teams.

If Demary is healthy and this is the Reed we get the rest of the way…we have as good of a chance as any team out there.

I’m still on the bandwagon…although there seems to be much more room on it now!😂

As the OOC schedule revealed the team relative to others, I said we were confidently among the "possibles," and that injuries, chemistry, coaching (and one other maybe) would be the determinants... as they would be for the other select possibles. Not even tonight closed the door completely, but much of the angst & anger here reflects a sense that the team has blown a one-seed three different times in the past 3½ weeks.

The same factors apply going forward, and we've seen other teams lose key players in recent days.

Our path to 30 or more wins seems pretty strong. Our path to 5 or fewer losses has only one remaining possibility. It would require winning a two-game mini-tourney three weekends in a row, one game at a time. Someone will do it. And tomorrow we'll have a better idea about who our match-ups will be for the first weekend.

 

[zls44]

There is an overreliance on analytics that is failing this team in key situations.

Just an insane statement.

 

[80shusky]

Its fine.

 

[DMIL]

Karaban is Karaban come and go blues, mullins looks 12 and saf, demary is a turnover machine vs. crunchtime, ross bright spot but come on, reed feed him but misses bunnies, ball is lost

The truth is painful to hear. No one should be o.k. with losing to Pittino and the Johnnie's 4 out of the last 5 match ups including the Big East Regular Season and Conference titles back to back years. Hurley certainly isn't and he has to learn from his mistakes with last year's team construction and this year's. Over reliance on this Euro-ball style and the analytics can make coach blind to his gut instincts.

He will need to make another meaningful adjustment if UCONN is to get back to being elite. We have been good the last two years with this team being a nod better than last years squad but we are not elite and that's 2 years in a row now.

We have to accept the beat down that we got from the Johnnie's tonight with a title on the line. Tip your hat to them and coach Pittino. They deserve a #1 or #2 seed. Anything past the sweet 16 round for our Huskies should exceed reset expectations for this team.

Go Huskies 🐺 💯!

 

[uconngb]

Tomorrow

Here’s some advice for you: don’t

 

[DMIL]

Just an insane statement.

What's so insane about it?🤔

 

[Mike Honcho]

I’m a fan and like a lot about his game. But I think if Mullins goes pro he’s going to spend a lot of his first year in the league working on his body to get bigger and stronger.

Braylon over his last 6 games:

10.7ppg, 36.3% FG, 21.4% 3P

It's not like we're playing murderer's row either. He's physically weak and gets targeted on defense by opposing teams (just like Solo). I love his quick trigger, but when he's off he's way off. Airballs, or hitting backboard and missing rim. His turnaround fadeaway J is absolutely a superpower... I wish he would look for that shot more.

He had his pocket picked at the top of the key today due to poor court awareness and a high dribble. He missed a very make-able reverse layup when we desperately needed a bucket. I love the kid and root for him to succeed, but the moment has been too big for him. Barring a gangbusters NCAA tournament, I think he's going to have a really hard decision this offseason. IMHO, he's a lot more likely to have a Liam-type season bouncing between getting DNP-CDs and getting shots up in the G-league. And Liam has a much more NBA-ready body than he does.

SJU is a really bad matchup for him due to their physicality but that's what you can expect night in and night out in the league.

 

[Drfla]

Reed is good but misses a lot of easy shots

Reed played really well. But his 2 missed shots on our first 2 possessions were costly. zuby made a 2, Tarris missed, Sellers made a 3, Tarris missed, Ball fouled Sellers on a 3, Sellers makes all 3 foul shots and within 2 minutes we are down 8-0.

Never seemed to recover. Tarris played great in the 2nd half and got us back in the game at 49-42. But no one else picked up the slack. As others said the possession when we had 4 shots and could not score, including a wide open, unguarded 3 for Ball was kind of the nail in the coffin.

I think getting away from the Big East style of reffing will help in the Big Dance. Still think we are one of the best 8 teams and we can surprise the fair weather fans on this site.

 

[Scrutineer]

The team had to know the first 4 minute were critical that St. John’s was gonna come out throwing haymakers.

Didn’t help that in our first couple of possessions we tried to force the issue with Tarris and not try to work it to him within the offense.

Needed to take care of the ball and did not do that at all.

TR had zero assists. Who would imagine the passing skill he recently showcased would be missing from the game plan?

The team had its best games on offense lately when he was passing out of the double teams.
But, of course, for there to be assists the shooters need to move to open spots where he can find them and then make the shot.

 

[UConnRock]

Too many shooters and not enough athletics to beat a team like St Johns in the Garden with the way the games are refereed in our conference. Just my opinion.

Too many shooters who don’t make shots

 

[Jaydumo20]

I waited a few hours to post. Nobody celebrating. But I love these kids. They've been through a lot. We've been through a lot with them. A top ten team in the tourney. We should all be excited again in a few days. The most important games start this coming week. Get up for it

 

[HooperScooper]

So I guess Matt Norlander's comment about the 32 point UConn win sinking SJU's psyche didn't age very well. I figured it wouldn't. Call it hyperbole, sensationalism, whatever, it was a dumb comment.