How long until pitchers and catchers?

[hoops22]

My God, could that have been more brutal than St. Johns exhibition tonight? I'd have been embarrassed even if that were Kentucky they were playing. The defense is non existant. They're so slow it looks like they're carrying pianos on their backs. Plus I'm guessing they had more turnovers than field goals. Please tell me that was nothing but a bad dream, and isn't what we Johnnies fans have to look forward to this year.

[stever20]

My God, could that have been more brutal than St. Johns exhibition tonight? I'd have been embarrassed even if that were Kentucky they were playing. The defense is non existant. They're so slow it looks like they're carrying pianos on their backs. Plus I'm guessing they had more turnovers than field goals. Please tell me that was nothing but a bad dream, and isn't what we Johnnies fans have to look forward to this year.

This year is going to be bad for St John's. Think the year Temple had 2 years ago. But as Temple showed last year- it can just be a 1 year type of deal.

The 1 thing I'd say as a coach- often times the biggest improvement as a team is from game 1 to game 2.

[Edrick]

Here's a little taster. I'm already missing MLB too.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/ ... r-rankings

[NJRedman]

Oh god here we go, all the non realistic Johnny fans thinking we were gonna be great right away just because Mullin came back. I didn't watch the game but from what I heard we had a few guys not play like Balamou, Lovett and Yakwe. Not that that is an excuse but it was the first game these guys ever played together. Let them figure their stuff out and hopefully they improve from game to game. This was a rebuilding year and it was always going to be ugly. I had hope the kids would click early and we could surprise some folks but that was optimism. Reality is we have a season worth of learning experiences for everyone on this team. Then next year we get some more talented freshmen to come in and help reenforce the talent level.

Lets keep our heads about us, no need to jump off the 59th street bridge just yet. Let these guys do there thing and support them in this rough first year.

[hoops22]

Redman, I hope you're right and I'm wrong about just needing some patience from this group. I have to say though, that I think anyone who watched last nights game was shocked by what they saw. The Harrison/ Pointer/ Greene team could frustrate the hell out of you at times, but I loved that group. Their athleticism was off the charts and they gave 100% every night. This group just seemed totally lost, although having Lovett in the lineup would have definitely helped. We couldn't inbound the ball, we turned it over before getting it across mid court, couldn't defend, you name it we were beat in every phase of the game. I understand with a group this young there's going to be growing pains. I'm not expecting to go to the NCAA's this year. But I was hoping we would be competitive against most teams we play. Again, I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm fearful this is going to be as painful a year as we've ever seen around here.

[Storm Fan]

You know the fat kid on the end of the CYO team's bench? We had 11 of them on the court last night. The people who think Johnny fans are overreacting are the ones who didn't see the game. It was embarrassingly ugly. I anticipate that they will get better, but that was shocking.

[stever20]

You know the fat kid on the end of the CYO team's bench? We had 11 of them on the court last night. The people who think Johnny fans are overreacting are the ones who didn't see the game. It was embarrassingly ugly. I anticipate that they will get better, but that was shocking.

I think the point that Redman was trying to make, and what I've been saying all along- what were you expecting? Best case scenario, you have a year like the year a few years ago when Lavin had cancer and was out all year long. You can't lose all that St John's lost this past year and expect to be good, unless you have a recruiting class like what Kentucky brings in. Was last night maybe a bit worse than was expected? Sure. But of the 200 player minutes played last night- only 32 were with guys who played last year.
and of those 32 minutes-
13 were from Alibegovic. He scored all of 29 points last year in 24 games. He played in 15.6% of the minutes. 15 conference games played.
19 were from Jones. He scored all of 14 points last year in only 19 games. He played in 8.8% of the minutes. 7 conference games played.

So 43 points back from last year that played last night.

[NJRedman]

You know the fat kid on the end of the CYO team's bench? We had 11 of them on the court last night. The people who think Johnny fans are overreacting are the ones who didn't see the game. It was embarrassingly ugly. I anticipate that they will get better, but that was shocking.

Says the guy who just showed up here with four posts. This is far from the end of the world.

[NJRedman]

You know the fat kid on the end of the CYO team's bench? We had 11 of them on the court last night. The people who think Johnny fans are overreacting are the ones who didn't see the game. It was embarrassingly ugly. I anticipate that they will get better, but that was shocking.

Says the guy who just showed up here with four posts. Didn't need to see the game, the score was enough. This is far from the end of the world.