Coach Lav

[gman]

Beast great point, ask Chris Casey the current Niagara coach how Norm failed to listen to him under his tenure at SJU?

6-17 Niagara?

 

[redken]

Beast great point, ask Chris Casey the current Niagara coach how Norm failed to listen to him under his tenure at SJU?

6-17 Niagara?

Norm was too busy grooming Chuck Martin.

 

[Marillac]

Purely anecdotal, but I enjoy seeing Whitesell at games recently. He is animated and encouraging to the players. I am not sure how he is utilized strategically, but he seems like an energetic motivator.

I know most would disagree, but I give Lavin credit for giving his assistants important roles, and not thinking that he must be the focal point at all times. If you remember during other coaching regimes, assistant coaches were rarely consulted during games, nor did they have an important game day roles. Whitesell is the first guy to get to a player before and after coming out of a game - very important in the college game. Lavin has assembled talent on the bench, and I believe even though the results weren't there early, that their roles are the same. Having met Keady a few times, I seriously doubt he would just cash a paycheck here if he wasn't having any input, and even that role is important.

Agree 110% + 2 on karma

Don't disagree with that coward SJUAlum98 or you will see your karma go down. I've had dozens of arguments over the years...one with that childish coward and my karma goes from +8 to where it is now. It is pathetic.

 

[Moose]

Purely anecdotal, but I enjoy seeing Whitesell at games recently. He is animated and encouraging to the players. I am not sure how he is utilized strategically, but he seems like an energetic motivator.

I know most would disagree, but I give Lavin credit for giving his assistants important roles, and not thinking that he must be the focal point at all times. If you remember during other coaching regimes, assistant coaches were rarely consulted during games, nor did they have an important game day roles. Whitesell is the first guy to get to a player before and after coming out of a game - very important in the college game. Lavin has assembled talent on the bench, and I believe even though the results weren't there early, that their roles are the same. Having met Keady a few times, I seriously doubt he would just cash a paycheck here if he wasn't having any input, and even that role is important.

Agree 110% + 2 on karma

Don't disagree with that coward SJUAlum98 or you will see your karma go down. I've had dozens of arguments over the years...one with that childish coward and my karma goes from +8 to where it is now. It is pathetic.

Again I ask how do you know who reduces your Karma? You do realize that you can't just keep clicking it. Its like once an hour.

 

[bk8664]

Purely anecdotal, but I enjoy seeing Whitesell at games recently. He is animated and encouraging to the players. I am not sure how he is utilized strategically, but he seems like an energetic motivator.

I know most would disagree, but I give Lavin credit for giving his assistants important roles, and not thinking that he must be the focal point at all times. If you remember during other coaching regimes, assistant coaches were rarely consulted during games, nor did they have an important game day roles. Whitesell is the first guy to get to a player before and after coming out of a game - very important in the college game. Lavin has assembled talent on the bench, and I believe even though the results weren't there early, that their roles are the same. Having met Keady a few times, I seriously doubt he would just cash a paycheck here if he wasn't having any input, and even that role is important.

Agree 110% + 2 on karma

Don't disagree with that coward SJUAlum98 or you will see your karma go down. I've had dozens of arguments over the years...one with that childish coward and my karma goes from +8 to where it is now. It is pathetic.

I took you up to -70... You are on your way!

 

[paultzman]

@StJohnsBBall: @SJUCoachLavin goes for his 200th career win on Sunday. Lavin is 54-37 (.593) at #SJUBB and 199-115 (.638) as a head coach overall.

 

[SJUalum98]

Purely anecdotal, but I enjoy seeing Whitesell at games recently. He is animated and encouraging to the players. I am not sure how he is utilized strategically, but he seems like an energetic motivator.

I know most would disagree, but I give Lavin credit for giving his assistants important roles, and not thinking that he must be the focal point at all times. If you remember during other coaching regimes, assistant coaches were rarely consulted during games, nor did they have an important game day roles. Whitesell is the first guy to get to a player before and after coming out of a game - very important in the college game. Lavin has assembled talent on the bench, and I believe even though the results weren't there early, that their roles are the same. Having met Keady a few times, I seriously doubt he would just cash a paycheck here if he wasn't having any input, and even that role is important.

Agree 110% + 2 on karma

Don't disagree with that coward SJUAlum98 or you will see your karma go down. I've had dozens of arguments over the years...one with that childish coward and my karma goes from +8 to where it is now. It is pathetic.

Dude, leave me out of your conversations.

@StJohnsBBall: @SJUCoachLavin goes for his 200th career win on Sunday. Lavin is 54-37 (.593) at #SJUBB and 199-115 (.638) as a head coach overall.

Motivation. I'm sure every player on the team is aware of this.

What better place than MSG against a ranked team to get him to #200.

 

[austour]

Love me some Bad Karma!

PS there was supposed to be a Warren Zevon video in this post but I don't know how to do that.

 

[Jack Williams]

Purely anecdotal, but I enjoy seeing Whitesell at games recently. He is animated and encouraging to the players. I am not sure how he is utilized strategically, but he seems like an energetic motivator.

I know most would disagree, but I give Lavin credit for giving his assistants important roles, and not thinking that he must be the focal point at all times. If you remember during other coaching regimes, assistant coaches were rarely consulted during games, nor did they have an important game day roles. Whitesell is the first guy to get to a player before and after coming out of a game - very important in the college game. Lavin has assembled talent on the bench, and I believe even though the results weren't there early, that their roles are the same. Having met Keady a few times, I seriously doubt he would just cash a paycheck here if he wasn't having any input, and even that role is important.

Agree 110% + 2 on karma

Don't disagree with that coward SJUAlum98 or you will see your karma go down. I've had dozens of arguments over the years...one with that childish coward and my karma goes from +8 to where it is now. It is pathetic.

Dude, leave me out of your conversations.

@StJohnsBBall: @SJUCoachLavin goes for his 200th career win on Sunday. Lavin is 54-37 (.593) at #SJUBB and 199-115 (.638) as a head coach overall.

Motivation. I'm sure every player on the team is aware of this.

What better place than MSG against a ranked team to get him to #200.

+1 Karma

 

[bk8664]

Love me some Bad Karma!

PS there was supposed to be a Warren Zevon video in this post but I don't know how to do that.

You get one too!

 

[Jack Williams]

Can someone kindly explain to me what the karma button means? If someone hits negative karma, how does that make someone a childish coward?

 

[austour]

Can someone kindly explain to me what the karma button means? If someone hits negative karma, how does that make someone a childish coward?

Yes, the person who hit the bad karma button. Most of mine can be attributed to that idiot Joe3 though I'm sure quite a few others have contributed. Who GAF? I'm still not gonna where a tie.

 

[mjmaherjr]

Can someone kindly explain to me what the karma button means? If someone hits negative karma, how does that make someone a childish coward?

Yes, the person who hit the bad karma button. Most of mine can be attributed to that idiot Joe3 though I'm sure quite a few others have contributed. Who GAF? I'm still not gonna where a tie.

+1 for being a tie rebel

 

[Jack Williams]

@SJUCoachLavin: From the halftime of the Georgetown game forward, the team has made strides in each practice and game. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: We didn’t experience the breakthrough right away but we could clearly see that we were playing a high level of basketball. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: Since that game our team has been on a steady climb in terms of confidence, chemistry and performance. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: Chris Obekpa has put in the time and worked on his game, and we are starting to see that pay dividends. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: Our focus defensively in the first Creaighton game was on shutting down the rest of the team. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: The tradeoff in that was Doug McDermott was going to get more points than he normally gets. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: We were able to hold them to 20 pts under their season avg and gave ourselves a chance to win, but unfortunately we came up short. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: He hit a really tough shot and we would have liked to apply more pressure on that shot. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: It’s been a combination of the incremental growth of the team over the course of a couple of weeks... #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: ... Along with an increase in Rysheed Jordan’s confidence level, which has helped the team. #SJUBB

@SJUCoachLavin: Both individual and collective growth that is taking place. Most recently that has allowed us to get off to some good starts. #SJUBB

 

[JohnnyFan]

Barring any transfers. We will have all our major pieces back. Next year we can just build on this year. Lavin wont have to experiment w the lineups early on.

Some will say good news: all the major pieces will be back next year... bad news: that includes the coaches.

Lets not bury the coaches until the season is over, plenty of games left

I think no matter what happens, those posters who want to bury the coaches will still, and always will want to, bury the coaches. I'd love to see us win the BE tourny, make the NCAAs and go deep there. I'll bet you the "bury the coaches" gang will still be flaming away.

Yep, I guess there is always something to complain about- even after wins. What Lavin is wearing, Greene shot too much, why was Felix activated, Dom is a punk, Chiles is out of shape-- these were posted after Stj won! Can't even enjoy a W

So all is well then?

All isn't well, but the things some of the fans complain about seem trivial. My guess is we will beat Creighton and the take away will be the lack of fans at the game- so again another negative after a W.

So let me just get this straight.
If we beat Creighton nobody can make a comment about the lack of fans at the game?
If anything I expect that to come from the rah rah side of the fan base not someone down on Lavin or direction of program.

Oh and I agree coaches wardrobe is a joke of a discussion. As is the physique of our coaches. But in terms of redshirts, and what happens on the court and the actions of a player for going on 3 years now I think that is more than in the wheelhouse as topics for discussion. Regardless of if we win by 40

No one is questioning the appropriateness of commenting on aspects of the team, game, etc. And I haven't seen anyone post that everything is fine. There is always room for improvement. I'm sure the 'Cuse fans even believe that. But the negativity on this board, even after a good stretch as we've had, is mind boggling. I guess it depends on how one lives his or her life; glass half-full or glass half-empty.

Are you being serious right now? Room for improvement? Michigan State fans say there's still room for improvement. Villanova fans might be saying there's still room for improvement. We stunk for 3 months straight, and have been playing good basketball for about 2 1/2 weeks. We have a football field sized space for improvement.
We have huge holes in our players' lack of development, our coach's ability to manage a game, and an enormous cloud of uncertainty looming in the future because we're on track to once again be the youngest team in the world and start this cycle all over.

Everyone's glad the team is winning and playing better. That brightens everyone's day. But there are fundamental problems with the program.
That doesn't mean I don't root hard for coach and the guys, I do. And I'd love to see them make a run down the stretch here. But there are serious causes for concern and reasons to think the team is not headed in the right direction.

So, now that you stated your case, is it that the players aren't talented enough? Or is it that the team is talented but didn't win, either by the player's fault or the coaches fault? I have a very good feeling that you would have to think about the answer before you blurt it out.

What is the fundamental problem with the program? What is it to you at the most basic element, the core of the program, that is fundamentally wrong?

So, in this football field size of player development gap, who could be tremendously better if they were developed? Sampson? GG? Hooper? Harrison? Sanchez? Jordan? You must mean an upperclassman, because you can't pin this on a freshman or sophomore.

How is four wins out of five in conference not the right direction? I thought wins were the most important thing.

If you want to state that the team isn't talented enough or that we have recruited the wrong kids, you'd better be prepared to go on record stating who was out there that Lavin passed on that could have been helping this team. Because there isn't a single player receiving serious minutes that I wouldn't want on my roster. However, we'd all like 5 top 50 players, but I don't see that Lavin decided to focus on 50-100 because he liked those kids better.

If you think the fundamental problem is Lavin and his staff, call Chris Monasch, and tell him to roll the program back 4 years and start over. I'm sure he'll agree with you.

I didn't even need to blink Beast, 110% it's the staff. Are the players perfect? No, but no group is. This group however is extremely talented, but has not developed. I don't have a big problem with who Lavin brought in. If I were doing it myself I may have swapped out an athlete for a slower player who could shoot or rebound better. But that's nitpicking, and I'm not here to do that. It would also be Monday morning quarterbacking because I was fine with the recruits when we signed them. And by and large I still am.
And no four of 5 wins is not the right direction. You're looking at a two week time-frame, zoom out to the larger picture and we are most certainly not headed up up and away. We are poised to be about two wins better than last year. And taking into account that Harrison didn't play the last 4 games, we're maybe a game better than we were a year ago. One more win in a significantly weaker conference is not improvement when you return 96% of your scoring, rebounding, and minutes played.
Coach's mistakes against Depaul, Providence, and Xavier cost us at least two wins. Just on him alone, for doing stupid sh*t like putting Max in the back-court when the opponent didn't need to foul yet.
And the fact that he took until February to figure out the starting lineup and rotation that 99% of the fan base was calling for in November is borderline coaching malpractice. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew that the rotation needed to be shorter, that we were shooting ourselves in the foot by playing Felix, Ndaye, Max, and Marco. It was also blatantly obvious that Phil should not be alone in the backcourt with Dangelo. We have two point guards and one should always be on the floor. Again, it took him till February to notice this. I knew it, you knew it, Tarik Turner was calling for it. It was as damn obvious as any coaching decision could be.
Yet he tweaked and played around like he had nothing to lose. Well guess what... his experimenting in all likelihood is costing this team a tournament birth.

And then you have the recruiting fiasco. And yes it's a fiasco. Before you go all ballistic, understand that I know Lavin is a good recruiter, a very good recruiter actually. I will be the first to compliment him on his ability to close on a player. He signs an unholy amount of the players he targets. Incredibly impressive.
But we have no one signed for next year. And there are no significant recruits left. Every other major program in D1 has largely finished their recruiting for the year.
Georgetown, Villanova, Xavier, Marquette, Seton Hall, Providence, Creighton have all signed their top 100 prospects. This is nothing like years past because there is no player equivalent to Sampson, Jordan, or Obekpa who is left unsigned that we are even remotely involved with.
So, that leads to two results: 1) we don't sign anyone and in two years we have the youngest team ever assembled (again), or 2) we sign the type of 2 and 3 star recruits who don't have the talent needed to succeed at this level.

Is the sky falling? No. But this is not good. Playing sh*t basketball for 75% of the season and blowing your chance at the post-season is not being on the right path, even if you get hot towards the end of the year.

I understand optimists, I do not understand those that are delusional. Look at the glass that is our program and say it's half-empty or half-full, that's fine... but don't tell me it's a full glass.

Desco80......this is the best post that I have read since joining the site. Perhaps it's because it describes my opinion quite accurately

I have been a huge proponent of parting ways with Lavin. To build some context, I have recently changed my username from James to JohnnyFan.

I am thrilled to see the team playing better and can't wait to be at the Garden on Sunday. However, the criticism of this coach remains valid. I will continue to advocate for moving in a new direction. Consider it a vote of no-confidence.

PS....I may have to sit-out of the 2015 season. I really can't bare to go through another year of the "we're the youngest team in America" quotes. Especially since we have scholarships available for 2014.

PSS .....Ed Cooley seems to be one very hard-working recruiter. I am not necessarily a fan of his, but the effort is certainly there.

 

[bobo]

Lavin interview on Fox Sports

http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/steve-lavin-full-interview-about-crowd-goes-wild-on-fox-sports-1_pd

 

[Marillac]

Can someone kindly explain to me what the karma button means? If someone hits negative karma, how does that make someone a childish coward?

It means nothing if you are minus 5000 like Moose or +100. No consequences whatsoever. Which is why it is such a gay thing to do. Only a loser would consistently do it.

 

[beast of the east]

Ed Cooley is doing a really good job at Providence, and has them moving in the right direction.

His record there in his 3rd season is 50-39 and 19-27 in conference.

Lavin is 61-55 and 26-33 in his 4th season. If you remove the year he did not coach, his record is 48-36 and 20-21.

 

[Marillac]

Ed Cooley is doing a really good job at Providence, and has them moving in the right direction.

His record there in his 3rd season is 50-39 and 19-27 in conference.

Lavin is 61-55 and 26-33 in his 4th season. If you remove the year he did not coach, his record is 48-36 and 20-21.

It seems to me that they have very different styles. Cooley is on them early and often and doesn't hide the fact that he wants them bad. Lavin is more of a cool customer...perhaps playing a little hard to get to avoid looking desperate. I think that's why we hear if him out more when we are winning and getting good buzz.

Lavin has beaten Cooley head to head for Sampson, Obekpa, and Sanchez.

 

[Class of 72]

Ed Cooley is doing a really good job at Providence, and has them moving in the right direction.

His record there in his 3rd season is 50-39 and 19-27 in conference.

Lavin is 61-55 and 26-33 in his 4th season. If you remove the year he did not coach, his record is 48-36 and 20-21.

It seems to me that they have very different styles. Cooley is on them early and often and doesn't hide the fact that he wants them bad. Lavin is more of a cool customer...perhaps playing a little hard to get to avoid looking desperate. I think that's why we hear if him out more when we are winning and getting good buzz.

Lavin has beaten Cooley head to head for Sampson, Obekpa, and Sanchez.

Lavin has beaten Cooley head to head for Sampson, Obekpa, and Sanchez.

If it comes "head" to "head" Lavin would always win on looks alone!