Georgios Papagiannis, Greek Center To St. John's?

[RDinNY]

I would have to think after all the eligibility issues St. John's has had, Lavin will do his homework with this guy, and make sure he'll actually be able to suit up. As far as his coaching goes, I'm as critical as anyone, but he did make the right decision last night by putting Pointer on Carlino when Marquette was up 8. Normally he likes Pointer playing someone closer to the basket, but he recognized the need to shut down Carlino and put his best defender on him. Might seem like an obvious decision, but nonetheless Lavin made it, so I'll give him credit, as it probably won the game for them.

Fans on the St. John's boards think he should have put Dom on Carlino from the beginning, and have Harrison guarding the 4.

[hoops22]

St John's defense was fine in the first half. In fact, you can argue that had Harrison been on the four, especially on a bad leg, he would have had nowhere near the rebounds and blocked shots Pointer had. When Carlino heated up in the second half, Lavin made the switch. There are plenty of games Lavin leaves himself open to criticism, but I don't think last night was one of them.

[BEhomer]

greek center and lovett and diallo along with sampson? i would have no problem extending his contract.

[RDinNY]

St John's defense was fine in the first half. In fact, you can argue that had Harrison been on the four, especially on a bad leg, he would have had nowhere near the rebounds and blocked shots Pointer had. When Carlino heated up in the second half, Lavin made the switch. There are plenty of games Lavin leaves himself open to criticism, but I don't think last night was one of them.

I agree. Of course, I was exaggerating but he is being criticized for not having made the move sooner. He did it after Carlino hit a few threes coming off double screens. It was obvious after a while that Harrison couldn't keep up with him (to some extent due to the leg injury---although Harrison is not very quick to begin with). The move was made and Dom completely shut him down the rest of the way.

[billyjack]

I would have to think after all the eligibility issues St. John's has had, Lavin will do his homework with this guy, and make sure he'll actually be able to suit up. As far as his coaching goes, I'm as critical as anyone, but he did make the right decision last night by putting Pointer on Carlino when Marquette was up 8. Normally he likes Pointer playing someone closer to the basket, but he recognized the need to shut down Carlino and put his best defender on him. Might seem like an obvious decision, but nonetheless Lavin made it, so I'll give him credit, as it probably won the game for them.

Yeah, pretty cool at around the under 12 minute timeout, the telecast showed Lavin in the huddle miked up. He specifically pointed at Sir'Dominic and gave him the Carlino assignment, and said, paraphrased, "Carlino... he gets no more three's, okay... no more 3's from Carlino..."

[NJRedman]

Lavins big coaching mistake from last night was not taking out Ali after his 3rd foul and he promptly picked up his 4th in the first half.

[RDinNY]

The reason I hate to speculate (especially after a win) is because had Lavin taken Amar out sooner, what if Obekpa picked up that foul instead. He ended the game with 4. That would have been a more devasting situation. What happened happened, and it ended up ok for us.

[NJRedman]

The reason I hate to speculate (especially after a win) is because had Lavin taken Amar out sooner, what if Obekpa picked up that foul instead. He ended the game with 4. That would have been a more devasting situation. What happened happened, and it ended up ok for us.

It did, but if we put in DeLaRosa instead we could have had Ali on the floor in the second half more. It's clearly a mistake to let one of your guys pick up four fouls in the first half. It didn't bite us in the ass but stuff like that certainly can. If Obekpa got in foul trouble we could have been really screwed.

[RDinNY]

The reason I hate to speculate (especially after a win) is because had Lavin taken Amar out sooner, what if Obekpa picked up that foul instead. He ended the game with 4. That would have been a more devasting situation. What happened happened, and it ended up ok for us.

It did, but if we put in DeLaRosa instead we could have had Ali on the floor in the second half more. It's clearly a mistake to let one of your guys pick up four fouls in the first half. It didn't bite us in the ass but stuff like that certainly can. If Obekpa got in foul trouble we could have been really screwed.

I didn't get to my seat until the under 4 minute TO. I think Amar had 2 by then. I haven't yet watched the game on DVR but some of the fouls called onAmar looked like phanthom calls. Number 4, the player control foul seemed totally bogus from where I was sitting. Obviously, the ref had a better vantage point. I will see when I get a chance to watch it.

[NJRedman]

The reason I hate to speculate (especially after a win) is because had Lavin taken Amar out sooner, what if Obekpa picked up that foul instead. He ended the game with 4. That would have been a more devasting situation. What happened happened, and it ended up ok for us.

It did, but if we put in DeLaRosa instead we could have had Ali on the floor in the second half more. It's clearly a mistake to let one of your guys pick up four fouls in the first half. It didn't bite us in the ass but stuff like that certainly can. If Obekpa got in foul trouble we could have been really screwed.

I didn't get to my seat until the under 4 minute TO. I think Amar had 2 by then. I haven't yet watched the game on DVR but some of the fouls called onAmar looked like phanthom calls. Number 4, the player control foul seemed totally bogus from where I was sitting. Obviously, the ref had a better vantage point. I will see when I get a chance to watch it.

He got the four fouls in like 6-7 minutes. They were all quick.