St. John's 78, Lehigh 73

[recap] [box score]

I didn't get a chance to watch this game last night, but was eager to get to it this morning on my DVR. I had watched St. John's in their season-opening win over William & Mary on Monday, and had written a bit about some of the problems I saw with their aggressive take on the matchup zone. I was not a little delighted, then, when Lehigh opened up the game by hitting their first five three-pointers. Part of the reason I feel compelled to write about basketball, you see, is to keep a scoreboard of the dialogue I have with myself about basketball, to keep track of things so I can remind myself how smart I am.

I began ticking off all the things that were wrong with the St. John's defense, preparing for this post. Slow rotations, poor fundamentals, too much aggressiveness. On a hunch, I went over to HoopSpeakU to see if, by some chance, Sebastian Pruiti had done the work for me and pointed out the flaws in the defense. He had, with visual aids, and far more descriptively than I ever could. So go read that.

That torch having been so aptly carried, and knowing the outcome of the game, I shifted my focus away from the St. John's defense and instead tried to figure out just how Lehigh lost this game.

St. John's 74, William & Mary 59

[recap] [box score]

The first game of the college season brought an interesting contrast of styles.

Both Tony Shaver's Tribe and Steve Lavin's Red Storm (led on an interim basis by Mike Dunlap as Lavin recovers from surgery for prostate cancer) played 2-3 zones. But the two defenses were similar in name only.

W&M played a more traditional version of the 2-3, sitting back on its heels and inviting St. John's to beat them with the three-pointer. St. John's, on the other hand, matched up with William & Mary in the backcourt, extending its 2-3 and 1-1-3 sets into half-court traps.

For the first half, at least, both things worked in William & Mary's favor.

Offensively, the inexperienced Johnnies spent the first 20 minutes forcing early jumpers or swinging the ball aimlessly around the perimeter. Defensively, it was more of a mixed bag, as the pressure did force a number of turnovers against the ballhandling-challenged Tribe. But the Red Storm's reckless closeouts made it easier for the Tribe to penetrate the zone's gaps with the dribble, and their rotations were poor, giving W&M plenty of open looks from deep.

William & Mary led 33-26 at the break. The second half, however, was a different story.