Creighton Game

[ZanMan]

Problem is we have no idea what our new President's view is on D1 basketball.

He may be happy with us becoming another Niagara or he may want us to be an elite NYC program again that is always in the mix for the NCAAs.

Should be an interesting spring and summer.

 

[SJU1512]

"Flaws and all, they are enjoyable for me to watch. This is one of my favorite squads in quite a while, despite all the bad stuff we see. "

Agree ZanMan, they have gone from one of my least favorite to being an enjoyable but frustrating watch. It is all about effort and this group of 5 give it. Funny, my brother who is not a fan or a hater of the Johnnies but at 68 a ball lifer, watched the game with me last night. Anyway he argued that we have OVERACHIEVED this year. In his words (paraphrasing); You play four guards all of whom are pretty much average shooters at best, only one of whom is a real stoned scorer, none of whom are exceptional athletes, nor are any off the charts quick or great jumpers. You have a very athletically gifted hybrid player (no real position) who has very flawed basketball skills and an undersized center with so-so hands that is offensively challenged to say the least. Obepka and Pointer can block shots which covers up to some degree the guards inability to keep opposing players in front of them so that helps. On top of that, you have one of the worst game coaches around. But you are gritty and tough minded so you stay in games against almost anyone but at the end of the day can't close out games because when the temperature gets turned up you just don't have the over-all talent and depth for this level. I think you are an incredibly overachieving team that must be hell to root for. "

Interesting and the more I think about it a pretty objective summary. Regardless, it is what it is and as much as I can't wait to get rid of Lavin, I will be with the crowd rooting each and every game. Hey, I'm used to it, I'm a die-hard Met fan forever.

Interesting to get a non-fan perspective. Thanks for sharing. Being so deep in as fans things tend to blend together sometimes. Lot of fresh-eyed clarity in that summation and hard to disagree with any of it. This I heart-filled but ultimately flawed roster and the latter is really catching up to us.

 

[Andrew]

With the lifestyle Lavin seems to enjoy, I think he really wants an extension. He is unlikely to get a coaching job at any school that is willing to pay him 1-2 million a year. That's why I think that he is doing the best he can and the best he ever will do.

 

[monte]

Problem is we have no idea what our new President's view is on D1 basketball.

He may be happy with us becoming another Niagara or he may want us to be an elite NYC program again that is always in the mix for the NCAAs.

Should be an interesting spring and summer.

We don't Zanman. Lots of factors come in to play from the school's perspective: Money/ROI, expectations, etc. By and large we are not privy to that information, although speculation runs rampant.

 

[paultzman]

Problem is we have no idea what our new President's view is on D1 basketball.

He may be happy with us becoming another Niagara or he may want us to be an elite NYC program again that is always in the mix for the NCAAs.

Should be an interesting spring and summer.

My suspicion is he will want a reasonable return on investment. For what we pay staff, returns are not very good to date.

 

[mjmaherjr]

Problem is we have no idea what our new President's view is on D1 basketball.

He may be happy with us becoming another Niagara or he may want us to be an elite NYC program again that is always in the mix for the NCAAs.

Should be an interesting spring and summer.

My suspicion is he will want a reasonable return on investment. For what we pay staff, returns are not very good to date.

if we are firguring cost per big east win then the staff is in google executive territory

 

[ADORAZ]

I'm biased but think it'd be incredibly foolish not to be heavily invested in basketball going forward.

I was about to write a long post explaining why, but why bother. It should be obvious. I am a bit concerned the president doesn't show much interest (at least from my point of view), but regardless of whether he's a fan I'm sure basketball contributes in a ton of ways including enrollment, donations, community interest, exposure, etc. It's not just about ticket sales and TV revenue, there's many more factors at play.

 

[Andrew]

As long as they have the Fox contract, they need to put the necessary resources in place to give the appearance that they are trying to compete.

 

[ZanMan]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

 

[redmen2014champs]

I'm biased but think it'd be incredibly foolish not to be heavily invested in basketball going forward.

I was about to write a long post explaining why, but why bother. It should be obvious. I am a bit concerned the president doesn't show much interest (at least from my point of view), but regardless of whether he's a fan I'm sure basketball contributes in a ton of ways including enrollment, donations, community interest, exposure, etc. It's not just about ticket sales and TV revenue, there's many more factors at play.

Agree, I know I am not like most but the main reason I chose to go to law school at SJU was because I was a fan of the basketball team since I was a kid.

 

[fun]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

Kill two birds: kick Lavin upstairs.He saves face, they get a new coach, and Monasch retires to Bavaria.

 

[Class of 72]

Problem is we have no idea what our new President's view is on D1 basketball.

He may be happy with us becoming another Niagara or he may want us to be an elite NYC program again that is always in the mix for the NCAAs.

Should be an interesting spring and summer.

My suspicion is he will want a reasonable return on investment. For what we pay staff, returns are not very good to date.

Other than post season revenue if Lavin and the team won more games what extra return would he see? He may see the publicity surrounding Lavin as a cost of doing business. We as fans take it to heart more than an academic. After the non qualifiers and injuries and the Jordan conundrum did anyone expect much more than a couple of extra wins at this point? -If this offensively and defensively challenged team was 15-5 right now I would be very happy. Sure most of that is on the wizard but too much is being made out of the fact we have 4 seniors, only two of which resemble DI players. Rarely will you see this group on the same page during a game so there is plenty of blame to go around. In the end the coach has to take responsibility but the AD is looking to save his job and will recommend a buy out which still costs a lot of money. Unless there are feelers out there already, getting a newsworthy new coach may be a long shot. Does anyone discuss Tom Pecora in this town?

 

[JackofVirginia]

Seasons not over IMO

I'm probably one of the more optimistic on here, and I agree. Problem is the path has continued to get tougher and tougher with each loss. There is no magical win amount we need. But we're going to need to beat all of the best in the conference now, getting sweeps in some cases too.

How are we going to beat the best teams when we just lost to the worst teams??? We are defective at almost every position. You name it, point guard, center, forwar, shooting guards, all have serious flaws in their games. The kids looked bewildered last night on offense. Another loss and they will look defeated. The season will end like last season where they get to the NIT but feel they were too good for it and go out and play some street ball only to lose to a team glad to keep playing in March and hoping to build on next season.

We beat providence, they are 2nd in the conference, so it isn't impossible.

I agree. I'm not thrilled with our current conference record, but the "it's over" "it's impossible" posts are absurd and too dramatic.

It's over when we play our last game in the BET. Again, I'm less than thrilled with the state of things right now, but also know this team isn't done by any means.

We need everyone available to play and last night proved that yet again with Jordan not playing. Acceptable? Maybe not. But we all knew this coming into this season.

8-3 in remaining games to be in the hunt for a bid, 9-2 to be more secure. Not impossible, but more unlikely with each passing game.

How about 7-4 and a few wins in the BET? How about 5-6 and they win the BET? There are several scenerios that could get us in. Nothing is impossible nor unlikely. We can only say that when the season is truly over and we are on the outside looking in.

I'm a realist and know the deal and I'm NOT happy with the last month. I'm upset that we are in this predicament again! But I refuse to give up on these guys and do feel that they can pull it off. This is why you play all the games, not less than half and give up and go home.

I promise those kids are not ready to quit. They have never quit yet this season...ever. This is why I will still watch and root for them. Flaws and all, they are enjoyable for me to watch. This is one of my favorite squads in quite a while, despite all the bad stuff we see.

Who knows, maybe by the Big East Tournament we learn to finish games. I still believe we can beat most good teams. Don't count us out.

 

[redfazed]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

Kill two birds: kick Lavin upstairs.He saves face, they get a new coach, and Monasch retires to Bavaria.

How much does the AD make? Less than ESPN pays, I'm guessing.

 

[frank61]

I'm biased but think it'd be incredibly foolish not to be heavily invested in basketball going forward.

I was about to write a long post explaining why, but why bother. It should be obvious. I am a bit concerned the president doesn't show much interest (at least from my point of view), but regardless of whether he's a fan I'm sure basketball contributes in a ton of ways including enrollment, donations, community interest, exposure, etc. It's not just about ticket sales and TV revenue, there's many more factors at play.

Agree, I know I am not like most but the main reason I chose to go to law school at SJU was because I was a fan of the basketball team since I was a kid.

When I was looking for a pharmacy school, I chose St. John's because of being a Redmen fan as long as I could remember, and I was accepted at 5 other schools.

 

[redfan259999888]

@NYPost_Brazille: Asked how they begin winning Big East games after all these losses Lavin: “If I had the answer to that, I wouldn’t be in this business pal."

Huh?

Wow!

Seriously, if the people in charge at SJU read his quotes, how do they feel?
I'd be saying that the guy is a complete idiot. I mean look at that quote.

 

[fun]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

Kill two birds: kick Lavin upstairs.He saves face, they get a new coach, and Monasch retires to Bavaria.

How much does the AD make? Less than ESPN pays, I'm guessing.

And? If he doesn't like it he can go back to ESPN and hang out with all the other coaching failures. Either result would certainly play to his biggest strength: gasbaggery.

 

[beast of the east]

With the lifestyle Lavin seems to enjoy, I think he really wants an extension. He is unlikely to get a coaching job at any school that is willing to pay him 1-2 million a year. That's why I think that he is doing the best he can and the best he ever will do.

Question, since you seem to know. What was his ESPN salary? Where does he live? What kind of car does he drive? Is he in the top tier tax bracket or does he enjoy salary deferrals and tax shelters so that 50% of his income doesn't go to state and federal taxes? How much of an apartment can you buy in NYC as compared to living somewhere else in the country? Thanks for your reply

 

[redfazed]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

Kill two birds: kick Lavin upstairs.He saves face, they get a new coach, and Monasch retires to Bavaria.

How much does the AD make? Less than ESPN pays, I'm guessing.

And? If he doesn't like it he can go back to ESPN and hang out with all the other coaching failures. Either result would certainly play to his biggest strength: gasbaggery.

No argument there, but I'm not sure AD at St John's offers the level of celebrity he seems to so badly crave.

 

[fun]

We need a new AD. I think that's one thing every single person here agrees on.

Kill two birds: kick Lavin upstairs.He saves face, they get a new coach, and Monasch retires to Bavaria.

How much does the AD make? Less than ESPN pays, I'm guessing.

And? If he doesn't like it he can go back to ESPN and hang out with all the other coaching failures. Either result would certainly play to his biggest strength: gasbaggery.

No argument there, but I'm not sure AD at St John's offers the level of celebrity he seems to so badly crave.

He could always replace Rosie on the View.