Bucknell

..Greene got hot and really saved us tonight...but I came away feeling that Sanchez is our most skilled player -- offensively and defensively and we must find a way to get him shots...5 shots is not enough...

I think he is our go to guy when we need a hoop...if we allow him to get 5-6 shots a game, we will be wasting him...and he needs to be in when game is on line

On the negative side, we have too many guys who either get beat off the dribble or have wandering eyes and let their man sneak open

-I thought the effort was very good. Bucknell punched and St. John's punched right back. You could see they weren't going to let an L happen.

-I think the blocked shots inspired the team to play with more energy. Gave hope that buckets would fall and they weren't down and out.

-A real growth was Harrison passing up not 1 but 2 open looks on one possession to feed Greene who drilled the 3. He recognized he was off and who was hot.

-Sanchez is legit. Plays a little more defense than I thought he would.

-3 guys with double digit steals and 4 guys with blocked shots. Get some!

-Sir Dom  at top of the zone and Obekpa at anchor is really really tough.

-Obekpa's 5 offensive rebounds were equally significant as his 7 blocks

-Single digit turnovers, > 70% from FT line, and single digit team fouls against a team who runs endless screens.

Good win!

..Greene got hot and really saved us tonight...but I came away feeling that Sanchez is our most skilled player -- offensively and defensively and we must find a way to get him shots...5 shots is not enough...

I think he is our go to guy when we need a hoop...if we allow him to get 5-6 shots a game, we will be wasting him...and he needs to be in when game is on line

On the negative side, we have too many guys who either get beat off the dribble or have wandering eyes and let their man sneak open

Sanchez big enough to seal his man off and demand the ball. If he knows how it's done would be a nice add on to running the offense. Must pull a big guy out and have Pointer clean up on the weak side. If he draws a double we got something going. If we face a zone that really packs it in, our guys must take open 15 footers.

Quote from: section3 on November 20, 2013, 09:57:21 PM

..Greene got hot and really saved us tonight...but I came away feeling that Sanchez is our most skilled player -- offensively and defensively and we must find a way to get him shots...5 shots is not enough...

I think he is our go to guy when we need a hoop...if we allow him to get 5-6 shots a game, we will be wasting him...and he needs to be in when game is on line

On the negative side, we have too many guys who either get beat off the dribble or have wandering eyes and let their man sneak open

Sanchez big enough to seal his man off and demand the ball. If he knows how it's done would be a nice add on to running the offense. Must pull a big guy out and have Pointer clean up on the weak side. If he draws a double we got something going. If we face a zone that really packs it in, our guys must take open 15 footers.

...and make...

I would like to see Sanchez and Jakarr post up and go to work more. Especially Sanchez. He looks like he is smart enough to know what to do and has the skills to score in the post.

He was put in a position where he had to play a pg which is not his natural position.  He had an injured hip which he needed surgery and finally has more players around him this year so he does not have to play away from his strengths.  Some people just like to complain it seems like; sorry state of affairs when you are all over a 20 year old kid for no reason.

They don't know basketball.  They look at FG % and that is enough to draw conclusions.  We had no scoring options outside of Harrison.  Nobody could create an open look for themselves of anyone else, but Phil Greene.  He is a rhythm shooter that doesn't get the luxury of picking his spots and getting multiple open looks, because SJU was one of the worst teams in the country with ball movement and had no inside scoring threat teams had to collapse on to give open looks on the perimeter. 

If you want to start a list of problems last year, the last kids you are looking at are Phil Green, Sampson, and Harrison.

Boulderdash!
I agree Greene was put in a bad situation and he is clearly not a point guard. However as a shooting guard he has the little issue of him not being able to shoot. We have enough sample size to fully embrace that theory. If you are not going to judge a players shooting by FG % what do you judge it on? His personality? Color of his eyes? If he is a generous tipper? I agree sometimes there are factors that skew % and it should not be the only factor but it certainly is a guideline. Greene's % is not bad, its abysmal. This year Lavin seems to have reigned in his role. If he plays well like last game he plays. If not Jordan or Branch play. Hopefully this continues.

http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2013-2014/teamcume.html

His numbers this year look respectable to me.  If you mean his career numbers, then we get back to his playing out of position and being injured.

His career numbers. No variable skews numbers that drastically. I once posted the worst shooting % for SJU regulars all time and Greene's Frosh and Soph numbers were in top 10.

Boulderdash!
I agree Greene was put in a bad situation and he is clearly not a point guard. However as a shooting guard he has the little issue of him not being able to shoot. We have enough sample size to fully embrace that theory. If you are not going to judge a players shooting by FG % what do you judge it on? His personality? Color of his eyes? If he is a generous tipper? I agree sometimes there are factors that skew % and it should not be the only factor but it certainly is a guideline. Greene's % is not bad, its abysmal. This year Lavin seems to have reigned in his role. If he plays well like last game he plays. If not Jordan or Branch play. Hopefully this continues.

When he takes good, smart shots, I bet his percentage is higher than you'd think. Problem is, especially last year, he took lots of bad ones.

It is what it is. He also takes too many threes. Basically he is a bad shooter who has some good nights shooting. I like his role so far this year(small sampling). Based off his history, he will get a longer leash against Monmouth and shoot poorly. Most of the frustration with Greene is his role was bigger than his talent. Call it the Geno effect.

I've criticized Greene ad naseum, because I think he's deserved it. 

But I'm not ready to write him off as a poor shooter, or a below average player.    Consider this; he wasn't a ridiculously talented player coming out of HS - just outside of the top 100.    But he was forced to play starters minutes in his first two seasons.  And he did it last year while hurt.
 Few underclassmen are really prepared to do that, and ones without special talent really shouldn't be expected to.

Phil probably shouldn't have been thrust into a starting lineup till his junior season... aka now.   He's still got half his college career ahead of him.   Plenty of time to improve. 

people should also keep in mind that when we made our run in Wisconsin and now against Bucknell, PG4 was on the floor.  at this point, he's much better than branch.

let's not write him off.

people should also keep in mind that when we made our run in Wisconsin and now against Bucknell, PG4 was on the floor.  at this point, he's much better than branch.

let's not write him off.

Last year Greene also scored in double figures in 6 of his first 7 games with two 20+ point games. It is a good sign he is playing well now but needs to do it in conference play to really separate himself. I think the platoon of Branch/Greene/Jordan is good.

1) He's shooting 53% from the field.

2) He has not yet turned the ball over.  No typo.  0 turnovers. 

3) Without him we're 1 and 2 and our Chicken little fans are running around saying the sky is falling.

1) He's shooting 53% from the field.

2) He has not yet turned the ball over.  No typo.  0 turnovers. 

3) Without him we're 1 and 2 and our Chicken little fans are running around saying the sky is falling.

All true, but it's a marathon not a race. I was there on Tuesday, and I was also there for our first game last season vs Detroit. He has to keep shooting like this to stay in the line up getting regular minutes.

Still, credit where it's due. I'm not a fan of him running the point, but when no one could make a jump shot, Phil Greene did, and there is no doubt that he carried offensively Tues night. In the future, I'd like to see more out of our other players. Phil Greene shouldn't need to be the guy to save us.

For all the hype and talk about Orlando Sanchez, I think he's got a lousy jump shot, and he lacks a back to the basket game. Plenty to work on IMO.  Sampson looks like he hasn't gained an ounce of muscle. I wish him the best after the season, but I hope that he isn't stupid enough to actually go pro. Those two guys play to their potential, and we have something. If they play like high major role players for the duration of the season, I sincerely hope they are paying attention in class.

Greene is a great ball handler and does a great job of not tuning the ball over.


With that said, he lacks a consistent jumper and because he never turns the ball over---tends to really slow down the pace (circular dribbling) when the ball is in his hands (which is terrible for a team with no half court game and with super athletes) and never looks to make a risky pass that could turn into a bucket. Instead, most of his passes are handoffs to somebody 30 feet away in the motion offense.

'tends to really slow down the pace and never looks to make a risky pass that could turn into a bucket'.

That must be why he led the team in assists his freshman year and was second in assists last year.  How do you people make up this stuff?

Carmine, leading this team in assists is the same accomplishment as me being the most sober person when I left the BEB outing a few years back. I was not sober but the 5 of you I left behind were doing body shots off of Baldi so I win. Greene is me in that scenerio.

He has to keep shooting like this to stay in the line up getting regular minutes.

No.  He doesn't.  That astute judge of talent that is Hollywood loves him.  Thankfully Lav gave him 34 minutes against Bucknell.  Just enough to propel us to victory.  The only thing that could keep him out of the lineup is injury.

Phil Greene shouldn't need to be the guy to save us.

Why shouldn't he be?  A proven third year junior with a ton of playing experience and a perhaps fully surgically repaired and rehabbed hip.  Seems like a perfect candidate to save us.

Face the facts people.  PHIL GREENE IS OUR BEST GUARD NOT NAMED HARRISON.  If we are fortunate enough to have any success this season, Mean Joe will be an integral part of it.