St. John's vs Sonoma State: game thread

St. John's vs. Sonoma State Seawolves

When: Saturday, November 7, 2015 4:00 p.m. ET

Where: Carnesecca Arena, Jamaica, New York

Where to watch: ESPN3.com

Maybe let's forget about that first game for Chris Mullin, the 90-58 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas. The one that doesn't count, thankfully, in the records.

"Alarmists may be losing it right now, but all due respect to St Thomas Aquinas, the Johnnies worked really hard to beat themselves." - comment on postgame thread by Bigknickle

Once again, the team will play without freshman forward Kassoum Yakwe (waiting on eligibility ruling), senior wing Felix Balamou (injury) and freshman guard Marcus LoVett (waiting on eligibility and injury).

The Red Storm's loss on Wednesday evening was disturbing (though other colleges lost to Division II and NAIA squads this week), but may have been less an issue of talent level and more an issue of unfamiliarity. The Red Storm turned the ball over on over 33% of their possessions, flinging fancy passes off of teammates' hands, struggling to communicate on inbounds passes. And the team blew easy layups.

This may not be the best St. John's team ever, but it's hard to imagine that the team is THAT bad. Perhaps for Mullin's team-oriented style, a little more practice is needed, and fewer assumptions by the players on the floor about how ready their mates are.

Still, how long until the Red Storm look like a confident cohesive unit?

Today's game will start to tell the tale.

Other questions:

• Will Durand Johnson and Darien Williams have more offensive impact?
• Will the defense improve?

Pregame articles:

St. John's vs Sonoma State: preview

Three takeaways from St. John's loss to St. Thomas Aquinas