Just watched the first half of the game as I was out last night

[NineOneSeven]

Can't imagine how you guys watched the second half (I won't be doing that).

Here are some of my observations that come to mind:

- St. Johns leads the BE in 3 pt shooting. They played a defense that wants you to shoot three point shots. That same defense has struggled mightily with consistency this year. I'll leave it at that.

- SJU scored 2 pts in the first 5 minutes and then 91 in the next 35 minutes.

- We can barely execute basic acts involving a basketball- weak chest passes into defenders, guys not catching passes, driving the lane just to jump and throw backwards passes or fire it into traffic. No rotation to get back in transition. No effort to box out (just get that dang ball guys!). What the hell was I watching?

- SJU ran two people at the high post a lot of the half and screened our guards consistently. Genius game plan. Screens are infinitely harder to defend in zone than man because at worst you switch with the screener's man. Could that lead to mismatches? Sure. What's worse- a forward/center on a guard or nobody on a guard?

- We love picking up some of the weakest fouls I have ever seen. Too often on our guards early on.

- Andrew White and John Gillon just don't seem fluid out there...at all. White has the higher upside because he can get hot but honestly... he's so one-dimensional and when he's not shooting well, what is he doing? Gillon tries but rarely succeeds... at least he seems capable of making a good pass to an open shooter when he pushes it, as long as he doesn't leave his feet.

- Loved Frank Howard last year... everyone knows this. I'm lost.

- We are just dumb. 5 seconds left on the shot clock and we throw it into the back court. Call a TO then get a violation trying to get the ball inbounded.

- Our guards do not help down to rebound consistently enough. In this defense every single person needs to crash the glass. I see a lot of people standing around.

- Thompson and Lydon are our best players...... by FAR.

- I've never seen a team more lost out there. It's bad. I am shocked when we get a rebound or complete more than a few passes in a row on a possession that provide an easy basket.

- Louisville and UNC, especially, are going to do unimaginable things to this team as it stands.

 

[JoeySimz]

I'll add that SJU was very aggressive and it paid off. They were hand-checking, slapping, clawing, fouling and the refs were not calling it. One ref named Brian was really bad and Mullins loved it.

We reacted poorly. None of our guys could play through the slightest bit of contact. This skinny team (I sat very close to the SJU bench. They looked like a skinny hs team to us) bullied us and we looked scared. We crumbled under pressure and never regained control, or even composure.

By the time we figured out how to get the ball inside and take the upper hand physically, it was too late. We were in foul trouble and exhausted and they were still running up and down. White and Coleman are very slow to begin with and our lack of team speed was on full display. Boeheim had no idea what to do with substitutions. It was also mind-boggling how much Roberson sat when we were getting run out of the gym in the second half.

Based on this, your last comment is more than reasonable.