Another new St. John's Fan

M

MakingPlays

Well-known member
Hello,

First time poster here. As others have stated, I'm also from Arkansas, but also a huge Mike Anderson fan. I was referred to this site by an SJU fan, gave me the link to this site and another as well. I just wanted to introduce myself and give you guys a little insight on Coach Anderson from someone that's seen his teams play in person many times over the years.

First off, Coach Anderson teams are always exciting to watch. That's why you see a lot of hog fans sad to see him leaving and intend on following his teams. He has a unique style of play and a lot of people really enjoy the full court pressing, allowing his players freedom on offense, and running anywhere from 9-12 guys at you all game long. It's also unique in that the style allows fans to really get involved, you'll see in press conferences CMA challenging fans to fill up the arena and come out and be loud, because a loud arena, plus a team just running waves of guys at you, can really overwhelm teams. When it's working right and guys know their roles it looks like a thing of beauty, you could see that with his UAB, Mizzou, and some of his better Arkansas teams. I believe his home winning percentage at Arkansas was 80+%. People like John Rothstein have joked on twitter and said if every game was held in Bud Walton Arena Arkansas would be in the final four every year.

With that said as Coach Anderson said in his presser the other day, at times his system won't look so pretty and you'll be thinking why in the world are they giving up so many easy buckets, it takes time for some guys to learn the rotations and for everything to mesh, but once guys buy in and figure out the rotations on defense his system works well and you can catch a lot of teams off-guard that's not prepared for it. That Arkansas/Providence NIT game is a good example. Also, the thing about his system it does take experience, that's why his Arkansas team this year was just in the NIT, he had the 2nd youngest team in the nation, getting guys that are older, experienced, and can catch on quick are going to be key for him here. When he's had guys like that his teams have always done really well.

Mike is going to run a clean program and do things the right way, you guys won't ever have to worry about any violations or trouble from NCAA. He's a players coach the players will love him, should be able to keep some players that are on the fence, especially JUCO players. His track record with JUCO's is amazing. He has one right now in Daryl Macon that's in the NBA on the Mavericks, Jaylen Barford is another that's really close to playing himself in the league. He had Coty Clarke who had some 10-day contracts in the NBA, and his most recent in Mason Jones, he averaged 14 PPG his first year under Anderson.

I've been reading discussions on here about potential assistants. I do think TJ Cleveland (his nephew) is pretty much a lock to be on his staff, if he doesn't land one of these remaining mid-major head coaching spots available. TJ is the guy with all the JUCO connections, all the JUCO players I listed above, TJ was the lead recruiter on them. TJ is also the guy that works with all the guards. Melvin Watkins, the associate head coach for Anderson at Arkansas, is also the other name that's been coming up. Watkins is getting older and there's been rumors that he's looking to retire soon, but if he's still up to the task, I think he'll take the same title here for Anderson. He's his right hand man, and been with Coach Anderson since his Mizzou days. Watkins value is in development of big men. Watkins is the big man coach that helped developed Bobby Portis, Daniel Gafford, and Moses Kingsley. All 3 at points in their career was considered the best big man in the SEC. Watkins also has a ton of connections at the high school level. The other guys that have been rumored I don't know much about about and if they have any prior connections to Anderson.

If anyone wants to know anything else, let me know. I intend to keep up with Mike as he coaches here at St. John's, I grew up on the 40 MOH back when Mike was with Nolan, so I'm always going to be a fan of his teams and see how they do.

Cheers!
 
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please promote this guy too. Another great perspective poster on our new coach
 
Why didn’t Scotty Thurman make the NBA?
At the time I thought he was Allan Houston 2.0.

Then again I thought Todd Day was going to be the next Scottie Pippen.
 
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[quote="MainMan" post=345590]Why didn’t Scotty Thurman make the NBA?
At the time I thought he was Allan Houston 2.0.[/quote]

Scotty, while a great college player, he wasn't that athletic, and I don't think his ball handling was good enough for him to play the 2 or 3 in the NBA. Nolan's system allowed him to hide some of those things and showcase his strengths. A lot of his scoring came in transition.

That is one good thing you'll notice with Coach Anderson's teams as well, you'll see some guys on the roster now that are going to look completely different in this system. I've been reading the forums and trying to watch some highlights on some of the St. John's player because I'm not familiar with some of them, but a guy that I seen that I think that will look pretty good in this sytem, but didn't look all that great last year is Keita. If he just runs the floor well and plays good defense, I think he'll thrive in an up-tempo system that allows him to make more instinctive plays.
 
[quote="Making Plays" post=345588]Hello,

First time poster here. As others have stated, I'm also from Arkansas, but also a huge Mike Anderson fan. I was referred to this site by an SJU fan, gave me the link to this site and another as well. I just wanted to introduce myself and give you guys a little insight on Coach Anderson from someone that's seen his teams play in person many times over the years.

First off, Coach Anderson teams are always exciting to watch. That's why you see a lot of hog fans sad to see him leaving and intend on following his teams. He has a unique style of play and a lot of people really enjoy the full court pressing, allowing his players freedom on offense, and running anywhere from 9-12 guys at you all game long. It's also unique in that the style allows fans to really get involved, you'll see in press conferences CMA challenging fans to fill up the arena and come out and be loud, because a loud arena, plus a team just running waves of guys at you, can really overwhelm teams. When it's working right and guys know their roles it looks like a thing of beauty, you could see that with his UAB, Mizzou, and some of his better Arkansas teams. I believe his home winning percentage at Arkansas was 80+%. People like John Rothstein have joked on twitter and said if every game was held in Bud Walton Arena Arkansas would be in the final four every year.

With that said as Coach Anderson said in his presser the other day, at times his system won't look so pretty and you'll be thinking why in the world are they giving up so many easy buckets, it takes time for some guys to learn the rotations and for everything to mesh, but once guys buy in and figure out the rotations on defense his system works well and you can catch a lot of teams off-guard that's not prepared for it. That Arkansas/Providence NIT game is a good example. Also, the thing about his system it does take experience, that's why his Arkansas team this year was just in the NIT, he had the 2nd youngest team in the nation, getting guys that are older, experienced, and can catch on quick are going to be key for him here. When he's had guys like that his teams have always done really well.

Mike is going to run a clean program and do things the right way, you guys won't ever have to worry about any violations or trouble from NCAA. He's a players coach the players will love him, should be able to keep some players that are on the fence, especially JUCO players. His track record with JUCO's is amazing. He has one right now in Daryl Macon that's in the NBA on the Mavericks, Jaylen Barford is another that's really close to playing himself in the league. He had Coty Clarke who had some 10-day contracts in the NBA, and his most recent in Mason Jones, he averaged 14 PPG his first year under Anderson.

I've been reading discussions on here about potential assistants. I do think TJ Cleveland (his nephew) is pretty much a lock to be on his staff, if he doesn't land one of these remaining mid-major head coaching spots available. TJ is the guy with all the JUCO connections, all the JUCO players I listed above, TJ was the lead recruiter on them. TJ is also the guy that works with all the guards. Melvin Watkins, the associate head coach for Anderson at Arkansas, is also the other name that's been coming up. Watkins is getting older and there's been rumors that he's looking to retire soon, but if he's still up to the task, I think he'll take the same title here for Anderson. He's his right hand man, and been with Coach Anderson since his Mizzou days. Watkins value is in development of big men. Watkins is the big man coach that helped developed Bobby Portis, Daniel Gafford, and Moses Kingsley. All 3 at points in their career was considered the best big man in the SEC. Watkins also has a ton of connections at the high school level. The other guys that have been rumored I don't know much about about and if they have any prior connections to Anderson.

If anyone wants to know anything else, let me know. I intend to keep up with Mike as he coaches here at St. John's, I grew up on the 40 MOH back when Mike was with Nolan, so I'm always going to be a fan of his teams and see how they do.

Cheers![/quote]

Wow thank you, man!
Great background profile of Mike's style, his teams and his coaches. Very much appreciated!
Fuhgeddaoudit, I'm back on the Kool-Aid, heavy, again.
Lol.
 
That solid insight from 'Making Plays' has me thinking.
I'm now impressed with Mike's 2018-19 record, 18-16 overall, 8-10 in he SEC with "the second youngest team in the nation."
That has me thinking that if Mustapha and Figgy return, they'll thrive in CMA's system and along with Wright, Caraher, Steere, Greg Jr. Keita, Roberts, and Earlington, could form a solid nucleus and acclimate to the 40MOH system well.
If we can get a solid PG and some more frontcourt depth, 2019-20 may be a very interesting year in Johnny Land and on Redmen.com.
The 'pieces' are very possibly being put in place for long-term success.
 
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I'm not sure I remember someone from an opposing team ever coming over to brag on their coach. The perspective is really appreciated.

I really wish Simon's would return. I think he'd thrive in the set up, and on a slightly selfish side I think his relentless defensive attitude would be exactly what is needed for the younger players.
 
Welcome to all you Arkansas fans. We are going to love your former coach and his family and you guys too.
 
And, to add,, Mike took a very young team into the 2nd round of the NIT.
I know we’re starved to win a single game in the Dance, but that’s a very solid achievement imo.
 
[quote="Chicago Days" post=345596]That solid insight from 'Making Plays' has me thinking.
I'm now impressed with Mike's 2018-19 record, 18-16 overall, 8-10 in he SEC with "the second youngest team in the nation."
That has me thinking that if Mustapha and Figgy return, they'll thrive in CMA's system and along with Wright, Caraher, Steere, Greg Jr. Keita, Roberts, and Earlington, could form a solid nucleus and acclimate to the 40MOH system well.
If we can get a solid PG and some more frontcourt depth, 2019-20 may be a very interesting year in Johnny Land and on Redmen.com.
The 'pieces' are very possibly being put in place for long-term success.[/quote]

His coaching was impressive this year. He started 2 Freshman and 3 Sophomores. This was a team that almost beat both Texas Tech and Kentucky on the road. The team was competitive all year long and was in the mix for a tournament bid all the way until the end.

And there's still some Hog fans in shock that he was fired this year, from everything I've heard it was understood this would be a rebuilding year with such a young team and CMA would get another year, but the new AD decided to go ahead and move on. Rumors that I've heard is Hunter Yurachek (Current Arkansas AD), had be speaking with Kelvin Sampson camp (Houston's coach, and Yurachek's boss at Houston). And Yurachek was led to believe that Sampson would come to Arkansas, and that was Yurachek's guy at Houston and who he wanted. Sampson ended up playing Yurachek to get a raise and get his son named coach in waiting at Houston. There was also rumors that Yurachek had been speaking to Chris Beard's camp, and had he not gone as far as he did, they thought Beard would come to Arkansas as well. It's a whole lot more to the story, there's other politics at play in this, and I can probably type up a whole thread of everything that I've heard and what really went down... but we won't get into all that :). All I'll say is you guys got a home run hire, many believed CMA would wait a year and try to get another high major job in the South. The fact that your AD was able to convince him to get back into it this fast and come up North was impressive to me. CMA even spoke on that at his press conference and mentioned how rentless he was.

And last thing, I've been doing my research on your roster, and see what you guys have coming back. Some of the players I'm familiar with because they played in the SEC. And I'm very familiar with Ian Steere's game, Arkansas was recruiting him hard, he was a guy I really liked and hoped we landed at the time. I can tell you guys this, if LJ and Heron stay, and he's able to get a quality JUCO or Grad transfer PG (which I think he will), I think you guys will be in the mix for a tournament bid in CMA's first year. You guys have some talent, and I think the core is already here, I think CMA just needs to add 2-3 guys that can add some depth, I like what I see.

I'm going to make a thread here in a little bit on some guys I know they were recruiting pretty heavy until the moment when CMA was let go. I believe a couple of those guys (if the staff offers) will end up here at St. Johns.
 
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[quote="Making Plays" post=345611][quote="Chicago Days" post=345596]That solid insight from 'Making Plays' has me thinking.
I'm now impressed with Mike's 2018-19 record, 18-16 overall, 8-10 in he SEC with "the second youngest team in the nation."
That has me thinking that if Mustapha and Figgy return, they'll thrive in CMA's system and along with Wright, Caraher, Steere, Greg Jr. Keita, Roberts, and Earlington, could form a solid nucleus and acclimate to the 40MOH system well.
If we can get a solid PG and some more frontcourt depth, 2019-20 may be a very interesting year in Johnny Land and on Redmen.com.
The 'pieces' are very possibly being put in place for long-term success.[/quote]

His coaching was impressive this year. He started 2 Freshman and 3 Sophomores. This was a team that almost beat both Texas Tech and Kentucky on the road. The team was competitive all year long and was in the mix for a tournament bid all the way until the end.

And there's still some Hog fans in shock that he was fired this year, from everything I've heard it was understood this would be a rebuilding year with such a young team and CMA would get another year, but the new AD decided to go ahead and move on. Rumors that I've heard is Hunter Yurachek (Current Arkansas AD), had be speaking with Kelvin Sampson camp (Houston's coach, and Yurachek's boss at Houston). And Yurachek was led to believe that Sampson would come to Arkansas, and that was Yurachek's guy at Houston and who he wanted. Sampson ended up playing Yurachek to get a raise and get his son named coach in waiting at Houston. There was also rumors that Yurachek had been speaking to Chris Beard's camp, and had he not gone as far as he did, they thought Beard would come to Arkansas as well. It's a whole lot more to the story, there's other politics at play in this, and I can probably type up a whole thread of everything that I've heard and what really went down... but we won't get into all that :). All I'll say is you guys got a home run hire, many believed CMA would wait a year and try to get another high major job in the South. The fact that your AD was able to convince him to get back into it this fast and come up North was impressive to me. CMA even spoke on that at his press conference and mentioned how rentless he was.

And last thing, I've been doing my research on your roster, and see what you guys have coming back. Some of the players I'm familiar with because they played in the SEC. And I'm very familiar with Ian Steere's game, Arkansas was recruiting him hard, he was a guy I really liked and hoped we landed at the time. I can tell you guys this, if LJ and Heron stay, and he's able to get a quality JUCO or Grad transfer PG (which I think he will), I think you guys will be in the mix for a tournament bid in CMA's first year. You guys have some talent, and I think the core is already here, I think CMA just needs to add 2-3 guys that can add some depth, I like what I see.

I'm going to make a thread here in a little bit on some guys I know they were recruiting pretty heavy until the moment when CMA was let go. I believe a couple of those guys (if the staff offers) will end up here at St. Johns.[/quote] Keep the info coming !!
 
This is one more post ‘off the charts’! Thanks for this and for digging into our roster like you have. Much appreciated!
Can the Mods promote this guy already?!!?
 
Appreciate it, looks like I do have access to the main area now :). I'll start posting in there moving forward. Been enjoying talking to everyone so far, you guys seem to have an active and passionate fan base, I like it!
 
[quote="Making Plays" post=345611][quote="Chicago Days" post=345596]That solid insight from 'Making Plays' has me thinking.
I'm now impressed with Mike's 2018-19 record, 18-16 overall, 8-10 in he SEC with "the second youngest team in the nation."
That has me thinking that if Mustapha and Figgy return, they'll thrive in CMA's system and along with Wright, Caraher, Steere, Greg Jr. Keita, Roberts, and Earlington, could form a solid nucleus and acclimate to the 40MOH system well.
If we can get a solid PG and some more frontcourt depth, 2019-20 may be a very interesting year in Johnny Land and on Redmen.com.
The 'pieces' are very possibly being put in place for long-term success.[/quote]

His coaching was impressive this year. He started 2 Freshman and 3 Sophomores. This was a team that almost beat both Texas Tech and Kentucky on the road. The team was competitive all year long and was in the mix for a tournament bid all the way until the end.

And there's still some Hog fans in shock that he was fired this year, from everything I've heard it was understood this would be a rebuilding year with such a young team and CMA would get another year, but the new AD decided to go ahead and move on. Rumors that I've heard is Hunter Yurachek (Current Arkansas AD), had be speaking with Kelvin Sampson camp (Houston's coach, and Yurachek's boss at Houston). And Yurachek was led to believe that Sampson would come to Arkansas, and that was Yurachek's guy at Houston and who he wanted. Sampson ended up playing Yurachek to get a raise and get his son named coach in waiting at Houston. There was also rumors that Yurachek had been speaking to Chris Beard's camp, and had he not gone as far as he did, they thought Beard would come to Arkansas as well. It's a whole lot more to the story, there's other politics at play in this, and I can probably type up a whole thread of everything that I've heard and what really went down... but we won't get into all that :). All I'll say is you guys got a home run hire, many believed CMA would wait a year and try to get another high major job in the South. The fact that your AD was able to convince him to get back into it this fast and come up North was impressive to me. CMA even spoke on that at his press conference and mentioned how rentless he was.

And last thing, I've been doing my research on your roster, and see what you guys have coming back. Some of the players I'm familiar with because they played in the SEC. And I'm very familiar with Ian Steere's game, Arkansas was recruiting him hard, he was a guy I really liked and hoped we landed at the time. I can tell you guys this, if LJ and Heron stay, and he's able to get a quality JUCO or Grad transfer PG (which I think he will), I think you guys will be in the mix for a tournament bid in CMA's first year. You guys have some talent, and I think the core is already here, I think CMA just needs to add 2-3 guys that can add some depth, I like what I see.

I'm going to make a thread here in a little bit on some guys I know they were recruiting pretty heavy until the moment when CMA was let go. I believe a couple of those guys (if the staff offers) will end up here at St. Johns.[/quote]

Has your AD met Joe Oliva?
I think they would be best buds
 
Hey “Making Plays”
Welcome to Redmen.com
Your intelligent posts are encouraged.
I hope Coach Anderson leads you to become a StJohn’s fan.
 
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Coach Mike has been a godsend for this program. We might not be the most talented crew, but the effort and hustle out there is impressive. Saturday night against AZ cant come soon enough.
 
He was in on a couple of guys in the regional area like Memphis and Dallas and maybe they didn't want to go as far as NY on short notice. Actually the high profile recruits he was banking on were all in the 2020 class and all were from Arkansas and thanks in no small part to the work MA put in, they ended up inking with the Hogs.
 
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