Live Reaction: St. John's Loses 80-75 to Duke, Eliminated from the NCAA Tournament

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We'll do enough to get us to the Yukon game, which is a half hour from now. As soon as they clear the quarter to half hour to the Yukon Michigan State game, I'm sure you'll want to see that.

Obviously a tough finish, a tough game for St. John's, which loses a hard fought and they played well and you know, nothing was going to be easy against Duke. I told you that from the beginning, we all knew that.

They fall 80 to 75 in a game. They had chances to win. There's no question.

A couple of things right off the bat. Obviously their first test three point shooting with praise, amazing performance.

People are going on the white and play more in the second half. You can't question Patino's matchups. You got to leave Malone on that. Pray hadn't done anything like that all year.

He had a remarkable first half. You could have given him a taste of the second half because the guards sure didn't shoot well in the second half. And their lack of day, their inconsistent play again killed the team as you knew it would they were going to have to play way above normal.

But there was three things here that jump out. Number one, Duke was big and strong and push St. John's for a lot of the game all over the court.

We got to the front of the rim got in the paint at will.

Couldn't stop boozer. I was surprised we didn't that didn't take him more. I was surprised. I understand what Rick was doing. But still I was surprised because he really pushed Mitchell around.

Number two.

He's had an incredible game. I told you that he had been on fire the last couple of games to watch him that he had been really on fire. He winds up today 10 for 15 makes big shot if the big shots cost 25 points.

Duke dominated from the foul line. Unlike Duke.

I think he usually usually is better making free throws. They did not make a lot of free throws tonight, which kept St. John's in the game late to Duke was 15 to 24 from three from St. John's only made four free throws into a four of eight. Duke shot 24.

But the only made 15, which for them is a very poor number.

And the presence of forster until about a half hour before the game. I didn't even know forster was dressing for the game.

You know, they had said he could try and come back this year. He only came back.

He was a huge factor in the game. He settled them down. He made plays. I mean, he wound up with 11 points. He scored a couple of huge baskets down the stretch.

He provided what he provides in terms of direction and leadership.

They turned the ball over only eight times, nine times, which is only as many as they usually get in the game. So they didn't turn the ball over that much.

I mean, they bought in St. John's with the zone in the second half.

St. John's nine for 18 in the first half from three, including pray and darling going six for six. And if you know praying and darling.

That's that's what you know, pray made 50 something percent of his three years. The problem is he only took like one game.

He didn't even take one a game, but he took like one was there. He come in and hit one.

And he always, if you watch them as you shut well from three, you just didn't take a lot of them.

Darling, who had been hit a missile year.

And they've been bad. And you saw a darling at the end. Pull up and try to get the ball over the length. And at the last second saw our bottom.

I didn't like the way they ran that. They didn't have any timeouts left. I would have played that a little differently. But again, it's hard to question Patina with what he accomplishes.

You know, he does a great job. So, you know, none of us are better than he is. So we got to take that into account.

I didn't want darling taking the shot there. I was very disappointed in after a quick basket. I was very disappointed with some of the things Jackson did, but what else is new.

I was very disappointed in sellers. Really, I thought he did nothing in game two against Kansas. And I thought tonight two of nine one of four play 29 minutes.

And that's it. And miss some really big shots. You know,

sellers Jackson and San and three of the four guys you need to get something out of from three.

They went one for.

They went two for 15.

From three. Now where they cleaned up from three was.

Pray goes four for four. Darling makes a couple Hopkins goes two for two. He only takes two, but he makes them.

Zubi made a couple which you know isn't really something he does a lot of even Mitchell finally made a three.

And had a good game, although he was overpowered at times in his matchups because it's just too big and strong.

Hey, Duke just pushes on you and pounds on you and tries to go through you. They are big. The second biggest team in the country.

They have physical and they have quality physical big players. These aren't like guys who can't play. These are big physical players who can play.

And then having forced the.

I think it was the difference in the game.

Evans had a great game.

They had a lot of trouble stopping Duke. See Duke decided when we break the press, we're going to attack the rim.

You'll add it every time you break a press.

It's a fast break. They want to attack the rim. St. John's couldn't keep them from attacking the rim.

They couldn't keep them up the backboards for the second straight game. St. John's got out.

Kansas out rebound them to got rebounded them by 12.

Duke's bigger and stronger than St. John's. And their players are even of a higher quality.

You know, that's what you're dealing with with Duke. I mean, Duke is, you know, if forced is playing, Duke is as good as anybody in the country.

You know that.

Now, I don't know how he's going to respond coming off this game. He was, I mean, he got tired at times, but he probably isn't in basketball shape.

He wound up playing 20 minutes, gave them 11 points.

When I heard he was, when I heard he was going about 20 minutes before the game, somebody texted me and said,

Hey, what's going to play tonight? I was like, boy, I said, well, who knows how well he's going to play.

Well, he had a game and it made a difference. Now, Evans, who has been great, the latest couple of games was even better tonight.

This is the best game he played. He made a lot of really tough shots.

He heard them a lot. I mean, Boozard did what Boozard is going to do, 22 and 10. Zubi had his 17 and eight. Boozard had his 22 and 10. You expect that from those guys.

Okay. You expect Hopkins to get his 15. He did. Mitch had got 13. They got 45 out of the front line. They got the rebate. They got out of the front line. What you expect.

They got, if you count prey, they got a lot out of the front line. They didn't get it from the back court, which is something that St. Johns has been dealing with all year.

The inconsistency of the gods.

Just crazy plays. All right. Now Jackson, commit an afflagment, didn't kill him because the kid missed the two free throws.

So they just took the ball out of bounds. Sellers not fouling there was killer. Absolutely. And let Shia call the time out was killer.

I mean, you saw me. You got a foul and you had an opportunity to follow me. That's just a huge wasted opportunity.

They had their chances. Listen to the fact that they got a shot. I don't like the shot they got, but they got a shot down three.

They fought their hearts out. They played their hearts out.

You know what? Listen, one thing about this team, if you follow them, you get your money's worth every single night.

They play their hearts out. They play their rear ends off. They never ever take one whistle off.

They never take one playoff. They give you as much effort as any team in the United States. That you should be proud of.

Are they a great team? No. Are they a floor team? Yes. Are they really a floor team in the back court? Yeah. They need a guy who can shoot.

I thought sellers was that guy. I'm so disappointed with his play the last couple of games.

I knew Jackson's a radical and everything he does.

He's going to come in. He's going to shoot the ball. But sellers will stay out there a lot of minutes and won't shoot the ball.

Now tonight he took nine shots. Me too. He had some open looks. He needed to drain and he couldn't get it done. They couldn't get that shot down down the stretch when.

Boozer was scoring and Evans was scoring and forced it was scoring. See, Duke got the ball in the hands of the guys.

They needed to get the ball in the hands of down the stretch and got them to score when they needed to score.

They really did. St. John's answered. They and Zubi answered Hopkins answered. They answered a bunch of times. Okay. They really did.

They fought with everything they had. I mean, this game, you know, they had a chance to tie it in the final second. So this game is a one possession game that wound up a five point game.

I know right now it leaves a real bit of taste in your mouth because you were dreaming of dream. You con the fourth time. Get into a final four getting by this team.

I told you I wouldn't have picked St. John's to beat Duke if forced to was playing. I didn't know he was playing till about 20 minutes for the game started.

Obviously he wasn't it full strength, but he gave them a big lift tonight. He really did. He gave them a big lift and St. John's needed that barrage from three.

I mean, I know they wind up 13 of 32, which is still not bad. I mean, if they should 40% they hadn't lost the game this year when they shot that high from three ever plus they out scored them.

Okay, by 24 points from three. So do kind of make up 24 points from the three point line. How did they do that? Well, they did that by getting inside and scoring and shooting the basketball at 54%.

Number one. They got in the lane and scored in the paint got dunks got layups and then Evans had a great night. He was 10 for 15. He hit jump shot after jump shot. He hit big threes.

He did everything. Absolutely everything. And then they out scored them on the foul line by 11 points. It could have been a lot worse.

And it's not like St. John's got a bad whistle. They didn't. They didn't because Duke was the bigger team in St. John's had to deal with that.

Again, the same thing that has haunted St. John's all year, the inconsistency of the gods, which Patino had to deal with. How do I get the moments that I need out of these gods? How do I get what I need out of these gods, I bring them in, bring them out, bring them in, bring them out.

They're dealing with that or the front line. You knew they were going to play major minutes. They went out there. Hopkins would have played 34 35. He didn't because he was in foul trouble. Mitchell was in a little foul trouble. So he only played 33 normally played 37.

He played 39 minutes. Okay, booze a plate 39 minutes. The big guys did what they do. Did I think it was overpowering the game? No. Did I think he did some good things? Yes, 17 and eight in that kind of game. Now, Zubi had trouble with their size a little bit. And that's something that he's going to have to deal with.

Going forward in the next, listen, he gives you so much effort. He has so many different versatility. He's going to be a guy who can play, but how much he plays on the next level will depend on whether or not he can develop a perimeter shop because he's not going to be able to power people of his size.

I mean, look how big boozer is. Look how powerful. I mean, booze a push Mitchell all over the place. You haven't seen anybody push Mitchell all over the place. He pushed them all over the place.

Can St. John's hold their head up high? Yes, they lost to the team that this year was the best team in college basketball all year, suffered two injuries.

They didn't look like the same team, but got the point guard back tonight. Now, if the point guard's going to be healthy, if they can win on Saturday and the point guard's going to be healthy by the time they get to the final four, they got a great chance to win it.

I think Arizona will be there. I think Michigan, which I think was pulling away. They're up 10 against Alabama was is going to be there.

Okay. Iowa States got the injury. We'll see what happens in the second game there. St. John's when you get to the sweet 16.

You've accomplished. You won the games you are supposed to win. You can then you're going to match up, depending on your seat with a big time team.

Houston went out last night. They had a big season. They went out last night. St. John's had a big season. They went out there in this rounds. Hey, when you're playing one of the top three teams in the country, it can happen and they played them right to the health.

They can hold their heads up high. It's a lot of things they're going to kick themselves about.

Obviously, a lot of the season, they just could not be counted on to shoot the ball and make the big play. And in the second half, they struggled to do it again.

First half. See, I have to admit, I said to someone in half time, I said, listen, I'm very worried. I said, well, they said, why? I said, because St. John's just shot the lights out and they're up at one point.

I said, if you had told me, St. John's was going to outscore Duke by 21 points at the half from three and make this many threes, I would think they'd be up 10 to 12 points. They're up one.

Why could do because Duke could score it well.

But St. John's battled. They battled. They made plays. They made plays in the open floor. They did good things.

There's a lot of credit. It can hold their heads up high. I know they frustrated. I know they think they could have won this game and they could have won this game. They weren't front for a lot of this game.

It's a tough loss. It's a really tough loss.

But beating Duke was going to be tough.

But beating Duke with their point guard back. Remember, they've lost two games this year that way. Two games against as good a schedule as anybody plays in the country.

They lost two games.

They put up numbers.

Boosers put up numbers that have not been put up by a freshman.

Basically, they put up numbers that have not been put up by a freshman ever in the last 20 years. And they put up numbers that no one has put up since Larry bird.

I mean, when you talk about Larry bird, you're in a whole different area code.

And the metrics on Duke for the regular season was outrageously strong.

But they weren't the same team since they had lost the point guard and unfortunately for St. John's.

You read his head tonight played 19 minutes and had a big impact on the game. A really big impact on the game.

Now, if you're looking for things, what does this mean going forward? Hey, I don't think patino's going anywhere.

Okay, it's not going to go to the college now. Okay, I don't listen. I've always thought that patino is one of these guys who is always got his eye on the next job.

But at this age of his life, I'd be stunned if he went anywhere else. You know, these other schools would be smart to hire, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Repole is committed.

I'm sure they'll go out and spend plenty of money and try and take another run at this thing.

The last two years, they've had wonderful years. They've created a great following.

They really captured the city this last week. It would have been wonderful. If they could have won this game and got to a final four, it really would have been something very special.

That's the goal. They got one step farther than they did last year.

They turned out to be woefully inconsistent from the guard position.

Now, the Yankees won again today pitch brilliantly. Obviously.

The Giants probably can't wait for the Yankees to leave town.

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Yukon Michigan State coming up.

To toss up game, I have a feeling Michigan State's been on win. I don't know why I've had that I've had that feeling all day that Michigan State was going to beat them.

I think it's going to be a great game.

Congratulations to St. John's on an exciting season.

They gave everybody a lot of thrills.

For St. John's, they hadn't been to the sweet 16 in a very long time.

I know it's always frustrating when the dream ends here.

But they face Duke at pretty much full strength tonight with force the back.

And they fell just short.

I know it's tough to take, but hey.

In a one and done format, it's always tough. On the next year.

We'll see you tomorrow.

We'll be listening to the Mike Frances of podcast on the bet rivers network.