St. John's game thread

[Norm]

So any chance if ncaa outside of winning bet?

No

[whitykj]

No we don't.

If we want to make the tournament without winning the Big East Tourney we do.  If we go 9-9 and get the Chamionship game we are still sweating it out on selection Sunday

[forgetful]

I can't wait for all of the excuses after this one. "but they beat Nova and Duke!" "Theo had the flu!"

Why does anyone need an excuse.  Based on a season's worth of performances, St. Johns was predicted to win this game.

[Afroman]

Oh well. Good try.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Why does anyone need an excuse.  Based on a season's worth of performances, St. Johns was predicted to win this game.

Because some people aren't paying attention, apparently.

[nyg]

I can't wait for all of the excuses after this one. "but they beat Nova and Duke!" "Theo had the flu!"

No, they are young, remember.  The ref conspiracy. 

Reality, no defense for Ponds.  The guy is on unreal tear and they did it with Owens on bench for almost entire second half.  MU did not play like a team, bad turnovers.  Just have to go 4-1 rest of way. 

[ATL MU Warrior]

Woj comes in with a gameplan and once the opponent adjusts to it we’re toast.

I don't know how you let the one guy who can beat you just get whatever he wants. Other than a few possessions of zone, we made no adjustments to stop Ponds. Nothing. No doubles or traps off their pick and roll, nothing. I am just dumbfounded that we had no answer to try anything to stop their one guy who could beat us pretty much all by himself. 

[Class71]

Inexcusable to have Ponds hit 3 3's in Sam's face in about a 5 minute span. There's no coaching going on at all.

So what did you want,Sam to play tight and have Ponds blow by him?

St. JOHN'S has become a tough team to beat. They are not a fluke.

[WolfganghisKhan]

We just aren't good.

[monkeyman34]

So what did you want,Sam to play tight and have Ponds blow by him?

St. JOHN'S has become a tough team to beat. They are not a fluke.

Yes, giving up 2 points is better than 3, is it not?  That wasn't even my complaint, there's no good reason why Sam was switched onto Ponds, fight through a F'n screen and stick on your guy.

[LoudMouth]

Oh well. Good try.

If only that was true

[Johnny B]

Fire wojo !!

[forgetful]

I don't know how you let the one guy who can beat you just get whatever he wants. Other than a few possessions of zone, we made no adjustments to stop Ponds. Nothing. No doubles or traps off their pick and roll, nothing. I am just dumbfounded that we had no answer to try anything to stop their one guy who could beat us pretty much all by himself.

Xavier, Duke, and Nova, also could not stop him. 

He is a great player, and is in an unbelievable zone right now. 

Usually you do exactly what Hauser did with him.  Let him shoot 3's. He shoots 24% on the season, and 31% for his career from 3.  On a tear lately.

You play the odds.  Odds say Ponds misses those 3's.  Today he made them.

[D'Lo Brown]

I don't know how you let the one guy who can beat you just get whatever he wants. Other than a few possessions of zone, we made no adjustments to stop Ponds. Nothing. No doubles or traps off their pick and roll, nothing. I am just dumbfounded that we had no answer to try anything to stop their one guy who could beat us pretty much all by himself.

Coach K or Jay Wright should be fired and you should be made head coach at one of those schools. At the very least, they'd learn how to stop a guy who is playing outside of his mind.

[cheebs09]

Inadvertent whistle for some reason changes possession. Which is dumb as unnatural carnal knowledge.

The frustrating part is I think it was on its way out of bounds and would have been our ball anyways

[Class71]

Xavier, Duke, and Nova, also could not stop him. 

He is a great player, and is in an unbelievable zone right now. 

Usually you do exactly what Hauser did with him.  Let him shoot 3's. He shoots 24% on the season, and 31% for his career from 3.  On a tear lately.

You play the odds.  Odds say Ponds misses those 3's.  Today he made them.

Fully agree. Try our best big, give up the 24% 3 point shooting and stop the lay-ups that no one else has been able to do in three games. It didn't work but a correct call.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

#leagueme

Maybe the dumbest hashtag out there.

Howard really struggling.  As Jim Rome says "shooters gotta keep shooting"

League Me is Markus' brother's basketball training program

[CTWarrior]

We just aren't good.

This.  Basically, our opponents will try to run our main three guys off the 3 pt line, and never leave them to help.  Unfortunately, ALL our other guys are easily handled by a remotely competent single defender (and those defenders are free to help our main three).  Makes it much tougher for our main guys to score, as they do not have Ponds' quickness and/or strength.  Couple that with our sieve-like defense, and we are not that good.

[ATL MU Warrior]

Coach K or Jay Wright should be fired and you should be made head coach at one of those schools. At the very least, they'd learn how to stop a guy who is playing outside of his mind.

Cute. I would love to have that job.

It's very simple. Make somebody else beat you. Trap him hard off the screen instead of just rolling over and switching a slow big onto him.  Make him give up the ball.

Do SOMETHING to disrupt his rhythm and make one of their less capable guys initiate the offense.

We did nothing to make him uncomfortable. Nothing.

[CTWarrior]

Fully agree. Try our best big, give up the 24% 3 point shooting and stop the lay-ups that no one else has been able to do in three games. It didn't work but a correct call.

We doubled and helped on him for a two minute stretch and had success, then we stopped.  I disagree 100% that we defend him properly.  They scored every single time down the floor for about 10 minutes, often with and 1s or 3s.  Literally having 5 guys stand at the three point line with their hands up so they only got two points each time and we didn't foul would have been better.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Two points and two rebounds off the bench. Vichy Defense. Sick and on the road. The newcomers seemed to have hit the proverbial wall. 

[GGGG]

70 of MU's points were scored by Rowsey, Howard and Hauser. 

[forgetful]

We doubled and helped on him for a two minute stretch and had success, then we stopped.  I disagree 100% that we defend him properly.  They scored every single time down the floor for about 10 minutes, often with and 1s or 3s.  Literally having 5 guys stand at the three point line with their hands up so they only got two points each time and we didn't foul would have been better.

Here's the thing.  Ponds misses those 3's like he usually does.  And he misses some of the tough contested shots and people on here are talking about how great the D on Ponds was.

Butler played Ponds the same way we did.  He went 0-12 in that game. 

Was it a good design from them? but a Bad design from us?

The difference in the two game plans is that Ponds is on fire right now, and was ice cold against them. 

Could we have executed the game plan better, absolutely.  Too many defensive lapses when he drove the paint.  But there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the game plan. 

Sometimes a player is better than the plan.

[GGGG]

Two points and two rebounds off the bench. Vichy Defense. Sick and on the road. The newcomers seemed to have hit the proverbial wall. 

That is exactly what I said to the wife halfway through that half.  Elliott and Cain have looked a lot like freshmen lately.

[goldeneagle91114]

Inexcusable to have Ponds hit 3 3's in Sam's face in about a 5 minute span. There's no coaching going on at all.

What are you talking about? that is one-on-one, Rural Wisconsin vs. Inner City NYC basketball... NYC won, multiple times. What do you expect wojo to say?