Anderson - is he really the guy ?

Paultzman post=447781 said:
I am not getting into this fire Mike nonsense, but do  wonder if Mike is wedded to the press no matter the constitution of the roster. It is good to get a team rattled and garner some easy baskets obviously, but I see too many transitional open three opportunities for opponents with our guys scrambling to recover. It goes without saying that MA knows hoops more than I ever will, but sometimes the personnel just does not fit the press game and perhaps it is better to apply it situationally as one tool, not a constant. Just my two cents fwiw.
 
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I actually take opposite view - I don't think they're pressing enough. 

We are aggressive in the halfcourt, and as you correctly note it hasn't gone well (but then again it never seems to go well in the first half of the season for Anderson teams).  Giving up a few open 3s when the other team is able to effectively rotate the ball against pressure is the price you pay for the turnovers you hope to create.  It isn't my system of choice, but I understand the theory and it can work with good coaching and the right players.

What's odd is that we have barely shown the true full-court pressure this season.  It's almost always a token press and then we back off.  It seems like Anderson is trying to win games without going full "40 minutes of Hell."  Perhaps he's trying to prep the team for games or situations when they can't get tempo and they have to play in the half court, but with this roster composition and depth, I am surprised that we have not seen a more aggressive fullcourt press-and-trap.  Whenever we speed opponents up, good things happen - but we don't do enough to speed them up.

With Posh, Wusu and Mathis to harass ball handlers and Stanley, Wheeler and maybe Nyiwe to get their long arms into passing lanes, you'd think we could be devastatingly effective in all-out press mode.  Yet it's been MIA.  Strange.
 
lawmanfan post=447784 said:
Paultzman post=447781 said:
I am not getting into this fire Mike nonsense, but do  wonder if Mike is wedded to the press no matter the constitution of the roster. It is good to get a team rattled and garner some easy baskets obviously, but I see too many transitional open three opportunities for opponents with our guys scrambling to recover. It goes without saying that MA knows hoops more than I ever will, but sometimes the personnel just does not fit the press game and perhaps it is better to apply it situationally as one tool, not a constant. Just my two cents fwiw.

 
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I actually take opposite view - I don't think they're pressing enough. 

We are aggressive in the halfcourt, and as you correctly note it hasn't gone well (but then again it never seems to go well in the first half of the season for Anderson teams).  Giving up a few open 3s when the other team is able to effectively rotate the ball against pressure is the price you pay for the turnovers you hope to create.  It isn't my system of choice, but I understand the theory and it can work with good coaching and the right players.

What's odd is that we have barely shown the true full-court pressure this season.  It's almost always a token press and then we back off.  It seems like Anderson is trying to win games without going full "40 minutes of Hell."  Perhaps he's trying to prep the team for games or situations when they can't get tempo and they have to play in the half court, but with this roster composition and depth, I am surprised that we have not seen a more aggressive fullcourt press-and-trap.  Whenever we speed opponents up, good things happen - but we don't do enough to speed them up.

With Posh, Wusu and Mathis to harass ball handlers and Stanley, Wheeler and maybe Nyiwe to get their long arms into passing lanes, you'd think we could be devastatingly effective in all-out press mode.  Yet it's been MIA.  Strange.
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I can’t provide a breakdown of % of time the press is utilized, but I never think a one trick pony works. It would be interesting to see how much time is spent practicing half court D v press. In the half court I see some rotation problems leading to open shots. Also the press is broken, the recovery to open shooter seems often  a problem as well.

I agree that the 40 minutes of hell is Mike’s calling card, but wonder if he really has the players to execute it. To me executing includes recovering and precluding wide open jumpers which hurt SJ often. Successful pressing teams imo not only value dividends of press, but recovery & deflections as well. I only reference Pitino in terms of style, not anything related to SJU job, but guys I respect who have seen his practices note his staff’s equal attention to half court and full court D. Sorry for droning on :)
 
Big East Coach of the Year or not , I would almost guarantee that Wright ,,Willard , McDermott , Cooley ,etc  would have never allowed the Pitt player to go Coast to Coast in  8 seconds and basically , have a uncontested shot to win the Game .  Our Defense on that last play was incompetent !   Plus , I didn’t see much Brain Trust work going on during the Pitt timeout  on our sidelines . Where were our Staff guys and Anderson setting up a defense ?    If this play had happened on Mullin’s watch , this Board would have been a Volcano .     I get that we are committed to CMA but , he doesn’t get a pass on Criticism . On this Play it was warranted . 
 
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Paultzman post=447781 said:
I am not getting into this fire Mike nonsense, but do  wonder if Mike is wedded to the press no matter the constitution of the roster. It is good to get a team rattled and garner some easy baskets obviously, but I see too many transitional open three opportunities for opponents with our guys scrambling to recover.

It goes without saying that MA knows hoops more than I ever will, but sometimes the personnel just does not fit the press game and perhaps it is better to apply it situationally as one tool, not a constant. Trying to wear down teams is nice, but going too deep in roster with guys who have trouble with this approach. Just my two cents, but shortening rotation may also help.

I do not think CMA has another approach. Most coaches teach want they know, and that is one system.  Looie almost never played zone because man to man was what he knew.  and he is a hall of fame coach.   While CMA may be lacking the athletes to play his system to the  max, he also lacks the players to succeed in the half court game on the offensive side.   The past 2 seasons, his teams overachieved because his system did wear down teams and did cause havoc and resulted in big runs for our guys.

This year, he may well lack the personnel to fit his system.  Still, that is what got coach here, and that is what he  will stick with.  If  there is one downside to getting very experienced transfers is that they are really set in their ways.  This system is so new to them, and some may not be embracing it.  This would not have been the case without all of the transfers. Whether CMA could have prevented the mass exodus I have no idea. Perhaps some of the posters do.

 
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There is no way CMA is getting fired . His Contract with its extension makes that a poor choice financially and otherwise .   He was BE Coach of the year . Then again , so was Brian Mahoney .  It’s basically a year to year thing and vote ..I’m not comparing Mike with Brian , just making a point .                                                 He has done a fine job in Coaching Champ and Posh to another level . No doubt about that . Posh was coming off a broken arm in high school , which must have impacted his HS rankings .    Wusu and Pinzon have been good local Players as well .     CMA’s problem , somewhat like Lavin and Mullin experienced , is that it appears there are not as many top 100 kids interested in coming to NY .  Who knows why ?   And , local kids at that level go off to Duke , Kansas , Illinois , etc .  So , it’s a problem for any Coach .  Our track record over the last 2 decades has been bad .  Kids playing in HS today only know St John ‘s as a losing program . It hurts to admit that but , it’s true .      What we need is a spark , a Sweet 16 or Final 8 team  like Loyola was a few years ago and Abilene Christian did last year .   To do that we will need high level transfers and some kids interested in playing 4 years here . Kids who like CMA and the way he Coaches .  It’s a higher degree of difficulty job for him here as he’s not at Missouri or Arkansas , with unlimited funds and a pipeline to top 100 kids .   We scream about our poor facilities but , as others have commented , less than 4 percent of Alumni  donate anything . That’s bad !  None of our Catholic BE schools seem to have that problem .  So , it’s a problem that falls upon us . 
 
Paultzman post=447781 said:
I am not getting into this fire Mike nonsense, but do  wonder if Mike is wedded to the press no matter the constitution of the roster. It is good to get a team rattled and garner some easy baskets obviously, but I see too many transitional open three opportunities for opponents with our guys scrambling to recover.

It goes without saying that MA knows hoops more than I ever will, but sometimes the personnel just does not fit the press game and perhaps it is better to apply it situationally as one tool, not a constant. Trying to wear down teams is nice, but going too deep in roster with guys who have trouble with this approach. Just my two cents, but shortening rotation may also help.
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Agree with you Paultz, this team does not have enough athletes to press for any sustained period of time. Which is probably why we're not pressing for any sustained periods of time. Funny how CMA seems to see that, but our fan base doesn't get it. And to all my friends on the board, you will never convince me that Wheeler is an athlete. He looks like an athlete, but he's not. Not going to knock the kid, but he's not what some of you want him to be, no matter how many times you say it. 
 
I've stayed off the board since the end of that debacle on Saturday.  Have we fired CMA yet?
 
austour post=447810 said:
I've stayed off the board since the end of that debacle on Saturday.  Have we fired CMA yet?
 
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I agree this thread is getting a little ridiculous.  Quite a bit of overreaction coming off of a 2 point loss without our best player against a team that lost close games without a key player for them who recently returned.
 
austour post=447810 said:
I've stayed off the board since the end of that debacle on Saturday.  Have we fired CMA yet?
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Austour, I usually stay off the Board for a few days or the next game after a debacle but this time I just couldn’t do it.

And no, the administration hasn’t fired him yet but if some members of this Board had that power,…
 
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I have seen very few posters calling for CMA's firing. I see a fair amount of extremely reasonable(and right now, emotionally charged) posters having a conversation about whether or not CMA is the right man to right this ship. Just to clarify for all of you who think this is a reaction to one bad loss; it ain't. It's the culmination of 20+ years of futility and frustration. As is usually the case, the title of the thread is a good indicator of the subject matter. You think it's to early be having this conversation, that's fine, don't join in. Or you want to defend CMA, that's cool too. We all want him to succeed here, desperately. But for the love of God, unless you're a mod, please stop telling others what they should and shouldn't be discussing(within the boundaries of board rules). 
 
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It's been a long 20 years for sure.  My post had tongue firmly in cheek.  Just knew that if I had looked at the last couple days posts it would be, rightly or wrongly, an absolute shitshow that I didn't want to subject myself too.
 
SLYFOXX1968 post=447791 said:
Big East Coach of the Year or not , I would almost guarantee that Wright ,,Willard , McDermott , Cooley ,etc  would have never allowed the Pitt player to go Coast to Coast in  8 seconds and basically , have a uncontested shot to win the Game .  Our Defense on that last play was incompetent !   
 
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wouldn't a foul have been worse and more disheartening?
 
Anderson is not getting let go for two or three years because of his contract and who does SJU replace him with. The only opportunity to get a coach who could attract talent to upgrade the program was Pitino and the university couldn’t handle the fallout.
That leaves the posters debating whether the transfers in are more talented than the transfers out when none of the 13 or 14 are top half of the league talent and none would be on a Pitino coached SJU roster. Now we can hope to avoid the big east Wednesday game and somehow get a NCAA. bid every five years or so.
 
Monte post=447816 said:
I have seen very few posters calling for CMA's firing. I see a fair amount of extremely reasonable(and right now, emotionally charged) posters having a conversation about whether or not CMA is the right man to right this ship. Just to clarify for all of you who think this is a reaction to one bad loss; it ain't. It's the culmination of 20+ years of futility and frustration. As is usually the case, the title of the thread is a good indicator of the subject matter. You think it's to early be having this conversation, that's fine, don't join in. Or you want to defend CMA, that's cool too. We all want him to succeed here, desperately. But for the love of God, unless you're a mod, please stop telling others what they should and shouldn't be discussing(within the boundaries of board rules). 
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But let me ask you this. If CMA is not the right man to lead the ship, who in reality is? I come with that question from the perspective that it doesn't appear his lack of success has anything to do with work ethic. In fact he is probably the hardest working coach we've had in decades.

I just remember the last coaching search and how many times we were turned down. I guess my question is, can we really even do better than CMA?

Please nobody even bring up Pitino to answer this....
 
On message boards all over the place when teams don’t play well some people get get concerned, others angry and some impulsively demand coaching change. In fairness to the SJ fan base, it  is starving for BE Tourney semis,  a Dance ticket and a win or two there. The idea we have COY, retained Julian and an All BE terror in Posh certainly gave me a degree of confidence SJ would be a top tier team. Still time to evidence that, but I respect everyone’s concern after watching the team slog through ooc schedule in mediocre fashion at best. 

One thing is clear to me so far is if we play a BE game without either Posh or Julian, that will be trouble based on our supporting cast to date. We should also realize that in a 20 game BE grind that will occur more than we’d like.

Beat Butler! Please :)
 
Paultzman post=447826 said:
On message boards all over the place when teams don’t play well some people get get concerned, others angry and some impulsively demand coaching change. In fairness to the SJ fan base, it  is starving for BE Tourney semis,  a Dance ticket and a win or two there. The idea we have COY, retained Julian and an All BE terror in Posh certainly gave me a degree of confidence SJ would be a top tier team. Still time to evidence that, but I respect everyone’s concern after watching the team slog through ooc schedule in mediocre fashion at best. 

One thing is clear to me so far is if we play a BE game without either Posh or Julian, that will be trouble based on our supporting cast to date. We should also realize that in a 20 game BE grind that will occur more than we’d like.

Beat Butler! Please :)
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If we are going to beat Butler without Champ it’s going be because we played stellar defense and rebounded well. Two things we have not done an adequate job of to this point. Therefore, I am not confident. I will be watching and rooting like hell but I have absolutely no expectations whatsoever.
 
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