Creighton-St. John's

[MU Viking]

Entertaining game to watch last night, I thought. Creighton is really good offensively, but St. John's did an excellent job of defending McDermott. He had 25 but he had to WORK. They also bottled up Wragge and Manigat who combined for 8 points. Gibbs is averaging less than 2 TO per game and he had 5. St. John's definitely won the toughness award in this one also. Creighton actually outrebounded St. John's, but it seemed like down the stretch, St. John's was just tougher and wanted it more. Loose balls, key rebounds...

St. John's is going to be a tough one if this is the way they play the rest of the season. Tons of talent starting to come together.

Creighton is very dangerous offensively. I'm not convinced they are going to make a deep run because of their D, though. I am hoping so for the conference's sake, but I could see them falling to a tough nosed team in the Tournament.

[MUfan12]

I haven't watched SJU all that closely, but the difference I've seen with them has been Harrison's play. Much better shot selection, and overall is playing with more discipline than earlier this season. They really need his production in the backcourt to give some balance.

[IWB]

St. John's has more talent that any team in the league. If/when they play as a team, they can be very dangerous. Problem is they usually play individual street ball.

[Phantom Warrior]

Lavin has also tightened up his rotation significantly. Against Providence he used basically six players with Pointer being the only sub with double-digit minutes. God'sgift got 5 or 6 minutes, as did Sanchez. Branch got 3. Against Creighton seven got more than 10 minutes. Earlier in the year he was routinely giving nine or 10 guys double-digit minutes.