FGCU Game

If I'm Amir Garrett or Christian Jones im going out next game and knocking down anyone in my way to get every rebound. 1. because their basketball players and it is their job to do so. and 2. because they have both seen their minutes slip and the one thing that this team needs most is rebounding. Do that and youll play.

If I'm Amir Garrett or Christian Jones im going out next game and knocking down anyone in my way to get every rebound. 1. because their basketball players and it is their job to do so. and 2. because they have both seen their minutes slip and the one thing that this team needs most is rebounding. Do that and youll play.

Garrett busts his bump for boards.  Jones doesn't try.  5/6 games without an offensive rebound...0 total rebounds in 13 minutes this game. 

Quote from: lihoop on November 25, 2012, 12:41:22 AM

what date can Branch play?

12/21

The Mayans foretold of his debut

Fortunately for St. John’s, a college basketball game is 40 minutes.

After a dreadful first half, the Red Storm — in a 32-32 tussle — were getting dominated on the glass and their best player, D’Angelo Harrison was held without a basket. But they regained their composure in the second half, dispatching Florida Gulf Coast 79-68 last night to remain unbeaten at Carnesecca Arena.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/strong_nd_half_propels_st_john_NI1gJIk4PeH5Kw142J1XHJ?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Basketball

MCN is spot on about D'anglo; when he realizes that just his presence is forcing defenses to cheat and abandon other player - then.he'll become a more complete player.   The way you have to sell him on it is by explaining that his future at any level of pro ball will depend on his ability to see the whole floor.and.create shots.for.other.guys.  Bring in Baron Davis or.CJ watson to explain that.to.him.

2) Garrett is our best rebounder in my opinion.
Also re the rebounding issue: I think against BE teams we have to.consider.playing Phil or dangelo on the opposing pg.   Right.now, whether its man or our zone.we have dom or amir usually at the top of the key guarding a pg.   
That takes our 6"6 small.forward out of rebounding position most of.the.time.   
Not to mention it lets opposing sf post up either.Dangelo or Phil on the low.block. 
Im sure coach has considered the plusses and minuses, maybe having Branch will answer that problem.as well. 

“@KieranDarcy: After a grueling six games in 12 days to start the season, here's what we've learned about St. John's: http://t.co/LbmvWHgJ”

Felix Balamou has penned a compelling story for St. John’s this season, and his teammates are loving it. He was undeterred when coach Steve Lavin discussed him as a redshirt candidate less than two weeks ago. His work at practice convinced Lavin to reconsider, and his contributions in recent games landed him in the starting five Saturday night against Florida Gulf Coast.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/balamou-injury-sparks-st-john-win-florida-gulf-coast-article-1.1207581#ixzz2DDKz6hs6

Kudos to Lavin for allowing a freshman to break through and start. Two years ago that flexibility led to inserting Hardy at the point and yes, even letting Evans out of the doghouse and help produce a fine year.  He is the anti Norm in that respect.  With him Boothe would have been playing 35 mpg right to the end when we would have been teetering around .500 and sweating the NIT. Way to go Steve!

I think one thing we will see with this group is that Lavs will continue to tinker with various lineups in non-conference play to see particular players work well together.  I think that D-Lo, PGIV and Jakar are the definite starters who will play the most minutes, but after that my guess is that various combos will play together so he can see how they work off each other.  What seems clear though is that how one performs in practice is a major factor, and that is a good thing.

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on November 25, 2012, 02:32:18 AM

If I'm Amir Garrett or Christian Jones im going out next game and knocking down anyone in my way to get every rebound. 1. because their basketball players and it is their job to do so. and 2. because they have both seen their minutes slip and the one thing that this team needs most is rebounding. Do that and youll play.

Garrett busts his bump for boards.  Jones doesn't try.  5/6 games without an offensive rebound...0 total rebounds in 13 minutes this game. 

Yes Amir is a good rebounder but he could do better, and you have been completely right in regards to Jones' rebounding. Just saying that both of them have seen their minutes dip a little bit and controlling the glass will do wonders for this team.

My takeaway from last night's game is that Felix, no matter of what level of play he attains, will always give you one moment a game where you shake your head and ask did he really do that.  it is the anticiaption of excitement that he generates that is fun.  his block in the first half was unreal.  it looked loke he was going to block with right hand but a pass by FGCU made him switch to a left hand block-he seems to just suspend himself in the air.

As noted above, FCGU came in to stop Dangelo by going box and one into the second half until we got some distance.  I liked that he did not get frustrated-no fouls and no forced shots (0-4 in first half) but let it come to him (7-9 in second half).

we are losing the battle of the board in part of our switching defenses which leaves the forwards outside defending the guards and and Dangelo and Phil guarding people 6' 9".  I have not seen the match up zone of late only man the last 2 games.  I would like to see some match up zone whereby out "bigs" will remain closer to the boards.

DLO had a more efficient game FG% . He has to learn to find the open man when he is covered and he doesnt have to take every shot, which he was better at yesterday. Dom was on fire. Would have liked to see Gift out there.

I was sitting court side tonight and here are some things I took away.

- I want to see Lavin playing Christian Jones and Obekpa together at the 4 and 5. The two are our best size in the paint and they need to learn how to play together. If we don't get back / until we get back Sanchez they are gonna need to step up. Our issues with rebounding will take years off my life.

- D'Angelo Harrison clearly needs the ball in his hands for us to win any games, BUT, he seems to have an agenda to score his points instead of facilitate the rock. Many times tonight he gave up the open pass to take a shot or layup. It seems to me like he's dying to score 20 pts per game every night to keep his ppg average up and be a top scorer in the Big East. Like there were 5-6 chances for easy pass lay ups or even alley oops that he passed on to take his own shot.

- D'Angelo has been quiet this season, especially tonight. Many times he was giving the evil eye to the ref on no calls (refs were ATROCIOUS tonight, crowd was given them hell. One guy sitting next to me almost got kicked out for yelling at the ref too much) but he made sure to not say anything. It seems like that is something Lavin has stressed to him as part of the maturation effect.

- Refreshing to see Sir Dom have such a monster game - 15 pts, 8 rebs, 6 ast, 3 blocks, 2 steals. It was a career game but I never expect it to happen again. I was shocked at his scoring. His free throw shooting is deplorable.

- Obekpa is really fun to watch in person, the way he anticipates balls to try and block them is great.

Glad we got the win, hard fought victory and as always first and second half were night and day. On to South Carolina.

Agree with assessment of D-Lo's propensity to want to "get his"...notice this in most games...still a warrior just needs to start making other's better...

Disagree re: Dom...he is still a work in progress but is definitely improved in all aspects (confidence, handle, shooting form)...again, not a finished product...but projecting him as a senior, I see a very valuable and dangerous player...

My takeaway from last night's game is that Felix, no matter of what level of play he attains, will always give you one moment a game where you shake your head and ask did he really do that.  it is the anticiaption of excitement that he generates that is fun.  his block in the first half was unreal.  it looked loke he was going to block with right hand but a pass by FGCU made him switch to a left hand block-he seems to just suspend himself in the air.

As noted above, FCGU came in to stop Dangelo by going box and one into the second half until we got some distance.  I liked that he did not get frustrated-no fouls and no forced shots (0-4 in first half) but let it come to him (7-9 in second half).

we are losing the battle of the board in part of our switching defenses which leaves the forwards outside defending the guards and and Dangelo and Phil guarding people 6' 9".  I have not seen the match up zone of late only man the last 2 games.  I would like to see some match up zone whereby out "bigs" will remain closer to the boards.

Excellent post!

Quote from: jumpinjohnny on November 25, 2012, 01:41:57 AM

Felix Balamou has penned a compelling story for St. John’s this season, and his teammates are loving it. He was undeterred when coach Steve Lavin discussed him as a redshirt candidate less than two weeks ago. His work at practice convinced Lavin to reconsider, and his contributions in recent games landed him in the starting five Saturday night against Florida Gulf Coast.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/balamou-injury-sparks-st-john-win-florida-gulf-coast-article-1.1207581#ixzz2DDKz6hs6

Kudos to Lavin for allowing a freshman to break through and start. Two years ago that flexibility led to inserting Hardy at the point and yes, even letting Evans out of the doghouse and help produce a fine year.  He is the anti Norm in that respect.  With him Boothe would have been playing 35 mpg right to the end when we would have been teetering around .500 and sweating the NIT. Way to go Steve!

Because Lavs essentially "missed" last year, folks should remember pre-conference two seasons ago.  ONe of the things I tried to alert the boards to when I first came here is how Steve handles pre-conference games very differently than most coaches.   He experiements.  He tries different player combinations, tries players at different positions,  runs different offenses, different defenses, and most certainly different starting lineups.   Most coaches relegate that kind of "discover" to practice.   But Stevest his history really shows that he doesn't feel practice situations give  him the same level of insight  as seeing the various permutations played out in actual game situations.   My warning was that  he is NOT beyond sacrificing a couple of wins early in the season in order to see if a specific combination of players are effective as starters.   Not beyond what appears to be a strange combination of players  at the end of an early season game, in order to guage how those players and groupings might function come conference and post-season.

His late season success throughout his career (7 of 8 seasons in the dance, with 5 seasons of at least 2 wins in the dance) are why he still does this - it's one of the things that while contributing to getting him fired at UCLA (sacrificing wins - are you kidding me???), has actually accomplished what it was intended to do.   

5 games in, I still have no clue who's going to be starting, other than  D'lo, Jakarr and Phil....with this many newcomers, I doubt we'd have an answer even by Christmas under NORMAL circumstances.  Throwing in the whole Sanchez saga makes it even more of a question mark.

Your past posts were the first thing I thought about when I saw the starting lineup with Balamou in a 3 guard starting lineup.  I am confident that Coach will have this team playing well as the season progresses.

I mean this as a serious question, and not a backhanded way of criticizing the team.
But, does anyone remember a team that turned around their rebounding in the course of a season?

I legitimately can't think.of a team that was a terrible rebounding team in the start.of a season and became at least average, if not.above average, by the end of the season.

For this reason Im hoping a tall athletic guard like branch and a good rebounding forward like sanchez can make the difference.   I think Obekpa, Jakarr and co. may improve incrementally, but it will be at least a year before you can say "wow Obekpa is really boxing out now, hes much improved".

I mean this as a serious question, and not a backhanded way of criticizing the team.
But, does anyone remember a team that turned around their rebounding in the course of a season?

I legitimately can't think.of a team that was a terrible rebounding team in the start.of a season and became at least average, if not.above average, by the end of the season.

For this reason Im hoping a tall athletic guard like branch and a good rebounding forward like sanchez can make the difference.   I think Obekpa, Jakarr and co. may improve incrementally, but it will be at least a year before you can say "wow Obekpa is really boxing out now, hes much improved".

Not really but I'm sure it could be figured out if someone wanted to sit down and split stats.

Just remember how bad the 2011 team was on the boards and they still finished 3rd in the BE and made the NCAA tournament.

Great game for Dom.  Balamou does not look like a freshman at all thus far...love that kid!  He plays like he's 6'6.   We really haven't played a cupcake yet in six games.  FGCU will likely be a tournament team.


Defense has to improve and rebounding really has to improve.  Win Thursday and it's a near lock to open up conference play at 10-2.

FGCU has that Princeton thing going with better athletes. Good win for style points.

I was sitting court side tonight and here are some things I took away.

- I want to see Lavin playing Christian Jones and Obekpa together at the 4 and 5. The two are our best size in the paint and they need to learn how to play together. If we don't get back / until we get back Sanchez they are gonna need to step up. Our issues with rebounding will take years off my life.

- D'Angelo Harrison clearly needs the ball in his hands for us to win any games, BUT, he seems to have an agenda to score his points instead of facilitate the rock. Many times tonight he gave up the open pass to take a shot or layup. It seems to me like he's dying to score 20 pts per game every night to keep his ppg average up and be a top scorer in the Big East. Like there were 5-6 chances for easy pass lay ups or even alley oops that he passed on to take his own shot.

- D'Angelo has been quiet this season, especially tonight. Many times he was giving the evil eye to the ref on no calls (refs were ATROCIOUS tonight, crowd was given them hell. One guy sitting next to me almost got kicked out for yelling at the ref too much) but he made sure to not say anything. It seems like that is something Lavin has stressed to him as part of the maturation effect.

- Refreshing to see Sir Dom have such a monster game - 15 pts, 8 rebs, 6 ast, 3 blocks, 2 steals. It was a career game but I never expect it to happen again. I was shocked at his scoring. His free throw shooting is deplorable.

- Obekpa is really fun to watch in person, the way he anticipates balls to try and block them is great.

Glad we got the win, hard fought victory and as always first and second half were night and day. On to South Carolina.

I have to disagree with you on Jones and Obekpa. We look like a completely different team when Sampson and Obekpa are out there together.  Jones does some things well--good interior passer, really our only interior scorer, and he plays solid D (impressive switch on a guard last night in man defense), but he is a pitiful rebounder.  Obepka relatively weak in this area as well.  Anything more than 5-10 minutes from Jones is too much. 

Great game from Dom.  He had games like this last year as well...the key will be consistency and that comes from constantly being aware of his weaknesses and strengths. 

Win Thursday and it's 5-2 without playing a true scrub.  Not bad at all, and this team will be expontially better come February. 

Quote from: desco80 on November 25, 2012, 03:51:19 PM

I mean this as a serious question, and not a backhanded way of criticizing the team.
But, does anyone remember a team that turned around their rebounding in the course of a season?

I legitimately can't think.of a team that was a terrible rebounding team in the start.of a season and became at least average, if not.above average, by the end of the season.

For this reason Im hoping a tall athletic guard like branch and a good rebounding forward like sanchez can make the difference.   I think Obekpa, Jakarr and co. may improve incrementally, but it will be at least a year before you can say "wow Obekpa is really boxing out now, hes much improved".

Not really but I'm sure it could be figured out if someone wanted to sit down and split stats.
Just remember how bad the 2011 team was on the boards and they still finished 3rd in the BE and made the NCAA
tournament.

True.  I guess Im just leery of hanging our hopes on.inseason  improvement.  I don't deny guys get better.at.skills over the.course.of the season.. I just think its.incrementally so - not enough to.make a weakness into a strength.
That's what makes me think were a year away.
Will we move the ball better and rebound better by February?  Yea, but Im not sure how much better.