New Year's Eve - St John's at Xavier 12pm ET FS1

[Lavinwood]

This was a combination of Xavier's million second chance points, SJ's terrible, terrible, just god awful jump shooting, not putting away a team that went on huge stretches they couldn't buy a basket TWICE, and a terrible coach in Lavin.

I've said it before and I'll say it again…Lavin is not the answer for us. If it's not him, then we must have gotten some of the most overrated recruits of all time. I mean all-time bust material. Pointer played in the Jordan classic and was a top 25 recruit nationally I believe…and he couldn't put the ball in the hoop if the ball had a GPS system. Sure he can defend, but how do you get ranked that highly if you can't shoot your way out of a paper bag? Branch barely played but is slow as a sloth as is Greene who is the definition of iso ball. Jordan is our 2nd best player after Harrison, and Lavin has him riding the bench for long stretches without any foul trouble. Really coach? It's almost like he got paid off by Xavier. That's how stupid it was letting him sit. Then he finally comes in and romps to 17 points predictably. Sampson is going backwards. He has gotten worse. He seemed to make a ton of mid range jumpers last year. Now he still attempts a lot, but they rattle in and out. I've never seen a player's shots clunk around as much as Sampson's whether they go in or roll out. Just not a clean shot at all. Ugly. He is really just a dunker and a rebounder.

So there it is: either Lavin is a terrible coach which is what I believe, or our recruits are just a rotten bag of apples and we had bad luck. I think time till tell…if we have a strong 2015 recruiting class as is expected and we still don't see vast improvement, then he has to go. Great recruiting is only nice when their coach makes them better year by year. We have our Big East ROY regressing. We just seem to be a collection of odds and ends going through the motions.

This looks nothing like a tourney team unless we go on a miracle run beating G'Town, Nova, en route to a 5 game winning streak. But the won't happen. This team is not capable of any kind of sustained winning streak against good teams. I don't think we make it. And I'm not 1 bit happy saying that. Let this be an example to the other Big East teams that recruits aren't everything…you need good recruits but a great coach to maximize their potential and know who his best players are instead of tinkering with lineups like an exhibition game.

[bmorex]

This was a combination of Xavier's million second chance points, SJ's terrible, terrible, just god awful jump shooting, not putting away a team that went on huge stretches they couldn't buy a basket TWICE, and a terrible coach in Lavin.

Xavier had 14 second chance points, SJU 12.

[BEX]

Xavier's Defense has always dictated their offense. Be patient, stop the ball, force bad shots, fill the lanes and then get after it on the other end. SJU, not so much.

[Lavinwood]

Don't think I've ever seen a team that went on 2 massive droughts of a combined 10 minutes or so without scoring a point end up winning by 10. One game we shoot 60% the next we shoot 30%. We will be a .500 ish team and knock off Nova at least once just because it will make no sense.

[adoraz11]

I know it's just one game, and one we were expected to lose, but this game (along with the last couple) has deflated my hype quite a bit. Jordan should have been playing from the start, we need someone who can penetrate the defense.

A few weeks ago we blew out Fordham and at the following Cuse game we were a few minutes away from being a nationally ranked team. We then played well vs San Fran, but the next two games struggled in what should have been easy wins. You take out the beginning of this game where Xavier struggled and this would have been a blowout loss.

We've proven we can beat average teams and probably won't have many (if any) bad losses, but this is supposed to be our year. Everyone is back, everyone is healthy. Looks like we will once again be a bubble team, but I hoped for more.

And I feel one of the next two is critical. If we open up BE play 1-2 @Xavier,@Georgetown,vs. Nova we will still be in solid shape. After today and the last few games, however, I'm not terribly optimistic we'll win one of the next two.

[XU85]

I'm surprised by the entire tenor of this thread. Maybe it's because they've been bad so long but I can't fathom how St. John's fans actually like THIS team.

I'd be calling for Lavin's head if this is what I got from the players he's working with. The team plays dumb basketball as simple as that.

What's truly unfortunate is that after this year, they'll start retracing - this was the chance. They've been the 7th best in the league.

Oh yeah, XU by 11.

Not bad...

[NJRedman]

Just got home from Cintas.

Steve Lavin has to be the worst coach I have ever seen. I didn't see St. Johns even attempt to run a half court set. Out of timeouts they would just dribble and shoot a three with no passes (did this twice I can remember). Had all of halftime to talk to the team, then calls a timeout 40 seconds or so into the second half (when he only had 3 left to begin the half). I have no idea how St. John's fans can root for this team. The amount of talent is as obvious as the absurd lack of coaching.

Semaj and Stainbrook both had HUGE impacts on the game. Semaj's stats won't show it but he was everywhere. Randolph and Reynolds both played well off the bench as well while our typical sparkplugs Myles Davis and Farr struggled for the most part. J-Mart played like he did against UC, which puts this team over the top. Great win. Saying I can't wait for Butler on Saturday would be an understatement.

Uh maybe because we went to the school!

[NJRedman]

St Johns has some very talented players, just not a great flow offensively. Xavier is a tough matchup with their help defense being quite sticky.

As I said back on page 1 of this thread, the Cintas Center is a tough place to get a W

Great start

The Cintas Center had no bearing on the outcome of this game. The fans weren't intimidating. It wasn't overly loud. Both teams played sloppy at times but X was able to recoup while SJU just got worse.

Nice win X, we'll see you guys at the Garden in a few months.

[BEX]

189-25

[RomainSato10]

St Johns has some very talented players, just not a great flow offensively. Xavier is a tough matchup with their help defense being quite sticky.

As I said back on page 1 of this thread, the Cintas Center is a tough place to get a W

Great start

The Cintas Center had no bearing on the outcome of this game. The fans weren't intimidating. It wasn't overly loud. Both teams played sloppy at times but X was able to recoup while SJU just got worse.

Nice win X, we'll see you guys at the Garden in a few months.

If you dont think Home court advantage for any school has any bearing on the outcome of a college basketball game you have no clue what you are talking about. Along with having the home crowd you dont have to travel ect. Just a total arrogant comment.

SJU has good athletes but really no flow. X has a solid team and everyone does their part. Matt Stainbrook is a great example of basketball skill rather than just recruiting an athlete and hoping he turns into a great basketball player.