The Cuse aren't good... but they are fast and St. John's doesn't do well with fast and athletic. Cuse by 8-10.
Not good? If SJU was 19-8 with wins over Kansas, Memphis, Florida, GTown and Notre Dame, we'd be dancing on Utopia Parkway.
Cuse 82. SJU 67.
The key match up will be Boothe on Flynn.
The earlier wins were nice but... I don't know what happened. It's not like they were close to U Conn or Pitt, they couldn't beat Villanova in two tries, they lost to Providence.
I'll take back "not good" and replace it with "mediocre" or "just OK." That defense is not getting them past the second round of the NCAAs, if that. The league is excellent this year, but they can do better than their current record, and it's all on defense.
And of course they're in a different class. Goes without saying.
What happened was they lost players, and their only center is dragging a bad knee up and down the court for 30 minutes, and he really shouldn't be playing at all.
Earlier in the year, Onuaku looked like he would contend for the Big East player of the Year. They also lost 2 key guards. When they lost to Providence, Rautins and Onuaku were out.
I doubt Providence would beat them again.
Still, you're dead on about their lousy defense. They just don't play an aggressive zone. They just stand there and do jumping jacks. Especially Devo. He never plays defense.
We will see how they do tonight, against Cincy and Rutgers.
If they go 3-1, they'll finish at 10-8, and 22-9 overall, in any system, that's a very good and accomplished team.
Remember, they have been known to turn it on in the Big East tourney.