Thats how to Start!!!

I thought Norm handled himself fine for once.
 
It's got to be uncomfortable because he can see how hard they played.

Obviously he remembers blowing an 18 point lead at MSG last year to WV. Thankfully, it doesn't matter anymore if ge realizes that he was our biggest problem.

Believe it or not I thought he did fine as well. For me watching it was awkward. Especially when they were discussing the teams troubles in the past. Was sort of like watching the captain of the titanic discuss the iceberg. Norm did well though, he basically detached himself of the situation. What else could you do?

Impressive win...all around coaches and players.

Espn's rapid reactions
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/colleges

OUTCLASSED: St. John's was better than West Virginia in virtually every way Wednesday night. The Red Storm executed better on offense, were more active on defense, and simply appeared to want it more.

"I love it when a plan comes together." It appears things are finally gelling with the new staff and we have turned the corner.  I mean who is this team?  Making free throws, having a half court game, and effective defensive switches.  I think we've finally got our lineup and thank god we have abandoned the double Malik system for a zero Malik system.  This was no doubt a big win.  It's a shame we have those two stupid losses or we would be getting votes in the rankings. 

Wow, wow and WOW!

Shooting:
61% from the floor.  77% from the line including 11-12 from Prez and another wordly 12-12 from Hardy boyz.
Bench of Polee vault,  Hilton and JB1 go 10-13 from the field.

Rebounding:
33 to 24 for the good guys.

Passing:
There were some absolutely gorgeous points with the boys playing an attractive, unselfish game of hot potato until the open man was found inside for an easy bucket.

Hustle:
Even with 4 guys playing 30 mins+, ran our a$$es off and worked So hard defensively for 40 minutes.  Time after time our bigs out hustled theirs down the court for easy buckets.

Composure:
Answered every run, every time. 

Coaching:
Players held responsible and accountable for bonehead plays.  When Coker got the stupid elbowing intentional was immediately pulled, spoken to than never saw the floor again.
When Hilton got the silly tic tac foul with 1:40 to go stopping the clock he was immediately pulled, spoken to than never saw the floor again.

My two cents:
In looking at the 7-3 non-conference record before tonights action I was thinking that Norm likely would have had the same record thus far if not even better.  And while the tournament victories 5000 miles away and at MSG were impressive,  they were neutral and home court wins where we have had some success in years past and not really better than last seasons highlight games in Philly.

NR's never would have won this one on the road tonight!  All the optimism lost in the A10 debacles has been restored justin time for 2011.  Let the Lavin love fest resume!

Congrats to all!  Darn impressive win!

The last time St. John’s beat West Virginia, Mike Jarvis was the Johnnies head coach.

First-year coach Steve Lavin started off his Big East schedule with a bang by notching a huge 81-71 victory over the Mountaineers in Morgantown, West Va.

Read More:
http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/12/29/johnnies-snap-10-game-losing-streak-to-mounties/#more-44713

Wow!  That just happened.  Still can't believe it...had to check the box score to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  When's the last time we attempted 39 FTs?

Newsday Blog


It is beginning to become a habit for St. John's, playing big in the second half.

For the third game in a row the Red Storm played lights-out basketball on offense in the second half to come away with a win.

Need a breakdown? Steve Lavin's crew scored 47 points in the second half of an 81-71 win over West Virginia on Wednesday night. It was the Red Storm's first win over West Virginia since January 5, 2002. And their first road win against the Mountaineers since 2000.

Read More:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/college-hoops-scoops-1.1620561/big-second-half-lifts-st-john-s-1.2577024

Charleston Daily

West Virginia's basketball team is on semester break, but the Mountaineers were really taken to school in their Big East Conference opener.

Displaying a far superior athleticism to blend with experience - and an attack-the-basket mentality (and repeatedly) - St. John's made Coach Steve Lavin's Big East debut a very successful one by rolling past WVU, 81-71 on Wednesday night.

A mostly quieted crowd of 11,138 watched the Mountaineers' 34-game December win streak at the WVU Coliseum halted. West Virginia hadn't lost at home in the 12th month since Dec. 19, 2001 - Coach Gale Catlett's last season on his alma mater's sideline - to Duquesne.

Read More:
http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201012300084

WV Illustrated

St. John’s ruined West Virginia’s Big East opener, beating the Mountaineers 81-71 at the WVU Coliseum. The loss was WVU’s third of the season, which is three more than they had at this time last season.

It was another slow start for the Mountaineers, as they scored just eight points in the first 8:41 of the game, and allowed St. John’s to open a 14-8 lead. WVU was able to rally and take a few small leads, but they found themselves trailing for most of the half.

Read More:
http://www.wvillustrated.com/wvubasketball/story/id/634

Wow!  That just happened.  Still can't believe it...had to check the box score to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  When's the last time we attempted 39 FTs?

Luckily most of attempts wer by Hardy/ Kennedy so we actually made them. Burrell did a nice job from line as well.

Congratulations for the win.

Excellent beginning of Big East season.

Nice win for us. Aggressive attaching the basket and drawing fouls but more importantly making our FT. We looked like we had a plan offensively and executed. Played with energy and shared the ball. Like the way we played the 2nd half of the Northwestern game and this entire game. Balanced scoring also. Proud of the way they competed! Congrats to the team and staff. Lets keep it going!!

Burrell did a nice job from line as well.

Not true.  JB1 5 - 8, 62% in this one which is not a nice job.  He has stunk from the line this season and his FT futility were contributing factors in the St. Bonnie and Fordham losses.

He used to be better from the line.  Hopefully it will pick up the rest of the way.

Quote from: we are sju on December 30, 2010, 08:58:45 AM

Burrell did a nice job from line as well.

Not true.  JB1 5 - 8, 62% in this one which is not a nice job.  He has stunk from the line this season and his FT futility were contributing factors in the St. Bonnie and Fordham losses.

He used to be better from the line.  Hopefully it will pick up the rest of the way.

He looked better from the line even if the numbers don't show it.  I wonder if he just needed some time from the injury to feel comfortable again.

What I like most about the coaching staff which should be obvious, is that they let they letting these kids play to their strengths.  I think Norm did not.  This team is not a shooting team aside from a few.  They like to run and that is where they have been their best.  They dominated in fast break points against WV. SJU looked so much faster than WVU  Also, their passing has been exceptional.  Every article i read mentioned that and that is big and that has been the key to the inside game.  The big east is a long and grueling season.  One win against a team like WVU is great, but as we saw last season, we have been known to lose to teams below us.  I think this team believes in themselves and the coaching staff which is going to make this team a NCAA tournament team.  We have some bad loses but I think if we can continue beating good teams the committee will look past them.   

What I like most about the coaching staff which should be obvious, is that they let they letting these kids play to their strengths.  I think Norm did not.  This team is not a shooting team aside from a few.  They like to run and that is where they have been their best.  They dominated in fast break points against WV. SJU looked so much faster than WVU  Also, their passing has been exceptional.  Every article i read mentioned that and that is big and that has been the key to the inside game.  The big east is a long and grueling season.  One win against a team like WVU is great, but as we saw last season, we have been known to lose to teams below us.  I think this team believes in themselves and the coaching staff which is going to make this team a NCAA tournament team.  We have some bad loses but I think if we can continue beating good teams the committee will look past them.   

You are right. We need to beat a few team we aren't supposed to and steal some road game and then win the game we are supposed to and we can make the NCAAs. If we finish high in the BE those loses wont mean much but if we are a bubble team they could kill us. The ten game stretch starting with WVU game is brutal and I think the PC game is huge because they are beatable and our guys will be very confident when playing a beatable G'twon team at home.

I'm so upset I missed this game because I was traveling.  Looking at the box score I can't believe we won!  One three pointer, Hardy 0-3 from three...if I was told that before the game I'd say no way we win.  Then I see the 23/24 from the FT line by DJ and Hardy.  Hardy is really getting it done offensively inside the the 3-pt line.  That is great news becuase he is at 28% from three right now and a shooter like that is going to end up near 40% with a healthy amount of attempts.  He was over 40% until the very end of last season.  Those open shots will start to fall at some point as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.

Horne= Money

Horne= Money

horne saved the game for us. the 3 to take the lead then taking the charge, it was awesome.

I hope Prez doesn't get too used to deferring to D-buckets as he becomes more of a BE star and our defacto go to scorer.  I would have liked to see DJ act more selfishly and looked for his during the 2nd half PC run.

That flash to the foul line into the teeth of the zone defense has been $$ for games now.  Kudos to Hollywood and staff.

That JB1 start to the game, after Dele got the very quick deserved hook, was the sharpest one of our bigs has started a game since...since...since the Whopper!

Did you see JB1 in the timeout consoling and pumping up Dele after he was removed?  We're team building here.

If there was any justice in this world these guys would be met with a large, rip-roaring, raucous supporting home crowd on Monday instead of a 3/4 empty arena and a 66-33% ratio of Hoya fans to us.  Unfortunately,  I and 9 million other metro area fans won't be able to make it.  Nonetheless,  our triumphiant born again road warriors so deserve it.

Here's hoping JB1 and JB2 crush JT3!

Peace!