only thing good about the game

[NYShoreGuy]

was that it is a win in the record book

boy that was brutal and i hope it is out of the system, bad job on willard as game progressed and the guys were pressing and tight

 

[Save Continental]

yup. No one will care that we lost to Nova by 1, no one will remember we took this by 1. Screw St. John's.

But man, lots to be learned from this game. I have been waiting for the FT shooting to cost us, and it nearly did tonight.

 

[Vegas pj]

was that it is a win in the record book

boy that was brutal and i hope it is out of the system, bad job on willard as game progressed and the guys were pressing and tight

What's his name had Anthony in there at the end of the first half. Smart coaching move if the intent was to see if he wouldn't pick up his 4th foul, something even grammar school coaches don't try to do. Genius!

 

[TomD82]

Agree very lucky, but a win is win. Better yet not a bad loss which is even better.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

again hard to close out when your guards are not always automatic, gordon brings good things to court but in need time ft shooting not it

 

[phelanma]

I really thought Willard was trending up in his coaching but man he really kills us with his in game decisions sometimes. Why Anthony had to play so much in the 1st with Delgado with 2 fouls and not give Carter or Anderson even 2 minutes is head scratcher.

Did Desi even score in the last 15 minutes of the game?

 

[SHUMA04]

What a weird game.

One to wipe from the memory and move forward.

 

[SnakeTom]

The only important thing about this game is that WE WON.

Every team has a bad game periodically. The key is to survive and we did, ugly or not.

Remember two more wins gets us into the tournament.

Tom K

 

[chickenbox]

Desi barely played last fifteen minutes. Another poster said he pushed trainer in huddle. After that thought he was done for game no matter what. Another foul out brought him in under 2:00

 

[Vegas pj]

again hard to close out when your guards are not always automatic, gordon brings good things to court but in need time ft shooting not it

Did someone mention free throw shooting? Not in connection with SH unless its about lack thereof.

 

[SnakeTom]

Desi barely played last fifteen minutes. Another poster said he pushed trainer in huddle. After that thought he was done for game no matter what. Another foul out brought him in under 2:00

Desi made two big defensive plays in the last 5 seconds that preserved the win.

TK

 

[Piratz]

We won. That's all that matters right now. Anything you need to do to WIN.

 

[chickenbox]

Desi made two big defensive plays in the last 5 seconds that preserved the win.

TK

Yes he did

 

[Save Continental]

We won. That's all that matters right now. Anything you need to do to WIN.

A game we would have lost (well, actually did lose) in 2012.

 

[TomD82]

defensive

And Dave Popkin was saying we should have gone to Desi offensively the last 3 minutes.

 

[mjs428]

We had Gordon in over Desi who had a career high. That's a terrible coaching decision. We won because the refs were terrible.

 

[Vegas pj]

I really thought Willard was trending up in his coaching but man he really kills us with his in game decisions sometimes. Why Anthony had to play so much in the 1st with Delgado with 2 fouls and not give Carter or Anderson even 2 minutes is head scratcher.

Did Desi even score in the last 15 minutes of the game?

I think you can now conclude that BA's playing days at least at SH are over thus answering where that 13th scholie is coming from. Hopefully, SH will give him an academic scholie so he can finish his law school career.

 

[SnakeTom]

We had Gordon in over Desi who had a career high. That's a terrible coaching decision. We won because the refs were terrible.

Gordon also made a huge defensive play at games end forcing the turnover that led to the winning free throws.

Tom K

 

[becktheory]

We had Gordon in over Desi who had a career high. That's a terrible coaching decision. We won because the refs were terrible.

I commend Willard if he benched Desi for pushing a trainer. Not sure how that was a bad coaching decision. I also would prefer Anthony over Anderson or carter. Carter is a freshman and Anderson was overhyped

 

[Seton75]

Isaiah was great defensively too. Huge steal in the last minute. And blocked shot a little earlier Sju must have blocked dg and is five time each.

And all time bad reffing both ways.

I remember a Blaney team almost beating a uconn team, but we lost. And today, we won.

 

[mjs428]

Tom,

My problem is that Gordon hurts us offensively. He went 4-9 from the ft line & missed 2 critical ones. Obviously I understand his defensive presence but when Desi is having a career night, you have to ride him. Coach made a bad decision. It is ok for you to admit that

 

[Seton75]

And I play Anthony over Anderson every time.

 

[Vegas pj]

Fortunately for SH SJU is a much worse FT shooting team. Otherwise yikes!

 

[hallgrad80]

It doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't matter who plays well or who plays badly the only thing that matters is if you win and we did.

 

[VioletPirate]

3 of our bigs fouled out early, Whitehead had an off game (plus there was clearly something going on on the bench) and we still won. Good teams win ugly sometimes which is why as already stated previous SHU teams would have folded under those circumstances. Take the W and move on to Providence.

 

[SnakeTom]

Tom,

My problem is that Gordon hurts us offensively. He went 4-9 from the ft line & missed 2 critical ones. Obviously I understand his defensive presence but when Desi is having a career night, you have to ride him. Coach made a bad decision. It is ok for you to admit that

Both Desi & Gordon were on the court at games end. Both made huge defensive plays and would not have won without those plays from each of them. Of course we don't win without Desi's 24 points either.I see no reason to put up a post pitting one against the other. We won because of both of their efforts.

Tom K

 

[Piratefan2009]

Both Desi & Gordon were on the court at games end. Both made huge defensive plays and would not have won without those plays from each of them. Of course we don't win without Desi's 24 points either.I see no reason to put up a post pitting one against the other. We won because of both of their efforts.

Tom K

Agreed. Desi and Gordon had good games. Desi mvp on this one. Need to give better effort for the next four if we want to win 2 more games in conference.

 

[ncaaball2]

I think this game helps you in the long run. Some valuable lessons

Lesson 1: must stay focused all forty minutes
Lesson 2: when times get tough, if the kids stay focused and keep playing their game, they can pull off the win in a tight game.

I know, the Pirates didn't play their A game. But perhaps this game proves to be pretty valuable.

Oh yeah, congrats on pretty much locking up your dance invite. Beat DePaul is all you have left to do.

 

[Seton75]

I feared we would big time sju, knowing we were better and going for the spectacular play. Iw did exactly that. We were up early but only cause we shot well. We gave sj the chance to get the crowd going at msg and it became alive. We never played well offensively. And we won. I hope we come back strong from this stinker like we have from our losses.

 

[dehere23]

Agree with the comments about getting the W and moving on. Who cares that we got an insane call at the end in our favor? That happens and we are long overdue for that.

Two other things. One, surprised that the crowd overall was so good, given the year SJU is having. Great energy, although I'm sure it being a tight one helped with that.

Second, the SJU young bigs (Sima and Yawke) continue to impress me whenever I've watched them this year (Sima played better earlier in the year before getting injured). And Yawke especially today, for a kid who could have been playing this year as a HS senior. The upperclassmen at SJU who play the guards/wings are bad to mediocre at best (I think Ellison and Mussini will eventually be nice 4 year players for them in the appropriate roles). When St. John's is able to put a real PG (they have none), plus some guards/wings who can score and make plays, around Yawke and Sima, they will be a very good squad.

I feared we would big time sju, knowing we were better and going for the spectacular play. Iw did exactly that. We were up early but only cause we shot well. We gave sj the chance to get the crowd going at msg and it became alive. We never played well offensively. And we won. I hope we come back strong from this stinker like we have from our losses.

 

[arcdreams]

We had Gordon in over Desi who had a career high. That's a terrible coaching decision. We won because the refs were terrible.

AND WE ALL MOST LOST BECAUSE THE REFS WERE TERRIBLE

 

[TheBluePirate]

The only important thing about this game is that WE WON.

Every team has a bad game periodically. The key is to survive and we did, ugly or not.

Remember two more wins gets us into the tournament.

Tom K

This is the famous proven and utterly true mantra from our buddy Tom K.

You win, you learn to win again and again.

You don't learn from losing, you learn from winning.

 

[Halldan1]

You don't learn from losing, you learn from winning.

Would have to respectfully disagree with this comment.

Personally I believe you learn more from losing than you do from winning.

 

[TheBluePirate]

Would have to respectfully disagree with this comment.

Personally I believe you learn more from losing than you do from winning.

Dan, I'm actually okay with you disagreeing with this comment. I used to hold this position rather strongly.

Some years ago, an extraordinary artist I know asked me, what is the best practice for winning, and I responded, practice and make mistakes and practice some more.

He chided me rather strongly and said, your practice must be perfect in order to play perfectly.

I thought long and hard about this, wrestled with it, and over the years, my friend's wisdom won me over.

You must crush it in practice and win, in order to know how to win.

You NEVER learn to win from losing. Only from winning.

So - we will disagree - you will NEVER convince me of your position - because I used to hold it and have changed PERMANENTLY to the other position.

That said, nothing I'm saying is said with rancor, because (1) you are a fine man and (2) I am quite fond of you and appreciate you, so this is just dialogue amongst friends.

But - I will not be convinced. You only learn to win by winning.

There - please do have the last word, my friend.

 

[statenman]

One good thing is that Delgado is well rested for the next game. With the way we played, and with Desi pushing a trainer, it still feels like we are very close to falling through the man hole cover like in previous years.

 

[mbraue]

What's his name had Anthony in there at the end of the first half. Smart coaching move if the intent was to see if he wouldn't pick up his 4th foul, something even grammar school coaches don't try to do. Genius!

Totally agree. Anthony had 4 fouls in limited time in the first half. Give Anderson some minutes. Not sure why he's not seeing any time at all anymore.

 

[mbraue]

We had Gordon in over Desi who had a career high. That's a terrible coaching decision. We won because the refs were terrible.

I agree. It was insane that Desi was on the bench as the leading scorer. He's a very good free throw shooter and needs to be in the game at the end. Was he out of control and pushed the trainer because he was excited or angry that he was taken out again? I don't get that this is still happening at this point in the season.

 

[ncaaball2]

I agree you learn from winning. I think you can learn from losing as well, but a game like today, winning it when it looked despair late, this resonates. Even if the johnnies stink.