St. John's Red Storm Men's Basketball falls to 7-11 on the season, 1-6 in the Big East.
I was going to refer to the Bataan Death March—long trudge towards a goal, whippings and beatings all along the way for the team, interminable length—but no one has jumped ship on the team (besides the fans and the newspapers, who no longer attend the Saint John’s Red Storm out of town basketball games), no one has been hurt (besides the players’ and coaches’ confidence), and there are no dead bodies along the wayside, just losses. It’s the 100th year of St. John’s basketball, and this team has set the storied tradition back about 90 of those years.
Of course St. John’s lost. It would be foolish to think otherwise. First the Keys to the game:
Turn the Page: This game had some fight but looked much like the last one—Mason Jr. hits his shots, everyone else is unable to score, turnovers, fumbled passes, not enough Justin Burrell.
Handle: Too many turnovers. The team couldn’t handle the press, taking time outs often.
Pack It In: The Louisville Cardinals got easy shots from outside, and Terrence Williams flirted with a triple double. Sean Evans showed some ability blocking shots away from his man, but as always, the defense looked confused when presented with a solid-passing big man. Caracter and Padgett got some good looks inside.
Anthony Mason Jr. looked real sharp shooting/ scoring (7-11 3pt). A bit Kareem Rush-like—not as athletic or forceful as JaRon Rush, not as good of a shooter as Brandon, but money in the bank… along with the iffy positions on defense, and the hold-your-breath-he-might-lose-the-ball handle; he had 5 turnovers.
The team looked like it had offensive sets, just not the players to execute them. Geno Lawrence had 1 point and 4 assists, and this year, he is a continual no-show in the games, especially offensively. DJ Kennedy is afraid to shoot the ball, even when he has his stand-still jump shot wide open. Dele Coker and Paris Horne played a minute each. Larry Wright went 1-7 with 5 points and 3 assist (I like the idea of him doing something else on the stat sheet when the shot's not falling). The game was never as close as the final score-- at least, not competition-wise. One almost thinks Pitino took it easy on the Storm.
Georgetown on Wednesday. More posting to come.