1/6/15 Big East Games

[GumbyDamnit!]

Thats cause the Nova players know they could knock down the SJU players and no calls would be made while the SJU players were getting hit up for touch fouls. The game was called in two very distinctive ways. Hell Harrison probably has three stitches in his lip right now on a play where they called no foul! Nova was being physical and being rewarded for it while SJU was being penalized for it.

I guess the SJU fans carry that same mentality as the players that: "every call against us is BS, and every missed shot is not our fault, it's the refs fault!" Got it.

[Red Rooster]

Made the trip up to MSG. SJU must drive their fans nuts. 1-6 they have as much talent as anyone but I don't think they are mentally tough or smart. Harrison is a killer. Can score at will; such a terrific player. But when the game got physical and a little chippy SJU just lost their composure completely. They seemed affected by every whistle and more concerned with talking to the Nova players and the refs, then bearing down and playing tough SJU ball. If they had more discipline they'd be so much better. I blame Lavin, not the collection of talent he has brought in.

SJU is not afraid of being physical at all. This is the same team that threw punches at a top 25 Notre Dame team a few years back (we beat them once too). This is the same team that got in scuffles with Cuse when we beat them this year. Harrison is always being knocked down or shoved. Obekpa is not afraid of anyone. Pointer isn't either. So I don't get the "losing composure" when things get physical part. This team thrives on that stuff IMO.

The score is extremely deceiving, because this was a fantastic game up until SJU just ran out of gas with no bench and the out rebounding due to the massive size/depth advantage Nova had. Rysheed Jordan is one of the biggest busts in recent memory and probably up there in SJU history. Lavin literally forgot how to recruit for 2 years now, and this is what happens.

Lavin needs to go. Like now. He will never win anything here. Forget a national championship. Forget a Big East championship. Forget a deep run in the tourney. It seems impossible to even MAKE the tourney with him as coach. Hell, even in the NIT we can't win. With a full team out there and 2 good recruiting years, we would have taken it right down to the wire with Nova. But because he is a terrible coach he put us in a terrible position. 0-5 to start last year 0-3 to start this year. This team might be close to .500 overall after the Duke game. And to think we were just top 15. I hate wasting my time and money on a program coached by Lavin. His time is over.

I disagree hooper and agree with Gumby. St.John's doesn't handle being physical well at all. It's not that they shy away from it. It's that it distracts them and they're more concerned about the physical play once it starts than they are about playing good basketball. They get taken out of the game by physical play because they're more interested in showing how tough they are. They try and be physical back instead of trying to just play basketball.

Score was not deceiving yes St. John's kept it close for a while, and yes the result was mainly for the reason you state, but that's not deceiving. Lack of depth and lack of height are parts of the game. When a score is deceiving is when it's a close game down the stretch and you have to start fouling, and the team makes all their free throws and you miss all your 3s to get back in the game and the lead goes from 5 to a blow out. That would be a deceiving score. Keeping it close for 2/3rds of the game and then getting beat by a bigger, deeper, and clearly better team is not a deceiving score. When Nova is on their game they're very very good. The only reason they're not undefeated is they played a stinker vs. a good team.

So, says the guy, whose Hoya team played like faux "tough guys" (particularly, Trawick) at MSG last season. Only to see the Johnnies not back down and win going away. Heck! One of my Hoya-rooting friends even agreed with the Hoyas' "rough" play last season at MSG. Lose the phony act and blinders, and you might be a good poster. But I guess you can't help yourself.

Too many of your postings deal in homerism and an artificial sense. Non-practical. Shine on, my man!

When they play they're best they're not going to lose.

That can be said for quite a few teams not named Villanova.

[Bill Marsh]

SJU is not afraid of being physical at all. This is the same team that threw punches at a top 25 Notre Dame team a few years back (we beat them once too). This is the same team that got in scuffles with Cuse when we beat them this year. Harrison is always being knocked down or shoved. Obekpa is not afraid of anyone. Pointer isn't either. So I don't get the "losing composure" when things get physical part. This team thrives on that stuff IMO.

The score is extremely deceiving, because this was a fantastic game up until SJU just ran out of gas with no bench and the out rebounding due to the massive size/depth advantage Nova .

You make a good point about depth. Clearly it was a significant factor last night.

I'm not sure if you were at the game or if the broadcast caught all the side circus stuff that seemed to lead to SJU unraveling. DH was talking crap to anyone who would listen: refs, Nova players, fans, Gus and Raf when he was backpeddeling on D, etc. Every shot missed he was fouled, every shot made he declared himself unstoppable, every whistle against he had complaints about. Every possession, every play. I get that is part of who he is as a player and perhaps it is his way to motivate himself. He is clearly very good. But that "intensity" seemed to rub off on other players--most notably Obekpa and Pointer--negatively. During one timeout Obekpa had to be restrained because he wanted to go confront someone on the Nova bench; Pointer started pushing Nova guys as they tried to huddle up in the lane. Nova had no problem matching the physicality but their demeanor was soooo much different. They remained focused on executing and SJU reverted to street ball. When Nova pushed it up to a 7 pt game with about 7 mins to play I remember an exchange where Pointer and DH were jawing at 2 Nova players who remained expressionless and focused and I commented to the guy next to me that "this game is over" as I could see close up (6th row across from SJU bench) that SJU was spending way to much energy on trying to prove that they were the tougher team. They absolutely collapsed from that point on.

Thats cause the Nova players know they could knock down the SJU players and no calls would be made while the SJU players were getting hit up for touch fouls. The game was called in two very distinctive ways. Hell Harrison probably has three stitches in his lip right now on a play where they called no foul! Nova was being physical and being rewarded for it while SJU was being penalized for it.

Spoken like a true homer with a "they're out to get us" and. "Can't catch break mentality." It was your home court and you act like the refs were favoring the visiting team.

I didn't have a dog in this fight. I agree that there were some bad calls. I thought that Harrison got knocked tot he floor so hard that I was surprised he could play the 2nd half. Part of the problem with their lack of depth is that St. John's was hobbling late in the game from getting banged around so much. Villanova definitely played a very physical game and was allowed to. But that's where my agreement with you ends.

The refs did not call the game differently for the 2 teams. St. John's made some dumb reach-in fouls that any refs are going to call every time. It's not that the refs were calling touch fouls on St. John's exclusively, it's that Villanova wasn't making those same dumb defensive mistakes. Players have to learn to adjust to the refereeing on different nights. The refs were allowing a lot of banging under the boards for both teams. St. John's just didn't know how to take advantage of it and Villanova did.