Well that is a relief: UConn-St. John's recap

So this is an easy win to downplay. But I think we’re underestimating St. Johns and underappreciating some remarkable things.

For one, St. John’s came in with a better record than us (12-5 v. 11-6). They’ve played weaker teams. But at the moment they have more wins over likely tournament teams than we do, with a win over Siena, who is 15-4/8-0 in conference and won in the tournament last year, and a win over Temple, who is currently 17th in the country. They also beat Cincinatti, which we couldn’t do. So, I think it’s wrong to call St John’s pitiful.

Second, I think it was pretty pretty, especially compared to how we’ve been playing. We shot 57%, held St John’s to 36%, made 6/14 threes, shot 11/12 on free throws, and had 9 players score. And Kemba looked Kembawesome. On an abstract analysis level, we played sluggish the first half, said to heck with that, and took over the game entirely in the second half. When was the last time that happened? I thought this game was a notable win, and I’m feeling a lot better about this team after having watched it.

It stops the bleeding, Blane Dog did a good job pinch hitting, Kemba played a bit better, etc.

In the long term, not so much.

St. John’s isn’t a Tournament team, regardless of who they’ve beat. And although any moral victory is probably a welcomed sight right now, UConn has about fourish NBA players and they have none. (And the whole they beat Cincy, we lost to Cincy = they’re better doesnt’ really hold up, especially in the Big East.) Regardless of how low anyone has his or her expectations at this point, in the end, it’s just another win over a team we should have beat.

D-Bev played about 20 minutes in each of the past two games. He did not create a ton, but he kept the offense under control for the most part. I doubt we’ll see him this much against Texas, but its nice to see him getting some minutes. If nothing else, he could be a steadying hand that helps limit the pace when it gets too out of control.