Baruch Game Discussion (Exhib)

We're in for a very competitive Winter with this group, I walked out of CA encouraged.

Disregarding the opponent, our depth, length, and versatility were on full display tn. CM is going to have fun mixing and matching lineups.

Moose put in significant work this Summer. His handle is tighter, he has a quicker release, and definitely hit the weights. I was very pleased to see his noticeable improvements.

We have two stars, perhaps college superstars in the making in Bash and Rich. Both have 1st/2nd team all BE potential over the next few years.

Tariq was very active, Amar now has imposing strength, and Yakwe/Sima both ran the floor well.

Marcus and Shamorie's chemistry is obvious, full court pressing will be fun.

Wish we got to see Malik. Darien sat the majority of the night to the point where I wondered if CM was taking precautionary measures with his injuries. I thought his entering of the game alongside Elijah spoke volumes as to where he is on the depth chart at this point of the preseason.

Solid crowd for a exhibition, the masses are ready to support this program, get me to Opening Night!

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.

I think Sima looks like he is getting passed by. I'm hoping we go small ball anyways and probably Brown surpasses him the day he steps on campus.

LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential.

I'm cool with Amar getting 10-16 min being a pick and pop 4/5. Jack up 3 or 4 threes and sink 1 or 2 of them.

Owens played with good energy. Forget the 12 rebounds against the JV Baruch the hustle was there.

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.

I think Sima looks like he is getting passed by. I'm hoping we go small ball anyways and probably Brown surpasses him the day he steps on campus.

LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential.

I'm cool with Amar getting 10-16 min being a pick and pop 4/5. Jack up 3 or 4 threes and sink 1 or 2 of them.

Owens played with good energy. Forget the 12 rebounds against the JV Baruch the hustle was there.

I had mentioned the Jayvaughn Pinkston comparo a week or two ago, and after seeing him tonight I think it's as close as we will get.  He's faster than Jayvaughn and slight more of a 3 than a 4 unlike Jayvaughn,  but he's nasty inside and has awesome first step to blow by guys.  Good finisher as well. 

We will be better in every way this season and now have a full complement of both guards and forwards to actually play competitive ball.  Lots of fun.

"RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential. "

Not only comfortable, he looks really good.  Long stride and good athlete.  Very good handle for 6'10 kid in open court.  Sneaky passer and high IQ.  I think he's gonna end up being a stud here.  He plays under control.  This season he's only gonna get broken in.  Gonna be money when he gets real comfortable at the pace of D1 game in USA.  Reminds me of one of those Duke players we never land.   

I walked out thinking this can be a fun team to follow this year.  Marcus can only get better when he plays more games and everyone gets on the same age. Ponds is a frosh but I am hoping after 15 games with Marcus they will really start to click.  Rico played 21 and scored 21 with fantastic effort-looks like he has something to prove.  You can see the lessened time will only help him, also last year he was dreadful on the break but tonight not an issue tonight; maybe more strength is helping.  Biggest surprise was Owens.  He has good hands, doesn't force shots, rebounded well but somebody please feed him food--soooo skinny.  Biggest worry is no beef  at the 5.  Could be hurt by team with big front  line.

Overall, the team played together, had fun and enjoyed  their teammates' successes.

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.

I think Sima looks like he is getting passed by. I'm hoping we go small ball anyways and probably Brown surpasses him the day he steps on campus.

LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential.

I'm cool with Amar getting 10-16 min being a pick and pop 4/5. Jack up 3 or 4 threes and sink 1 or 2 of them.

Owens played with good energy. Forget the 12 rebounds against the JV Baruch the hustle was there.

Didn't see the game. But ,what makes you say Sima looks like he is getting passed by?

Lovett made passes that I have seen very few college point guards make and passes that our point guards have only dreamt of in recent years. Bashir looked more than willing to try to take over at times. The versatility is impressive.

Brought my friend who only watches college in March (so he of course has seen 1 SJU game in the past five years) and he was so so so impressed with Freudenberg. He was especially impressed with his passing. Also on a personal note it was so nice to see Mussini play his natural position and excel.

You all basically hit the nails on the head but the one thing that I saw on the stats that I didnt realize was Ponds was 0-5 from three.

My observations:

LoVett is a real point guard. He'll take some getting used to but everyone will be better with him running the offense. He started off sloppy (they all did) but he was great in the second half.

Ponds is really smooth. He glides to the basket like he was born to do it. 0-5 from 3, but I'm not worried. We know he can make that shot.

Freudenberg looked further along than i expected. He passes well, boards and he has got a 3 point shot that is a thing of beauty.

Owens had an eye opening stat line, (12 boards in 16 minutes) and I think we'll see him serve as a rock for the front court when they need a glue guy to step in who can board and execute passes. You don't have to score to help the team win.

Ahmed looks like he's ready. He was able to play all over the court tonight. Baruch isn't much of a test, but he certainly passed.

Yakwe was about the same as he was last year. He hit a jumper, blocked a couple of shots and ran the floor. Didn't see too much of his game on display tonight. He wasn't forcing things.

Mussini played very well. I am hesistant to take the bait because he lit up Wagner and Baltimore County last year. I don't see this being different, although I like how he finished in transition. He didn't dodge contact this time. It's a good sign..

Amar had a moment or two, but he is still really uncomfortable under the basket. For a guy his size, you would think he would have figured out how to go up strong.

Williams barely played. Can't get a read on the guy. What's the story?

Sima has to be more aggressive. He should be scoring on offensive rebounds at will against Baruch. He's not comfortable yet out there. Just one game, but i wanted to see his hard work in the summer manifest into a much tougher Sima.

Williams...three blocks in five minutes.

Mussini is so skilled offensively it is ridiculous.

Mussini is so skilled offensively it is ridiculous.

You might get flak for this, but he was pretty good going to the basket last year and looked even better and more confident with it last night. Pretty crafty.

Am very encouraged.

Aside from the slow start, everyone played liked I had hoped.  Lovett looks like the bona fide pg we havent had in a while... looked effortless, hit 3s.  Ponds looked slick and easy.  Bash looked like a man among boys, RF is gonna be a stud.  Took a little to get the rust off of Tariq.  We got 2 full squads out there.  They ran their sets and looked cohesive.  Cant wait for the 11th and beyond. 

Anyone where costumes for the $5 tix?

Wear

Quote from: Dave on October 31, 2016, 10:44:48 PM

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.

I think Sima looks like he is getting passed by. I'm hoping we go small ball anyways and probably Brown surpasses him the day he steps on campus.

LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential.

I'm cool with Amar getting 10-16 min being a pick and pop 4/5. Jack up 3 or 4 threes and sink 1 or 2 of them.

Owens played with good energy. Forget the 12 rebounds against the JV Baruch the hustle was there.

I had mentioned the Jayvaughn Pinkston comparo a week or two ago, and after seeing him tonight I think it's as close as we will get.  He's faster than Jayvaughn and slight more of a 3 than a 4 unlike Jayvaughn,  but he's nasty inside and has awesome first step to blow by guys.  Good finisher as well. 

We will be better in every way this season and now have a full complement of both guards and forwards to actually play competitive ball.  Lots of fun.

Great to see speed and quickness at the guard position.

Bashir's style of play reminds me of the old-school small forwards that you don't see much anymore (Bernard King, Adrian Dantley, Xavier McDaniel).  I am in no way saying he will be as good as those guys, just that he plays a similar style.  It will be interesting to see how his skills translate against better competition. 

Quote from: MCNPA on October 31, 2016, 10:56:15 PM

Quote from: Dave on October 31, 2016, 10:44:48 PM

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.

I think Sima looks like he is getting passed by. I'm hoping we go small ball anyways and probably Brown surpasses him the day he steps on campus.

LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

RF looks comfy at the 3 which is awesome. I was worried he was gonna be stuck at the 4. So much potential.

I'm cool with Amar getting 10-16 min being a pick and pop 4/5. Jack up 3 or 4 threes and sink 1 or 2 of them.

Owens played with good energy. Forget the 12 rebounds against the JV Baruch the hustle was there.

I had mentioned the Jayvaughn Pinkston comparo a week or two ago, and after seeing him tonight I think it's as close as we will get.  He's faster than Jayvaughn and slight more of a 3 than a 4 unlike Jayvaughn,  but he's nasty inside and has awesome first step to blow by guys.  Good finisher as well. 

We will be better in every way this season and now have a full complement of both guards and forwards to actually play competitive ball.  Lots of fun.

Great to see speed and quickness at the guard position.

Bashir's style of play reminds me of the old-school small forwards that you don't see much anymore (Bernard King, Adrian Dantley, Xavier McDaniel).  I am in no way saying he will be as good as those guys, just that he plays a similar style.  It will be interesting to see how his skills translate against better competition. 

He showed a pretty good touch from 12-15 ft., so if he has to go up against the trees, he may be able to step back and hit.  That would force the defenses to adjust.

We have an amazing freshmen class. Can't wait to watch them all grow. And to think Simon will be part of that class as well.

Bashir reminds me of Jayvaugn Pinkston. I think he can be the kind of player for St. John's. Is tough to stop running downhill. Put a guard on him he bullies him. Put a big on him he blows by.


LoVett, Ponds, Mussini is great combo trio. Add in Ellison to that mix. We're doing just fine. Scary when Simon gets on the court next year.

I see a little brownlee in Bashir. Love that we can post him up or play him on the perimeter.

BE backcourts better take notice. Give our guards an inch and they will take a mile.

Ahmed Lovett and Ponds are the real deal.  Fruedenburg is better than I expected. Mussini looks much improved. Mullin sat in appropriate places and dressed well. Am I cautiously optimistic? Possibly.

Sima hit his Free throws no one got hurt and we didn't lose. Those would be the main things I would take away from this game.

Mussini is so skilled offensively it is ridiculous.

And if he could do that against Baruch just imagine what he would do against John Jay