Back from the game

Quote from: peter on November 18, 2010, 12:14:44 PM

Let's talk about that dance team, though.  I've gone to a few DePaul games and the cheerleaders/ dance team are rough. St. John's dance team... I miss New York, is all I'm sayin'!

Noticed that too. Well they looked good on the choppy st. john's internet feed.  BTW was anyone elses feed bad last night?  Mine stopped a few times and had to load but that didn't bother me as much as the commentators, boy were they bad.  They were constantly wrong about things and were all around awful.

Was a little choppy once or twice, but no problems.  Camera work needs improvement. Erin the Fila Girl seemed a little flustered - she was much better in the exhibition game.

Poison and Wods317 I agree with most of what they said. Hopefully the boy's were tired because they looked awful. Polee was good. Paris played well but only after he hit a few shots. I thought Boothe played ok. It is hard to run an offense when there is no offense. Very little movement. Only Ball screens. Burell's only basket which was an awesome dunk one of the few highlights. Brownlee is not a center, he scored points only because he was in the right place. He didn't rebound or play defense. Would rather have Evans in there. Evans played about a minute, Columbia went on mini run and Polee cam back in.
LIKE EVERYONE I AM EXTREAMLY HAPPY LAVIN AND STAFF ARE HERE
However if Norm and Staff were here for last night's game the team would have looked better. If we play solid man defense we win by 30. The press and zone got turnovers but also gave up way to many open looks. We also gave up WAY to many offensive rebounds. I don't want Norm back and I love Lavin but many things have to be fixed just to get back to where we were at the end of last year. We have a week to get ready for Arizona St. Hopefully we are ready.

Lavin is implementing a new defense.  This defense worked well for much of the St. Mary's game as we were able to collapse on the post and contest the perimeter.  We were a step slow last night in that first half (think it could be due to a 2am game and a 5 hour flight??) and then the STAFF made ADJUSTMENTS to what we did in terms of playing some man in the second half and some matchup/3-2 zone to cover the perimeter. 

I agree with you that if we had played man all game like the old staff did, we likely would have won that by a bit more, but I also think that if the staff were put in the position to make adjustments like this staff needed to at halftime, they wouldn't get it done.  I also think our struggles on the defensive glass in the first half were due to some sluggishness.

I'm happy that the bench Hilton experiment should be done for good.  It had to be obvious to Lavin, Keady and even Ray Charles how much he brought to the table with his athleticism,  energy and rock solid man to man.

Hollywood really experiments and is not afraid to juggle lineups in ways that would have made NR's head explode.  For periods last night he had Prez, Hilton and Hardy boyz on the floor together.  A lineup that always made sense to me as they were our three best players but one that Norm never went to I guess for fear that they are too short.  Also played Malik II and III together for stretches?  Malik III again silenced the haters a second night in a row.

Not one highlight reel jam for Polee vault and even got one drive to the basket stuffed back in his face but lucked out with the phantom foul call.  And I was talking him up to my crew as the one to watch.  Hopefully an abberation.

Was it just me or did the zebras call an extremely tight game?

Uplifting story - I sat in what must have been one of the free student ticket sections as it was just me, my posse and all college students.  I went out at the tv timeout to get popcorn and capless soda-pop.  When I returned I discoverd that my little guy had one of the free T-shirts they throw out.  My eldest informed me that when the cheerleaders came around, the entire section stood up and pointed out my smallest as the one that should receive a t-shirt.  The errant throw went to to an SJU student a couple of seats down who promptly gave it to my kid.  Now that's class they don't teach in class!

Sincerely,
One of the post college-40 year old wine and cheese crowd

Congratulations to Steve Lavin for his first win as St. John´s Head Coach.

Many posters criticized our former Coach because he didn´t start Hardy (and for many more reasons that are irrelevant in this thread).

Now Hardy is starting with Coach Lavin. And some posters say that Hardy should not start.

Curious.

Congratulations to Steve Lavin for his first win as St. John´s Head Coach.

Many posters criticized our former Coach because he didn´t start Hardy (and for many more reasons that are irrelevant in this thread).

Now Hardy is starting with Coach Lavin. And some posters say that Hardy should not start.

Curious.

Not I Gonzalo.  I've been a huge Hilton fan ever since he was harshly criticized on another fan board a couple of years back for shooting 12 for 13 against Rutgers.  He should be playing 40+ in my book.  Last year or this year.

  start the best 5, period. 


  Lavin should recruit the dance team members as well.

I thought there were more students there then "old" fans.  Despite what everyone says, the place was dead quiet until the ally oop to burrell.  Alot students were denied access to the student section due to the new policy.  i don't think its a great idea and there were alot of angry students.

Well, then maybe they should pay the 99 bucks like I did to get into the student section.  They have no right to complain if they are getting in for free.

Best thing I think that can be said is it is over, no one got hurt and we won. We are going to need a better effort in Alaska. Thought the crowd was decent. Not a cheap ticket wasn't a great game. Took my Dad (who is not a basketball fan)he  couldn't believe that we were 20 point favorites after halftime. He also couldnt understand why we didn't cover the guy who hit all those 3's.
I left the game disappointed. Maybe stupidly I expected a greater improvement. I am excited for the new guys, but I like our flawed team that we have been watching for the last 3 years and want them to do well.

That's the problem, we can't figure out who our best 5 are because there is so much parity.

Hardy and Horne bring different skills to the table, but both are capable of not showing up at all.

As far as ripping Norm for not starting Hardy, I offer no apology. He lost the benefit of the doubt a long time ago.