Figured I would make a game thread for us to discuss the UConn and SJU games tomorrow. All times EST as always

Sunday 3/22

St Johns vs Kansas -5:15pm, CBS (SJU -2.5)

UCLA vs UConn -8:45pm, TNT (UConn -4.5)

Nice to see both teams are favored to make the Sweet 16. UConn is going to need to shoot better, have Demary back, or both to not only cover the spread but advance though. Hopefully playing at a more reasonable time will help the shooting %. I'm still pissed at how late last night's game tipped off.

How I see it (and if my math makes no sense, my apologies):

Chances of the Big East going 2-0: about 50 percent

Chances of the Big East going 1-1: about 75 percent

Chances of the Big East going 0-2: no more than 25 percent.

I’m worried about UConn going against a hot UCLA team. I’m confident in St. John’s vs Kansas. I was very underwhelmed by what I saw of Kansas yesterday.

I'm in agreement with both of you. St Johns looked great against UNI and Kansas hasn't really looked dominant at any point this season. I'm very confident the Johnnies win.

Despite how poor UConn may have looked against Furman, I don't think our shooters will shoot so terribly again, at least not in back to back games. But I need to know Silas will play and be effective before I really feel comfortable about us winning. I'm not nearly as enamored with Dent as some are (I watched him last tournament and he had like 10 turnovers) but if Wilkins went off against Smith I can see Dent doing the same. Although he's not as tall so Smith may be able to pester him a bit more effectively.

I think Reed will have another great game, but doubt he goes for 30+ and 25+ boards again. So we will need more out of our other starters as well as the bench.

The guards have to shoot the ball much better. I never thought I’d see a game in which Mullins shoots 0-8 from 3. This kid has too good a touch for that to happen. But it happened. And in the same game, Ball shot 1-6 from 3. Thank God that happened in the same game in which Reed was a monster and Karaban was excellent. Reed not only had the big numbers but he was the first player to shoot 80% from the floor with more than 6 shot attempts in the 3-point era. Not only did he pull down 27 rebounds but 11 of then were offensive rebounds, giving them easy second chance points and an 18-4 advantage on offensive boards. They can’t depend on that happening again. Ball and Mullins must show up.

(03-21-2026 04:30 PM)Bill Marsh Wrote:  The guards have to shoot the ball much better. I never thought I’d see a game in which Mullins shoots 0-8 from 3. This kid has too good a touch for that to happen. But it happened. And in the same game, Ball shot 1-6 from 3. Thank God that happened in the same game in which Reed was a monster and Karaban was excellent. Reed not only had the big numbers but he was the first player to shoot 80% from the floor with more than 6 shot attempts in the 3-point era. Not only did he pull down 27 rebounds but 11 of then were offensive rebounds, giving them easy second chance points and an 18-4 advantage on offensive boards. They can’t depend on that happening again. Ball and Mullins must show up.

Some of the shots Mullins took weren't even close too. I think one drilled off the backboard and didn't even hit rim IIRC. I agree they both need to be better, but I think they will. Think some of the poor shooting was a combination of 1st round nerves and playing so late at night. The game got over at like 1am. Nerves should be more settled for round 2 and an 8:45 expected tip off is way better than tipping off at 10:30.

Really good points, Nameless. We see that a lot in the first round games of the tournament. Those tournament jitters are why the play-in game can actually be an advantage. This year we saw Texas, an 11-seed, come off a play-in game to upset 6-seed BYU. A big reason why was BYU shooting only 18% from 3. They were the 2nd best 3-point shooting team in the country this year at 39.8%. Bu not this Thursday they weren’t. In contrast, Texas already had a tournament game under their belt in the play-in and their nerves had settled down.

(03-21-2026 07:41 PM)Bill Marsh Wrote:  Really good points, Nameless. We see that a lot in the first round games of the tournament. Those tournament jitters are why the play-in game can actually be an advantage. This year we saw Texas, an 11-seed, come off a play-in game to upset 6-seed BYU. A big reason why was BYU shooting only 18% from 3. They were the 2nd best 3-point shooting team in the country this year at 39.8%. Bu not this Thursday they weren’t. In contrast, Texas already had a tournament game under their belt in the play-in and their nerves had settled down.

BYU really didn't look like the same team without Saunders. 19-6 with him, just 4-6 without him down the stretch. They definitely could've used a shooter (and senior leader) like him against Texas

St Johns was up 14, down to just 1 with a minute and a half left. Shaping up to be a great finish.


Hopkins hits a 3 to make it 4 as I'm typing this

Kansas down 2 with 24 seconds left and possession of the ball.

Here's a stat of note for you: 9 fouls for St Johns this half, 2 for KU. Definitely being officiated fairly, lol

Darling with the layup at the buzzer! St Johns overcomes the foul disparity to advance! Yes!

The “darling” of the crowd!!!

St. John's overcame a near screwjob out in San Diego. Man I hope the Huskies can win tonight and we get a BE party in DC next weekend.

Congrats to Saint John's!!!!!

An epic coaching blunder by Bill Self and his assistants. They deploy a man to man defense and with their 6-10 man (No. 40) guarding his man at the three-point line? That's insane. Like the SJU big man is going to hit a 20-footer. The absolute LAST think Kansas could do was offer a defensive scheme that allowed for a layup. Yet that is what KU offered. Shocking.

Here is what coach Bill "Big Dance" Dazzle does if he is leading the Jayhawks. 1. I put my 6-10 man on the SJU man throwing in the ball. Tell him to jump and wave his arms. Be a distraction. 2. I assign my best perimeter defender to SJU's top three-point shooter. 3. I have a triangle zone, with one defender at the free-thrown line and two tall defenders on either block down low. I'm basically saying to SJU "Your best three point shooter is NOT going to beat us. And you are NOT going to get a layup." Then you hope SJU misses a shot of 10 feet or more.

I haven't heard how Self explained this. He's a Hall of Fame coach — and he allows such a breakdown to happen? He's a great coach. But this ... ?

(03-22-2026 06:55 PM)kayak1 Wrote:  St. John's overcame a near screwjob out in San Diego. Man I hope the Huskies can win tonight and we get a BE party in DC next weekend.

For real. The fact it was 9 fouls to 2 until 15 seconds left in the 2nd half was mind boggling. There were at least 4 plays with hard contact by Kansas that were uncalled. Plus some knick knack fouls on SJU.

5 point lead at the half despite a rough start and foul trouble. We can get it done! Jayden Ross is playing like a grown man tonight

(03-22-2026 08:17 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Congrats to Saint John's!!!!!

An epic coaching blunder by Bill Self and his assistants. They deploy a man to man defense and with their 6-10 man (No. 40) guarding his man at the three-point line? That's insane. Like the SJU big man is going to hit a 20-footer. The absolute LAST think Kansas could do was offer a defensive scheme that allowed for a layup. Yet that is what KU offered. Shocking.

Here is what coach Bill "Big Dance" Dazzle does if he is leading the Jayhawks. 1. I put my 6-10 man on the SJU man throwing in the ball. Tell him to jump and wave his arms. Be a distraction. 2. I assign my best perimeter defender to SJU's top three-point shooter. 3. I have a triangle zone, with one defender at the free-thrown line and two tall defenders on either block down low. I'm basically saying to SJU "Your best three point shooter is NOT going to beat us. And you are NOT going to get a layup." Then you hope SJU misses a shot of 10 feet or more.

I haven't heard how Self explained this. He's a Hall of Fame coach — and he allows such a breakdown to happen? He's a great coach. But this ... ?

In fairness they did force a guy who was 0/4 in the game to his off hand and made him hit an acrobatic layup to win it. I think you make valid points but I actually thought the real issue was his defender not guarding him as tightly as he could have because he didn't want to foul Darling and give him a 1+1.

Maybe one less foul to stop the clock would have been a better idea in hindsight?

(03-22-2026 09:27 PM)Nameless Wrote:  For real. The fact it was 9 fouls to 2 until 15 seconds left in the 2nd half was mind boggling. There were at least 4 plays with hard contact by Kansas that were uncalled. Plus some knick knack fouls on SJU.

5 point lead at the half despite a rough start and foul trouble. We can get it done! Jayden Ross is playing like a grown man tonight

Yeah fouls aside that over & back call and Rosario's out-of-bounds save were incorrectly called in favor of Kansas.

I've gotta say no matter what happens it's been a pleasure watching Karaban represent the conference for 4 years.

(03-22-2026 06:34 PM)Nameless Wrote:  Kansas down 2 with 24 seconds left and possession of the ball.

Here's a stat of note for you: 9 fouls for St Johns this half, 2 for KU. Definitely being officiated fairly, lol

That is a "stat of note," indeed. Fortunately, it did not cost SJU.

(03-23-2026 05:44 AM)Nameless Wrote:  

(03-22-2026 08:17 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Congrats to Saint John's!!!!!

An epic coaching blunder by Bill Self and his assistants. They deploy a man to man defense and with their 6-10 man (No. 40) guarding his man at the three-point line? That's insane. Like the SJU big man is going to hit a 20-footer. The absolute LAST think Kansas could do was offer a defensive scheme that allowed for a layup. Yet that is what KU offered. Shocking.

Here is what coach Bill "Big Dance" Dazzle does if he is leading the Jayhawks. 1. I put my 6-10 man on the SJU man throwing in the ball. Tell him to jump and wave his arms. Be a distraction. 2. I assign my best perimeter defender to SJU's top three-point shooter. 3. I have a triangle zone, with one defender at the free-thrown line and two tall defenders on either block down low. I'm basically saying to SJU "Your best three point shooter is NOT going to beat us. And you are NOT going to get a layup." Then you hope SJU misses a shot of 10 feet or more.

I haven't heard how Self explained this. He's a Hall of Fame coach — and he allows such a breakdown to happen? He's a great coach. But this ... ?

In fairness they did force a guy who was 0/4 in the game to his off hand and made him hit an acrobatic layup to win it. I think you make valid points but I actually thought the real issue was his defender not guarding him as tightly as he could have because he didn't want to foul Darling and give him a 1+1.

Maybe one less foul to stop the clock would have been a better idea in hindsight?

That's a fair point. Maybe I was a bit harsh. I actually liked the timing of the intentional fouls. We'll never know.

Regardless, I'm glad Saint John's won. I want to see a program that has never won a national title so. So no Duke, UConn (sorry, just being honest, my man), Michigan State, Michigan, Zona ... My preference is 1. Tennessee. 2. Saint John's and 3. Houston.