Cragg and the SJU “Culture”

[quote="fordham96" post=336653][quote="L J S A" post=336646]Just replacing Matt isn't going to cut it.

Everything hinges on Mitch. He's needed to go from pretty much the moment he was hired, but he's never needed to go more than right now. Great player, always enjoy his interviews on local 95.7 when he calls in, but he's screwing us at this point. Please just go home.[/quote]

Mitch being hired and his continued presence on the staff, even if he is doing it voluntarily and not getting paid, to me is grounds for firing Chris with cause. Seriously, it is intentional coaching malpractice.[/quote]

Wow.

Have you attended one practice? Just 15 minutes? Have you asked one player a single question about Mitch and how he may have helped them?

This is disgusting.
 
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[quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Agreed. That would be another 20 win season .

If they can withstand our doomsday fanbase and sportswriters for another year....
 
[quote="Brian W." post=336658][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Agreed. That would be another 20 win season .

If they can withstand our doomsday fanbase and sportswriters for another year....[/quote]

The nerve of a fanbase who has experienced soooooo many tournament games the last 20 years to wonder when the shoe will drop. The shoe drops over Union and Utopia quite often.

I'd love to re-connect with your post above once the roster is fleshed out. 20 wins???? I guess Ponds didn't mean so much. Even with 'new' guys and returning players we know Mullin will play 8 maybe 9 guys. But lets see it play out.
 
I agree that in addition to roster stability and building depth, the critical ingredient is ‘coaching’.
But I am hopeful that Borman/Hsu and maybe Pecora (my ideal scenario is Mitch is also replaced) would add much to game strategy and player development.
I also think that IF Mack, Heron, Simon, Figgy, Steere all show up, backed by a bench of at least Wright, Williams, Manuel, Roberts, and Caraher, plus that mystery Grad Transfer PG, we’ll be competitive in the BEC.
(I half-expect Trimble, Keita, and maybe Earlington to transfer.)
But yeah, we need ‘coaching’.
 
Way too early to be predicting lineups and wins/losses next year. However also a bit early to be mandating that all will be doom and gloom. Understand our performance since Jarvis' good early years has been spotty at best; but hope springs eternal and is always preferable to despair.
Once staff and players for next year shake out, there'll be plenty of time for speculation that is at least somewhat fact based.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=336661]Way too early to be predicting lineups and wins/losses next year. However also a bit early to be mandating that all will be doom and gloom. Understand our performance since Jarvis' good early years has been spotty at best; but hope springs eternal and is always preferable to despair.
Once staff and players for next year shake out, there'll be plenty of time for speculation that is at least somewhat fact based.[/quote]

You seem to be 'blowing into the wind', NCJ.
Dont you get, you cannot stop diehard Johnny fans from speculating on rumors about returning players and 'hoping for the best'?!?
Lol.
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=336571]Yea it is what we are. But that doesn’t mean you stop trying to do better.

My dad and I had a funny conversation during the NFL playoffs this year. I talked about how the patriots have been good my entire life and I don’t know an NFL without them dominating.

He said when he was my age the patriots were a joke. Snuck into one super bowl in 30 years where they got historically blown out by the Chicago Bears. The rest of the time they were usually horrible.

Funny how one hire and one QB can change things. Now you have people like me who are 21 years old and don’t even know what it’s like to see a bad patriots team unless Brady breaks his leg like he did one year.

If you settle for mediocrity just because that’s how the last 25 years have gone, why are you even a fan? What’s the point? You gotta want to be better than you are. Never settle.

With that being said I do agree that the people who act like mullin is a disaster are overreacting big time. Between the tournament berth and the crowds we drew at MSG, this year was one of the better we have had in a while. But I just have the personal opinion that it will never get better under mullin and we should take a shot with someone else.[/quote]

Sign me up for Belichek coaching ST John's but don't think Brady has eligibility left.
 
[quote="Sju grad 13" post=336651]Still not trusting that Simon one. And if he does come back I don’t think he’ll be happy about it.[/quote]

Why?
 
[quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Bench?
Or we going to do the same thing again next year.[/quote]

Going into this year we were told that SJU had the best backcourt in BE and the most depth in years. My favorite was the numerous posters and certain writer that said it was the best team since Final 8 team. Then we had this thing called the actual games and reality and we quickly found out the backcourt was good but up and down, frontcourt outside of Figgy was a joke, depth was literally non existent as HS recruits were either not ready or in over their heads or both. Two big transfers Keita and Dixon were complete busts and after a non-conference schedule soft as charmin they repeatedly got exposed in conference play.

That about cover it....

Moral of the story is stop with the "if this happens and he comes back and if this guy turns out to be the next Lew Alcindor we may not be God awful next year...."[/quote]

Was close. What was the best team since Elite 8 team? Either The next year team that got upset in 2nd round, Hatten team, Lavin's 1st or last team or this past years team. Not exactly picking the best Yankee team since 1961
 
[quote="Brian W." post=336658][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Agreed. That would be another 20 win season .

If they can withstand our doomsday fanbase and sportswriters for another year....[/quote]

A 20-win prediction seems a bit premature right now...just like the doom and gloom. The roster will almost certainly change — hopefully for the better.

We need another PG badly or we could see a repeat of two years ago. We also need a big to step up. I’m done trying to guess after how awful Keita was. I assumed he would be serviceable. He was anything but. A lot of question marks.
 
[quote="we are sju" post=336665][quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Bench?
Or we going to do the same thing again next year.[/quote]

Going into this year we were told that SJU had the best backcourt in BE and the most depth in years. My favorite was the numerous posters and certain writer that said it was the best team since Final 8 team. Then we had this thing called the actual games and reality and we quickly found out the backcourt was good but up and down, frontcourt outside of Figgy was a joke, depth was literally non existent as HS recruits were either not ready or in over their heads or both. Two big transfers Keita and Dixon were complete busts and after a non-conference schedule soft as charmin they repeatedly got exposed in conference play.

That about cover it....

Moral of the story is stop with the "if this happens and he comes back and if this guy turns out to be the next Lew Alcindor we may not be God awful next year...."[/quote]

Was close. What was the best team since Elite 8 team? Either The next year team that got upset in 2nd round, Hatten team, Lavin's 1st or last team or this past years team. Not exactly picking the best Yankee team since 1961[/quote]

Lol I know. We’ve won one game in the tournament in the 20 years since. He makes it seem like people expected them to ulproot multiple legit sweet 16 finishes.
 
[quote="Marillac" post=336666][quote="Brian W." post=336658][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Agreed. That would be another 20 win season .

If they can withstand our doomsday fanbase and sportswriters for another year....[/quote]

A 20-win prediction seems a bit premature right now...just like the doom and gloom. The roster will almost certainly change — hopefully for the better.

We need another PG badly or we could see a repeat of two years ago. We also need a big to step up. I’m done trying to guess after how awful Keita was. I assumed he would be serviceable. He was anything but. A lot of question marks.[/quote]

Heron, LJ, SImon come back and Mack can play we make tourney again. Mullin will be the most successful ST John's coach sine the great Mike Jarvis.
 
[quote="Marillac" post=336667][quote="we are sju" post=336665][quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Bench?
Or we going to do the same thing again next year.[/quote]

Going into this year we were told that SJU had the best backcourt in BE and the most depth in years. My favorite was the numerous posters and certain writer that said it was the best team since Final 8 team. Then we had this thing called the actual games and reality and we quickly found out the backcourt was good but up and down, frontcourt outside of Figgy was a joke, depth was literally non existent as HS recruits were either not ready or in over their heads or both. Two big transfers Keita and Dixon were complete busts and after a non-conference schedule soft as charmin they repeatedly got exposed in conference play.

That about cover it....

Moral of the story is stop with the "if this happens and he comes back and if this guy turns out to be the next Lew Alcindor we may not be God awful next year...."[/quote]

Was close. What was the best team since Elite 8 team? Either The next year team that got upset in 2nd round, Hatten team, Lavin's 1st or last team or this past years team. Not exactly picking the best Yankee team since 1961[/quote]

Lol I know. We’ve won one game in the tournament in the 20 years since. He makes it seem like people expected them to ulproot multiple legit sweet 16 finishes.[/quote]

I thought Lavin did enough to get extension unless they were hiring a sure thing which does not mean a Hurley BTW or one of the single two greatest players in program history. If Mullin makes tourney in back to back years they should rename court in his name. Or a program that has had no success can keep firing coaches that make NCAA tourney......
 
[quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]A lineup consisting of Heron, Simon, Figgy, and Mack/Williams would be solid. If Steere or Manuel step up at center, 2019-'20 could be a good year.[/quote]

Bench?
Or we going to do the same thing again next year.[/quote]

Going into this year we were told that SJU had the best backcourt in BE and the most depth in years. My favorite was the numerous posters and certain writer that said it was the best team since Final 8 team. Then we had this thing called the actual games and reality and we quickly found out the backcourt was good but up and down, frontcourt outside of Figgy was a joke, depth was literally non existent as HS recruits were either not ready or in over their heads or both. Two big transfers Keita and Dixon were complete busts and after a non-conference schedule soft as charmin they repeatedly got exposed in conference play.

That about cover it....

Moral of the story is stop with the "if this happens and he comes back and if this guy turns out to be the next Lew Alcindor we may not be God awful next year...."[/quote] Agreed. And I was one of the people that was saying on paper it was the most talent since the elite 8.

But personally I still stand by that because I think it was the staff that didnt get the most out of the players.

Ponds Pre Season POY candidate
Heron 2nd team SEC last year
Simon had great junior year
Clark Solid junior year
Fig Juco All American
Keita ( high ranked but overrated by us )

I still think it's fair to say when you look at that first 5 that's as much starting 5 talent as we have had in a long time. But I think that they didnt play better at the end of the season is an indictment on the staff more than them

And the lack of bench production is definitely on the staff for leaving us shorthanded or I guess in this case shortheighted
 
Roster mismanagement has been the single biggest issue in Mullin regime, agreed.
This year Clark and Heron shitting the bed at end of season was 2nd biggest. Herron was disappointing but also think he was hurt / and did not mesh with Ponds at all. I think you see a much better Heron if he really does come back.
 
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[quote="mjmaherjr" post=336670][quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]
And the lack of bench production is definitely on the staff for leaving us shorthanded or I guess in this case shortheighted[/quote]

The enigmatic part of it is if they started played like this all season it shoudl be on the staff. The fact is though, many of us were giddy after we beat what we thought were some pretty good teams by playing solid basketball. They just seemed to lose confidence in themselves, and collectively collapsed. Maybe that's on the staff but sometimes in a short college season, a bad 5 game stretch at the end just crushes you, when in the pros, except for a playoff series 5 or 6 games don't make a season.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=336672][quote="mjmaherjr" post=336670][quote="fordham96" post=336640][quote="Moose" post=336635][quote="DoodyNY33" post=336634]
And the lack of bench production is definitely on the staff for leaving us shorthanded or I guess in this case shortheighted[/quote]

The enigmatic part of it is if they started played like this all season it shoudl be on the staff. The fact is though, many of us were giddy after we beat what we thought were some pretty good teams by playing solid basketball. They just seemed to lose confidence in themselves, and collectively collapsed. Maybe that's on the staff but sometimes in a short college season, a bad 5 game stretch at the end just crushes you, when in the pros, except for a playoff series 5 or 6 games don't make a season.[/quote]

Agree on the premise but it wasn't just a bad 5 games in my opinion. We were getting absolutely blown out and I think it was not just because we weren't playing well I think we got exposed because of a lot of things and lack of bench and height was big part of it because lack of bench can wear your starters down and our lack of size I definitely think affected Clark and that's why his shooting went down. I think he had an off start to season because of it then got in a groove and then got worn down again.

But to me the most glaring thing is I cant honestly say which of the starting 6 was markedly better year over year or from beginning of season till end of season ( I think Fig was but other than that... )

one guy then it's on the player but all of them I gotta start looking at the coaching player development. Just my opinion
 
[quote="we are sju" post=336566][quote="ron " post=336561][quote="we are sju" post=336550][quote="ron " post=336527]People can talk about all the ACs they want., IMO until Mullin is gone this program goes nowhere![/quote]

Replace Mullin with Mahoney, Fran, Jarvis, Norm, Lavin and that exact same sentence has been repeated for last 25 years[/quote]

And where has the program gone in that time? It needs to be gotten right this time. Hopefully, it is not too late.[/quote]

Mahoney 1
Fran 1
Jarvis 3
Norm 0
Lavin 2
Mullin 1
This is what we are. We make tourney once every 4 years or so. Is Mullin great? No, but you guys acting like he is a disaster have not been paying attention for last 25 years. More likely than not next guy will be worse.[/quote]

I'd say that after 25 years of watching a dysfunctional program, this fanbase knows a Sh*t Show when they see one.

Why anyone would want to put up with more of the same for even one more day is mind-boggling to me.

Mullin has been here 4 years. He hasn't even had 1 season with a .500 record in the conference. He lost his top recruiter and AC after 6 months. He lost his only recruiter for the past 3 seasons just this week.

The next guy can't be worse, he can only be more of the same...just like Mullin.
 
Chicago Days wrote:
NCJohnnie wrote: Way too early to be predicting lineups and wins/losses next year. However also a bit early to be mandating that all will be doom and gloom. Understand our performance since Jarvis' good early years has been spotty at best; but hope springs eternal and is always preferable to despair.
Once staff and players for next year shake out, there'll be plenty of time for speculation that is at least somewhat fact based.

You seem to be 'blowing into the wind', NCJ.
Dont you get, you cannot stop diehard Johnny fans from speculating on rumors about returning players and 'hoping for the best'?!?
Lol.

You're probably right about that Chicago, and I'll also probably continue to "blow into the wind" from time to time. Just don't see anything to be gained from speculating on players transferring absent real info. On the one hand, there was all kinds of concerns expressed about not being able to field a team next year just last week. We know the players read these sites and I just don't see much to be gained about wondering who might leave (different to me than encouraging kids to stay). But that's just me. I know many don't agree.
 
Artest on campus today
[attachment=829]6D32969B-E5D9-4474-BD57-F07A0BEC7CAF.jpeg[/attachment]
 
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