No one is more thrilled than me, trust me! Amazing win, just absolutely choked the life out of them on their own court. Today was the first game against a legitimate major opponent where we played a full game to our potential. That is encouraging. It was so satisfying seeing Cuse give up at the end letting us dunk it every possession while the fans were running out of the Dome in droves. We hit our 3's, we drew fouls, we made the extra pass most of the time, we were unselfish, we let the game come to us instead of trying to force the issue, we were patient and waited for good looks, we had active hands on defense, got back well in transition, and we played as a TEAM! By the way, a guy I work with is a huge Cuse fan...this morning I sent him an email labeled "Urgent" so he thinks it's very important. When he opens the email he will see a big picture with the words "St. John's, we are New York's team!" on it.
With that all being said, we can't let up...we can't just assume we turned the corner. We need to show this effort more than just one game. Just because of one great game, it doesn't mean Mullin is the answer or that we can repeat this consistently. I sure hope so, but one game does not a season make. If we can start doing this more often, THEN I will really be thrilled and see the potential plus the progress. Mullin needs more games like Cuse which clearly show real improvement right in front of everyone. I also wonder if Ellison can keep shooting like this...he has been fantastic the last 2 games. If this is him actually turning the corner, that would be huge and take the pressure off Ponds and LoVett when they have off nights. One thing is for sure, we will always have at least one hot player from 3 each game. We have too many shooters for every single one to go ice cold. I give Mullin credit for taking us from a terrible shooting team to a great one. Under Lavin, I never felt confident when one of our guys chucked a 3. Now, when Ponds, LoVett, Freudenberg, Mussini, Ellison, etc. shoot a 3, I always put my 3 fingers in the air expecting it to fall.
To conclude, I am beyond thrilled. I woke up thinking it was a great dream then checked my ESPN app to confirm it happened. BUT we can't just assume the team has turned a corner. We will have to see what happens after this.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 9:04 am
