Texas A&M 58, St. John's 57

[recap] [box score]

I'm beginning to see why Steve Lavin has been so insistent on playing that aggressive 1-1-3 trapping zone.

After being shredded by Arizona's three-point shooting last night and giving up a three triples in the first eight minutes or so against Texas A&M, Lavin finally put his team into a man-to-man defense, and he switched back and forth throughout the game. Almost immediately, the Aggies shifted their focus from the perimeter to the interior.

The Red Storm only go seven deep, and of that group, only God'sgift Achiuwa is a post player. And at 6'8", 236, he's actually undersized against the front-line players of most power-conference teams. The matchup problems continue at the power forward position: Moe Harkless is 6'8", but weighs only 190 pounds, and is clearly more accustomed to playing on the wing than he is banging underneath with power forwards.

Arizona 81, St. John's 72

[recap] [box score]

I've decided to severely limit anything I write about St. John's until they stop playing that zone, or start playing it better or something. Otherwise, I'm just going to end up pointing out the same thing over and over again. Arizona hit 14-of-29 three-pointers in this one. If you want a difference in this game, you don't have to look any further than the Wildcats' 33-point advantage in that category.

Nurideen Lindsey, quickly gaining recognition as one of the best one-on-one and transition players in the college game, nearly won this game on his own, thrilling the Madison Square Garden with his spectacular moves and keeping his team in front for most of the second half. He picked up his fourth foul with maybe six or seven minutes left and St. John's clinging to a lead, and Arizona quickly went on top. Steve Lavin had no choice to bring him back, and Lindsey then made a mistake that is probably attributable to his inexperience -- he immediately committed his fifth and disqualifying foul on the offensive end, pushing off as he tried to create a lane to the basket.

Without Lindsey, it was all over but for the celebrating.

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.