Article: Don't Buy Into SJU Expectations Just Yet
- Thread starter NYCRedmen
- Start date
Spocky Ramone
Well-known member
Hope everyone saves their Waldbaum's receipts so they can return their Kool-Aid
I think the article is spot on! If we end up 5th or 6th in the league that will be an achievement! The other issue at hand is this, can Mully coach? Last year he gets a pass, but this year I would hope to see him more involved. To be honest, I was not terribly impressed with Mullin's coaching performance last year! My brother in law and I were talking tonite about that very issue! Hell if Mullins can't get it done where do we go from there! Yikes!!!!!!!!!
Class of 72
Active member
Most fans here stopped drinking Kool-Aid after one too many coaching failures. I think we all want Mullin to succeed sooner rather than later and if he doesn't, like Waldbaum's, we may as well go out of business. However, Mullin and staff have laid a solid foundation for future success by recruiting real talent at the 4* level that usually guarantees highly competitive teams in a conference like the Big East. That level of talent usually stays together 3 or more years to sometimes spoil the NCAA dreams of teams loaded with 5* freshmen players at Kentucky or Duke as was the case with Villanova this past season. Yes, our staff is inexperienced but unlike previous staff, they are targeting very talented players and getting commitments instead of announcing the enrollment of "preferred walk ons". So, even though Mullin and company are inexperienced, they have already mastered the hardest part of the college game and that is "get the best players available" because it would not be hard to imagine the fewer wins at schools like Kentucky, Duke or North Carolina without getting 5* players each year. We will likely never be a "one & done" school and that is fine with me because I find it sad that even at Duke the greatest living college basketball coach has stooped to recruiting and enrolling athletes who have no business being in classes with the other Duke students just to keep up with Kentucky. Isn't it ironic how every year now the top 25 high school basketball players have the intellectual ability to enroll at an Ivy League level school like Duke.
How great is it that our team is basically set for the next two seasons? Sheesh, under the Lavin regime, we were wondering what our team looked like for this upcoming season! (And I wasn't even a Lavin hater).
Our future is so bright.
Bring on the expectations. Sweet 16 in 2017.
This year, hopefully just a middling team in the Big East, with marked improvement from Yakwe, Sima... and development of Freud, Ponds and Ahmed.
With the transfers of Justin Simon from AZ and Marvin Clark on board and the commitment from Zack Brown...and Boubacar Diakite on board already for 2018, our future is fantastic.
No reasonable person could have possibly dreamed we'd be in better position than we are in right now. It's really fantastic.
Think of all the talent this team has on board or coming in. That's a ton of talent.
Sima
Yakwe
Lovett
Ponds
Freud
Ahmed
Simon
Clark
Brown
Diakite in '18
Williams
Ellison
Owens
Mussinni
Of course not every player lives up to expectations. We've all experienced that. But the math is on our side that there are going to be some real good players in that bunch.
Enjoy it!
Our future is so bright.
Bring on the expectations. Sweet 16 in 2017.
This year, hopefully just a middling team in the Big East, with marked improvement from Yakwe, Sima... and development of Freud, Ponds and Ahmed.
With the transfers of Justin Simon from AZ and Marvin Clark on board and the commitment from Zack Brown...and Boubacar Diakite on board already for 2018, our future is fantastic.
No reasonable person could have possibly dreamed we'd be in better position than we are in right now. It's really fantastic.
Think of all the talent this team has on board or coming in. That's a ton of talent.
Sima
Yakwe
Lovett
Ponds
Freud
Ahmed
Simon
Clark
Brown
Diakite in '18
Williams
Ellison
Owens
Mussinni
Of course not every player lives up to expectations. We've all experienced that. But the math is on our side that there are going to be some real good players in that bunch.
Enjoy it!
Think about all the players Matt is deep in on that we have little clue about. Well we sans Paultz and Happy
Coaster1955
Member
If staff gets it done this year & wins 16 or so games, with what appears to be a relatively soft schedule, then "dancing" the following year & perhaps winning a game or two is possible short of defections, suspensions & bubonic plague. Kudos to staff for recruiting progress. Now we will get a better sense of ther coaching acumen over the next several seasons.
This sure beats chasing recruits at the last second & exchanging transcripts in parking lots.
This sure beats chasing recruits at the last second & exchanging transcripts in parking lots.
beast of the east
Active member
Matt A. appears to be a bulldog recruiter, and kind of makes you shake your head at the notion that an NBA pedigree like Richmond's could make you a great salesman. Certainly their is star power that attracts people, but the best weapon a recruiter has is how many guys from that program have made the NBA. All in all, I'll take a great salesman any day and Matt appears to be just that. One thing about Chris Mullin is that he has an uncanny ability to come across as honest, sincere, and the real deal as a person. He doesn't treat an ordinary fan any differently than he would treat a person of importance. That straight forward honesty can only be an asset when closing the deal on a recruit.
MarkRedman
Well-known member
The reality is that last year, we returned 3% of our scoring from the previous year
Red Auerbach couldn't have won with last year's team
This season, we have more players with D-1 experience but are still integrating many who don't
Finishing at .500 or better and having a shot at the NIT would be a great next step
I fully expect us to make the NCAA's in 2018-19 and pretty regularly thereafter
If we can meet this timeline, I would say that Mullin & Co did a great job
We need to be patient and let things play out for a few years before evaluating the staff
Red Auerbach couldn't have won with last year's team
This season, we have more players with D-1 experience but are still integrating many who don't
Finishing at .500 or better and having a shot at the NIT would be a great next step
I fully expect us to make the NCAA's in 2018-19 and pretty regularly thereafter
If we can meet this timeline, I would say that Mullin & Co did a great job
We need to be patient and let things play out for a few years before evaluating the staff
St. John’s may become CBB’s most improved
By Joseph Nardone
April 30, 2016
"With the Red Storm’s core for the future all being freshmen and sophomore, the addition of two upperclassmen could potentially turn the Johnnies from an 8-24 team that is wallowing in the dark recesses of the Big East Conference, to one that is legitimately battling to earn an at-large birth in the NCAA Tournament."
Don’t buy into expectations for St. John’s just yet
By Joseph Nardone
July 16, 2016
"While the bottom of the Big East should be a bit weaker than it has in years prior, it doesn’t mean the Johnnies get to jump them all by some birthright ... It simply means ... that, in theory, the Red Storm have a better chance at not finishing as one of the two or three worse teams in the league."
See also bases, cover all the
By Joseph Nardone
April 30, 2016
"With the Red Storm’s core for the future all being freshmen and sophomore, the addition of two upperclassmen could potentially turn the Johnnies from an 8-24 team that is wallowing in the dark recesses of the Big East Conference, to one that is legitimately battling to earn an at-large birth in the NCAA Tournament."
Don’t buy into expectations for St. John’s just yet
By Joseph Nardone
July 16, 2016
"While the bottom of the Big East should be a bit weaker than it has in years prior, it doesn’t mean the Johnnies get to jump them all by some birthright ... It simply means ... that, in theory, the Red Storm have a better chance at not finishing as one of the two or three worse teams in the league."
See also bases, cover all the
Johnny
I will leave our W/L numbers for 2016-7-8 to Lady Fates, to Divine Providence...
All I know & strongly believe is that we have come a long way since April 2015
AND
no head coach could have done better than Chris Mullin - perhaps as good - but not better!
It can be considered remarkable where we are, what promise is in the air, what solid student/players we already have for the most part, and what high talent we have become involved with.
St.Johns has become a viable 4-5 star blue chip destination. HS AAU JC Europe...
all the best
