Was the Buffalo game good preparation for St. Johns?

[muwarrior69]

Buffalo is very quick and athletic and watching St. Johns play Seton Hall it seem to me they are very similar. Many of you know the game much better than I and was wondering is there much difference between the teams?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

It's not a bad comparison. Both play at a high tempo, both excel in transition, both play a short big man that can shoot threes at the 5. I would say Buffalo is a more polished team than St. John's that relies more on set plays to generate offense in the half court. St. John's is more of a pass until you get an open three then try to take your man 1:1 kind of team.

[Jay Bee]

Buffalo is very quick and athletic and watching St. Johns play Seton Hall it seem to me they are very similar. Many of you know the game much better than I and was wondering is there much difference between the teams?

Not a bad comp.. Buffalo a bit more reliant on the 3, although St. John's shoots it better. Biggest difference is probably in rebounding.. Buffalo gets o-boards, but isn't great on the d-glass. For St. John's, it's the opposite - very good on the d-boards, but don't get second chances. They've had ONE game all year of > 30% OR% (30.3%). To compare, Buffalo has 7 such games...MU has 5.

[nyg]

Not a bad comp.. Buffalo a bit more reliant on the 3, although St. John's shoots it better. Biggest difference is probably in rebounding.. Buffalo gets o-boards, but isn't great on the d-glass. For St. John's, it's the opposite - very good on the d-boards, but don't get second chances. They've had ONE game all year of > 30% OR% (30.3%). To compare, Buffalo has 7 such games...MU has 5.

I mentioned it yesterday, SJU puts the five guys on offense around the three point line.  They pass the ball around the perimeter and either shoot a three or have one player go one on one towards the basket.  The other four usually watch because they are so far out, making offensive rebounds almost impossible unless the ball hits front rim and bounces back. 

Will be interesting how Wojo sets up his defense.  Ponds going one on one against Markus could lead to foul issues.

[NotAnAlum]

I was thinking the same thing about the similarities between STJ and Buff.  Very concerned about this game.  I could see shades of Indiana if STJ pressures Marcus and goes for steals.  And if things start badly they could go down hill in a hurry with it being in their gym and the way they play.  Might consider starting Joe C instead of Joey and let him run the point for the first 5-6 minutes until everyone gets into the game.  In all 3 of those big wins at home we've started off behind but given the home crowd that is not as much of an issue.  Cannot afford to get down big early in this game.
The way we win this is to turn this into a grinder with a sizable dose of low post offense and playing good solid defense to force them deep into the shot clock.  The SH game showed that if STJ gets stifled Ponds is prone to Hero ball, throwing up bad shoots etc.
Of course if everything MH throws up continues to go in then we have nothing to worry about.  But sooner or later to law of averages kicks in and those 3 pointers missed or Marcus drives blocked will feed into the run and gun STJ wants to play.

[MuMark]

Joey will start.

Chartouny is turning It over on 36% of his possessions .........highest on the team.

[GGGG]

They aren't changing the starting line up that has worked so well. 

[MU82]

Will be interesting how Wojo sets up his defense.  Ponds going one on one against Markus could lead to foul issues.

Lots of folks here were worried about ball-grabbing cheater Davison drawing charges on Markus, too. Ended up being a non-issue, and Davison, as much as any F%cky player, cost his team the game.

Maybe Markus will get Ponds in foul trouble. If so, St. John's is toast.

We are much deeper. And though we obviously would rather avoid foul trouble with Markus, we have already showed we can excel for long stretches when Markus is out.

[Johnny B]

Im not worried about St johns. Think it will be an easy win honestly. Outsize them like crazy. Can see Sam Joey etc getting some easy shots up outsizing everyone. Even Theo down low. Could get them into foul troiuble. I see a 12 pt win here.

[NCMUFan]

From last year and maybe the year before, St. John's was able to strip or steal the ball from us at pretty much will.  I hope Wojo and team addressed this.   I hope it will be a good game with Marquette coming out on top.

[GGGG]

From last year and maybe the year before, St. John's was able to strip or steal the ball from us at pretty much will.  I hope Wojo and team addressed this.   I hope it will be a good game with Marquette coming out on top.

Actually that's not really true.  MU had one of its lowest TO% games of the entire BE season at SJU.  The problem is that they allowed SJU to have a EFG of .680.  I believe the only time a BE opponent shot better was Nova in the BET.

[MuMark]

St John's is one of the best teams in the country at stealing the ball and forcing turnovers in general......I'm sure all of the opponents have stressed taking care of the ball......

They are in all likelihood going to to force quite a few turnovers against us......it is a weakness of this years team......or at least has been so far......we can still win if we do other things well.....play good defense, hit our shots and punish them on the boards.

They only play about 7 guys and rely as much on their starters as almost anyone in the country......can we get 1or 2 of them in foul trouble?

[PGsHeroes32]

If we are secure with the ball in the post and protect against strips we should be able to have our way in the paint.

Theo/Ed, Sam and Joey will all have big advantages. Sacar should have some good driving lanes too

[tower912]

First road game since IU.   Thinking it will be easy is dumb.   

[Silkk the Shaka]

First road game since IU.   Thinking it will be easy is dumb.   

Agreed. Good chance we will be trailing for a large portion of the game. But when they get tired and it gets tough to score on Theo/Ed, and Markus starts popping off, and the rotations to the Hausers gets to be a step slow... we'll pull away

[tower912]

IMO, a win will tell us more about MU's team than a loss will.    Winning on the road in conference against a one-loss team will be a huge statement.     A loss will just be a conference road loss to a one-loss team. 

[BM1090]

Yep I'm predicting a loss here. SJU coming off a loss, MU hasn't played on the road in awhile and the first game we do is a team that has far better quickness than us.

If we commit to slowing the game down and using the Hausers in the posts then I think we have a decent chance. But I think this one is going to be ugly and we are trailing for 10+ the majority of the game and lose by 6-8.

Feel like we have a much better chance at Creighton next week. Hope I'm wrong!

[Johnny B]

First road game since IU.   Thinking it will be easy is dumb.   

Time will tell

[tower912]

Maybe it turns out to be.  Bit it should not be assumed.  Depaul.

[denverMU]

Yep I'm predicting a loss here. SJU coming off a loss, MU hasn't played on the road in awhile and the first game we do is a team that has far better quickness than us.

If we commit to slowing the game down and using the Hausers in the posts then I think we have a decent chance. But I think this one is going to be ugly and we are trailing for 10+ the majority of the game and lose by 6-8.

Feel like we have a much better chance at Creighton next week. Hope I'm wrong!

This team has come a long way since IU.  We will win this game.

[BM1090]

This team has come a long way since IU.  We will win this game.

Agreed we have come a long way. I'm not worried about the season at all, just don't think this is a good opening road game for us. I think we lose this one then still compete for a Big East title. I'd obviously love to be wrong, but I don't like this matchup.