Villanova Game 2

Obekpa on the bench late was puzzling.

Obekpa has a injured ankle. Once he sits down, its going to tighten up. That's why he was playing the entire first half until he tweaked it. 

Quote from: goredmen on February 22, 2014, 04:29:30 PM

Quote from: we are sju on February 22, 2014, 04:21:45 PM

Quote from: SJUFAN on February 22, 2014, 04:15:20 PM

Quote from: we are sju on February 22, 2014, 04:11:22 PM

Quote from: SJUFAN on February 22, 2014, 04:09:26 PM

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on February 22, 2014, 04:00:23 PM

Quote from: boo3 on February 22, 2014, 03:53:35 PM

Nice try... in the end, too many second chances for Nova...  Lucky bank shot 3.   Harrison not willing to take big shot... Phil choking, and traveling

I dont think it has anything to do with him not "willing" to take the big shot. He made a very good pass.

It was a great pass. Greene should have went straight up with it. He didn't even look at the basket. That's one of the problems with some of our players, they are to indecisive. They played hard though, need to win Tuesday.

Was a good reactionary pass but it really did put Greene in a bad spot there. Not Harrison's fault but would have been a tough shot for Greene.

Thought Greene was open for a lay up if he went straight up with it. Tough shot, maybe, but the opening was there on the catch.

Harrison had to make that pass but if you watch it again Greene would have been going up against Ochefu I think

I thought Harrison had a good look at that elbow jumper, no?

If Harrison had to do it again, he would shoot it.  He's got such good vision and I think he was going to shoot when he saw Greene get open and just reacted.  Greene should have just went straight up, but it wasn't an easy shot with all the size Nova had down there. 

Harrisons #s were awful, but his effort was there all game and that is why we were in this until the end.  Jordan and Harrison just compete. 

I thought the travelling was a bit iffy.  It was almost simultaneous releasing the ball and putting the foot down.

And Harrison was upset because he was set to get the ball back from PGIV right at the top of the key.  I think he was prepared to be the hero and then the whistle blew.

Just back home from the game. Our group sat with a large contingent of boisterous, supportive students . Disappointing loss with some squandered opportunities. That said, liked the grit of the team & have confidence we nail Xavier Tuesday. As noted by many, the Arcidiacono banked in three was the "dagger". All in all, nice effort.

I am so hurt at this loss.  This should have been a win.  At least we are in these games, unlike during the Jarvis and Roberts era.  Those ref's had it in for us.  There were many calls that they could have called against Villanova throughout the game.  That travel at the end was an awful call, should not be called if it is that close at that point in the game.   I blame this game on the ref's more then the players. 

However we did have that stretch where there was 3 turnovers in a row!  We did not score once!  I was about to have a fit!  We need to win the next three games, and the Big East tournament.  Perhaps this game will make the team more hungry for wins.  A Big East Tournament win, then a couple of wins in the NCAA tournament would be wonderful. 

Just as I was about to throw in the towel forever on this team after the 0-5 start, they gained my interest again.  I was very close to making the megabus trip down to Villanova today, but glad I did not. 

We need to win.  Following this team is torture.  Too many times have they broken my heart.

This loss isn't end of the world. Loss against Xaiver, DePaul, or Marquette would be.

Disagree, Dave. I think if we finish 10-8 in Big East, two wins in Big East tourney would be enough to get us in.

Agree mkras.  I think 22 total wins We are a lock.  21 maybe. 20 no.

Had a great time in Philly overall today.

POSITIVES:

-Our ball screen defense has gotten much better. 
-Great job by Chris Obekpa to play through the pain in a must-win game.  And he played through an injury to a body part that  actually affects his play, not a tooth **cough cough**
-GREAT job by the students that traveled to the game today.  Consistently made noise and often was louder and more cohesive than the Nova student section

NEGATIVES:

-Phil Greene passing up that layup under the rim was disturbing.  Kid played scared, plain and simple.
-Really bad job subbing Obekpa in for Chris as we were about to go on offense down by 3 late in the game.  You cannot take a shooter out of the game in that spot.  Nova wasn't going to crash the offensive glass if he made a FT.
-Bad job having Marco as the inbounder down 3 with 2 seconds left.  Nova put a tall, long defender on the inbounds and we should've had Jakarr throw it in because he could see over the defense.
-It was a game of blown opportunities.  We had 3 straight possessions with the game tied late and couldn't convert on any to take a lead.  Allowed too many offensive rebounds as well.  Nova made the winning plays and we did not.

Our guards did a fair job of holding the Nova 3pt shooters in check.  Rebounding an issue, GG SHOULD HAVE PLAYED 8-12 MINUTERS FOR D AND BOUNDS.  Dom PLAYING AND GG sitting against an undersized team waiting to be dominated inside.  A coaching decision and mistake.   Overall, great effort by the players on the floor.  Please, someone, slow Dom down, he plays like a golfer whose swing is too quick.

Reading these boards you would think that Dom single-handedly blew the game.  His technical foul has somehow become a 6-point swing (it wasn't) and his foul late on Ochefu somehow was an important play (Ochefu missed the front end of the 1-1).  Dom didn't play a good game, but he wasn't the guywho coughed up the game in crunch time.  The constant attack on this kid is getting tiresome.

Boo,

Every season there are a couple of posters who select a kid on the team to obsess over.  A few years ago one poster could not see any value in Malik.  This season some are killing Dom.  They look the other way when these kids contribute and jump to the key board when they screw up. 

It was a good time in Philly yesterday.  The SJU fans really made a presence loudly supporting this team on the road.  It was impressive. 

I thought the refs let a lot of contact go without calling fouls which probably helped Nova in the second half.  I hope we get them at the garden one more time.

I think we missed Sanchez and a healthy Chris ....definitely made a difference in a one possession game....also it's rare for Jordan, D'Lo and Greene to all have such terrible, terrible, shooting performances on the same night.  In second half, we seemed unable to get the ball down low to Jakaar.  Oh well....NCAA's here we come!

I blame this game on the ref's more then the players. 

Spoken like a true Saint John's fan

I think he missed all his shots in 2nd half.

Did not score after the 7 minute mark in the first half.

Reading these boards you would think that Dom single-handedly blew the game.  His technical foul has somehow become a 6-point swing (it wasn't) and his foul late on Ochefu somehow was an important play (Ochefu missed the front end of the 1-1).  Dom didn't play a good game, but he wasn't the guywho coughed up the game in crunch time.  The constant attack on this kid is getting tiresome.

Coming into the year Dom was my favorite player on the team.  With all of his flaws, he always played his butt off and made the hustle plays.  This year that has gone missing far too often.  Combine that with his always poor shooting and his overstated lack of basketball IQ, and this is what you get.  Is it possible that his play on the court is what has caused the "constant attacking"?

Quote from: JimS1982 on February 22, 2014, 10:06:16 PM

I blame this game on the ref's more then the players. 

Spoken like a true Saint John's fan

That should not have been a travel call.  They were fouling D'Lo all game long with no calls being made...  That threw him off big time which threw off the whole rhythm of the team...

Quote from: gregbooharvey on February 23, 2014, 02:36:45 AM

Reading these boards you would think that Dom single-handedly blew the game.  His technical foul has somehow become a 6-point swing (it wasn't) and his foul late on Ochefu somehow was an important play (Ochefu missed the front end of the 1-1).  Dom didn't play a good game, but he wasn't the guywho coughed up the game in crunch time.  The constant attack on this kid is getting tiresome.

Coming into the year Dom was my favorite player on the team.  With all of his flaws, he always played his butt off and made the hustle plays.  This year that has gone missing far too often.  Combine that with his always poor shooting and his overstated lack of basketball IQ, and this is what you get.  Is it possible that his play on the court is what has caused the "constant attacking"?

Not hating on coach, just think he has Pointer out there sometimes when he shouldn't. I think Lavin has a  lot of trust in pointer maybe to much. Still I like Pointer think he should play plenty. Missed the last few games. Was on a cruise. If we go to the tourney Dom will have plenty to do with it.

Quote from: Foad on February 23, 2014, 09:21:18 AM

Quote from: JimS1982 on February 22, 2014, 10:06:16 PM

I blame this game on the ref's more then the players. 

Spoken like a true Saint John's fan

That should not have been a travel call.  They were fouling D'Lo all game long with no calls being made...  That threw him off big time which threw off the whole rhythm of the team...

Stop blubbering. It was a winnable game we lost because of poor execution down the stretch. The end.

The non calls in layups started to frustrate the team. They need to learn how to get over that. Sometimes the refs will call a tight game and sometimes they won't. Getting frustrated will not help the situation.

Nova fans also felt non calls hurt them.  It is the  execution down the stretch of the tight games.  They came through in the second Creighton game at MSG.

This team needs to keep it going at MSG.  Just win out at MSG and get the automatic and also a decent seed.