Taking the Big East By [Red] Storm - CH2k9

[rhs_rizzo]

Poncho Nardi Being Pursued Hard By BC
Can St. John's hold on to their top target or will they lose out to Boston College?

After seeing all other schools drop out of the Nardi sweepstakes, four other schools have jumped back in, but only one is making a serious push to signing him. Boston College, lead by senior star Tyrese Rice, is looking to snatch Nardi in the offseason signing period to replace Rice. The comparison is there and I'm sure Coach Al Skinner would love to bring him in to run the young BC Eagles.

If St. John's were to lose out on Nardi, they would most likely just hold on to the scholarship and use it next season as there are no juniors currently on the roster, so no scholarships would be available next season. Norm Roberts said "we got to keep our options open, and if Nardi signs elsewhere, we don't really have a backup plan." With the lack of a backup plan, signing someone just for the sake of using the scholarship wouldn't be in the best interest of the program.

Note - Poncho Nardi is from Newton, MA. Boston College would be the closest "big name" school.

[rhs_rizzo]

Casual Apparel Holiday Festival - Round #1

Marist 67, St. Johns 80
1 2 T Final MRST (5-8) 34 33 67 SJU (9-1) 38 42 80	9:30 PM December 28, 2008 Carnesecca Arena Bronx, NY

SJU hosts 4-team tournament. Marist hangs tough in first half, but Red Storm
pull away early in 2nd half thanks to trio of Mason, Jr., Kennedy and
Burrell. Shakeup to starting lineup brewing?

Marist Red Foxes Starters MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Devezin 28 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 8 1 0 4 1 J. Gavin 27 5-14 4-7 2-2 0 4 1 0 1 16 R. Schneider 24 7-14 5-11 3-3 3 0 0 1 0 22 K. Bauer 22 5-5 0-0 3-4 4 2 1 0 0 13 L. Williams 24 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 2 1 1 1 6 Reserves MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS D. Goodwin 17 4-7 0-1 1-2 2 3 0 0 0 9 K. Gregory 7 0-6 0-5 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 MRST TOTALS 24-53 9-25 10-13 16 20 4 2 6 67

St. Johns Red Storm Starters MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS M. Boothe 26 2-5 0-1 2-2 1 5 0 0 1 6 P. Horne 22 3-8 2-5 0-0 2 0 1 0 0 8 D. Kennedy 26 6-13 2-7 2-4 4 2 0 0 2 16 A. Mason, Jr. 18 8-11 2-4 2-2 7 3 0 1 1 20 J. Burrell 27 8-10 0-0 2-2 12 4 2 1 0 18 Reserves MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS R. Thomas 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 S. Evans 8 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0 0 6 D. Coker 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Q. Roberts 9 2-2 1-1 1-1 0 1 1 0 1 6 SJU TOTALS 32-52 7-18 9-11 29 16 5 2 5 80

Table created by: PUJOLS4MVP

[rhs_rizzo]

Casual Apparel Holiday Festival - Tournament Tree

Marist - 67
St. John's - 80
________________

Hofstra - 46
Virginia Tech - 72
_________________

Championship Round

Virginia Tech Hokies (10-2) vs. St. John's Red Storm (9-1)

[rhs_rizzo]

Quincy Roberts Inserted Into Starting Lineup
Looking for shakeup to optimize production come conference play; Paris Horne to bench.

After St. John's rolled over Marist, Coach Roberts had stated in his press conference that there would be a change to the Red Storm's starting lineup. Freshman shooting guard Quincy Roberts will now take over as the starting 2-guard while sophomore Paris Horne will come off the bench.

"Quincy [Roberts] knows his role now. We want him to be aggressive and score. That's what he's out there to do. As for Paris [Horne], just because he's starting out on the bench doesn't mean he isn't an important piece to this puzzle. He knows that and his motto has always been 'it doesn't matter who starts the game, but who finishes it.' That's why I knew I could make this move without disrupting the chemistry of this ball club." - Norm Roberts

The Red Storm will host the Virginia Tech Hokies tomorrow night, December 29th, in the championship round of their own tournament.

[ty5oke]

Shaking up the lineup on a 9-1 squad, interesting decision. Should be a good one against the hokies.

[rhs_rizzo]

Quote: Originally Posted by ty5oke

Shaking up the lineup on a 9-1 squad, interesting decision. Should be a good one against the hokies.

Yeah, I'm sure VTech will give me a good game. I went with Roberts over Horne because Horne just doesn't do much for me. He's actually a SF playing at SG, so that doesn't help his cause either. He's only 6'3", so playing him at SF wouldn't help me much at all either. I just like what Roberts gives me when he's on the floor and speeds my team up, so I'm going to give it a shot.

Also, I just looked at the rotation minutes and noticed that for some reason, Mason Jr was only slotted for like 9 minutes a game. Had to change that ASAP as well as change a few other kids' minutes.

[rhs_rizzo]

Casual Apparel Holiday Festival - Championship Round

Virginia Tech 68, St. Johns 80
1 2 T Final VT (10-3) 33 35 68 SJU (10-1) 33 47 80	8:30 PM December 29, 2008 Carnesecca Arena Bronx, NY

St. John's wins their own tournament. Edmondson's 35-footer to tie game
before half gives all momentum to Red Storm going into halftime. Quincy
Roberts shines in his first career start.

Virginia Tech Hokies Starters MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS M. Delaney 28 9-12 4-6 0-0 3 4 0 0 1 22 A. Vassallo 25 5-19 1-12 3-4 2 2 2 1 1 14 T. Bell 23 7-16 3-4 1-1 6 4 0 0 0 18 J. Thompson 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 2 0 0 1 0 C. Diakite 20 1-1 0-0 0-0 4 3 1 0 1 2 Reserves MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS L. Witcher 20 3-10 0-0 0-0 8 0 1 0 1 6 H. Thorns 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 1 0 1 2 V. Davilla 10 1-2 0-0 2-2 5 1 0 0 0 4 T. Vinson 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VT TOTALS 27-63 8-22 6-7 30 20 5 1 6 68

St. Johns Red Storm Starters MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS M. Boothe 26 4-7 2-3 2-3 1 1 2 0 3 12 Q. Roberts 22 5-9 2-5 4-4 2 5 0 0 1 16 D. Kennedy 21 3-13 1-7 2-4 3 0 3 1 0 9 A. Mason, Jr. 25 5-8 3-4 5-6 3 2 0 0 1 18 J. Burrell 19 4-5 0-0 5-6 7 5 0 0 0 13 Reserves MIN FGM/A 3PM/A FTM/A REB AST STL BLK TO PTS R. Thomas 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 4 0 0 0 0 2 P. Horne 9 2-4 1-3 0-0 1 2 0 0 0 5 S. Evans 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 4 1 0 0 0 2 T. Edmondson 5 1-1 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 3 SJU TOTALS 26-49 10-23 18-23 26 16 5 1 5 80

Table created by: PUJOLS4MVP

[cubsfan203]

St John's 10-1? Time to find some new sliders.

Poncho is a great name, lol.

[rhs_rizzo]

Quote: Originally Posted by cubsfan203

St John's 10-1? Time to find some new sliders.

I had some wicked sliders with my old Florida dynasty. I played ranked teams for every out of conference game and the SEC games were still brutal as well. I'm going to try to find a happy median between the ones I use now and those. Big East play must be difficult!

Quote: Originally Posted by cubsfan203

Poncho is a great name, lol.

Yes it is! It was what caught my eyes at first, but his game should be just as good.

[rhs_rizzo]

Media Poll Top-25 - December 30, 2008

Rank	Team Name	Record
1	UNC	(11-1)
2	UCLA	(11-1)
3	Memphis	(9-2)
4	Texas	(11-1)
5	Duke	(8-2)
6	Villanova	(9-1)
7	Louisville	(9-3)
8	Stanford	(12-0)
9	Marquette	(9-2)
10	Washington	(12-1)
11	Oregon	(11-1)
12	MSU	(9-3)
13	Georgetown	(9-2)
14	Arizona	(9-2)
15	Florida	(10-3)
16	Maryland	(10-2)
17	Gonzaga	(11-3)
18	Purdue	(11-2)
19	OKST	(9-3)
20	USC	(8-2)
21	Connecticut	(8-3)
22	FSU	(11-4)
23	Notre Dame	(9-3)
24	Pittsburgh	(7-4)
25	Alabama	(10-3)