I wrote a week ago that St John’s had an NIT bid in their sights and that with four games left we’d see what they were made of. They promptly lost two straight and I nearly started my last post saying that we’d seen it. Turns out we hadn’t. Wednesday night is when we saw what they were made of, when St John’s beat projected #8 seed Butler in double over time 75-68 at Carnesecca Arena, and this absent their two best players, Shamorie Ponds, out with a stomach strain, and Marcus Lovett, who quit the team a month ago due to unexplained uterine complications. I rehash the doings only for the benefit of missus fun, who fell asleep at halftime. St John’s went on a 9-0 run between the end of the first half the beginning of the second to take a 12 point lead with 15 minutes left. Led by some trailer park wife beater looking white guy called Jorgensen – as an aside why do so many white players look and act crazy: Grayson Alan, JP Mascara, Eric Devendorf, Jason Williams, Trevor Cooney, this Jorgensen guy, it wouldn’t surprise me if they discovered a girl bound in duct tape covered in bite mark in the trunk of any of their air-foil equipped Ford Escorts – came back to to take a five point lead with 15 seconds left. When something close to a miracle happened: after a Clark three Butler tried to throw a home run ball on the in bounds play. The pass went long and just as it was about to go out of bounds Kelan Martin saved the ball off Marvin Clark, who was already standing out of bounds. Butler ball. But wait – and here comes the miracle – replays showed that Martin’s foot was out of bounds and the refs made the correct call: they reversed themselves and awarded St John’s possession. Here’s a screen cap that clearly shows the player’s foot out of bounds.
SJ scored and survived a buzzer three. Overtime. SJU went out to a six point lead in OT and Butler came back to tie. Double overtime. Which was all St John’s and mostly Justin Simon. That performance would have been remarkable under any circumstances. That it occurred on Senior Night in front of the venerable Lou Carnesecca on his name sake court with Shamorie Ponds on the bench was really one for the ages.
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One of my guilty pleasures is re reading the game threads on St John’s forums in which posters record their real time impressions of what’s transpiring on the floor. It’s a pleasure because many posters are not very cogent with time to reflect and collect their thoughts and these comments are off the cuff and it’s guilty because it feeds my mean spiritedness and contempt, which is inapposite to my goal of compassion and empathy. Here’s my favorite from last night, from a poster who I will charitably refrain from naming:
“Simon not impressive tonight . Lots of turnovers . Still could not score enough or defend at Crunch time . No moral victories . We need players like Jorgensen , Rowsey , Machura.”
So to recap: Justin Simon – who played the entire 50 minutes out of position, who scored 24 points on 9 of 16 from the floor and 6 of 7 from the line, who had 10 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, he was not impressive and what St John’s needs is more white players who look like they have female sex slaves chained up in their crawl spaces.
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So where does that leave us. Right on the NIT bubble. On the bad side of ledger is their record: a couple of those early season bad losses – DePaul and Georgetown in particular – might come back to bite them in the ass. On the good side: #9 SOS, #82 RPI, signature wins against projected number one and two seeds, a electric player in Shamorie Ponds, and access to the number one media market in the United States. If we’ve learned anything this week it’s that the NCAA is like the mafia: Always the dollars. Always the fuckin’ dollars. You have to think that given the opportunity to invite St John’s as opposed to say the 21-9 Lipscomb Bisons or the 24-6 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, they might opt for New York’s team. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. Because I’m an optimist.
Bashir Ahmed – one of the more maligned players in recent SJ history – might have saved his best game for senior night: 22 points, six rebounds and two assists. Ahmed’s started every game of his two year career, averaging 12 points and five rebounds. By way of comparison Shelton Jones averaged 11 and 6 and Charles Minlend averaged 12 and 7. Obviously that’s not an apples to apples comparison and obviously Ahmed’s a flawed player – most players are – but neither do I think the opprobrium heaped upon him entirely justified. When I turned on the DVR I thought Alibqowitz was starting because it was senior night and I thought oh what a nice gesture, get him out of there. It turned out he was starting because he was starting and considering how little he’s played he responded pretty well: six rebounds and only two fouls in 43 minutes. The game though was really a microcosm of his career, and specifically when he fouled a three point shooter in the first over time with SJ up three. I thought it was a bull shit foul but whatever. Amar is a dumb untalented player and as the last remnant of the Lavin years it’s time to exit stage right. Clark had 20 points and four rebounds: he hit a huge three at the end of regulation and made his free throws in OT. Owens had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks but six TOs. There are rumors floating around that he’s going to leave after this year, presumably to greener pastures where he can shoot every time he touches the ball, as his father think he ought. I don’t see that happening unless he wants to transfer to a mid major like Iona. Trimble and Yawke scored zero points between them in 21 minutes.
I’m not going to shit on the referees as is my wont if for no other reason than they got the foot on the line call right. Oddly though St John’s shot only one free throw in the first half, as compared to Butler’s seven. This was understandable because SJ was getting after it on defense – and their defense last night was astounding, as good as they’ve played all year. What was odd though was that St John’s shot 21 free throws in the second half and OT to Butler’s five: St John’s was in the bonus by the 12 minute mark but had only five fouls against them at the end of regulation.
The game was called by Wally Szczerbiak and Brent Stover, the voice of the Chicago Sky of the NBA. Maybe it was the way things turned out but I can’t think of anything bad to say about them. Szczerbiak waxed nostalgic about St John’s and how much he loved playing in gyms like Alumni Hall and how great the atmosphere was and how he learned to shoot while his father – ABA player Walter Szczerbiak – played pick up games against Chris Mullin and Walter Berry and the like. What he didn’t explain was why he went to Miami to play for Herb Sendek instead of to Queens to play for Brian Mahoney, although in retrospect he clearly made a wise decision.
So that’s that. No notes or interesting anecdotes. Regarding what I wrote last time several of you have inquired (this is actually true) asking if I was serious about retiring and yes I’m serious about retiring. I’m bored – I can’t even be bothered to Bing pictures of near naked women, that’s how bored I am – and even if you can’t tell I can: the quality of what I’m writing is steadily diminishing; I’m surprised anyone still reads it. I mean sure I have my moments but the wheat is increasingly hidden by the chaff. And you can find chaff and pictures of near naked women anywhere.