@Connecticut, Sat., Dec. 23, 8p, FOX

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carmineabbatiello said:
Mullin did an excellent job coaching here. Taking the worst team in the history of the program to the ncaa tournament in just 4 seasons. The fact that our Babe Ruth was put down and insulted during his tenure, during the CFC Era and it continues today is a disgraceful display and shows an embarrassing lack of appreciation for our beloved son and what he's meant to the University. The vitriol should have been reserved exclusively for the truly abhorrent coaches we had, Norm and CFC, that never danced.
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This post is a joke, right?
 
Mullins Revenge said:
Ponds lackluster final year here I think lingers in everyones mind. Thats why he doesnt get the props.

Big game tomorrow night. Real excited for this one. If Clingan is out, we have a shot here. Lets do it!!
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Ponds final year was not what we all hoped perhaps but he still payed very well. He wasn’t the reason we flamed out.
 
carmineabbatiello said:
Mullin did an excellent job coaching here. Taking the worst team in the history of the program to the ncaa tournament in just 4 seasons. The fact that our Babe Ruth was put down and insulted during his tenure, during the CFC Era and it continues today is a disgraceful display and shows an embarrassing lack of appreciation for our beloved son and what he's meant to the University. The vitriol should have been reserved exclusively for the truly abhorrent coaches we had, Norm and CFC, that never danced.
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I'm going to take a stab at defending my good friend Carmine, who I met in Charleston, is a really good guy and ardent fan, and chose one of the all time great, loved-hated, cheaters in the history of harness racing and Roosevelt Raceway. If Johnny Cochrane can vindicate OJ, I think I can defend Carmine.

First of all, no one here was as ardent a supporter of the Mullin hire as I was. Hometown hero, worshipped by just about every kid who bounced a basketball on NYC asphalt from 1960 to 1990, was so good that north of 110th street was known as "Little Larry Bird" as an honor meaning, "This very pale, slow Irish kid who couldn't jump a lick could play his ass off.

We tried everything without fully restoring SJU glory, so Bobby Gempeshaw threw a hail Mary from Queens to California, and the kid from Flatbush caught it and ran back to Queens to bring back the swagger. Okay, you know all that. That's my opening statement.

Out of the gate he made two very good hires and two very bad ones. Matt A., another great friend of our esteemed Panther, is/was a bulldog of a recruiter, and brought home a bag of talent. Greg St. Jean, everyone would agree, was a great find, a talented young assistant with a pedigree, and everyone here respects the hell out of him - future NBA head coach (or SJU head coach- but I digress). Ok good hires end here. Mitch Richmond was a ridiculous hire, especially from a guy who never coached a single game in his life, hiring a former teammate who also never coached a game in his life. Then he hired Slice, who we believed was stolen from Calipari's staff for a mere 6 year $2.5 million guaranteed. Two B+ hires, one D(umb) and one F(ired).

The first year's squad was horrific in terms of talent. Obekpa left, Rysheed left then changed his mind when Mullin came on board, but had forgotten that he had forgotten to go to class that whole spring. General Patton couldn't have won with those guys, not Wooden, not K, no one. Then Matt went to work, and selling the Mullin brand, began to reel in solid talent. Greg St. Jean, without an associate head coach began to show why we he has a bright future as a HC by actually running timeouts. Slice wasn't replaced because of a budget freeze. And slowly slowly Richmond was doing something but no one knows what.

With Lovett and Ponds in the backcourt in year 3, and a cast that included transfers Marvin Clarke, Justin Simon, Tariq Owens, and more, we had a shot at being an NCAA tourney team. Then mysteriously Lovett took a dive Sonny Liston would have been proud of, and the season was shot to hell. Year 4, we limped to Dayton, and played about as badly as we could in the play out game to get to the main draw. Bye bye Chris.

Here's what two guys I respect a lot had to say about Chris. Both were eerily similar, and Carmine will like this. Chris Huey, who walked on at Kansas and was coached by Bill Self, says Mullin has the greatest basketball mind of any he has ever met. He says no one knows more about the game. You know, not pure dumb talent on the court, but a brilliant basketball mind off it. Greg St. Jean, whose own dad was an NBA head coach and grew up knowing Don Nelson was similarly effusive in describing Chris.

Here's perhaps the greatest problem Chris had - 4 athletic directors in 4 years. Monasch, Oliva (stand in), Goff, and finally Cragg. No one to tell him, "No, you can't hire Richmond." No one to say no to Slice's ask of a paltry (by NBA standards) $2.4 million for 6 years. Then after a crap show ending of year 4, with one year remaining, he perhaps foolishly asked for an extension. Bye Bye Chris.

It wasn't exactly a nightmare. He wasn't good at being a HC, we all know that. The biggest mistakes in my opinion were, 1) hiring Richmond and 2) not getting between whatever the frick allegedly went bad between Matt and Slice. But Carmine is right, by year 3 we fielded a competitive team till Lovett went down, and in year four some experts touted as a dark horse Final 4 team.

I wasn't trying to prove he was the best coach in 20 years, simply not the winner of the Norm Roberts "really really nice guy who couldn't coach for crap" award.

If I failed to persuade the jury, Carmine is still a good guy, and his argument has merit. Don't topple the virtual Mullin statue that belongs outside CA. Just say it didn't work out.
 
dk423 said:
I heard that he did that as well (from the very limited sources I have, lol).

Frankly, I think the board is too nice and forgiving of Mullin! At least Norm tried!
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Obviously I’m not. To be fair the majority are older and posters and know Mullin the all world star. I didn’t become a fan till 87. I can’t blame Carmine etc except for hod choice of alcohol but those guys don’t have bad intentions. We just saw something different
 
W
Beasts of the East said:
I'm going to take a stab at defending my good friend Carmine, who I met in Charleston, is a really good guy and ardent fan, and chose one of the all time great, loved-hated, cheaters in the history of harness racing and Roosevelt Raceway. If Johnny Cochrane can vindicate OJ, I think I can defend Carmine.

First of all, no one here was as ardent a supporter of the Mullin hire as I was. Hometown hero, worshipped by just about every kid who bounced a basketball on NYC asphalt from 1960 to 1990, was so good that north of 110th street was known as "Little Larry Bird" as an honor meaning, "This very pale, slow Irish kid who couldn't jump a lick could play his ass off.

We tried everything without fully restoring SJU glory, so Bobby Gempeshaw threw a hail Mary from Queens to California, and the kid from Flatbush caught it and ran back to Queens to bring back the swagger. Okay, you know all that. That's my opening statement.

Out of the gate he made two very good hires and two very bad ones. Matt A., another great friend of our esteemed Panther, is/was a bulldog of a recruiter, and brought home a bag of talent. Greg St. Jean, everyone would agree, was a great find, a talented young assistant with a pedigree, and everyone here respects the hell out of him - future NBA head coach (or SJU head coach- but I digress). Ok good hires end here. Mitch Richmond was a ridiculous hire, especially from a guy who never coached a single game in his life, hiring a former teammate who also never coached a game in his life. Then he hired Slice, who we believed was stolen from Calipari's staff for a mere 6 year $2.5 million guaranteed. Two B+ hires, one D(umb) and one F(ired).

The first year's squad was horrific in terms of talent. Obekpa left, Rysheed left then changed his mind when Mullin came on board, but had forgotten that he had forgotten to go to class that whole spring. General Patton couldn't have won with those guys, not Wooden, not K, no one. Then Matt went to work, and selling the Mullin brand, began to reel in solid talent. Greg St. Jean, without an associate head coach began to show why we he has a bright future as a HC by actually running timeouts. Slice wasn't replaced because of a budget freeze. And slowly slowly Richmond was doing something but no one knows what.

With Lovett and Ponds in the backcourt in year 3, and a cast that included transfers Marvin Clarke, Justin Simon, Tariq Owens, and more, we had a shot at being an NCAA tourney team. Then mysteriously Lovett took a dive Sonny Liston would have been proud of, and the season was shot to hell. Year 4, we limped to Dayton, and played about as badly as we could in the play out game to get to the main draw. Bye bye Chris.

Here's what two guys I respect a lot had to say about Chris. Both were eerily similar, and Carmine will like this. Chris Huey, who walked on at Kansas and was coached by Bill Self, says Mullin has the greatest basketball mind of any he has ever met. He says no one knows more about the game. You know, not pure dumb talent on the court, but a brilliant basketball mind off it. Greg St. Jean, whose own dad was an NBA head coach and grew up knowing Don Nelson was similarly effusive in describing Chris.

Here's perhaps the greatest problem Chris had - 4 athletic directors in 4 years. Monasch, Oliva (stand in), Goff, and finally Cragg. No one to tell him, "No, you can't hire Richmond." No one to say no to Slice's ask of a paltry (by NBA standards) $2.4 million for 6 years. Then after a crap show ending of year 4, with one year remaining, he perhaps foolishly asked for an extension. Bye Bye Chris.

It wasn't exactly a nightmare. He wasn't good at being a HC, we all know that. The biggest mistakes in my opinion were, 1) hiring Richmond and 2) not getting between whatever the frick allegedly went bad between Matt and Slice. But Carmine is right, by year 3 we fielded a competitive team till Lovett went down, and in year four some experts touted as a dark horse Final 4 team.

I wasn't trying to prove he was the best coach in 20 years, simply not the winner of the Norm Roberts "really really nice guy who couldn't coach for crap" award.

If I failed to persuade the jury, Carmine is still a good guy, and his argument has merit. Don't topple the virtual Mullin statue that belongs outside CA. Just say it didn't work out.
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What you just said is extremely different than saying he did "an excellent job" and we "should be ashamed of ourselves" for criticizing him.
 
Agree with most Beast..but I don't think Richmond was a horrible hire...up front. He was Special Assistant..not coach. Sure, another veteran coach with experience would have been ideal, but Slice was the Associate and should have been able to give Mullin all the advice needed on how to run a program.

Richmond on the surface should have been ok as special assistant and been a big plus to recruiting efforts.

Clearly none of that materialized and even worse when Richmond slid over to asst coach..
 
Beasts of the East said:
The biggest mistakes in my opinion were, 1) hiring Richmond and 2) not getting between whatever the frick allegedly went bad between Matt and Slice. But Carmine is right, by year 3 we fielded a competitive team till Lovett went down, and in year four some experts touted as a dark horse Final 4 team.
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The biggest mistake was and always will be

1) taking the job of a D1 college basketball coach without having a single iota of a clue of how much work the job takes

EDIT: And honestly, thats being generous to Chris. Because based on his introductory press conference. He DID know what the job took. He just didnt follow through on doing it

Thank god our current coach is a workhorse.

But I agree with the overarching point. The tenure wasn't bad enough that any hypothetical Chris Mullin statue should be torn down. It just unfortunately showed us that Mullin was not fit for the job of coach. Still an all time player and legend.
 
Big crowd expected for this game. Even if Clingan is out, this will be one tough road game:

Want to watch Dan Hurley and Co. face Rick Pitino and St. John’s Saturday night at the XL Center? All upper bowl seats have long been sold out. In the lower bowl, limited single-seat tickets remained available Wednesday afternoon, starting at $150 apiece in a baseline section and $250 in a corner sideline section.

The game tips off at 8 p.m., culminating a day that figures to see as many people and as much money move through Downtown Hartford as any with a sporting event as the focal point. There were no more than two available seats together, down to only a few pairs Wednesday. The building will be packed and, fan pre-game proclivities considered, the scene will be wild and well lubricated.

www.ctinsider.com

UConn men's basketball ticket prices increase as demand soars

The price for UConn men's basketball tickets, especially for single-game tickets, have soared as the demand has increased.
www.ctinsider.com www.ctinsider.com
 
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