The Friars have been lucky the last few years by playing the St. John’s Red Storm most seasons at The World’s Most Famous Arena. Bringing strong crowds to Madison Square Garden while St. John’s was not, gave a homey feeling to the Friars in these games. On Saturday with the Friars expected to bring another strong contingent of fans to the Big Apple, Rick Pitino has turned the mood around the Storm, and MSG will be close to if not a complete sellout. Make no mistake about it, while Syracuse, Rutgers, and even Connecticut claims to own the New York crowd, none of them bring out the passion of NYC fans the way a good St. John’s team does. Add in a local guy as the coach, and St. John’s is once again the big local attraction in college basketball. Also, with all due respect to Dan Hurley and the job he’s done at UConn, Rick Pitino is the best coach in the f%$#ing sport.
Pitino has shown once again how he implements his plans in year one then makes a huge jump in year two (see details in my article before the Johnnies came to the AMP). Another benefit of the stature that goes along with being a Hall of Fame coach is that players tend to trust the plan, which is huge in the portal era. Last season, Zuby Ejiofor and Simeon Wilcher both played around ten minutes per game. As the only two top 50 recruits (or top 100 for that matter) on the roster, there were thoughts that one or both of them might transfer. Instead, they both trusted Pitino and now are playing 30 and 26 minutes per game respectively. Wilcher is a strong defender and averaging 10 points per game while Ejiofor is a physical specimen and plays outstanding ball, game in and game out. Ejiofor held Ryan Kalkbrenner and Eric Dixon well below their season’s numbers, and thoroughly dominated Thomas Sorber in both matchups. I think he’s a legitimate candidate for Big East Player of the Year.
Pitino also had early issues with his two biggest portal acquisitions, Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith. Richmond was not playing the way Pitino wanted, so he adjusted the offense and reduced Richmond’s minutes. In the last few games, Richmond has played his best ball of the season. Similarly, Smith was upset and refused to re-enter a game late after being taken out. Pitino responded with a multi-game suspension after Smith apologized to the team. He was also playing his best ball until his shoulder injury. He’s questionable for Saturday’s game.
Our offense has been much better since we last faced St. John’s while are defense has struggled. Given the fact that St. John’s can really struggle shooting, this might not be a bad thing. Corey Floyd completely shut down Wilcher last game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat performance Saturday. Conversely, Deivon Smith owned Jayden Pierre in the first matchup, but he is coming back from an injury if he plays. I suspect Jayden will be better this time. Another key for us will be how Oswin and Christ handle the physicality of Ejiofor. Hopefully, Christ will put forth a similar effort to what he did against Thomas Sorber last week. St. John’s is very aggressive defensively, causing 16 turnovers, including five by Pierre and three by Bensley Joseph. The positive side to this is that their aggressiveness often leads to open shots, and the way Joseph and Jabri Abdur-Rahim have been shooting lately, this could present a good opportunity for us.
As I mentioned above, Kadary Richmond has been playing his best ball lately, and Aaron Scott has found ways to contribute even though his shooting has been off. It will take an “A” level game from us with contributions from our bench, and hopefully the return of Wesley Cardet, who did an excellent job on all-conference player RJ Luis.
This game is the end of a stretch where the Friars have played four of five on the road, splitting the first four. A win in this game would put the Friars at 6-5 in the conference and 5 of their final 9 games at the AMP. While no one is predicting an NCAA bid, I am always optimistic about my Friars, and a winning record in conference would be a solid achievement after the injuries we have faced this year. Also, a top 5 seed in the Big East tournament results in avoiding the Wednesday game, and there are no unbeatable teams in the conference, so who knows where we end up.
Go Friars.
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