DePaul's December versus Johnnies January?

[TheBall]

Man, which one was worse? And not in a hate the team fashion, but more of a pull your hair out in frustration manner.

DePaul might be the most exciting team to watch right now. Not the best, but how can you not root for these kids? Really the look of a young team figuring things out with some plus athletes and one future all conference player in garret Jr. Just win a couple of those bad losses from December and we're talking bubble here.

St Johns entered the season as arguably the best team on paper. They did what they should have done out of conference, hopes were Sooooo high for them (at least from me). I still think they are the best team on paper.

In terms of most frustrating, I'm going with the johnnies. Why?
- st John's is a win today team. Tomorrow is going to be rough for them. Their transgressions are not just a blip on the radar, they are the possible start of a real bad spiral.
- depaul is built for a few yrs. The things they are doing this year gives hope for next year.
- depaul has some real momentum going. They actually look real good. And with half of conference play remaining, who knows? The 2008 nova team looked dead in the water in late January, but in late March they were in the sweet 16. Winning a bunch of conference games out of one of the top rpi conferences keeps a team in the picture.
- johnnies could still make their run at msg in the bet. Heck, I hope they do. I really, really, really like this team. But they just look so sloppy and unorganized and lacking that killer instinct.

With depaul, I have hope. December was bad, but they are overcoming adversity, and they have the mojo of a team with confidence that is improving.

With St Johns we see a team that has so much potential, but they aren't realizing it, and they have the look of a wounded animal roaming into the woods to rest in peace. So much potential, but it looks like it is going to end poorly.

I'm rooting for both of them. I really want our 1st city and 2nd city teams to be putting 12k in the seats for a tuesday game against whomever and the local media buzzing about them. Both have had a historically bad month this season, but both have had enough to offset that bad month to keep things a float. We shall see what happens.

[DemonLS]

Ball,

Nice post. These 2 programs NEED to get better for this conference to reach its highest potential.

[Bill Marsh]

There's no comparison. DePaul's month of December was far worse.

1. DePaul had a 6 game losing streak. St. John's has managed to sprinkle some wins in between their losses.

2. DePaul didn't lose to a single team in the top 50 in that streak. Three of the St. John's losses were to ranked teams - 2 of them in the top 10.

3. DePaul lost to two teams with RPI on the wrong side of 200. St. John's hasn't lost to anyone that bad. DePaul had 2 more losses to teams on the wrong side of 100.

4. All of DePaul's losses were OOC - 3 of them on neutral courts and one at home. Big difference between that and losing to a conference rival on the road.

No excuse for losing to DePaul at home, but it may be that you were overrating the St. John's talent and overlooking their short bench. Just spitballing here.

[ivet]

This post is funny because of who is posting it...It's THEBALL! He is actually Acknowledging DEPAUL instead of that team in Chicago. Will you refer to St.Johns as the team in New York City?