Game #30: St. John’s 74, West Virginia 83 (OT)

St. John’s falls to West Virginia in an exciting game at Madison Square Garden. The Storm ends the season at 11-19, 5-13 Big East; West Virginia enters the Big East tournament at 22-9, 11-7 Big East, which should be good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament.

So the season is over. It extended 5 more minutes, but the Johnnies couldn’t pull off the win. For most of the players, it’s time to prepare an offseason of working out and improvements. And for two walk-ons and much-maligned 4-year starter Eugene Lawrence, it’s the goodbye to their time on the Jamaica campus as ballplayers. They’re records and memory now.

St. John’s put up a valiant fight, actually; and Coach Roberts put out the best offensive players to contend with an offensive team, for once. The team played hard, and Larry Wright had an excellent game… once he came off the bench with about 10 minutes left in the first half. Wright shot 6 for 9 from beyond the arc, and hit his one shot inside the arc.

Burrell battled foul trouble the whole game, and picked up his fourth foul soon after scoring his only field goal. And he couldn’t defend Joe Alexander, the athletic face-up forward. But as a whole, the team caught fire in the second half playing small and fast. It wasn’t enough, in Eugene Lawrence’s last game– and certainly, there were some ill-advised drives– and now the Red Storm waits to play until next year.

I’ll be keeping track of coaching movements, conference tournaments, and analyzing the players’ performances. Along with those other sports. So keep checking in to the East Coast Bias.

Links:

Daily News: W.Va. ends Johnnies’ season in overtime

NY Post: PRIDE NOT ENOUGH: VALIANT JOHNNIES END YEAR WITH LOSS

NY Newsday: St. John’s loses finale in OT to West Virginia

Lend Me Your Eers: All Together Now: Whew!

The Mountain Top: Three Points: WVU at St. John’s

The Charleston Gazette: Resurgent Alexander lets WVU rest easier

Game #29: St. John’s 55, Notre Dame 68

St. John’s (11-18, 5-12) loses to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-6, 13-4), 68-55, in South Bend.

There were times, watching last night’s game, that I thought St. John’s didn’t thoroughly suck. And there was some hope in the players. Then I looked at the box score. Notre 28% from beyond the arc. On the good side, St. John’s slowed the game down appropriately (though this is because Notre Dame’s defense doesn’t look for steals) to about 63 possessions. And I think they fought hard.

But they gave up too many easy/ transition shots to Notre Dame’s senior forward Rob Kurz. He and Harangody both played hard, and it showed. I was fully impressed with Harangody’s game– blocked or altered a few shots down low, threw down an emphatic dunk to finish a break, and even when bumped got that sweet roll on most of his shots. He looks like a perfect villain in an 80’s teen movie– outgrown buzz cut, close-in eyes, like a guy you don’t want to get angry.

Whoever works on individual offense with the Irish team should be applauded. They might have come to the Notre Dame campus with that soft touch, though. I was going to finish with “I want a ballplayer with a soft touch,” but there’s no way to make that sound less suspect.

The Good.
Justin Burrell played smart, didn’t force things. Though his post moves are just screaming for “walk calls,” and the Irish fans sounded apoplectic that he didn’t get more of those calls. He had an assist and NO turnovers, which is a great step. Kennedy rebounded the ball well, played a decent “glue guy” game.

And I was fully impressed with Dele Coker, though fouling out in 14 minutes is NOT good. But he wrangled with Harangody, even earning a double foul and ticking off Notre Dame’s big man. Coker got decent position, and he pulled down 5 rebounds in 14 minutes. That’s a rate of about 9 rebounds in 32 minutes. That’s also 9 fouls in 32 minutes, so he’s got to cut down on those; but we got to see what kind of impact Coker can have, and how he’s raw. His season numbers hold this up too– he has potential to be an excellent rebounder, but he makes too many mistakes of aggression to show it. Which was his reputation in high school… the coaching staff has to hammer some bad habits out of him.

Eugene Lawrence was decent, dishing out 4 assists and pulling down 3 rebounds (with 3 turnovers).

The Bad.
Horne ran the break well, but had troubles finishing. Mason Jr. let the game come to him for a while, but took some crappy shots close in… and went 1-8 inside the arc. Malik Boothe’s jump shot needs WORK. Larry Wright was okay in his ten minutes, and didn’t get a chance to heat up; his defense, was, well, foul-ridden garbage; he seemed out of sorts, because I’ve seen him play better. Sean Evans has to stop dribbling.

And coaching-wise, the Johnnies played tough and physical, but they couldn’t keep up with the sweet-shooting Irish. They’re a team that has to be outscored to lose; and the top teams have been able to outscore them because they’re not physical on defense.

It’s funny that a 13 point loss has good aspects… next year’s team will be better. Or there will be changes.

Links:

NY Daily News: St. John’s tumbles to Notre Dame

Chicago Tribune: Unbeaten home season is 2nd in a row for Notre Dame

Black and Green Irish Men’s Basketball Report: Notre Dame 68, St. John’s 55

Game #28: Seton Hall 62 at St. John’s 65

I’m a little out of pocket—out of town for work—so these will be short. I hope to have a Notre Dame preview up later.

St. John’s (11-17, 5-11 Big East) beat Seton Hall (17-12, 7-9), 65-62 on Senior Night for St. John’s walk-ons Otaja Abit and Liam Biesty, and 4-year starter Eugene Lawrence.

It’s funny that for all the woofing that Bobby Gonzalez does, his team still got beat by a St. John’s team that seemed to do everything possible to lose the game. The scoring droughts were not really brought on by John Garcia’s shot blocking—it was a bunch of guys who don’t know how to score near the rim, a bunch of guy who couldn’t hit a shot clock. No matter what they tell you, this game was a dog for 30 minutes, until St. john’s got it into high gear.

Speaking of which, I hope an assistant coach is hired at St. John’s who has gotten near the rim once. These guys have little shooting skill and no touch.

Nice game by DJ Kennedy. His defense was decent (but not worth all the time he gets) but the stand still, wide open 3 pointer is what he needs to do. That’s the offense I expect from him; I imagine him as a kind of Bruce Bowen type, a guy who plays tall, who plays defense, gets steals, rebounds, and knows when he has a n easy shot to score. High percentage, lower offensive usage kind of guy.

Nicer game by Anthony Mason Jr. I know people scoff at the idea of the man being picked in any NBA draft, but he has a package of skills that, with work, could be comparable to Kareem Rush. He shoots well from the outside at times (that needs to improve, and may with a full year of health, and he’ll never be Rush in that regard), he can slash, even if it isn’t pretty, and he can get above the rim (better than Rush). Rush was underwhelming in college at times and was drafted 28th, if I remember correctly.

Coker has some skill and no idea how to use it. And he’s developing Jasiulionis Butter Hands.

Boothe made some plays, and shows some athleticism around the rim.

What, Larry Wright and Mason on the court together? Shut your mouth. Look at what happened, coach! The world didn’t explode, the other team didn’t score 80 points, wow. Gosh. For a team that struggles to get above 50 points, one would think that the offensive capabilities of a second outside scorer—and the increased opportunities that Burrell would have inside—would warrant playing Larry Wright. What do I know, I just watch basketball and read about it.

Best of all, Bobby Gonzalez started whining about playing at Carneseca Arena, not Madison Square Garden:

But playing the game on the Johnnies’ campus for the first time in 18 years, as opposed to the Garden, irked him.

“We are not Cincinnati. We are not DePaul. We are not Providence,” he said. “We are Seton Hall. We’re a metropolitan area team. (St. John’s has) a winning record here and they don’t have a winning record anywhere else, so this is the smart move to put the game here, (but) we have to play this game in Madison Square Garden, plain and simple.”

Roberts’ responded by saying, “This is a good venue, right here.”

Bobby, you minor, not major. You play the game but haven’t earned the right to be a player, to paraphrase Mobb Deep.

Game #27: St. John’s 52 at Georgetown Hoyas 64 recap (short)

The best and the worst of this St. John’s team was on display tonight at the Verizon Center in DC as St. John’s played the Hoyas tough, but still came away with the loss. St. John’s falls to 10-17 overall, 4-11 in conference; Georgetown improves to 23-4, 13-3 in the Big East.

ESPN U broadcast the game, and had some Georgetown student named Jake Tuber (I think? I will get the name right later) announcing. Because what else would make the game interesting? Certainly not the woeful Johnnies.

Except that after a slow start, St. John’s had some molasses-speed rhythm going, goading the Hoyas into playing ugly and blowing dunks. Did the Hoyas lay down a little, defensively, in the first half? Ewing and Rivers got a bit of time to add more physicality to the Hoya defense.

The guards got their hands up and deflected or otherwise interfered with the Hoya passes… in the first half. Tomas Jasiulionis had an okay defensive game, as did Burrell and Dele Coker; all three were on Hibbert at one time or another and slowed him down with a lot of muscle and a bit of grabbing. Until the Hoyas got serious about finding the big man in the post.

Anthony Mason Jr. made sharp moves to the basket, and best of all, Lawrence got into the lane a few times or opportunities and passes. Burrell got the ball moving toward the basket, and though he only scored 10 points, had flashes of what is going to make him a solid-to-special player in the Big East. Burrell and Mason both got in some highlight reel thunder dunks.

But basketball is about the W and the L, not about the facial. And St. John’s had 17 turnovers, two double digit scorers (Mason: 12, Burrell: 10), allowed the Hoyas to get to the line and couldn’t draw fouls in return (G’Town: 16 foul shots, St. John’s: 5) shot one more three-pointer than the Hoyas shot (St. John’s: 11 attempts, G’Town: 10 makes from beyond the arc), and they looked like grasping freshmen in that mid-second half run where Georgetown pulled away.

For all the tough defense, the team still looked like a squad getting lucky and hanging with a big boy. And after a while, all the promising signs make a body wonder about fulfillment. Check out johnnyjungle.com and hoyasaxa.com for more recap; I won’t be posting likely until tomorrow afternoon.

Articles:

NY Daily News - Hoyas pull rank on St. John’s

Washington Post - Georgetown Stays Ahead of the Game

Washington Times - Hoyas get defensive to upend Red Storm

The Hoya - Summers, Hoyas Use Stronger Second Half to Quiet Storm

Georgetown Voice - Hoyas stop the Red Storm

Hoya Hoops Postgame Thoughts

Game #25: St. John’s 64 vs Marquette Golden Eagles 73

“This game is like that little hair in your shower,” one announcer said, referring to the slow end of the game, “you scrape and you scrape, and you can’t get rid of it.”

Marquette enjoys their New York visit, defeating the St. John’s Red Storm 73-64. Marquette improves to 19-6, 9-5 in Big East play; St. John’s falls to 10-15, 4-10 in Big East play.

For the Marquette readers who visited yesterday to enjoy that car wreck of a basketball game, I’m kind of sorry. Your squad won, and were defensively bothersome in the first half. But they played a St. John’s basketball team that can’t find a way to get the ball to their best player. If you want more excuses, our most efficient scorer was hurt with an ankle injury (more on Larry Wright later), DJ Kennedy apparently had an owie (bruised tailbone) but he played, and Tomas Jasiulionis had an ankle injury; if he played, he would have just put Marquette players on the free throw line. He’s 6’10” and earthbound, but keeps leaving his feet.

Anthony Mason played decently. Sean Evans, as Art Howe would say, “battled.” Dele Coker fouled hard and even pulled down some rebounds in a manner that reminds us of what kind of potential the big, raw center has. Mike Cavataio, inserted into the starting lineup, picked up quick fouls and didn’t get to show his stuff, especially with Paris Horne having his good game (his bad game consists of jumpers that hit the backboard wide right and wide left).

Johnny Jungle has a further breakdown of the game with test grades. Cracked sidewalks also has a recap; and reporter Ray Floriani also filed a report for the blog. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Todd Rosiak also files a post-game report, with a note that Justin Burrell might be thinking about transferring out of the program. from what I hear, just rumors.

The upshot is that the Red Storm didn’t attack inside; they had few opportunities to run; and as such, freshman forward Justin Burrell was a non-factor. The turnovers (23), as always, killed the team; even though the Johnnies got to the line 40 times (!), they couldn’t hit those gimmes, with Eugene Lawrence as the main culprit, missing 7 of 12. But the Storm shot over 30%—even over 40%! They scored more than 60 points! This is the best showing they have had in Madison Square Garden this season with the exception of the Holiday Festival win over Marist in December.

St. John’s faces Duke at Cameron Indoor on Saturday. And after a loss to Miami, the Blue Devils will not lose three straight. I imagine Coach K’s speech in between games will be like the classic Bob Knight pissed off speech supposedly recorded by the Nets’ Lawrence Frank, but probably with less selfish “I won’t” lines and more of the “we” or “you” kind of talk that good leaders use, even when pissed and focused on their personal goals. There will be more on Coach Norm Roberts and his hot seat later today (dependent on work).

Articles About the Game (after the jump):

Game #24: St. John’s 42, Villanova 60 Recap

Bow wow wow. This one was a dog. St. John’s loses a prime time game at Madison Square Garden, falling to 10-14 overall, 4-9 Big East. Villanova recovers from their loss to Georgetown with authority, improving to 15-9, 5-7 Big East.

Well… we held them to sixty?

Another blowout loss at home, to another mediocre opponent. This can’t go on. Even if a team is getting regularly scraped, the fans and administration have one (or both) of two things to look forward to:

- an infusion of recruiting talent.
- close losses that with experience and training will turn into wins.

Instead, we get:

29-8 leads, which is cut to a 31-13 advantage at halftime. 13 points. At the half. And this isn’t the first sub-20 point half. in fact, it seems to happen with any good team. and it happens to the best of coaches and some of the better teams. But when it happens over and over again, it’s like your friend who keeps dating douchebags… maybe it’s not just them, maybe you got to change.

The Red Storm weren’t beat by hot outside shooting, they were beat by Casiem Drummond, Dwayne Anderson, Dante Cunningham, and Corey Stokes. Not by Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher.

Meanwhile, St. John’s had one double figure scorer in Anthony Mason Jr., who came off the bench. DJ Kennedy played ten minutes, Lawrence played 27 and missed 8 of 10 shots. Burrell went 1-7 in 37 minutes but scored 6 points with his free throw attempts added in. Mike Cavataio had a nice line, 3-9 for 8 points, with 2 steals, a block, and 7 rebounds (4 offensive); he missed all 4 of his three-point attempts. Larry Wright and Sean Evans went scoreless.

The 18 point margin of victory in a road game is the largest for Villanova since January 2005. St. John’s shot 25.5% overall, 14.3% from beyond the arc.

Malik Boothe on the loss:

“It was three things. We weren’t hitting shots, we were turning the ball over and they were out-toughing us and getting rebounds. Sometimes that’s just the way things go.”

Translation: we can’t score, we gave them easy opportunities to score, and we didn’t fight hard enough. This season is almost over.

Head Coach Norm Roberts on the loss:

“We practiced pretty good. We came out, we tried to play with energy. We missed some shots and we became very young and took some ill-advised shots and they made shots. We need to shoot the ball better.”

Translation: I rolled some balls out and we played each other tough. We tried to play them tough but then we stopped. We can’t score, and then we turned the biological clocks back and bought pacifiers and unlearned how to walk straight. Then we got our a** kicked. We need to wish and pray more.”

Game #23: St. John’s at Cincinnati recap

The New York papers were more concerned with the Notre Dame vs U Conn tilt last night—for near-supremacy in the Big East, and of interest to the Catholic Notre Dame fans who are thick in NY and the U Conn grads who move to the city. So they filed AP reports, and the Cincy papers actually sent people to the games to watch Big John Williamson hit the Red Storm with his pimp hand:

Cincinnati Enquirer: Williamson’s Hand Even Hotter

NY Daily News (AP)

Rivals.com: Williamson Too Much for St. John’s

With Respect to the Keys of the Game:

Execution?

Q: “What do you think of the execution of the team?”

A: “Sounds like a good idea.”

Malik Boothe got in no kind of rhythm. Neither did Geno Lawrence. The Red Storm repeatedly tested the limits of the shot clock, and made their moves to the basket with under ten seconds left… the prevent offense, but this is not Dean Smith and there IS a shot clock. The game don’t work like this anymore, especially if there isn’t an offensively creative player. Lawrence is creative, but he isn’t half quick enough to save this team. Burrell tried to pass out of double teams but generally missed whoever he was passing to; his turnovers are getting worrisome.

I see why Anthony Mason Jr. is given free rein to shoot and slash—he and Larry Wright are the only players capable of getting their shot off. Neither is as good at it as sophomore Deonta Vaughn, and Wright isn’t great at it under pressure yet. Please refer this aspect of the game to the “fail” blog.

Rebounding? Big John Williamson had 11 rebounds and dominated the action inside. Burrell played soft, and when he made decisive moves he was doubled. He and Evans couldn’t get to the glass.

Negating the Other Players? This would depend on doing a credible job against John Williamson, who carried the Bearcat team last night. The Bearcats shot 47% (55% inside the arc), so they were getting the ball to the right players.

St. John’s pretty much failed in every aspect of the game. The official Red Storm site can’t even put up photos with the recap. If there are no pictures… maybe it didn’t happen.

Again.

Game #23: St. John’s 43 at Cincinnati 60

How much longer can the torture last? – MC Lyte, Cappuccino

Cincinnati is 12-12, 7-5 in conference play. St. John’s falls to 10-13, 4-8 in conference play.

Another game against an opponent that should be comparable— albeit on the road—and St. John’s looked like a low-level Horizon League team in an early season guarantee game. They shot under 26% overall, but 41.7% on the 12 3-point shots they took. That’s 20% on shots inside the arc. That can be attributable to good Cincy defense. But allowing a team that shot 18% on their 3-point shots and 47% overall… 55% from inside?

I am sure I’ll have use for that picture of dejected St. John’s players again. This game was a real turdblossom, but the shooting… that wasn’t the worst part. Maybe it was the 14 turnovers and 7 assists?

The single player in double figures (Larry Wright, 14)?

The confused offense, as always? With Justin Burrell passing to no one, and Malik Boothe not being able to make plays or hit wide open shots?

How big John Williamson had himself a career-best chest thumping day? And how the interior defenders were faked off their feet and just picked up fouls?

Or how St. John’s did not score at all until 13:44 was left on the clock, on a free throw? Or how the 12:32 mark was the first field goal?

The fact that announcer Doris Burke went into a bit about how European players were more skilled, talking about Tomas Jasiulionis’ ball handling and shooting—“he prefers to play on the outside,” she said—facts that one would know are inconclusive at best because he never plays? And when he does, he fouls like the sweaty intense dude at the YMCA?

I think it was how, when Cavataio and Coker were logging garbage time minutes (I liked the rebounding from both of them and with another year of learning they’ll make more of an impact), ESPN switched from the game to…

BONUS COVERAGE. Like St. John’s was a bad NFL team being blown out by the Patriots.

ESPN ran a poll on Bruce Pearl/ Rick Pitino/ Bob Huggins’ sideline sartorial stylings. Because they knew the game would BE. THIS. BAD.

Freshmen or not, St. John’s basketball program just can’t make progress with more double-digit losses like this.

More news tomorrow.  Box score note: Liam Bietsy didn’t start or play, Malik Boothe did.

Game #22: St. John’s 64, Providence Friars 62

The Red Storm defeat the Providence Friars at Carnesecca Arena. St. John’s improves to 10-12, 4-7 Big East. Providence falls to 13-10, 4-7 Big East.

Unbelievably, the Red Storm just played a game I would want to watch if I wasn’t a partisan. The team won its third in a row, beating the Providence Frairs at home with a solid beginning, and a come back in the second half when the Friars stopped turning the ball over and started getting… efficient. The come back left the active home crowd at Carnesecca Arena quieter, but when the Storm got their stops and started making those two point plays, the fans got louder and louder—it was like a real college game or something. Cheers! Defense! “Airball” chants! A capacity crowd!

Granted, Providence College is a team that has struggled in Big East play, and this was the kind of game that must get the Fire Tim Welsh people in full throat, and leave the fans wondering if they are going to win another game in the Big East.

But with a couple more games like this, and perhaps a victory over Marquette/ West Virginia/ or Duke (HAHAH), the Fire Norm Roberts people will have to slink back for a hot minute. Is Roberts the right guy? I don’t know. But the team has looked more competitive and cohesive on offense, less confused on defense, and freshman Sean Evans—who was generally regarded as a “who?” or an extreme project in recruiting circles—was impressive for a freshman. He still was beaten off the dribble a few times, and he’ll draw some dumb fouls, but he was just what the team needed, a competitive rebounder and finisher inside.

Without Anthony Mason Jr., the team leaned on Evans and Larry Wright for point production. Wright was excellent, getting into the paint for shots and hitting threes. Eugene Lawrence started next to freshman point Malik Boothe (Rosedale) and they produced well together—Boothe had 6 points and 6 assists, and a big rebound ripped from the 6’11” Randall Hanke. Lawrence had 4 steals and ripped the ball away from a Friar ball handler at one point. He also hit a circus-shot 3-pointer in the final minutes to preserve the lead.

Burrell’s scoring wasn’t as efficient as one might like but I loved watching his passing game develop with an inside pass to Evans and another pass that drew foul shots. Kennedy played decent defense.

Interiors? The Friars went to Hanke and the Johnnies got in his way. He ended with 16 points on 7-12 shooting, but he was well-defensed in the beginning. Hanke blocked 4 shots. McDermott passed from inside but didn’t get into a scoring rhythm (which is common); Burrell played well against the double teams from Hanke, McDermott and Burch and Alex Kellogg (yes, he’s Clark Kellogg’s son) . Sean Evans was a great equalizer, scoring on close shots and taking a few attempts at the basket, making Burrell’s game easier.

Interiors II? Evans cleaned the glass well, and had 5 offensive rebounds. They kept the Friars off of their offensive glass. Between the rebounds and the turnovers, St. John’s has 12 more shot attempts than the Friars, making up for the field goal percentage discrepancy. Jasiulionis picked up quick fouls in his usual jumpy way; if he stayed on his feet, he would have better defensive results.

Keep the Ball and the Feet Moving? This was one of the best-looking offensive games for the Red Storm. They passed well, Boothe penetrated well. They looked mediocre against the zone defense, which is an improvement over “utterly confused”, as they looked in earlier games. There were some questionable possessions, but they moved on both ends of the floor. Providence attempted 3 fewer free throws, and had 7 more turnovers. St. John’s had 16 assists and some good fast break opportunities.

Tim Welsh was talking about shot clock issues, and the improbability of Lawrence’s late three-pointer… that’s the kind of talk that comes from a desperate coach. After all, Tim Welsh has moved to the top of the list of coaches to be fired in the Big East this year. And Norm Roberts, with his youth showing some signs of progress against the weaker teams in the league, might be coaching St. John’s University beyond this year. The progress will be tested against an improving Cincinnati team this Wednesday, and against Villanova next weekend.

In the Media (After the Jump):

Game #21: St. John’s 52 at Rutgers 45 (video)

Enjoy the JohnnyJungle recap, and thanks to the forum contributors for video on last night’s game.