BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ ST. JOHN'S

January 30, 2008

Georgetown looks to strenghten their hold of the Big East conference lead in the standings in the next few games as they face St. John's, Seton Hall and South Florida. Tonight at St. John's is the lone road game of the next three.

On the other hand the young St. John's squad is struggling under Norm Roberts. The Redstorm have lost 11 of their last 14, including last week's home disaster to Pittsburgh. In his fourth year at the helm for SJU, the lack of progress the Redstorm have made as a program under Roberts is starting to get noticed by more and more. Sure, there is eight freshman on the roster...but, by year four, the foundation should have been laid.

Weaker Foes Lie Ahead for Georgetown (Washington Times)
Down on the Farm and Up in Washington, Hoyas' Wallace Excels (NY Times)
Ewing Has Big Hand in Hoyas Success (Washington Post)

The Hoyas may be 6-1 in the Big East, but they have not exactly been cruising to victory night in and night out. The narrowly escaped with a home win over Georgetown on a last second 3-pter by Roy Hibbert, survived in OT against Syracuse as the Orange missed potential game-winners at the end of regulation and OT and on Saturday they survived Morgantown on a late three by Jesse Sapp and a last second, game-saving block by Patrick Ewing Jr. The Hoyas have been taking the opponents best shots, and although it has not always been pretty, the 6-1 record sure looks nice in this crazy conference.

Not much has been positive for St. John's, although the individual play of Anthony Mason Jr has been impressive. In losses to Pittsburgh and Louisville last week, the Redstorm managed a meager 114 points combined in the two defeats, Mason Jr scored 58 of those points. Can anyone else on this team score? Not really. St. John's strengths are in their raw athletic ability and toughness, although for a group of freshman, that is not a lot to hold their hat on in the toughest and most physical conference in the country.

In the end, this is the case of too much talent and too much experience on hand for Georgetown, who are 10-pt road favorites. The Hoyas may not look to run up and down and score a lot of points and the Redstorm will gladly play at that pace, but the Hoyas are MUCH more effecient offensively and will pull away for victory.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 74 St. John's 58

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S @ LOUISVILLE

January 26, 2008


Hopefully for Norm Roberts and his young St. John's Redstrom, Wednesday night will be the low water mark of the season. The Redstorm, playing their first Big East game at Madison Square Garden, were pounded by Pittsburgh 81-57 in front of a crowd that barely filled 25% of the season.

Louisville has been playing well and bounced back from a tough loss at Seton Hall with a dominating win over South Florida on the road. The Cardinals seem to have their injury woes behind them and are moving forward. Not quite in a stright-line, but progress is evident.

Prior to the Pitt debacle, St. John's played West Virginia tough in Morgantown and there seemed to be some hope. Against the Panthers the only bright spot was Anthony Mason's 29-pt performance. The rest of the team combined for 28 as a colelctive group.

Now the 'Storm travels to Freedom Hall and you do feel a little but of pity towards the young group. Louisville looks to have a clear advantage at every position on the floor and if you went with a 2nd five from Louisville against the SJU top 5, you would be hard pressed to find more than one SJU advantage.

But, the play the games for a reason. St. John's does have some athletes that can get up and down the floor and defend with vigor. If they find anyone willing to consistently knock down a few shots, they would improve greatly. The best candidate seems to be sophomore Larry Wright, but he seems to have falled out of favor with the SJU staff.

Louisville needs to play to their strengths, get the ball in deep to their post players and take advantage of some excellent passers for players at non-guard positions. Louisville has a mix of experience and as much raw talent as anyone in the conference, but they also need to show a maturation in managing the game with consistent effort and shot selection. There are times when they can be downright dominating defensively and others when they allow poor play to snowball. At home against the young Redstorm, I look for a dominating defensive performance and will likely get it.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Louisville 73 St. John's 52

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: PITTSBURGH @ ST. JOHN'S

January 23, 2008


The Pittsburgh Panthers head to New York City to meet the Redstorm of St. John's. The Panthers return to Madison Square Garden where, earlier this season, they had one of their biggest victories in recent memory, but in the same game, suffered a tough loss as well. St. John's will hope to surprise the Panthers, yet again, on Broadway.

Here are some local media previews and stories on the game:

The Future is There for St. John's (Big East Basketball Report)
Former High School Teammates Reunite When SJU Battles Pitt (NY Daily News)
Pittsburgh Perseveres Without Injured Starters (NY Times)
Storm Brace for Pitt Stop (NY Post)
Pitt Hopes for Reversal of Fortune (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Shooting Practice Pays off for Panthers' Benjamin

The last two times that Pittsburgh has entered Madison Square Garden to face the Redstorm under Jamie Dixon, the Panthers have lost. It has not been an issue of playing under the bright lights of Broadway as Dixon has guided the Panthers to wins over Alabama, Memphis and Duke in non-conference games at MSG and Pitt has won seven Big East Tournament games in his four seasons as the head coach in the World's Most Famous Arena. However, the Redstorm have been effective in keeping the game bogged down and low scoring, much like Cincinnati did in the Bearcats' 62-59 win over Pitt last weekend.

The Panthers sport quite a New York City flavor themselved with area natives such as Ronald Ramon, Keith Benjamin and Tyrell Biggs from the area as part of their 8-man rotation. Injured players Levance Fields and Austin Wallace are also New York City natives. Sometimes going back home is tough on players, but Pitt's success in other contests in New York City throws that theory out of the window.

Earlier this season Pitt knocked off Duke in front of a large Duke contingent on national TV, 65-64 on a Levance Fields 3-pter in the waning seconds. In the game, Pitt lost senior G/F Mike Cook for the season with a knee injury and Fields, who is out until at least mid-February, went down with a foot injury in their next game. Without two starters, the Panthers have a much smaller margin of error. Foul trouble, especially with DeJuan Blair, and some inconsistent shooting nights from the perimeter will make many games without Fields a struggle. That really bit them in their last outing.

St. John's is a young team still trying to find their footing in the Big East. The Redstorm have lost 9 of 12 and had a disappointing loss at Carnesecca Arena in their last hime game when they let a 9-pt second half lead slip away and turn into a 60-54 loss to DePaul. Last week they hung tough on the road against West Virginia showing more energy and dominating the boards in a 73-64 loss.

The 'Storm will need to continue that energy tonight on the defensive end and on the boards against a Pittsburgh team that will likely be showing more life on the floor than they did in their last outing. Both teams need to take care of the basketball. St. John's might be a little short-handed with Eigene Lawrence hobbling, freshman Malik Boothe could be called on more often and he would be in charge of applying ball pressure to the Panther guards, which is an area other teams can exploit in the absence of Fields. St. John's is also moving Ayodele Coker into the starting line-up to give them added toughness and size to face the Panthers.

If St. John's can control the tempo and keep this game on pace to be played in the 50's, with the first team to 60 winning, they can follow the plan that has led to their previous two victories against Pitt. Pitt plays well in transition with Sam Young finishing and DeJuan Blair finding room inside. If the game slows and the Redstorm can pack in a zone defense, it could become a perimeter shooting contest, something neither team particularly excels at and plays more into the favor of St. John's in staying in the game and stealing it late.

I look for Pittsburgh to have a little more life tonight and pull it out as a 55.5-pt road favorite.


NBE Blogger Prediction: Pittsburgh 67 St. John's 60

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S @ WEST VIRGINIA

January 17, 2008


St. John's kicks off a stretch of games with West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Georgetown tonight with a trip to Morgantown. The Redstorm are 1-3 in Big East play and their young squad will really begin to learn about life in the Big East the next couple of weeks.

West Virginia loves to play in the Coliseum and they are home tonight, fresh off an 81-61 win over Syracuse last Sunday. The Mountaineers average just 55 PPG on the road (0-2) in conference play, but at home it is a different story as they average 80 PPG (2-0) with wins over SU and Marquette.

Here are the local media previews on tonight's game:

WVU Win Streak on Line vs. St. John's (Times West Virginian)
Streaks at Stake as WVU Welcomes St. John's (Journal Gazette)
WVU's Butler Has to Play Smarter (Daily Mail)

This one looks to be a big mismatch. West Virginia is an experienced and deep group that excels on their home court. St. John's does play up to 11 players, however, seven of them are freshmen and life away from home has been difficult.

St. John's will scrap and compete, especially on the defensive end. They have some length and athleticism, but their youth can cause breakdowns and WVU will make you pay for breakdowns with lay-ups and 3-pt shots.

The Redstorm will look to get points in the middle, the soft spot of West Virginia. Freshman Justin Burrell could have a big game with points and rebounds, but they will need someone else to step up offensively and keep pace with West Virginia. Anthony Mason Jr is certainly capable, but he will likely be the one guy Bob Huggins game plans against, forcing someone else to step up, with the Redstorm, I am not sure if there is anyone else at this point.

West Virginia will likely have four or five offensive weapons on the floor at all times, led by 3-pt marksman Alex Ruoff and the athletic Joe Alexander. Darris Nichols will run the effecient offense and WVU should cruise, again, on their home floor as 16-pt favorites.


NBE Blogger Prediction: West Virginia 78 St. John's 59

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DEPAUL @ ST. JOHN'S

January 12, 2008



DePaul travels to New York to take on the St. John's Redstorm in a high noon Big East match-up. DePaul comes into the contest with a 2-1 record in the Big East after opening conference play with a three-game homestand. A loss to Georgetown was preceeded by wins over Villanova and Providence to begin conference play.

Here are the local media previews on the game:

Along for the Roller-Coaster Ride (Chicago Tribune)
Inconsistent DePaul Heads off to St. John's
Keeping Talent at Home Not Easy for St. John's, DePaul (Daily Herald)
SJU Has to Start Stormin' (NY Post)

On the season DePaul is 6-8 anf just 2-4 away from home, including 1-2 in true road contests, losing at Kansas and at Creighton by double-digits. Their lone road win was a 70-64 decision over Detroit.

In their three conference games, freshman Mac Koshwal has averaged a double-double (12 pts and 10 rebounds) and has benefited from improved consistency of their point guard play. Leading scorer on the season, Draelin Burns, has struggled a bit in conference play, averaging just 11.3 PPG while shooting a miserable 28.6% from the floor (10-35) and 9% from the arc (1-11). To win on the road, DePaul will need their veteran leader to show them the way.

Despite Burns' difficulty on offense, a few other players have picked up the slack, especially Will Walker (12 PPG in BE action) who has hit seven of 14 3-pt attempts in the three conference games. Dar Tucker is another exciting freshman in a league full of them and has showed his talents with 29 points over the last two outings.

Points could be difficult to come by as the Redstorm are a very good defensive team. Their starting line-up has very good athletic ability at the wing positions and excellent length. The Redstorm has lost a couple tough road games (at UConn and Syracuse) but had a win over an improving Cincinatti in between. The Redstorm is 7-7 on the season and have been led by Justin Burrell in conference play. The athletic freshman forward is averaging 17 PPG and nearly 8 rebounds in conference action. He shows an outstanding touch from the foul line, going 13-13 from the stripe in conference play. Anthony Mason is looking healthier and healthier each time out and he is filling up the stat sheet and contribues nearly 14 PPG in conference play.

One mystery has been the disappearance of Larry Wright from the regular rotation. Wright showed potential as a freshman and on a young team, he was being counted on to step up this season. He has averaged just 12 minutes a game in conference play, but shows he can still put some points on the board in a hurry, scoring 29 points in those 36 minutes. Eight of his nine field goals in the last three games have been from beyond the arc.

Scoring is the key for St. John's. They seem to have too many players in the rotation that do no offer much of a scoring threat, but nearly everyone can defend and rebound. If Norm Roberts can find a way to unleash the offensive talents of Wright, Rob Thomas and others while keeping up the defense, SJU becomes a very tough out, especially at home.

This game will be determines by which team makes shots. Playing at home against a team playing their first conference road game, I expect SJU to be more comfortable and that should lead to a better shooting afternoon.

NBE Blogger Prediction: St. John's 66 DePaul 60

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEWS: ST. JOHN'S @ CONNECTICUT

January 8, 2008


Connecticut and St. John's enter tonight's Big East contest both at 1-1 in conference play. The Redstorm split last week with a loss at Syracuse and a home win over Cincinnati. The Huskies earned a road win ovr Seton Hall before dropping a tough one at Notre Dame.

UConn has the advantage in this game in nearly every category, but the Redstorm will scrap and claw on the defensive end for the full forty minutes. They will have to find the right combination of scoring inside and out to keep pace with the high octane Huskies, so look for them to try to slow the pace down and force the game to be played in a halfcourt setting.

The Huskies want to run, run and run some more. AJ Price and Jerome Dyson are a guard combination that fits that style of play really well. Their size, strength and athletic ability in the frontcourt will be tough to match for the Redstorm.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Connecticut 80 St. John's 64

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: CINCINNATI @ ST. JOHN'S

January 5, 2008


Talk about a team whose fortunes have turned around in a big way! Cincinnati looked like they were headed to another abysmal Big East campaign under Mick Cronin, mired in a 5-game losing streak and sitting at 4-7 on the season. They had shown some improvement against a very tough schedule, but even a win over Miami (OH) did not erase the opinion that the Bearcats were likely headed to a finish amongst the bottom two of the conference.

Then, under the radar of many New Year's day plans, the Bearcats go to Louisville and knock off one of the two preseason conference favorites, 58-57.

Now, Cincinnati heads to St. John's looking for a second straight road win and with four of their next five at home, maybe the tide can turn for UC.

The game will not be easy, despite the feel good win over Louisville, they will be facing a mad Redstorn squad who have lost six of their last eight games. Like UC, SJU is full of freshmen, but getting home could be the elixir for what ails SJU as five of their last eight have been away from home and two others were at Madison Square Garden in the Aeropostale Holiday Festival.

While on a trip to Hawaii, SJU did get the serviced of Anthony Mason Jr back, who had missed most of the OOC schedule with an injured ankle and Rob Thomas became eligible and provides the potential for more depth and scoring bunch in the front court.

SJU does have some experience with Mason, a junior, and senior Eugene Lawrence running the point. Sophomore Larry Wright was expected to have a breakout season, but he has struggled thus far and has seen his playign time cut considerably recently. After that, the team relies on freshmen, including Justin Burrell and DJ Kennedy who have been playing very well early in their careers.

SJU has some tough defenders with good athleticism and solid frames. They need to be more skilled with the ball offensively and Wright's struggles and Mason's injury has limited their scoring ability.

There was nothing pretty about Cincinnati's win over Louisville if you were not a Bearcat fan. Cincinnati turned the ball over 16 times, attempted just six free throws, they were outrebounded, but they did play defense. Louisville shot just 36% from the field and made just 3-23 from beyond the 3-pt arc. They got just enough offense and hit an uncharacteristic 57% (8-14) of their 3-pt shots. They got solid play from their veterans (Jamual Warren, John Williamson and Deonta Vaughn) and a pair of freshmen, Anthony McClain and Rashad Bishop, provided big contributions on both ends of the floor.

Although the contest is on ESPN Classic Saturday night, a classic is probably not what we will get. With both teams not being the best at shooting the ball, but strong defensively, a new dorm could be built in Queens with the bricks we will see. On their home floor, I do think St. John's finds enough offense to pull out a very close and tough win.

NBE Blogger Prediction: St. John's 63 Cincinnati 58

BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S @ SYRACUSE

January 2, 2008


Youth will be served tonight at the Carrier Dome as two young teams collide under the bright lights for the Big East opener for both Syracuse and St. John's. The Redstorm will come into the game seven freshmen and one sophomore making up their 11-man rotation. The Orange, still trying to find their footing after the devastating loss of Eric Devendorf on December 15th for the season, will counter with a 7-man rotation made up of four freshmen, two sophomores and a JUCO transfer in his first Big East contest.

Here are some preview stories found around the web this morning:


Young SU Team Has Been Winning With It's Offense (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
Ready or Not, It's Time for Big East (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Norm Roberts, St. John's Gear Up for Tough Bout at Syracuse (NY Daily News)
Orange Punch Might Be Tough to Swallow (NY Post)

St. John's has won just once outside of New York City in four tries during the pre-conference schedule and face a tough test going up to the Dome to face a tough crowd and a tough team. The Redstorm will put forth a good effort defensively and look to keep the game at a snails pace because of their offensive struggles. They will have three players with experience in Anthony Mason, Eugene Lawrence and Larry Wright that will most likely determine how successful SJU is tonight.

Facing the Syracuse zone can be a tall order for even the most experienced clubs. As the point guard, Eugene Lawrence will be in control of the ball and must penetrate the gaps of the zone to force the defense to converge to the ball. From there, he must find the 'storm's best perimeter shooter, Larry Wright, in position to fire away from the 3-pt line. Wright has made a team-high 21 three's in the first 11 games and shoots the 3-ball at a 39% clip.

The next method of attack for Lawrence with his penetration is to hit Anthony Mason on the baseline or slashing to the hoop. Mason must avoid sitting at the 3-pt line and launching three's. He can make the deep ball (35%-type of 3-pt shooter), but he needs to score in a variety of ways for SJU to match the SU offense.

Lastly, Lawrence must also choose his spots offensively. Lawrence has shown the ability to draw fouls and get to the line and that will be important against a very thin Syracuse line-up.

Playing against a zone team, offensive rebounding opportunities will also arise. Justin Burrell, DJ Kennedy and Mason all will have excellent opportunities at second chance points. They must convert these opportunities to keep pace with SU, who will look to run when the shot is taken, sometimes even before they corral the rebound.

While St. John's can defend, but can't score, Syracuse is 100% the polar opposite. The Orange can score, and score a lot, but they have not shown any consisteny ability to prevent an opponent from scoring, no matter who it is. Syracuse has already lost two games on their home floor against UMass (107-100) and Rhode Island (91-89) while giving up 99 points a game in those contests.

Dante Greene leads SU with 18.7 PPG and the 6'9 forward can score in a variety aways and is one of th ebest baseline threats in the nation. He is also always looking to run the floor for easy baskets. Classmate Jonny Flynn averages nearly 15 PPG and is more than able at finding Greene and others in transition as evidenced by his 5.8 assist/game average.

The frontcourt is anchored by a pair of proto-typical Big East players, Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku. Harris, although just 6'4, averages a double-double with 13 PPG and 10 rebounds. Harris should excel in this type of game, but the Syracuse zone sometimes takess away some of his best attributes on the defensive side of the ball. Onuaku is a bull in the middle that does not try to venture too far away from the basket or the paint. Onuaku makes the most of his opportunities, shooting 68% from the floor and averaged 14 PPG and 7.5 rebounds a contest.

Three other newcomers, Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine and Kristof Ongenaet round out the rotation and Sean Williams, another freshman, also could see time. Jardine is coming off an impressive career high 18-pt perfromance in a win over Northeastern. The added confidence should be a big boost to the youngster as he hopes to fill some of the void left by Devendorf's injury.

So, tonight, which style wins out? The all-offense no defense? Or the defensive team that can't shoot? Well, normally we would think that defense wins in the conference match-ups, but both teams are so young and the environment that is new to both squads should favor the home team greatly.

Syracuse is listed as a 12-pt favorite for tonight's contest, they will win, but I think it will be a little closer than expected.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 74 St. John's 64