"We continue to be young,'' Stags coach Sydney Johnson said. "It's something that we're trying to overcome. It really shows up late down the stretch and sometimes we've persevered and have a few wins to show for it. Other times it shows we need to mature and grow up a bit."....
After a timeout, Fairfield's last possession ended with freshman guard K.J. Rose being called for charging on a drive to the basket with 1.3 seconds to play. It was the 28th foul call of the night on the Stags, who watched Amadou Sidibe, Coleman Johnson and Johnston all foul out in the final seven minutes....
Sydney Johnson voiced his displeasure with the officiating crew of Gene Steratore, Michael Stephens and Louie Andrakakos. "Well, we committed 28 fouls,'' Johnson said. "Twenty-eight fouls is probably more than what I saw out there. So we had key guys on the bench and three guys foul out of the game. We're not the league favorite. If we have guys that we rely on out of the game for extended periods of time, you're not going to hold a 15-point lead on the road...
Fairfield built its largest lead at 33-17 on a Johnston 3-pointer with 8:17 to play in the first half. He finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including four 3-pointers. "His focus and commitment have been outstanding,'' Johnson said. "He's in a position we didn't expect him to be in. He's played his way past some guys and it's given us some production there at the scoring guard spot, which is something we desperately need." .....
Also from Mark Singelais in the Albany TIMES UNION:
They were down 16 points to last-place Fairfield in the first half and playing so poorly that Patsos had pulled out his entire starting five less than three minutes into the game. "As a group, I think we decided we weren't going to let this happen, especially on our home court," sophomore forward Brett Bisping said. "We just didn't want to lose that game."....
The Saints fell behind 33-17 with 8:17 left in the first half. However, Siena held Fairfield to four points the rest of the half and closed to within 37-36 at halftime. "The beginning of the game, we didn't come out ready to play emotionally," Patsos said. "The next three timeouts, we said make a decision whether you're going to play or not. Do you want to play some more ball or lose 20 games? I'm really proud of our team."
Now that comment about Johnston is what drives me crazy about Sydney. The kid proved himself a very capable shooter and hard worker last year. Why did it take this long this year for the coach to figure it out again that this kid could play a significant role?
Damn shame they did not get the win last night. It would have been great for the team's (and fans') psyche.
"We continue to be young,'' Stags coach Sydney Johnson said. "It's something that we're trying to overcome. It really shows up late down the stretch and sometimes we've persevered and have a few wins to show for it. Other times it shows we need to mature and grow up a bit."....
After a timeout, Fairfield's last possession ended with freshman guard K.J. Rose being called for charging on a drive to the basket with 1.3 seconds to play. It was the 28th foul call of the night on the Stags, who watched Amadou Sidibe, Coleman Johnson and Johnston all foul out in the final seven minutes....
Sydney Johnson voiced his displeasure with the officiating crew of Gene Steratore, Michael Stephens and Louie Andrakakos. "Well, we committed 28 fouls,'' Johnson said. "Twenty-eight fouls is probably more than what I saw out there. So we had key guys on the bench and three guys foul out of the game. We're not the league favorite. If we have guys that we rely on out of the game for extended periods of time, you're not going to hold a 15-point lead on the road...
Fairfield built its largest lead at 33-17 on a Johnston 3-pointer with 8:17 to play in the first half. He finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including four 3-pointers. "His focus and commitment have been outstanding,'' Johnson said. "He's in a position we didn't expect him to be in. He's played his way past some guys and it's given us some production there at the scoring guard spot, which is something we desperately need." .....
Interesting that the officiating crew was called out a bit (quite often a losers coach lament, but usually not expressed in public). Maybe there were too many calls against the Stags. I don't know, I didn't see the game. However on the season they have committed 100 or so more than their opponents, a terrible indictment on (yes) being young, but also on not putting enough emphasis on proper tecqnique so as NOT to foul too much. And certainly this problem has become an unwanted albatross to this team, a problem that is magnified given the heartbreaking nature of a majority of these games which go down to the last minute with the issue in doubt.
The "young" comment is getting old. Siena plays a freshman point guard too. SJ needs to take responsibility himself.
It is a broken record with Sid. We are young, inexperienced etc etc etc. The time to man up, be accountable and ask players to rise to the occasion. That time has passed and it started at the top with Sid himself. I am so sick of this entire administration with the "feel good", "nice", "politically correct" statements. Nothing in life is handed to you, you have to go out and take it. This team is not hungry, nor do they look at themselves as winners(Mo and Steve Johnston excluded).
In past years a loss like this would have weighed me down the next day, but to be perfectly honest I am numb and indifferent this year. That is a dangerous thing for a basketball fanbase that really relies on a core bunch of diehards.
Last Edit: Feb 11, 2014 10:45:09 GMT -5 by brokenboat
Obviously the fault for the game lies outside our superior Ivy league educated staff. I'm assuming that the officials have only state school educations and therefore don't quite get it. If our young players scored a few hundred points higher on their SATs, then they may have had the wherewithal (but only if aided by brilliant ivy level coaching) to defeat the Saints last night.
Siena 7-7 11-14 Marist 6-8 9-15 Saint Peter's 5-9 9-14 Monmouth 4-10 10-15 Niagara 3-11 6-19 Fairfield 2-12 5-20
Stag Schedule:
2/13/2014 * Quinnipiac University Bridgeport, Conn. H 8:30 pm on ESPN3 2/15/2014 * Rider University Bridgeport, Conn. H 4 pm 2/20/2014 * Niagara University Niagara University, N.Y. A 7 pm 2/22/2014 * Canisius College Buffalo, N.Y. A 2 pm 2/25/2014 * Saint Peter's University Jersey City, N.J. A 7 pm 2/28/2014 * Marist College Bridgeport, Conn. H 7 pm
3/6/2014 * MAAC Tournament First Round, Springfield, MA
Post by curioustag on Feb 11, 2014 10:05:06 GMT -5
I am not anti-Ivy league...frankly Fairfield students can act as stuck up as we perceive Ivy students act. That is null and void in my opinion. What doesn't translate is his style. It worked at Princeton since he was a VERY GOOD PLAYER there and it was his alma mater. It just ain't working friends. No disrespect but this post encapsulates how I feel as well:
"In past years a loss like this would have weighed me down the next day, but to be perfectly honest I am numb and indifferent this year. That is a dangerous thing for a basketball fanbase that really relies on a core bunch of die-hards."
I am feeling badly for the coaches and players as I am sure they continue to work hard...but the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results, isn't it?
Last Edit: Feb 11, 2014 10:05:28 GMT -5 by curioustag
Well, bad teams don't get close calls but it sort of sums up our season that in a year that you almost have to run over somebody with a truck to get called for charging-we are called for charging with 1.5 seconds to go.
The bottom line is that we are losing close games, and games that we have 2nd half leads. So while I feel improvement is being made, it is not resulting in wins. This has happened too many times this year. I think some of has to do with not having a Go-to-Guy with the success rate of a Needham, Han or Todd, some of it due to inexperience, and some of it due to not being an especially good ballhandling/passing team.
The ironic part of the Siena loss that for the first 38 minutes of the game, Siena made many runs at us to either tie the game or get within a point, And each time we responded with a score on the next possession…… it sure looked like we had a Go-to-guy, Experience and good passing for 38 minutes. The Siena announcers were impressed. So I feel we made progress in playing better in the 2nd half and responding to runs, but not in “Crunch Time”
Still work to do ….. we have lost 6 close games like this this year. Winning only 2 close ones (Monmouth and Northeastern)
The Good ------------- Amadou – show some good low post moves and a nice touch…. Better than I have ever seen from him Barrow – his perimeter game went to a whole other level with the step back jumper Johnston – In addition to hitting the 3-pointers, he showed the ability to drive Malcolm – impact on “O”, “D” and Rebs and Blocked shots Smith – Like his aggressive rebounds and hustle
The Bad ---------------- Coleman – 5 fouls in 16 minutes. He has had a tough 2014 staying in the game Jenkins – inconsistency continues. Loaded with talent but…
Good and Bad ----------------- Rose – fouled out Siena’s PG with penetration. Great 38 minutes, bad 2 minutes Gilbert – good game, but needs to Oboard more, and Handle on Fastbreak needs lots of improvement
It was the first game this year where we had 5 players clicking at once. And really saw some chemistry and confidence out there. I feel we finally have a starting line-up
The young excuse is not only getting old, it really doesn't even apply to us anymore. Sydney is relying heavily on Johnston and Barrow. A junior and senior. Marcus, Amadou and Coleman should have started to turn the corner by now. This leaves KJ. I understand he is the point, but that's the only freshman being used right now. Smith and Chappell rarely play. I think it's time for Sydney to go 're-commit" himself and take a break from coaching. If it can apply to players, the logic certainly should be applied to someone making the $ he does. He will be saying the same thing with the new point next year...
What does it say about our scholarship back court players when a walk on has "played his way past some guys"?
Here's the other telling SJ quote about Johnston, "His focus and commitment have been outstanding". He's basically saying that focus and commitment are lacking in the other guys. Why is that? Has Sydney lost this team?
