BE Scrimmages and Charity Games Over Next 2 Weeks...

[bobpp1]

PC loses to Carleton by ten. Cooley at half time said he wants to play the younger players most of the game for experience. MAL had a good game and looks like a star in the making. Most of the older players did not look good and Jalen Lindsey sat out the game. The friars need to improve free throw shooting. The game was kind of a let down after dominating UConn and Cooley seems to be trying different combinations to find the right chemistry. I attended the coaches radio show on Thursday night where he said he learned how to win a Big East title with 6 players and now he has to learn with 12 players. Nice problem to have but Cooleys teams always get better as the year goes on. For now its just patience for us friar fans.

[Red Rooster]

Good job, billyjack! But, St. John's doesn't have a scrimmage with American International. They scrimmage Hofstra today.

Thanks Redrooster, i made the correction.

I stand corrected, billyjack. The Johnnies actually will host American International for an exhibition on Wednesday.

[milksteak]

Unconfirmed reports Ohio State beat Xavier in a secret scrimmage today. 87-80. Bluiett did not play.

[Jet915]

Unconfirmed reports Ohio State beat Xavier in a secret scrimmage today. 87-80. Bluiett did not play.

Apparently Bluiett didn't play and Macura played limited minutes due to ankle injury.

[Red Rooster]

The Johnnies won by 32 tonight (84-52) against American International.

Solid, all-around games by Marvin Clark (12 pts, 14 caroms, 1 assist, 2 blocks, and 2 steals) and Justin Simon (6 pts, 4 boards, 7 assists(0 TOs), 2 blocks, and 2 steals). Typical games from Ponds and LoVett. Playing where they left off from a season ago.

I also liked what I saw from Bryan Trimble. He looks like he needs to tone up a bit, but he's a big guard and he has a nice stroke. He hit two treys (he was 2-5 behind the arc), but had two others that were basically down and the ball rimmed out. I'd like to see his growth throughout the season.

Kassoum Yakwe didn't play tonight (nursing a sore ankle), but he'll play in Sunday's exhibition versus Rutgers. The bench is gonna be short, this season. Just gotta hope for no injuries and limited foul trouble (as, the overall talent is there). 9 deep should be enough (minus what I previously stated), though.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Nova won by 20 vs Drexel. Game was basically over 10 minutes in. Low expectations for Drexel this year.

Scoring was very evenly balanced. Brunson looks the part of an AA PG. Spellman hit a 3 to start the game and was a beast on the boards and defensively. Bridges, Booth, Divincenzo and Paschall all look like seasoned vets. Booth looks healthy. Nova has always been a guard heavy team, but this year's team has a lot of size and a lot of length. Lineup of Brunson, DiVincenzo, Bridges, Paschall and Spellman could cause fits on both ends--very long, very athletic, and all can score inside and out. Samuels physically looks like an upperclassman but probably needs to adjust to speed of the game before he becomes a major contributor. Stallings from Pitt described Nova after their secret scrimmage as having: "a team of large men."

There's still lots of experience out on that floor even though they graduated two legends in Hart and Jenkins. That seems to be a broken record description of this Nova program. Hats off to Jay for maintaining a consistent team makeup year after year.

Can't wait for the real games to begin. I know I'm a homer but I think it's another reload year for Nova--lots of bullets in that holster.

[Novachap]

Nova won by 20 vs Drexel. Game was basically over 10 minutes in. Low expectations for Drexel this year.

Scoring was very evenly balanced. Brunson looks the part of an AA PG. Spellman hit a 3 to start the game and was a beast on the boards and defensively. Bridges, Booth, Divincenzo and Paschall all look like seasoned vets. Booth looks healthy. Nova has always been a guard heavy team, but this year's team has a lot of size and a lot of length. Lineup of Brunson, DiVincenzo, Bridges, Paschall and Spellman could cause fits on both ends--very long, very athletic, and all can score inside and out. Samuels physically looks like an upperclassman but probably needs to adjust to speed of the game before he becomes a major contributor. Stallings from Pitt described Nova after their secret scrimmage as having: "a team of large men."

There's still lots of experience out on that floor even though they graduated two legends in Hart and Jenkins. That seems to be a broken record description of this Nova program. Hats off to Jay for maintaining a consistent team makeup year after year.

Can't wait for the real games to begin. I know I'm a homer but I think it's another reload year for Nova--lots of bullets in that holster.

Gumby-----agree. Spellman looks very good and there are a LOT of interchangeable parts. I think this team will lose some early on as the chemistry comes together. They have the talent to be special by the end of the year. Donte didn't play particularly well IMHO, but Booth and Pachall will hurt other teams. Brunson was so efficient (surprise). Samuels plays like Hart in his first year (he too needs to develop the outside shot), Gillespie struggled with the speed of the smaller / quicker Drexel guards--he will contribute some minutes though. Crosby- Roundtree surprised me a little. I thought he would be much more of a project, but he moves very well on defense (not so much an offensive threat) and we know how Jay values defensive intensity. This is going to be a fun year, with some bumps, to watch this team develop.

[gtmoBlue]

Nova won by 20 vs Drexel. Game was basically over 10 minutes in. Low expectations for Drexel this year.

Scoring was very evenly balanced. Brunson looks the part of an AA PG. Spellman hit a 3 to start the game and was a beast on the boards and defensively. Bridges, Booth, Divincenzo and Paschall all look like seasoned vets. Booth looks healthy. Nova has always been a guard heavy team, but this year's team has a lot of size and a lot of length. Lineup of Brunson, DiVincenzo, Bridges, Paschall and Spellman could cause fits on both ends--very long, very athletic, and all can score inside and out. Samuels physically looks like an upperclassman but probably needs to adjust to speed of the game before he becomes a major contributor. Stallings from Pitt described Nova after their secret scrimmage as having: "a team of large men."

There's still lots of experience out on that floor even though they graduated two legends in Hart and Jenkins. That seems to be a broken record description of this Nova program. Hats off to Jay for maintaining a consistent team makeup year after year.

Can't wait for the real games to begin. I know I'm a homer but I think it's another reload year for Nova--lots of bullets in that holster.

Gumby-----agree. Spellman looks very good and there are a LOT of interchangeable parts. I think this team will lose some early on as the chemistry comes together. They have the talent to be special by the end of the year. Donte didn't play particularly well IMHO, but Booth and Pachall will hurt other teams. Brunson was so efficient (surprise). Samuels plays like Hart in his first year (he too needs to develop the outside shot), Gillespie struggled with the speed of the smaller / quicker Drexel guards--he will contribute some minutes though. Crosby- Roundtree surprised me a little. I thought he would be much more of a project, but he moves very well on defense (not so much an offensive threat) and we know how Jay values defensive intensity. This is going to be a fun year, with some bumps, to watch this team develop.

Thanks for the reality check Novachap. Luv Gumby, but he's similar to me...everything thru blue glasses. Your take is more realistic, though yes... the championship still runs thru the Wells Fargo Center. Agree your guys will take a few bumps and lumps, but still have the horses to win it all. Bring on the season.

PS. Yes I focus on Villanova...because they are the current top dog - all the rest are irrelevant to me. You have to beat the Best to be the Best...that is where my focus lies-that is the goal for my Jays. The rest are irrelevant as we have and can beat the rest of the conference peers. Championships are the thing that counts in my book. We are overdue.

[MullinMayhem]

Nice win by the Johnnies...now for some takeaways FWIW:

Positives:

*Great ball movement, consistently made the extra pass
*Ponds and Lovett are going to be even better than last year...they were in midseason form
*Clark and Simon will definitely be significant contributors and are better than players we lost
*Good outside shooting and at the FT line
*The team seems to have better chemistry already than last year

Negatives:

*Defense and rebounding still look to be big question marks...should have easily dominated rebounding against DII school with no player above 6'6
*Tons of easy buckets for AIC in the paint...shades of last year
*Yakwe sat out as a precaution for some soreness in his ankle. If this lingers it will be a major, major blow
*Lots of traveling and unforced turnovers...hopefully it was just the rust coming off

Offensively we can keep up with any team in the conference and much of the country. Our defense and rebounding will be what makes or breaks this team this year. There is obvious NCAA potential, but those 2 will have to be solved to make it.

[Hall2012]

Seton Hall best La Salle 87-74. Kevin Willard spread the playing time out a ton with 12 players getting into the game, 10 of which played 17+ minutes. Nobody played more than 22. The Pirates lead 44-27 at halftime. Some notable performances:

Desi Rodriguez: 22 pts on 8-10 shooting in 22 minutes
Angel Delgado:. 6 pts, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks in 20 minutes
Khadeen Carrington: 11 pts, 5 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers in 20 minutes.