Delaware St., Tues. Nov. 29, 6:30pm, FS2/970AM
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
TX Redman
Well-known member
You let them off light. I was expecting a more scathing skewering. I suppose you have to hold something in reserve, we have 25 games left to play. There are not many synonyms for "humiliations", "atrocious defense", "lackadaisical".
By the end of the season we might be down to pictionary.
I thought I was pretty even handed, considering. I don't think the sky is falling, I just think they're not that very good. I didn't expect them to be very good - the guards are freshmen, the front line is weak and inexperienced and Mussini and Ellison are awful - but I did expect them to beat Delaware State.
Hopefully Mullin is learning on the job. If he's not that's a problem. Personally I don't see how dragging the rotting corpse of some geriatric head coaching reject is going to help anything. Mike Rice, Pete Gillen, Tim Welsh, Tom Pecroa, zzzz, wake me when that discussion's over. There are no magic bullets. This team is very young and they're not going to be better until they're older and more mature. Pete Carill couldn't win 20 games with with this team. What I found troubling about last night was that some of them just don't seem to care. Mussini looked like he was looking forward to the post game meal. Ellison looked like he was at Disneyland. Someone needs to light a fire, because they're not going to win games on talent or smarts.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
If an embarrassing loss like this doesn't motivate them, then even resurrecting Vince Lombardi for a pep talk won't help. In the long run, this loss doesn't change our post season prospects, which didn't exist anyway. If it teaches them that they need to play harder, then at least it had some value.
The reality is Ponds and Lovett are early season freshman, so to expect them to be saviors at this point is unrealistic, none were MCAAs .Bash is just learning div !. The rest are early seasons sophs, so they too should be evaluated accordingly. The problem is we don't look any better than last year. If we end up in last place in the BE and people don't see player development and incremental improvement ,the high level players will not want to play for us unless they have a sick mother in NYC.
JackofVirginia
Active member
No kidding! That's what has been happening all along. Question is what are you going to do? Do you have the staff to correct your horrendous defensive stand?
JackofVirginia
Active member
[/quote]This game literally made me lose my desire to attend another St. John's game this year.
This loss was on everyone from players to coaches. Mullin pulled a Lavin with the starting lineup. Hopefully Sima and Lovett learned a lesson tonight. The downside was he started Ellison and Mussini.
Other than the starting lineup the other change was the coaching staff's apparent lack of interest in coaching from start to finish. The Delaware State coach zoned the Johnnies all game long and had his players exhibit good passing which resulted in mostly wide open shots, most of which went into the basket. Mullin spent a lot of time rubbing his head, his face and gradually turning beet red from embarrassment. Apparently having given up on his interior players Mullin's offensive game plan was to just hoist three pointers, most of which missed. As I worried last year about the complete lack of defense, this year, with better players, we actually look worse. That God Zach Brown signed because no talented bigs could be confident playing for this crew. Sima, Yakwe, Alibegovic and Owens all look like they just stepped foot on campus even though they played and practiced with each other last year.
Mullin has been out coached in every game except for the rare games where the other team was totally devoid of talent and size. This could all be biting off more than Mullin could chew on the early season schedule and tired and dejected players but the odd starting lineup, especially with the talentless Ellison starting, may be a sign of deeper problems.
Mullin looked punch drunk at the end of the game. He looked like he didn't know what hit him. He resembled Jeff Ruland in his final year at Iona. I am actually worried that he may be over his head and that he will not handle more losing well. Of course we will win some more games and it is obvious that we need to recruit over these one dimensional players but from the Slice divorce to the Mitch Richmond hiring, Mullin has not shown himself to be stable enough with staff and may have a false superiority complex as evidenced by choosing not to hire an actual coach to support him and his team and by making waves regarding the structure of the athletic department.
The other oddity is putting his house up for sale less than a year after closing. An omen or just a lousy decision maker? I am less worried about Mullin having two losing seasons or getting fired and more worried he will just throw in the towel.
I don't really think Mullin can motivate this team. To me he is very boring, ever see his interviews. Richmond is not exactly an extravert either. He's no Carnesecca at practice or game time.
JackofVirginia
Active member
That wasn't Thompson. I really like him as an analyst.
Redmen88
Well-known member
Tough game to watch. Was hoping that our offense would be more structured this year. It looked like a pickup game where everyone hoists 3's. I knew that it would take a while for the team to come together but thought that we would see some semblance of a structured offense. Part of the issue is we have zero low post game. How do we run an offense without shooting all 3's with no low post presence. I thought the staff could figure something out but I have not seen it yet. Oh yea, and defense. We do not stay in front of our men and do not rebound. We let everyone drive and wait for the blocked shot. We need to get tougher on D and this will help our offense. I am a huge fan of Lovett and Ponds will be good. Hoping to see improvements throughout the year but it is evident that we are at least a year away from being a solid team.
basketballjones
Well-known member
Hopefully they'll show some pride and kick their a** like we were all expecting this year.