25-26 Season

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mullins Revenge said:
Whos dismissing anyone? I loved last years team.

This years team is much more talented and will be better.

Get excited fellas!!!!!!! Rick is doing what he came here to do!
Click to expand...
Much more offensively talented and not done yet. Worried about fit, chemistry, and defense. I'll feel better about #1 and #3 with who we bring in next.
 
Btw Gary Parrish of CBS has SJU pre-season number 4.

Every pre-season poll I have seen has had them in top 11 or so.

And if you think about it that is insane that a school whose fans a few years sgo just wanted to be a bubble team loses BE POY and also players as good as Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, Aaron Scott off of a 31-5 team and they are projected to be as good if not better.

 
Mullins Revenge said:
We were not even a preseason top 25 team last year. This year, we are top 10 and maybe top 5. Why? Because we have brought in a huge talent upgrade.

This is something to be excited about fellas. My goodness......
Click to expand...

(1) Who cares about Preseason rankings...Kansas was #1 overall and we weren't ranked yet they were the 7 seed in Providence and we were the 2.

(2) Preseason rankings are heavily influenced by what the team did the year before, and what we did was earn a 2 or 3 seed in the NIT. Whatever team we field will be standing on the shoulders of the 2024-2025 group. We will never miss a preseason top 25 again with Pitino coaching.

(3) We could go undefeated and win the national championship and our talent jump wouldn't be "insane" to anyone but you. We were 31-5, man.
 
Marillac2 said:
You are a really tough read, you know that? You are the only person on the planet that would write that about a 31-5 team that won the Big East, lost an All-American/Conference player of the year, Richmond, Scott, Wilcher, etc.

These same “studs” you love now will be the same guys you claim we are recruiting over in 11 months.
Click to expand...
Jack Williams said:
Who gives a damn about preseason top 25? If anything we will get love in the preseason top 25 this year BECAUSE of the hard work of last years St. John’s team to put us back on the map officially. It doesn’t mean this years team is automatically an “insane talent upgrade”

You can be excited about next years team. That’s great. I am too. But don’t also dismiss last years team so easily. We were really good. We had Kadary, RJ, Scott, smith, who were all experienced, tough and talented college basketball players. Oh yea and last years team still had zubs on top of that.

Frankly, i won’t be saying this teams a huge talent upgrade until I see how they look on the court.
Click to expand...
Stop taking the bait as he's trolling.
 
I wanted everyone back from RJ to even Vince. Continuity is that important. With that written, Zuby was the one guy we absolutely needed to have back to keep some semblance of our 2024-25 identity. He is so freaking good it's really absurd. Not one player in the country defends all 5 positions better than he does and his offensive rebounding is ridiculous.

Tack Prey and Ayo onto that and nobody is beating our big men off the bounce...that's so annoying as an opposing player or coach. You work to get a mismatch and then your guard can't even take them off the bounce? Infuriating.

A couple of guys buy in and we are back in business. It would be great to get a Tasmanian Devil PG on the defensive side to disrupt and cause chaos.
 
Marillac2 said:
I wanted everyone back from RJ to even Vince. Continuity is that important. With that written, Zuby was the one guy we absolutely needed to have back to keep some semblance of our 2024-25 identity. He is so freaking good it's really absurd. Not one player in the country defends all 5 positions better than he does and his offensive rebounding is ridiculous.

Tack Prey and Ayo onto that and nobody is beating our big men off the bounce...that's so annoying as an opposing player or coach. You work to get a mismatch and then your guard can't even take them off the bounce? Infuriating.

A couple of guys buy in and we are back in business. It would be great to get a Tasmanian Devil PG on the defensive side to disrupt and cause chaos.
Click to expand...

We’re a serviceable PG away from being one of the favorites to win an national title.
 
fordham96 said:
Btw Gary Parrish of CBS has SJU pre-season number 4.

Every pre-season poll I have seen has had them in top 11 or so.

And if you think about it that is insane that a school whose fans a few years sgo just wanted to be a bubble team loses BE POY and also players as good as Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, Aaron Scott off of a 31-5 team and they are projected to be as good if not better.

Click to expand...

Thats called insane talent fellas. This team is loaded.

Its our time!!!!!!!!!!
 
fordham96 said:
Btw Gary Parrish of CBS has SJU pre-season number 4.

Every pre-season poll I have seen has had them in top 11 or so.

And if you think about it that is insane that a school whose fans a few years sgo just wanted to be a bubble team loses BE POY and also players as good as Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, Aaron Scott off of a 31-5 team and they are projected to be as good if not better.

Click to expand...

No less than 3 years ago preseason 4th place predictions in conference would’ve pleased us. Now one of the the most respected CBK writers in the county has us #4 nationally before we even have filled our roster. This is truly an unprecedented, historic rebuild.

Every damn one of us deserves a full Summer ahead of celebration and hype as we wear our BE Champs gear around.
 
Marillac2 said:
(1) Who cares about Preseason rankings...Kansas was #1 overall and we weren't ranked yet they were the 7 seed in Providence and we were the 2.

(2) Preseason rankings are heavily influenced by what the team did the year before, and what we did was earn a 2 or 3 seed in the NIT. Whatever team we field will be standing on the shoulders of the 2024-2025 group. We will never miss a preseason top 25 again with Pitino coaching.

(3) We could go undefeated and win the national championship and our talent jump wouldn't be "insane" to anyone but you. We were 31-5, man.
Click to expand...
In the past pre season rankings were heavily influenced by last years performance but as portal progresses people see that their is tremendous roster turnover and I think they are basing it on talent on the roster though impossible to predict how it will jell witness last years Kansas ranking and ours.
 
bamafan said:
In the past pre season rankings were heavily influenced by last years performance but as portal progresses people see that their is tremendous roster turnover and I think they are basing it on talent on the roster though impossible to predict how it will jell witness last years Kansas ranking and ours.
Click to expand...

There is still significant weight given to it. Also what a coach has achieved at his current school factors in heavily.

Be honest, did you have doubts Pitino could win like that here? I did. Not because of Pitino at all…I’ve been screaming for him since I was in college…but because of St. John’s.
 
Jack Williams said:
My point with that is this. St. John's was one of the top teams in the country last year. However, going into the season, St. John's had not broken through in a real way yet, so no one was going to actually rank us in the top 15 in preseason polls. Coming back this year, there is now a real proof of concept, there is a proven commodity at center in Zuby, and it feels like pundits now see Pitino's vision are ranking us in the top 15 consistently. That was the case before we even got Sellers and Jackson. Last years team paved the way for writers and voters to feel "safe" about ranking SJU higher in their preseason polls, and I just don't think that is a proper indicator of which team has more talent. Certainly not enough to be able to confidently declare one roster has insane level of talent upgrade over the other. Remember, MR is the same guy who declared with full confidence that 2024-25 UConn would be better than the previous huskie team. I am pumped for next season, but I also speak fluent in "offseason overhyping" as a jets fan ;)


I see your point, but why only name the above 3 guys? Last years team also had Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis. Those are insanely big pieces that can't be left out of the discussion when comparing rosters.

Overall, I think it is more than fair to say this roster has a ton of potential, but I still maintain that declaring one roster to be vastly superior to the other talent wise, at this stage of the game, is premature.

I do see a lot of offensive talent being assembled here, but I also have real questions about what we will be defensively, if Hopkins can play our brand of D consistently, if having a combo guard be our PG will work. The 24-25 team couldn't shoot, but I still view their team defense to be part of their talent. Scott and Kadary namely were two of the most talented defenders I have seen here. It is hard for me to give next years team the green light on having more "talent" just because of recruiting rankings. So maybe overall this should just be tabled until next year when the games are played.

I've thought a lot about it and I think Mitchell jumping on board would be huge for this roster. Jackson, Sellers, Sanon, Bryce can all score/shoot, Mitchell would be a balancing piece that would be perfect for this group
Click to expand...
Re rankings I am talking pre portal. St Johns doesn't get ranked in 2025/26 based on results of 24/25 while losing KR, Scott, and Deivon. They're not getting ranked because folks trust Pitino's vision. It's still about Jerry's and Joe's before X's and O's.

Fair point on player comps as I was only comparing incoming portal classes, and I did mention KR as being on a par with the 3 guys coming in. But you are leaning towards comparing last year's finished product with this year's embryonic and not completed roster and before they ever share a court with each other. If you did the same with last year's roster after the portal acquisitions and thought they were going to reach the heights they did more power to you.

Regarding RJ, while we were all hopeful that RJ could become what he did become, that was definitely not guaranteed at the same point in the process last year given how bad his first season on STJ was. So at this point in the season the expecations for the top 3, at least in my mind, are leaps and bounds above what my expectations were for RJ and the non KR portalers, especially with RJ coming off double shin surgery. So I'm talking about what I see as potential for this roster now vs. what I though the potential of the roster was last spring.

It's all opinions anyway. But I am of the school you can teach or at least manage D so I'm happy with the significant upgrade in offense. And agree Mitchell would bring something missing but I don't see it. Hope I'm wrong. And hope they find a servicesable PG even if it's just for 20 mins per game if Jackson/committee approach is really what they want to try first.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top