A most excellent season so far

This win was so important to SJU and Father Shanley and Pitino. I’m assuming a loss would have put SJU in the NIT. So many college basketball fans ignore the regular season, have some interest in the league championships but follow the sport in March madness.
To lose a close game to Seton Hall would have been a disaster. Now Father Shanley can take a bow for hiring Pitino and Rick can add to his reputation of being one of the all time basketball coaches.
A great day for SJU and its fans who have had very few days like this in te past twenty five years.
 
Excellent season is right. Attendance way up and will only go up from here. We needed to win to get people back. Finally advancing and making the big show. I hope we get at least 6 good years out of Pitino if not more so we can build this thing and win something big. Everybody will be back in the fold and we can get back to where we always should be.
 
This is a post I wish I didn't have to write.

I thought i would wake up this morning sick to my stomach and angry, and to some extent that's true - but nowhere what I expected.

The NCAA Tournament was always the goal. It was the reason our guys got off the mats and reeled off 5 straight wins to close the season, then beat a very good Seton Hall team (whose ticket should have been punched after going 13-7 in the Big East).

The selection committee may have said "subtract 4 wins from beating Georgetown and DePaul" but if they did that say "subtract up to 6 losses from playing top 10 teams (UCONN, Creighton, Marquette)"

Of our past 3 tourney teams, this squad would have beaten each of them maybe even with a healthy DJ Kennedy or DeAngelo. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They were deeper, more balanced, and were playing their best ball of the season.

To me , this IS a tourney team who may very well have been a sweet 16 team.

Maybe the selection committee penalized us for having strong NIL, but then what about SHU? Maybe some on the committee wanted to punish Rick for getting off too easy from the Louisville mess.

I feel worst of all for these kids. Most of them who transferred in were playing in relative obscurity and each became nationally known names.

I'll always remember this team as the team who was on the canvas about to be knocked out and rising up to earn a tourament bid.

The fact that the bid didn't come is beyond their control. They earned it, and did everything they could over the final 7 games.
 
My grade for Year 1 of Rick:

On the court: B-
Gave this a B- because the team still underachieved. We dug too big of a hole for ourselves in November and in the heart of the Big East schedule. Can't lose to Michigan and Boston College. We didn't show consistent grit or toughness until the end of February/March. That is simply way too late. This team was incomprehensibly frustrating to watch for most of the year. Easy to forget that now.

The bar for next year, however, is higher. We need to be a Top 25 team by end of year, get back to BET semi's (although who cares about conference tournaments now), and get to second weekend to get an A.

Off the court: A-
Our attendance ballooned big time, our NIL infrastructure is in the top echelon of the Big East + primed to be big players in recruiting from here on out. Upgraded facilities are officially being built. The "stink" is off of St. John's brand -- that's a huge W.

Next year, we need to see improvement with student involvement + enthusiasm (not really on Rick), and much better scheduling for OOC + venues for Big East play.

Overall: B+
 
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