January 5, 2010 –
by Brendon
Big-time college basketball is a tough business. Coaches are asked to travel around the country to court adolescents who are also being courted by dozens of other coaches. They are then asked to make sure those adolescents go to class, do well enough in class to stay eligible and then stay out of trouble at all times. Of course, coaches need to also get those players to help them win and win often, and it would be nice if they played a style that put fannies in the seats.
To be fair, it’s not like these coaches don’t know the drill when they accept the position, and they get very well compensated for all the hassles of the job. In some cases, as with St. John’s Norm Roberts, there is added pressure because of the stigma of the previous regime. Sex and pay-off scandals ruined Mike Jarvis’ tenure, and Roberts’ ability to put space between St. John’s basketball and the image problems of the early part of this decade has been laudable, and it has also given Roberts some leeway on the court.
Roberts is now in his sixth season and may be facing the most crucial on-court juncture of his tenure. A season that began brightly with a 9-1 record, including a strong performance in a loss at Duke and wins over Siena and Temple has now toppled over after the 15-point home loss to Providence on Sunday. The 0-2 Big East start has made thoughts of an NCAA Tournament appearance wistful, and now the question is whether Roberts will win enough this season to keep his job. Read More »
Posted in Big East
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Tagged Brown, Bryant, D.J. Kennedy, DePaul, Duke, Geoff McDermott, Justin Burrell, Malik Boothe, Mike Jarvis, Norm Roberts, Paris Horne, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rev. Donald Harrington, Sean Evans, Siena, Sylven Landesberg, Temple, Tim Welsh, Villanova, Virginia, West Virginia, Weyinmi Efejuku
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January 3, 2010 –
by Brendon
JAMAICA, N.Y. — If a fan had ignored the scoreboard while watching the first 32 minutes of Providence’s 74-59 win over St. John’s at Carnesecca Arena on Sunday, he might have concluded that the Red Storm was comfortably ahead.
Indeed, St. John’s looked far better in its offensive sets than Providence, knocking down jumpers and navigating the Friars’ zone for easy buckets. At the other end of the floor, Providence couldn’t hit a shot. Even its nice drives ended in rim outs, and mostly the Friars were missing low-percentage looks. As evidence of the disparity in offensive flow, the Red Storm had 19 assists on 25 made field goals for the game, while Providence had just 13 on 22 makes.
But then there were the turnovers, which would be the game’s storyline. Instead of being behind by 10 or 12 points, Providence trailed by just four with 7:50 to play, because the Friars continued to force St. John’s miscues, and often the miscues — a season-high 23 giveaways — weren’t forced at all. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night
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Tagged Big East, Bilal Dixon, Brian McKenzie, D.J. Kennedy, Dwight Hardy, Jamine Peterson, Jesus, Justin Brownlee, Keno Davis, Malik Boothe, Matthew, Norm Roberts, Omari Lawrence, Paris Horne, Providence, Sean Evans, Sharaud Curry, St. John's, Vincent Council
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December 14, 2009 –
by Brendon
It’s Norm Roberts’ sixth season in Jamaica, and his team is off to its best start yet — 8-1 with quality wins over Temple and Siena and lone loss by nine at Duke, which is more impressive than last season’s 9-1 start with only one quality win — Cornell — in the bunch. Roberts’ teams have been marked by competent defense and inept offense, but with the emergence of an efficient go-to player, the Red Storm have a legitimate opportunity at an NCAA Tournament bid.
When Roberts brought in a large junior class three seasons ago, it was this set of players that figured to make or break his tenure. D.J. Kennedy and Justin Burrell were the two players who appeared most likely to become offensive standouts as freshmen in 2007-08. The team offense was simply wretched, but Kennedy managed to hit 48.5 percent of his 2-pointers and grab a decent share of offensive rebounds. Burrell was much more active in the offense, but his 43 percent 2-point percentage was not a fortuitous sign.
Last season, a new challenger emerged when Paris Horne became a major part of a marginally improved St. John’s offense. Horne was mediocre on his many 3-pointers (33.5 percent on 182 attempts), but like Kennedy the year before, Horne flourised inside the arc, hitting 51.3 percent of his 2-pointers, a terrific figure for a 6-foot-3 guard. Kennedy saw his interior efficiency plummet (43.6 percent on 2’s), but he replaced those misses with a lot of made free throws. Burrell hit a few more of his 2’s (45.0 percent) but continued to struggle with turnovers, especially for a player not asked to handle the ball.
This season, with his team in need of a go-to scorer, Kennedy has been nothing short of phenomenal. He’s been about 20 percent more active in the offense and still much more efficient at the same time. The key has been his ability to get to the line. He hits 79 percent of his free throws and gets fouled about six times per 40 minutes on the floor. Kennedy has also gotten his 2-point percentage back up — to 61.4 percent — and has even shown range from deep, knocking down threes at a 44.8-percent rate, this after making exactly one-third of his 3-point attempts in each of his first two seasons. Read More »
Posted in Big East
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Tagged Anthony Mason, Big East, Cornell, D.J. Kennedy, Dele Coker, Duke, Dwight Hardy, Georgetown, Hofstra, Justin Brownlee, Justin Burrell, Malik Boothe, Norm Roberts, Paris Horne, Sean Evans, Siena, St. John's, Temple
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March 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
In a league that has been criticized all season for having a soft underbelly, two Big East bubble teams went into the belly of the beast and didn’t live to tell about it. Cincinnati and Georgetown both blew second-half leads to lose to bottom-four Big East teams on Tuesday, and both now stare at very long roads to an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Red Storm overcomes drought, stuns Hoyas: Georgetown may have escaped Villanova with a win on Saturday, but no one who watched that game would have accused the Hoyas of playing well. Still, a win is a win, and with St. John’s and DePaul upcoming, the Hoyas didn’t figure to need their best performances to get to 8-10 in conference. But St. John’s had been playing better ball of late, and the Red Storm would have nothing to lose, and SJU didn’t lose, defeating Georgetown, 59-56 in overtime. Read More »
Posted in Big East, National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged ACC, Alex Rivas, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Chris Wright, Cincinnati, D.J. Kennedy, DaJuan Summers, Dominique Jones, Don Criqui, Evan Turner, Georgetown, Greg Monroe, Gus Gilchrist, Iowa, Jason Clark, Jermain Davis, Justin Burrell, Justin Leemow, Kansas State, Malik Boothe, Maryland, Mick Cronin, Mountain West, New Mexico, Norm Roberts, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Paris Horne, Rob Morris, South Florida, St. John's, Stan Heath, Steve Alford, Tony Danridge, Travis Ford, Utah, Wake Forest
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