(1) THURSDAY, 12/29/16 - BU @ SJU

[Rum_Ham]

The league will be fine,Butler will be fine, great win for Coach Mullin and St Johns.

[JohnW22]

You dont wanna have such a huge divide between the Top half and bottom half.

I respectfully disagree. Huge separations create tourney bids.

Nevertheless, nice job by SJU to hang with 'em and fight back.

Agreed

[DudeAnon]

Crazy how SJHooper happens to be away from his computer whenever the Redmen win.

[SJHooper]

As bad as the refs were on both sides, it was awesome to finally see the fanbase embrace this team. We got off to an absolutely horrid start and to come back and beat Cuse by 33 at their house and follow that up with a win over a very good #13 Butler team is just an amazing feeling. We turned the ball over way too much and I honestly thought that would cost us the game. Either way win or lose, this was a great game right down to the end. Entertaining basketball. If the Big East is to thrive long term, St. John's will need to have a pulse at the very least. I hate to get a win like this against a fellow Big East brother (much rather a #13 win over OOC opponent), but after OOC it's a dogfight and it's every man for himself. Butler is a great team and will be fine. I've always respected their program they are very consistent in their success. We were all lined up for the race, the gun went off and we fell on our face while everyone else raced ahead. We got back up and we are now getting into our stride. I really hope this is a turning point. We are now 7-7 back to .500 and we are clearly not going to be pushovers. Great game and good luck to Butler the rest of the way (except against us!).

Positives:
-Ahmed seems to be adjusting better to D1 hoops. Still wild, but improving.
-Tariq Owens was expected to be an end of the bench player. Turned into our best big by far. Great pickup.
-Ponds is one of the very best freshmen in the entire country. If he stays 4 yrs he will be a Wooden Watch player.
-Big crowd and we have now made national noise 2 games in a row forcing people to remember we exist.
-Great win especially after the Cuse drubbing. Could have come out flat but instead played with urgency all night. Great sign.
-I don't have to complain about Mullin for a while.
-First win over #13 team or better at Carnesecca since 1983, or 6 years before my birth.

Negatives:
-LoVett had a groin strain but played. The negative is that he has not been the same player post sprained ankle injury. Decent, but not great. He's been off.
-This hurts the conference this season beating one of our conference's top teams, but again you can argue it's good long-term showing we can win some of these.
-The schedule will continue to be a grind every game.
-Way too many turnovers...thought we would lose because of them.
-Gave up way too many second chance points. So frustrating having a great defensive stand only for the ball to go right back to them for an easy bucket.
-Refs on both sides.
-The rim at Carnesecca is made of bricks. I swear, there's something different about them. If you don't get a swish it rarely goes in.

[DudeAnon]

And for those wondering about NCAA seeds. Butler etc. will get the seeds they deserve, but losing by playing tough competition will only prep a team for the tournament.

[SJHooper]

Crazy how SJHooper happens to be away from his computer whenever the Redmen win.

My posts are often delayed by hours at a time. They do not go through right away. Plus, I'm too busy tweeting my shock lol I always post on here regardless.

[Bill Marsh]

You dont wanna have such a huge divide between the Top half and bottom half.

I respectfully disagree. Huge separations create tourney bids.

Nevertheless, nice job by SJU to hang with 'em and fight back.

Who says there's not going to be huge separation? This win confirms that the Syracuse win wasn't a fluke. Maybe St John's is just putting it together and will be one of the teams at the top with a huge separation from those at the bottom.

[XUFan09]

Unfortunately, this will probably be considered a bad loss for Butler, because RPI (and not Kenpom, Sagarin, etc.) is considered the basis for judging an opponent. Advanced metrics put SJU at the back end of the top 100, so a road loss wouldn't be a "good" loss but wouldn't be a bad one either. However, RPI Forecast puts SJU somewhere in the 150-170 range (A 10-8 conference record would probably be needed to get them in the top 100, but with good luck, 9-9 might do it). Luckily, the Selection Committee has a notable subjective component, so the members that cover Big East will make clear that the numbers aren't entirely fair for how well SJU sometimes plays. It just sucks that RPI alone don't tell the true story for Butler's loss when it's the central metric.

This won't sink Butler's tournament bid, but a protected seed just got harder. In the long run, though, SJU needs to experience winning and needs to build a winning culture. That's not just a switch that can be flicked on once a program is truly competitive, so there will be some victims along the way who get hit with the bad loss while the team is developing its potential.

[REDMEN1415]

After the Syracuse I posted:


"Tonight, go to the Carrier Dome and won by 33.
Lets see how we follow this game up, continue the momentum from tonight game, or back to shit ball.

Stay tuned.

My question was pleasantly answered, great comeback win after being down 9 against a very disciplined Butler team.

Feel good tonight, back to work tomorrow.

1-0 is a nice start.

[Bill Marsh]

Unfortunately, this will probably be considered a bad loss for Butler, because RPI (and not Kenpom, Sagarin, etc.) is considered the basis for judging an opponent. Advanced metrics put SJU at the back end of the top 100, so a road loss wouldn't be a "good" loss but wouldn't be a bad one either. However, RPI Forecast puts SJU somewhere in the 150-170 range (A 10-8 conference record would probably be needed to get them in the top 100, but with good luck, 9-9 might do it). Luckily, the Selection Committee has a notable subjective component, so the members that cover Big East will make clear that the numbers aren't entirely fair for how well SJU sometimes plays. It just sucks that RPI alone don't tell the true story for Butler's loss when it's the central metric.

This won't sink Butler's tournament bid, but a protected seed just got harder. In the long run, though, SJU needs to experience winning and needs to build a winning culture. That's not just a switch that can be flicked on once a program is truly competitive, so there will be some victims along the way who get hit with the bad loss while the team is developing its potential.

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. The outcome of the season for any of these teams isn't predetermined. St John's may come on in conference play and be a lot better than anyone thinks. I don't think so, but none of us can predict the future.