Watched one game and read our press release and was able to peg us as a laughingstock something some full time observers here cannot figure out.
Bam,
There is very little left to say that hasn't been said. That there is nothing good to say is obvious, especially by those who were quick to criticize fellow fans for any negative comments that were obviously warranted at the time. Those critics of our critiques have basically gone silent because they too have nothing good to say looking at the rest of the season or into the future.
The article pointed to one embarrassing gimmick the PR schemers at St. John's have been using since Chris Mullin was hired and that is his absolute lack of experience or qualifications and, to-date, his embarrassing coaching record that cannot be even printed publicly by St. John's. There is a lot of karma at play here given the characters involved in what is now a "divine comedy" of tragic and sad proportions. The program is being portrayed as a house of cards by some with the possibility of more defections with some protagonists responsible for this fiasco already deflecting blame and looking for sacrificial lambs.
The latest fall guy? Matt Abdelmassih. You see, Matt recruited all these kids therefore it is not Chris Mullin's inability to put three sentences together in practices or on the sidelines that make the team look lost and leaderless but Matt Abdelmassih's poor evaluation of talent. Matt is now the target of a fan intent on driving him out of the program for possibly speaking to a sports reporter that this fan publicly humiliates on a daily basis. Now, even I know that Matt is a loud mouth with a used car salesman schemers' mentality that drove Mullin to part with Slice but the little guy is the least of the problem.
As the reporter noted you can't build a program or player experience with defections that decimate your depth and force you to recruit transfers whose services you lose for a year. No coach in recent memory has lost 5 of his players that could have been here this year, not including Marcus LoVett. It is now painfully obvious that our entire front line is filled with one dimemensional players, none of whom have multilevel skills. Perhaps some of the Matt criticism comes into play there but that is only part of the story.
The bigger issue is why has there been a total collapse in offensive discipline and absolutely zero improvement in defending shooters, especially from the 3 point line. The individual player's shooting percentages have been mediocre with only Owens showing any percentage improvement. That this is happening under the guidance, or lack thereof, of Mullin and Richmond gives ammunition to opposing recruiters that a player's growth will not be guaranteed under their teaching methods.
So, while some are running Matt out town, blaming Marcus LoVett, guessing and hoping for staff changes, the fact remains that if the man in charge even starts all over again next year it may mean it took 3 years of mistakes and poor decision making to just get to square one in building a program. Most professionals in the business of college athletics would shake their heads at such a scenario.
