Game 9: Grand Canyon

Don't sleep on this team. It looks like Majerle went the overseas route and has several Aussies and Euros on this squad. Some decent beef up front too. This could be a trap game.  Can't overlook them.

Johniees 78
Grand Canyon 64

Need to win this one, because it’s a no-win game for us but a sos and too killer to lose it.  Not my favorite game onthw schedule.   A must-win against a sneaky-good team that is well-coached with great fan support.  I don’t like this game but no excuses to be down for it.  Need a win here...

They start:

6'3 185 Casey Benson - Grad transfer from Oregon (20 mpg there)
6'4 220 Joshua Braun - Senior and leading scorer
6'7  190 Oscar Frayer - Soph; poor man's PJ Dozier from SC last year
6'10 225 Roberts Blumbergs - Freshman from Latvia
6'6 240  Keonta Vernon - Senior PF/C and leading rebounder

All of their games are online which seems appropriate since I'm not convinced they have an actual school offline. Their arena and fan support look incredible. It's truly bizarre to me.

Their PG is a lefty transfer from Oregon who can't go left AT ALL. It looks like someone f*cked up and taught him to shoot lefty when he is clearly a righty. He can't defend the position, so expect their soph SF Oscar Frayer to cover Ponds unless their staff didn't put in the work scouting and  goes with him on Simon based on stats. Either way, Frayer will be on Ponds in the second half barring foul trouble. I like this kid Frayer. Good feet, tremendous athlete and wingspan. Raw as hell offensively. He should transfer to a bigger program with a coach that can develop him in his redshirt year. Back to the PG, he turns his back to the defender a lot and Ponds will eat that up.

Their leading scorer, Joshua Braun, is nothing more than a high level MAAC scorer that you see all the time. He cuts hard and has a good shot, but his 220 lbs isn't functional. He is slow and doesn't guard well.

Their PF, Keonta Vernon, is a strong kid and looks like trouble on paper, but he's a dumb player and he makes Marvin Clark look judicious and patient with fouls. If we don't sent him to the bench with two fouls before the under 16, then shame on the staff. You can get him switched on Ponds and that's all she wrote. Ponds will get his shoulder into his midsection turning the corner and Vernon will ride him and bump him to an easy foul. Face up Ahmed on him too. Those two will be a sh*t show together.

This should be a 15-20 pt win. Maybe the home court mitigates that a bit. They are an easy team to defend. They don't crash the offensive glass. They don't create or penetrate well. They drive and kick, go inside out, pick and pop, try to loosen up the perimeter with backdoors. Everything comes off a screen....a ton of back screens  and stuff off the ball.

They cheat way too much on defense. The corner threes will be there all game if we go inside-out, drive and kick, or skip it baseline like St. Jean loves. Bash could go for 25.

Over/under is 11 blocks for us.

They start:

6'3 185 Casey Benson - Grad transfer from Oregon (20 mpg there)
6'4 220 Joshua Braun - Senior and leading scorer
6'7  190 Oscar Frayer - Soph; poor man's PJ Dozier from SC last year
6'10 225 Roberts Blumbergs - Freshman from Latvia
6'6 240  Keonta Vernon - Senior PF/C and leading rebounder

All of their games are online which seems appropriate since I'm not convinced they have an actual school offline. Their arena and fan support look incredible. It's truly bizarre to me.

Their PG is a lefty transfer from Oregon who can't go left AT ALL. It looks like someone f*cked up and taught him to shoot lefty when he is clearly a righty. He can't defend the position, so expect their soph SF Oscar Frayer to cover Ponds unless their staff didn't put in the work scouting and  goes with him on Simon based on stats. Either way, Frayer will be on Ponds in the second half barring foul trouble. I like this kid Frayer. Good feet, tremendous athlete and wingspan. Raw as hell offensively. He should transfer to a bigger program with a coach that can develop him in his redshirt year. Back to the PG, he turns his back to the defender a lot and Ponds will eat that up.

Their leading scorer, Joshua Braun, is nothing more than a high level MAAC scorer that you see all the time. He cuts hard and has a good shot, but his 220 lbs isn't functional. He is slow and doesn't guard well.

Their PF, Keonta Vernon, is a strong kid and looks like trouble on paper, but he's a dumb player and he makes Marvin Clark look judicious and patient with fouls. If we don't sent him to the bench with two fouls before the under 16, then shame on the staff. You can get him switched on Ponds and that's all she wrote. Ponds will get his shoulder into his midsection turning the corner and Vernon will ride him and bump him to an easy foul. Face up Ahmed on him too. Those two will be a sh*t show together.

This should be a 15-20 pt win. Maybe the home court mitigates that a bit. They are an easy team to defend. They don't crash the offensive glass. They don't create or penetrate well. They drive and kick, go inside out, pick and pop, try to loosen up the perimeter with backdoors. Everything comes off a screen....a ton of back screens  and stuff off the ball.

They cheat way too much on defense. The corner threes will be there all game if we go inside-out, drive and kick, or skip it baseline like St. Jean loves. Bash could go for 25.

Over/under is 11 blocks for us.

Put Marillac on the SJ staff.

Lovett ?

Lovett ?

My guess is he will rehab to be ready for ASU.  It’s just a sprain so it all just depends on how he feels. 

They start:

6'3 185 Casey Benson - Grad transfer from Oregon (20 mpg there)
6'4 220 Joshua Braun - Senior and leading scorer
6'7  190 Oscar Frayer - Soph; poor man's PJ Dozier from SC last year
6'10 225 Roberts Blumbergs - Freshman from Latvia
6'6 240  Keonta Vernon - Senior PF/C and leading rebounder

All of their games are online which seems appropriate since I'm not convinced they have an actual school offline. Their arena and fan support look incredible. It's truly bizarre to me.

Their PG is a lefty transfer from Oregon who can't go left AT ALL. It looks like someone f*cked up and taught him to shoot lefty when he is clearly a righty. He can't defend the position, so expect their soph SF Oscar Frayer to cover Ponds unless their staff didn't put in the work scouting and  goes with him on Simon based on stats. Either way, Frayer will be on Ponds in the second half barring foul trouble. I like this kid Frayer. Good feet, tremendous athlete and wingspan. Raw as hell offensively. He should transfer to a bigger program with a coach that can develop him in his redshirt year. Back to the PG, he turns his back to the defender a lot and Ponds will eat that up.

Their leading scorer, Joshua Braun, is nothing more than a high level MAAC scorer that you see all the time. He cuts hard and has a good shot, but his 220 lbs isn't functional. He is slow and doesn't guard well.

Their PF, Keonta Vernon, is a strong kid and looks like trouble on paper, but he's a dumb player and he makes Marvin Clark look judicious and patient with fouls. If we don't sent him to the bench with two fouls before the under 16, then shame on the staff. You can get him switched on Ponds and that's all she wrote. Ponds will get his shoulder into his midsection turning the corner and Vernon will ride him and bump him to an easy foul. Face up Ahmed on him too. Those two will be a sh*t show together.

This should be a 15-20 pt win. Maybe the home court mitigates that a bit. They are an easy team to defend. They don't crash the offensive glass. They don't create or penetrate well. They drive and kick, go inside out, pick and pop, try to loosen up the perimeter with backdoors. Everything comes off a screen....a ton of back screens  and stuff off the ball.

They cheat way too much on defense. The corner threes will be there all game if we go inside-out, drive and kick, or skip it baseline like St. Jean loves. Bash could go for 25.

Over/under is 11 blocks for us.

I also wasnt convinced they had a school off line. Since I also was perplexed, I looked them up. They do. Enrollment really increased lately, pushing 20,000. Like MCNA said tough game on the road w little upside. They have to concentrate on this game and worry about ASU later.

Re the school they advertise quite heavily out here in SoCal.  Despite the secular name they market themselves as a "private Christian university" whatever that means.  Doesn't appear to have any official church affiliation.  Very affordable for private school as well.

Cadence ST John 78
Christy Canyon 73
Have fun googling.

Ponds scores 30 on 8 of 32 shooting

SJU press release excerpt
 
While St. John’s offense continues to thrive, the team’s defensive efficiency has been the story eight games into the 2017-18 campaign. The Johnnies have limited their opponents to just 60.0 points per game, including a mere 55.7 points per contest in their seven victories. In addition, St. John’s 10.0 steals, 6.6 blocks and 20.3 forced turnovers per game are figures that rank in the top-15 of Division I.
 
Led by Oregon transfer Casey Benson, Grand Canyon has won five of its first six games and is coming off a 68-56 victory over UC Riverside on Saturday. Benson, a 6-foot-3 guard from Tempe, Ariz., has averaged 11.0 points and 5.3 assists per game, while redshirt senior Joshua Braun leads team with a 15.5 point per game scoring average. After playing the first six games of the season inside their on-campus home, Grand Canyon University Arena, the Lopes will travel less than 10 miles to Talking Stick Resort Arena for Tuesday’s contest.
 
After the BBVA Compass Valley of the Sun Shootout, St. John’s will depart for Los Angeles where the Johnnies will square off with No. 16/17 Arizona State (7-0) on Friday at the STAPLES Center as part of the Hall of Fame Classic tripleheader. Tip off is slated for 8 p.m. with the contest airing on Pac-12 Network.

Johnnies 75
GC 58

Ponds drops 35. Owens 5 blocks, 10 boards and 8 points. Yakwe has a big game w 10 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks.

And really, no need to push LoVett. Sit him out until he's healthy. Don't want to make it worse by rushing things.

Cadence ST John 78
Christy Canyon 73
Have fun googling.

Ponds scores 30 on 8 of 32 shooting

christy looks like hell now but then....wow

Quote from: we are sju on December 04, 2017, 02:06:59 PM

Cadence ST John 78
Christy Canyon 73
Have fun googling.

Ponds scores 30 on 8 of 32 shooting

christy looks like hell now but then....wow

Not an easy life I am guessing. Have to think has severe back problems from being so top heavy as well.

SJU show cases that defense

SJU 70
GC 47

No problem

SJU show cases that defense

SJU 70
GC 47

No problem

You do realize they are 3 point favorites right? I'll be thrilled to come away with a one point victory.

Quote from: mullin85berry86 on December 04, 2017, 08:56:33 PM

SJU show cases that defense

SJU 70
GC 47

No problem

You do realize they are 3 point favorites right? I'll be thrilled to come away with a one point victory.

Where did you see that? Neutral court and Grand Canyon is favorite? Find that hard to believe

Quote from: mullin85berry86 on December 04, 2017, 08:56:33 PM

SJU show cases that defense

SJU 70
GC 47

No problem

You do realize they are 3 point favorites right? I'll be thrilled to come away with a one point victory.

This loser-mentality is nonsense and classic for SJU fans.  It’s a syndrome because of our history.  Don’t let the spread dictate our mentality.   We are more talented, better overall and shouldn’t be praying for one point wins against New D1 teams...

I got sju -6 to open.

I got sju -6 to open.

I see SJU -3 everywhere