*whispers* St. John's isn't that bad

[UconnU]

Posh is a small tough guard who can play. We have done serious damage with guards just like him with just a supporting cast.
SJU is going to be tough the next few years.

Posh was a top 80 kid his junior year in high school. I thought we were about to offer after watching the lightning a few times but then he got injured fell in the rankings and he kind of fell out of favor. Good on St John’s for sticking with him.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Sanogo situation aside, St. John's outplayed us down the stretch of that game. I watched it a few times. They made shots, which always helps, but they were tough and Posh and Champagnie are both legit.

Posh started the season 2/18 from 3, but he's shooting 40% from deep the last 6 games on 4 attempts a game. Not coincidentally, they've won 5 of 6, and the game they lost he didn't make any and is the only game in the stretch he didn't score in double figures.

Champagnie and his brother are both having awesome seasons. Julian is a 12-er on KenPom (top 500 player in 12 different stat categories) and Justin is a 13-er. Whaley shut him down for most of the game, but he had 2 huge moves in the last 2 minutes (layup and drew a foul on the other) against Whaley and Martin that kept them ahead.

And then they have a bunch of tough, solid roleplayers that can either shoot or attack the basket and draw fouls. Their centers aren't great, but they protect the rim. I think they are a for real bubble team. Champagnie isn't getting a lot of NBA buzz right now, and so he might come back. They only have 1 senior in the rotation (Dunn), and they won't miss him too much. They'll be a trendy pick for top tier of the conference next year.

When the teams are as evenly matched as the middle of the pack of the Big East is, games will be decided by a handful of plays. A run here and there could be too much to overcome. I think of it in terms of making one more winning play every 5 minutes is the difference between winning and losing the game. That one play can be a lot of things, but the teams that make that extra play are the ones that end up winning more than their fare share of the close games.

 

[glastonbury50]

SJU dialed up there defense and geez Posh is a tough little effer

We need rj cole to model his game off of posh instead of james harden

 

[Hey Adrien!]

To me, the biggest difference is St. John's moving away from a Matt Abdelmassih-led acquisition of talent from the transfer market (he's moved on to Nebraska) to a Mike Anderson led recruiting philosophy mostly made up of under-appreciated, hungry and tough high school recruits with good JuCo committs sprinkled in.

I have no freakin' clue how underrated Champagnie was out of high school, Posh (similar to Myles Powell) was underrated due to his conditioning and Wusu is like a Grant Williams clone.

Sure like any team, there are transfers on St. John's, but both guys are more of support depth players: Dunn as a microwave scorer off the bench and Toro is big depth.

Based on Anderson's short time in the Big East and the type of guys he's brought in, I expect the '21 class to be good too. If Champagnie sticks around another year, St. John's will easily be a top-half Big East team next year and a penciled in March Madness team.

 

[Watchdog]

We should have won both the Creighton and St John’s game...

Chalk them up to: a pair of guards who aren't yet up to the UConn point guard standard: and a freshman (underrated?) tough enough to lead St. John's. Mike Anderson must be a very good judge of talent.
It's why we probably went so hard after CFJr. even though Agent Sool is on the way. One very good tough guard is not enough for our style.

 

[Hoophound]

St John's is fun to watch. I like that group and I keep finding myself pulling for them. On another note, it seems like they are always playing. Every time on turn on the tv, St John's is playing.

 

[Rico444]

Bump. Up 15 against Villanova in the 2nd half.

 

[HooperScooper]

Bump. Up 15 against Villanova in the 2nd half.

Villanova will come back and win now. 😀

 

[HuskyHoosier]

Really fun team to watch and easy to root for too. Love watching Posh and wusu - tough players.

 

[alphasigko]

Johnnie's up by 17 w/6:20 to go

 

[superjohn]

That St. John's loss is still upsetting, never should've happened but they're good and Posh is a stud.

 

[alphasigko]

Up 12 w/2:12 to go

 

[alphasigko]

The Johnnie's really earned this win....they made their shots when it counted down the stretch...

 

[superjohn]

Mike Anderson is a damn fine coach who never seems to get enough recognition. A good Johnnie's is very good for the Big East.

 

[auror]

Shotmaking matters and 3pt shooting was a big factor in this Nova-St Johns game. Johnnies made 2 more 3s on 6 less 3pt attempts.

But the real story is that if St Johns makes shots, they're a quite dangerous team.

I think they are a for real bubble team.

Welcome to the bubble Johnnies.

 

[ucawn]

Well now you get into the what if’s...

 

[willie99]

Mike Anderson is not a bad coach, but he's not a great coach either. His teams are exciting, they play hard, but they tend to be undisciplined. They'll have their days

 

[Magic32]

I hadn't followed St. Johns this year prior to playing them so I based my expectations on what I read here on the Boneyard. Naturally, I was disappointed by the loss because I didn't think they were a good team. Having seen them that night and a few times since, I've been impressed and certainly don't see it as a bad loss like I originally did. This season is crazy and with the exception of Gonzaga and Baylor, I feel almost any team is capable of knocking off another. Can't remember when I've seen so many ranked teams lose to unranked teams.

 

[Waquoit]

My hope is this win by the Johnnies will cause many of the nitwits on the Yard who went DEFCON 1 after UConn's loss to do some much needed self-reflection. But that's not the way to bet.

 

[Brochacho]

The fact that St. John's is on a 5 game winning streak doesn't override the fact that UConn choked. Wins are at a premium this season and we lost out on one because Dan Hurley had paper hands down the stretch. It is what it is.

 

[navery12]

My hope is this win by the Johnnies will cause many of the nitwits on the Yard who went DEFCON 1 after UConn's loss to do some much needed self-reflection. But that's not the way to bet.

Took exactly 1 post for this dream to be crushed

 

[Waquoit]

Took exactly 1 post for this dream to be crushed

And I thought long and hard before I used the word "nitwit".

 

[superjohn]

Took exactly 1 post for this dream to be crushed

It was a s^^tty dream, last night has nothing to do with Hurley blowing that game.

 

[Waquoit]

It was a s^^tty dream, last night has nothing to do with Hurley blowing that game.

You and your ilk were embarrassing post-game.

 

[Get a Job]

It was a s^^tty dream, last night has nothing to do with Hurley blowing that game.

I agree with this. It doesn't matter if SJU is the second coming of UNLV ca. 1990. That loss was inexcusable, given the fact that UConn put themselves in position for what should have been a win, and blew it.

 

[navery12]

It was a s^^tty dream, last night has nothing to do with Hurley blowing that game.

Sure but I think we can all agree the people saying losing to St John's is going to keep us out of the NCAA tournament are crazy right?

 

[Brochacho]

Sure but I think we can all agree the people saying losing to St John's is going to keep us out of the NCAA tournament are crazy right?

At this current point in time, its a bad loss either way. But not back-breaking. 1 Q1 win. 1-3 vs BE teams that aren't in the bottom 2, 4-0 vs teams that are. 25% of our wins are against Hartford and CCSU. NET in the 40s. The St. John's game is water under the bridge, but we can't afford something like that to happen again. Squarely on the bubble.

 

[navery12]

At this current point in time, its a bad loss either way. But not back-breaking. 1 Q1 win. 1-3 vs BE teams that aren't in the bottom 2, 4-0 vs teams that are. 25% of our wins are against Hartford and CCSU. NET in the 40s. The St. John's game is water under the bridge, but we can't afford something like that to happen again. Squarely on the bubble.

No, it's not a bad loss. UConn is on the bubble and so is St John's, losing to another bubble team by 4 points is not a bad loss. It's also completely disingenuous to phrase UConn as having 1 Q1 win when it's 1 out of 2 opportunities. We'll have a ton of Q1 games coming up, which just so happens to line up with us getting our best player back

 

[Brochacho]

No, it's not a bad loss. UConn is on the bubble and so is St John's, losing to another bubble team by 4 points is not a bad loss. It's also completely disingenuous to phrase UConn as having 1 Q1 win when it's 1 out of 2 opportunities. We'll have a ton of Q1 games coming up, which just so happens to line up with us getting our best player back

If you are a bubble team, losing to other bubble teams, that is by definition a bad loss. That's how your bubble pops.

 

[superjohn]

No, it's not a bad loss. UConn is on the bubble and so is St John's, losing to another bubble team by 4 points is not a bad loss. It's also completely disingenuous to phrase UConn as having 1 Q1 win when it's 1 out of 2 opportunities. We'll have a ton of Q1 games coming up, which just so happens to line up with us getting our best player back

UConn isn't currently a bubble team, without the team healthy I think most think we will be a bubble team with the upcoming schedule. Need to get healthy.