I consider this the best team they ever had except for the Final Four team. With a healthy Williams they absolutely destroyed UCONN (who ended up winning the Big East and going to the Final Four). When you pull up that roster, it was loaded. Good times.
@Butler, Tue., Feb. 7, 8:30p, FS-1
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
Losing to Butler , even at Hinkle , last night was the last straw in this Coach’s St John’s career . To me , even from day 1 he coached ugly basketball . Awful to watch on offense and defense . I don’t know how he did as well as he did at Arkansas but, thinking he had the best players from Arkansas to chose from . And , even then , their fans were glad to see him go . As we recall , when Cragg was fumbling through the Search , Anderson wasn’t even a thought . As many have said , he fell into Cragg’s lap on just 1 recommendation , Jeff Capel . Many in the media kind of questioned why St John’s would hire a Coach just fired from a big job at Arkansas with no ties to the Northeast and BE Basketball . In retrospect , Mullin had better talent with Ponds , Figgy , etc but , lacked a true PG when Lovett bailed . I think Mullin’s teams, first year excluded were a lot better watch than CMA’s disorganized chaos . In retrospect , it was a nice soft landing Retirement Gig for him with the millions he’s already gotten plus whatever the go away money is .
Making Plays admitted several times that if it ever got to the point where it stopped being fun coming on here then he would just leave. Man of his word it appears lol
Making plays sauntering back to the board after the UCONN victory like a conquering hero with the preposterous "i was on vacation with my girl and she forbade use of my cell phone" (precisely during a 5 game losing streak) was the literal high water mark of comedy on this board. And there has been a lot of hilarious stuff for the 20 years i been lurking. I'll never get over it.
But yeah got to feel for him. He didnt realize st john's turns everything to stone.
any team that would play wusu more then 6 min a game has problems. he's not a basketball player and he never learned enough to be called one. His getting stuffed is a shame. Belo is a player and thats why i cant watch either one any more. Wusu wants to be better, and belo cares about nothing.
I agree that Anderson can and will not survive this season but I will say while this team has vastly underachieved and has been extremely disappointing there were question marks about this team's ceiling right from the get go. When I watched them play on-line in the D.R. games I was concerned about how good they might be. Last year's team had some real problems and they were minus two of our most dynamic scorers Wheeler and Champagnie coming into this season. David Jones and Andre Curbelo were supposed to make up for those losses, but the coaching staff never achieved any great chemistry incorporating those two into the mix of returning players and freshman. Curbelo in particular IMHO did not mesh well into the team concept and Anderson has not been able to get the best out of him. The team's soft out of conference schedule might have masked some of their flaws early on and given off a sense of optimism to some but that quickly eroded after bad road losses to Villanova and Seton Hall. Recently the level of play has totally deteriorated and the thought of Anderson SJU team's improving over the course of the season, has given way to a significant downward spiral on the court.
Mullin's last team had great talent but was incredibly disappointing from where I sat. They won fourteen of the first fifteen games and were totally robbed by the refs in the one game they lost against Seton Hall. Early on they had the look of at least a five or six seed in the tournament and had a starting five of Ponds, Simon, Heron, Clark and Figueroa that seemed like they could take on any team in the country. However after January 5th, they fell apart losing twelve of their next nineteen games to finish off the season terribly. On January 1st they took #16 Marquette to the woodshed beating them 86 to 69. On March 14th (in the Big East tournament) they played #23 Marquette again and got totally waxed 86 to 54. After a terrible finish, the selection committee threw them an undeserving bone of a playin game against a bad Arizona State team and they were largely uncompetitive in a lackluster and forgettable performance. Their fall, based on the high level of talent on the roster and the promise they showed early on was a real indictment of Mullin's coaching acumen IMO.
Comparing those two failed seasons is difficult because they have had very different dynamics, different talent levels and different leaders at the helm but in both cases it was clearly indicated that a change was needed going forward.
I have wanted every post Lou Carnesecca regime to have succeeded and while in every regime there have been moments to feel hopeful, it has been far more disappointment than glory. Going forward, I an hoping against hope that we can become relevant again. I want this selfishly for myself as a fan, but actually want it more for the many players who come here and dedicate themselves to try and reestablish a winning culture.
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Wusu is a role player. The problem with Wusu is that he thinks he's the best player on the team. Over the years look who has the ball near the end of games
classof2010
Well-known member
I think the Board will be forced to hire Slick Rick. I could care less what priests think. If it’s ok for Jesuit Schools whom have better academic standards and are financially responsible , why should we thumb our nose. JS’s Fund could bankroll a new coach! We’re only playing 4 games at Garden with Anderson, does a mid-major coach get us a spike in season tickets? You all know the answer. Billy Donovan does not want to coach college again. You hire Rick and make junior Coach in waiting! Personally I think Keith Argo would be a great hire with Tim O’Toole as his associate but we’re not selling tickets and we’re in for a big rebuild.
I am a bit older, right there with ya'
Pinzon and King can play. King is probably the quickest PG and can actually shoot the ball
No way he should start. He must have photos
Anyone have video of the final play?
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
To go back and criticize CMA's entire body of work is unfair, and is typical of the hyperbole on this board calling CMA the worst coach ever, and some of our players no more than division 3 talent, or the worst player in the Big East, or whatever. I know it comes out of frustration, but it doesn't make it right.
While CMA earns nice money, it is not out of line with high major programs. There is no evidence he took the money but didn't put in the work. To claim this was a "soft landing retirement gig" is baseless unless you know something the rest of us don't. The one who took the money and was a part time coach was Mullin. I doubt anyone here would challenge that. As for looking disjointed, have you forgotten how we all discussed how Mullin's players seemed directionless? Yet CMA did not have 3 players with 4 star ratings out of high school, and a 5 star like Mullin did. CMA still managed to win a Big East COY and have a winning Big East record in year 2. I don't recall all the posters here lining up to say that CMA is a fraud of a coach back then. Plus, his previous teams did look far more like a team than anything Mullin put out there, especially when playing pressure defense.
I am by no means delusional about CMA. He has plenty of flaws as a coach, and should be released after the season, primarily because of the disaster of a season this turned out to be. His teams either quit some games or just were unprepared or unwilling to play D or look for each other on offense. He made no adjustments to a philosophy that this team didn't get. They treated the ball like it was coated with radioactive material. He brought in transfers that didn't mesh with the returnees, and for that has no one to blame but himself. But he had some very good moments in year 2 and some in year 3, despite coaching at a university that has an uncanny ability to bury coaches. In the end, this is a game about players. Good ones that are coach-able and absorb and live by the team concept win, and the rest, while not "the worst ever", don't. There are coaches that woud have done better with this team, but probably not a lot better.
The problem is he is a nice bench player for ten minutes. Not a BE starter
Lot of good points . Mullins best team had no Big Man and no PG . It caught up to them . Simon was a great defender , ball stealer , rebounder but , most times could not throw the ball in the Ocean . BE teams dated him to shoot and doubled up on Ponds . Clark was a very streaky shooter and put up a lot of 2-15 field goal nights and was foul prone and wanted no part of rebounding down low . Figgy and Herron were good role players but , Herron was injury prone and didn’t replicate his first 2 years at Auburn . Summing up , because of the offensive limitations of Clark and Simon BE teams coujd double Ponds . And , we had no rebounding big man . So the smart BE Coaches devised game plans to minimize Ponds . Mullins team did actually run a offense , pro oriented but , organized . CMA ? Chaos is the plan on Offense and Defense . Largely unwatchable most ly .
MugCostanza
Well-known member
I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but landing at Newark when JFK and LaGuardia are each 15 mins away is just perfect for this program
Unless we win 2 games in the Big East tournament, then he'll be back.
I agree, he shouldn’t start. Posh, Pinzon, Storr, Jones and Soriano should start. Wusu should come off the bench for like 10 minutes a game and have plays run for him to get open shots where he can get his feet set and shoot.
I was at that UCONN beat down with my UCONN friend who came down from Connecticut for the game. It was almost embarrassing for me as I felt so bad for my friend. That was a great team.