A Look Back / A Glance Ahead

P

panther2

Well-known member
First of all let me state that I was disappointed with last season's results. I thought that we had a very good team going into the season and would be top 4 in the Big East and make the NCAA tourney. It did not happen and I was disappointed. After taking time to look at things objectively, I realize that Julian getting Covid, was the catalyst to all that went wrong. We lost to Pitt at the Garden without him and then as more players tested positive, we had to shut down. With so many hew players, our not being able to practice was devastating. Smith, Mathis, Coburn, Stanley, Soriano, Pinzon, Nyiwe , all had their moments last season. However, it took a while for them to jell after being shutdown. Pinzon had long term Covid and was out for a couple of months. Julian was not the same when he came back. Last let's talk about Wheeler, he really came on as the season progressed and was dependable on both side of the ball. So while I hoped that we would have better than a 17-15 record, I realize that there were extenuating circumstances that contributed to it. Now some may same I am making excuses, I see it as stating facts. I was accused of using a "Strawman Argument" by another poster when I said there is nothing to defend regarding Coach Anderson. Now, since I ain't that bright, I had to looked up the definition of "Strawman Argument" and here is what I found:
A straw man fallacy occurs when someone takes another person's argument or point, distorts or exaggerates it it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is the claim the first person is making. While I still ain't understanding this Strawman Bullshit, I don't see how my saying Coach Anderson and his staff don't need to be defended qualifies.

After the 2020-21 season, we had a total of 8 players transfer. Immediately the hate started, the players don't like or respect Coach Anderson. He has no control over the team. Steve Demeo was let go, and he started badmouthing Coach Anderson. Some on here quoted Demeo. Noe let's look at the transfers, Roberts had a decent year at Manhattan. Williams had an up and down year at Louisiana Lafayette. Earlington had a good year at San Diego and is now on the move again. All three of these players improved significantly under Coach Anderson. Dunn went to Robert Morris and quit the team in the middle of the season. These four players thought they were ready for more prominent roles than they were getting at St Johns which is why they transferred. Caraher left in the middle of the year and resurfaced at High Point where he did not get a lot of minutes and left the team. Moore and Cole are now in the NBA Draft, smh. McGriff knew he would not get time behind Posh and Pinzon and left for Binghampton where he had a nice year for a rebuilding program.

One thing that still confuses is me is how a St Johns fan could hope for Posh and Pinzon to transfer after this past season. It appears that some have so much hate for Coach Anderson that they are rooting for kids to transfer and the program to fail, SMFH. Instead, they both stayed and Pinzon was instrumental in bringing Curebelo on board and Posh was good with this addition. Soriano helped recruit David Jones. Sure does not sound like players who do not like and have no respect for their coach.

As for the upcoming season, I am happy with the additions of Curebelo, Jones, Keita, Storr, and King and will continue to root for my Alma Mater the same as I have for the past 60+ years.
 
Agree with a lot here except I think you minimize the impact of the outgoing 2021 transfers. That set the table for a disappointing 2021-22 season. Aside from Wheeler, no transfer-in came close to replacing our transfers-out, and yes Moore was significantly better than Soriano regardless of his antics.

I really don't care how or what they did at their next stop. It was the sum of the parts that mattered.

And that's why I'm cautiously optimistic for next season. People on here downplay retention. I don't. I think it's a big deal we're returning most of our team.
 
MainMan said:
Agree with a lot here except I think you minimize the impact of the outgoing 2021 transfers. That set the table for a disappointing 2021-22 season. Aside from Wheeler, no transfer-in came close to replacing our transfers-out, and yes Moore was significantly better than Soriano regardless of his antics.

I really don't care how or what they did at their next stop. It was the sum of the parts that mattered.

And that's why I'm cautiously optimistic for next season. People on here downplay retention. I don't. I think it's a big deal we're returning most of our team.
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Dunn transfer and Pinzon health left Posh as sole ball handler with court vision.
 
I guess CMA was correct when he stated that he's still trying to figure out his line-up halfway through the season. When you have only three players returning, it's going to take a while, unless you have the Fab Five coming in. Especially in a power conference.

Rehashing last season, that Indiana ref job hurt too.
 
MainMan said:
Agree with a lot here except I think you minimize the impact of the outgoing 2021 transfers. That set the table for a disappointing 2021-22 season. Aside from Wheeler, no transfer-in came close to replacing our transfers-out, and yes Moore was significantly better than Soriano regardless of his antics.

I really don't care how or what they did at their next stop. It was the sum of the parts that mattered.

And that's why I'm cautiously optimistic for next season. People on here downplay retention. I don't. I think it's a big deal we're returning most of our team.
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Understand completely. Losing eight players was very impactful. It was something that there really was no control over. Some players today see themselves as individuals, not as part of a team.
 
With one of the most stable off seasons in college hoops let’s hope Coach gets us to the promised land and an NCAA tourney bid because oh man does this fan base deserve it and hopefully that snowballs into future years and this year Coach played the transfer game as well as can be expected. I couldn’t be happier with the off season other than wanting to get a long range shooter but I really the the Keita pickup so let’s roll with what we have
 
panther2 said:
First of all let me state that I was disappointed with last season's results. I thought that we had a very good team going into the season and would be top 4 in the Big East and make the NCAA tourney. It did not happen and I was disappointed. After taking time to look at things objectively, I realize that Julian getting Covid, was the catalyst to all that went wrong. We lost to Pitt at the Garden without him and then as more players tested positive, we had to shut down. With so many hew players, our not being able to practice was devastating. Smith, Mathis, Coburn, Stanley, Soriano, Pinzon, Nyiwe , all had their moments last season. However, it took a while for them to jell after being shutdown. Pinzon had long term Covid and was out for a couple of months. Julian was not the same when he came back. Last let's talk about Wheeler, he really came on as the season progressed and was dependable on both side of the ball. So while I hoped that we would have better than a 17-15 record, I realize that there were extenuating circumstances that contributed to it. Now some may same I am making excuses, I see it as stating facts. I was accused of using a "Strawman Argument" by another poster when I said there is nothing to defend regarding Coach Anderson. Now, since I ain't that bright, I had to looked up the definition of "Strawman Argument" and here is what I found:
A straw man fallacy occurs when someone takes another person's argument or point, distorts or exaggerates it it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is the claim the first person is making. While I still ain't understanding this Strawman Bullshit, I don't see how my saying Coach Anderson and his staff don't need to be defended qualifies.

After the 2020-21 season, we had a total of 8 players transfer. Immediately the hate started, the players don't like or respect Coach Anderson. He has no control over the team. Steve Demeo was let go, and he started badmouthing Coach Anderson. Some on here quoted Demeo. Noe let's look at the transfers, Roberts had a decent year at Manhattan. Williams had an up and down year at Louisiana Lafayette. Earlington had a good year at San Diego and is now on the move again. All three of these players improved significantly under Coach Anderson. Dunn went to Robert Morris and quit the team in the middle of the season. These four players thought they were ready for more prominent roles than they were getting at St Johns which is why they transferred. Caraher left in the middle of the year and resurfaced at High Point where he did not get a lot of minutes and left the team. Moore and Cole are now in the NBA Draft, smh. McGriff knew he would not get time behind Posh and Pinzon and left for Binghampton where he had a nice year for a rebuilding program.

One thing that still confuses is me is how a St Johns fan could hope for Posh and Pinzon to transfer after this past season. It appears that some have so much hate for Coach Anderson that they are rooting for kids to transfer and the program to fail, SMFH. Instead, they both stayed and Pinzon was instrumental in bringing Curebelo on board and Posh was good with this addition. Soriano helped recruit David Jones. Sure does not sound like players who do not like and have no respect for their coach.

As for the upcoming season, I am happy with the additions of Curebelo, Jones, Keita, Storr, and King and will continue to root for my Alma Mater the same as I have for the past 60+ years.
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Agree with much of what is said here. Will also add that Champ missed most of the summer/ early fall with his wrist, Wusu missed most of the pre-season practices with his knee IIRC and Pinzon had the finger issue early in the season before COVID appeared. All of these were additional hurdles to clear that contributed to the final outcome. Think about it? When did the coaching staff have a full team (or at least everyone expected to play 10 min or longer) on the court at the same time for practice. It didn't happen in the summer. It didn't happen after practice had started in the fall. You had it briefly early in the season, but then that was disrupted.

I think the trip to the DR will be a huge help this year. Its a couple of games against decent competition, but more importantly, its a couple of weeks of full practices to help build a cohesive unit.
 
weathermannyc said:
Agree with much of what is said here. Will also add that Champ missed most of the summer/ early fall with his wrist, Wusu missed most of the pre-season practices with his knee IIRC and Pinzon had the finger issue early in the season before COVID appeared. All of these were additional hurdles to clear that contributed to the final outcome. Think about it? When did the coaching staff have a full team (or at least everyone expected to play 10 min or longer) on the court at the same time for practice. It didn't happen in the summer. It didn't happen after practice had started in the fall. You had it briefly early in the season, but then that was disrupted.

I think the trip to the DR will be a huge help this year. Its a couple of games against decent competition, but more importantly, its a couple of weeks of full practices to help build a cohesive unit.
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I would hope , as many would , that making the NCAA Tournament has to be the Minimum
Goal for next season . A better Objective might be to win a BE Championship soon . Can we do that in 2022-2023? Time will tell but , the Roster looks improved , though replacing Champ is a question . Jones might fill that role well . We still lack that spot on 3 point shooter . A player who has that ability but , doesn’t get jerked to the Bench if a opponent scores on him . Shooting is one of the most important skills a player can have . It’s like .300 hitters in baseball , there aren’t that many around that do it consistently . We need one . Do we have one ? Speculation suggests maybe but , not certainty .
 
You can’t refute SJU had some adversity last season, but w COVID, injuries, etc., that was similar to other BE programs. Just ask Creighton and Xavier, who lost key players including a Bluejay point guard for season and Musketeer big man for many games. Adversity is really just part of the game, although fair to point out varying degrees.
 
The postponement and then non-makeup of that Marquette home game didn't help either. They were in the middle of a four game losing streak that had a good chance of being a five game skid if that game was played against us.
 
paultzman said:
You can’t refute SJU had some adversity last season, but w COVID, injuries, etc., that was similar to other BE programs. Just ask Creighton and Xavier, who lost key players including a Bluejay point guard for season and Musketeer big man for many games. Adversity is really just part of the game, although fair to point out varying degrees.
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Agreed. It just did not come together last year for whatever reason.

I happen to think we are more talented this year, hopefully with the opportunity to gel early, we can get out the gates strong.
 
BigRed2 said:
Agreed. It just did not come together last year for whatever reason.

I happen to think we are more talented this year, hopefully with the opportunity to gel early, we can get out the gates strong.
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There is no reason we should not gel early. We return by far the majority of our team. Last season we had one of the most turbulent of any roster. This year we had, as Mike Maher pointed out, great stability. With the roster continuity and the preseason trip to the DR we should come out of the gate flying. Looking forward to the 22-23 season.
 
I feel that’s the minimum standard and the school would buy excuses like ( we had injuries, brought in new players, need more time for chemistry , wait till Posh’s senior year , the NIT committee screwed us etc)

I seriously hope I’m wrong.
 
austour said:
With great stability comes great responsibility.
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Exactly. The one comment we should not hear from the staff, as has been the mantra in the past, or any Anderson supporter is that the team may take till February to jell. With the majority of the team returning, the group should be just about ready to compete out of the gate. Here's hoping that the staff turns the team's fortunes around and that this next campaign is Dance worthy.
 
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