Thurs 1/23 BE Game Thread (1 Game, SHU-SJU).

[Hall2012]

Typical Seton Hall. Following a big win with a letdown game against a team they should have beaten.

[Lavinwood]

It was Chris Mullin bobble head night…you guys had no chance.

[billyjack]

I thought that St John's burned their last timeouts unnecessarily in the last minute. The full-court inbound with 4 seconds left was a result of this, because they would have gotten a 5-second call otherwise.

With 54.9 seconds the Johnnies had 4 timeouts. Seton Hall had 2 timeouts.
Seton Oliver hit 2 free throws to make it 74-70.
Johnnie Pointer was fouled with 51.9 seconds left.
Johnnie Pointer hit both free throws to go up 76-70.
Johnnies called timeout, so had 3 left.

Seton Oliver missed a 3, Seton Edwin got board, layed it in and got fouled with 27.0 seconds left. 76-72 SJU.
Johnnies called another timeout, before the free throw, at the 27 second mark.
First of all, Obekpa fouled out on that play, so the time allowed to sub in for him could have been used as a TO.
So they could've saved a TO there.
And secondly, why call a TO before the shot? Makes more sense to see if Edwin hits it first, so you can strategize based on knowing whether you're up by either 3 or 4 points... I would imagine the gameplanning would be a little different.

Anyway, both teams now have 2 timeouts.
Edwin hits shot. Johnnies up 76-73.
Inbound goes to Harrison who is fouled with 25.7 seconds.
Harrison misses both shots, Seton Hall rebounds, takes it past halfcourt, calls TO with 20.8 left, down 3.
Sensible decision.
Pirates 1 TO left, Johnnies 2 left.

Seton Hall inbounds, passes around, Gibbs gets fouled with 14.2 left.
Gibbs misses first, and Johnnies call timeout. Again, why call TO at this point?
Both teams have 1 TO left. Johnnies up 76-73.

Gibbs hits 2nd shot, SJU now up 76-74. 14.2 seconds left.
Johnnies inbound, trapped at sideline, throw it off Seton leg, out of bounds, St John's ball still. 11.3 seconds left.
Next inbounds goes to wide-open Jordan, who races across midcourt, fouled with 9.2 seconds left.
Jordan misses first, then hits 2nd, so SJU up 77-74, with 9.2 seconds and both teams with 1 timeout.

Then, St John's calls their final timeout, even though probably Willard would've called one to set up a final play.
Seton Hall inbounds, Gibbs fouled with 4.9 seconds for 2 shots.
Gibbs hits both. 77-76 SJU.
St John's tries to inbound, no one is open, no timeouts, so they huck it downcourt to open space... Sanchez makes the play of the night, sprinting 80 feet downcourt to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds... meaning Seton Hall has to take it out 90 feet from the basket...

Still only 4.3 seconds on clock. Willard still has a TO, which he uses to set up a play.
So neither team has a TO, 4.3 seconds SJU up 77-76.
Pointer makes great stop on Edwin at midcourt as time expires.
St John's wins 77-76.

Anyway, I was thinking about the strategies in that final minute, and I thought SJU made some weird decisions with timeouts, though they made good calls in fouling Gibbs twice in last 20 seconds or so.

If you made it this far and read through my lengthy post, wow.

[HoosierPal]

Question: there has been previous civil discussion on Big East rivalries. Do the fans of each university consider Seton Hall v St. John's a, or the, top rival of each school? Due to the proximity? If not, then who is the #1 arch rival of each?