Creighton

Fair game against an excellent team.  Wish for more, but at times we were kids out there.   They are upperclassmen with a big and talented freshmen center.   We kept them below their season average for offense so I think while we were lackluster there we still beat averages.   They took us out of our offense which I didn't expect.   Our offense kept us in.  We have some very talented offensive players.  Our guys just don't take defense seriously still at this level.  No pride in it.   It's what upperclassmen learn....  when they are tired of losing and want to win....

We need to develop Yakwe and Owens.  No other way around it.  Even with Clark, those two will need to improve their games.

Can you develop a kid that has hands that bad and can't play man to man defense?

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 10:45:08 PM

Patton 25 and 9. 11 -13 from the field

1-3 from the "field". 10-10 inside two feet 😬
He should have had 20 boards and 5 blocks on Yakwe and Williams, but he's not that kind of player...complete nonfactor on d.

Watson is a killer...the kind of kid that ends careers in March.
Who wants to drive Yakwe to the airport for his transfer?

Thomas b*tchslapped Ponds for 30 minutes...glad to see him
finish strong after that. They are going to beat us by 25 in Omaha.

You want a 7 footer to be down there. Runs well and can finish with either hand. I saw him play 3 times and 2 of them were with teams with an actual front court and I was impressed each time.

Ponds and Ahmed 1 foul apiece. All those minutes of getting lit up and 1 apiece! Need to try harder

Nene a good sign. Ponds gave up a lot of layups tonight.

Quote from: desco80 on January 04, 2017, 10:57:17 PM

We need to develop Yakwe and Owens.  No other way around it.  Even with Clark, those two will need to improve their games.

Can you develop a kid that has hands that bad and can't play man to man defense?

I don't remember his hands being that terrible last year? How does someone's hands get worse?

Quote from: Marillac on January 04, 2017, 10:57:34 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 10:45:08 PM

Patton 25 and 9. 11 -13 from the field

1-3 from the "field". 10-10 inside two feet 😬
He should have had 20 boards and 5 blocks on Yakwe and Williams, but he's not that kind of player...complete nonfactor on d.

Watson is a killer...the kind of kid that ends careers in March.
Who wants to drive Yakwe to the airport for his transfer?

Thomas b*tchslapped Ponds for 30 minutes...glad to see him
finish strong after that. They are going to beat us by 25 in Omaha.

You want a 7 footer to be down there. Runs well and can finish with either hand. I saw him play 3 times and 2 of them were with teams with an actual front court and I was impressed each time.

I'd love him on SJU, but let's be honest...he wouldn't be half the player here.

Quote from: desco80 on January 04, 2017, 10:57:17 PM

We need to develop Yakwe and Owens.  No other way around it.  Even with Clark, those two will need to improve their games.

Can you develop a kid that has hands that bad and can't play man to man defense?

I agree... Even at a reasonable rate of improvement, I just don't think he'll make enough progess to be impactful beyond some blocks.

Owens on the other hands has the tools to contribute, just needs to figure out a better plan to put on some weight beyond what he did from last season to this.

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Quote from: desco80 on January 04, 2017, 10:57:17 PM

We need to develop Yakwe and Owens.  No other way around it.  Even with Clark, those two will need to improve their games.

Can you develop a kid that has hands that bad and can't play man to man defense?

I don't know.  Owens I have hope for.
Yakwe was starting to look better, but tonight he was such a net negative it's hard to find a reason to even play him at this point.

I just don't see where major reinforcements will come from in the next year.  He has to improve.  Forget about the blocKS and cleanup the glass.  His defense though, as you point out - is scary bad. 

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:00:29 PM

Quote from: Marillac on January 04, 2017, 10:57:34 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 10:45:08 PM

Patton 25 and 9. 11 -13 from the field

1-3 from the "field". 10-10 inside two feet 😬
He should have had 20 boards and 5 blocks on Yakwe and Williams, but he's not that kind of player...complete nonfactor on d.

Watson is a killer...the kind of kid that ends careers in March.
Who wants to drive Yakwe to the airport for his transfer?

Thomas b*tchslapped Ponds for 30 minutes...glad to see him
finish strong after that. They are going to beat us by 25 in Omaha.

You want a 7 footer to be down there. Runs well and can finish with either hand. I saw him play 3 times and 2 of them were with teams with an actual front court and I was impressed each time.

I'd love him on SJU, but let's be honest...he wouldn't be half the player here.

Not as athletic but reminds me of William Bedford from Memphis Final 4 team

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 04, 2017, 10:51:47 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 10:46:22 PM

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 04, 2017, 10:45:00 PM

Im pretty positive after that loss. They are better, older, and had seemingly all the momentum plays go in their direction. Still we fought and our front court problems are curable.  Just maybe not this year.

I think Clark is going to be good but he is like 6-6, so don't know hoe curable it is

Some offense would help

He will def help and I can see Owens getting better. But at this point what can you really expect from Yakwe?

I don't sense Matt A is one to sit back on his heels. Sure there is a list of 5th year kids who could open up

Not sure why you play Ellison over Mussini. I know Mussini is a defensive liability but at least his offense somewhat makes up for it. Maybe it is just me but it seems like Ellison's bad plays come at the worst possible times. As a St John's fan I want to call this a moral victory based on our fight in the 2nd half, but those don't exist anymore.

Far from an Ellison fan but he does make some big plays once in a blue moon too. The steal and dunk to tie the game against Butler was huge

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 10:44:34 PM

Ponds and Ahmed 1 foul apiece. All those minutes of getting lit up and 1 apiece! Need to try harder

Nene a good sign. Ponds gave up a lot of layups tonight.

I go back and forth on this.
I see some plays and scream at them to contest a layup or slide in front of a driving player.
But if they did/when they do, we'd be screaming at them for committing a stupid foul.

I think they need to be more consistent defensively.  But play smart and discipined.  In general were out of position on D way too often and then forced to recover, help, or run out on shooters.   Not a fun way to play defense.

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 04, 2017, 10:51:47 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 10:46:22 PM

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 04, 2017, 10:45:00 PM

Im pretty positive after that loss. They are better, older, and had seemingly all the momentum plays go in their direction. Still we fought and our front court problems are curable.  Just maybe not this year.

I think Clark is going to be good but he is like 6-6, so don't know hoe curable it is

Some offense would help

He will def help and I can see Owens getting better. But at this point what can you really expect from Yakwe?

I agree. Owens can catch the ball and shoot. Hopefully he ll put on 20 pounds over the summer. I think w Yakwe what you see is what you get. I've said this numerous times , we need another competent big for next year. Played a nice 2 nd half against a great team. Didn't shoot particularly well .  Onto the next one. Tough part of schedule.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:05:00 PM

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Ya I guess Ellison does get his assists by merely inbounding the ball

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:07:03 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:05:00 PM

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Ya I guess Ellison does get his assists by merely inbounding the ball

He doesn't have to pass to himself.

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:07:03 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:05:00 PM

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Ya I guess Ellison does get his assists by merely inbounding the ball

Ellison is not a bad passer when he is not turning the ball over. Threw real nice pass to Ahmed that he almost blew. My only point is for the most part I rather those two shoot. When / if we get better players and they are not getting assists come back to me.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:12:05 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:07:03 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:05:00 PM

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Ya I guess Ellison does get his assists by merely inbounding the ball

Ellison is not a bad passer when he is not turning the ball over. Threw real nice pass to Ahmed that he almost blew. My only point is for the most part I rather those two shoot. When / if we get better players and they are not getting assists come back to me.

Im Not arguing with you. I'm just saying it's hard to believe 1 assist with all those minutes logged. Same with Yakwe and his 1 rebound. You can grab more by mistake. How could he possibly be in the wrong spot all the time

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:14:46 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:12:05 PM

Quote from: we are sju on January 04, 2017, 11:07:03 PM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on January 04, 2017, 11:05:00 PM

1 assist between Ponds and Lovett. Is that even possible. Ellison had 7

Yes they were driving to the basket to score and that is what brought us back. Lovett threw a nice back door to Yakwe that bashed off his hands like he was holding two frying pans

Ya I guess Ellison does get his assists by merely inbounding the ball

Ellison is not a bad passer when he is not turning the ball over. Threw real nice pass to Ahmed that he almost blew. My only point is for the most part I rather those two shoot. When / if we get better players and they are not getting assists come back to me.

Im Not arguing with you. I'm just saying it's hard to believe 1 assist with all those minutes logged. Same with Yakwe and his 1 rebound. You can grab more by mistake. How could he possibly be in the wrong spot all the time

Have at Yakwe. Tough to defend him at this point.
Going to defend the two guards. A lot to ask two 6 foot frosh to carry a team in BE and most exciting guard tandem we have had since Harvey / Porter