ESPN Insiders

[LINY89]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-col...eams-built-win-next-season-college-basketball

The article is about teams built to win next season. Was curious to see if we made the list...anyone with an insider see us in there?

 

[LINY89]

Nevermind we didn't make it. The list was Nova, Maryland, UNC, BYU and UK.

 

[frank61]

The article listed schools that had a good recruiting team for next year. Of course no mention of the Redmen!

 

[Moose]

Biancardi is a friend of Lavin and always very complimentary to STJ.

 

[SJUalum98]

Biancardi is a friend of Lavin and always very complimentary to STJ.

Too bad he's not on the Selection Committee.

 

[LINY89]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

 

[SJUalum98]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

 

[MJDinkins]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

 

[LINY89]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

 

[STJ11Redmen]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

What's your deal with rankings? Literally every post you have mentions the top 25 rankings. This isn't football, basketball rankings are meaningless.

 

[LINY89]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

What's your deal with rankings? Literally every post you have mentions the top 25 rankings. This isn't football, basketball rankings are meaningless.

Just wrong. They DO mean a lot. When random fans go to check the scores, guess what's there? The top 25 scores on top. When fans check the polls, guess what they see? The top 25 teams. Being ranked builds the hype of your team, brings more fans out, and gives you the badge of respect. For better or for worse, some random 16 year old fan is much more likely to be exposed to a #15 St. John's team than a unraked St. John's team. Being ranked if for nothing else gets you recognition, respect, and much more exposure. It's like getting prime advertising space instead of 2 AM on a Sunday.

 

[austour]

x

 

[austour]

Joe, would you rather be Nova or Georgetown or Syracuse or Louisville or UConn or Pitt. In my mind Nova is at the bottom of that list. Is your preoccupation with Nova because you don't think STJ can be a standard bearer of the conference, old or new? That would not be an indefensible position to have. To be honest, in the old (present) Big East I think that might be about STJ's ceiling but in the new Big Smoke I think they can be better than that.

Nova has been in the top 1/4 of the Big East 5 times, and only exceptional 3 times, in Jay Wrights 11 year career there and before Jay they were mediocre for a long time, pretty much since the national championship in 1985 and throughout the Lappas era with a few exceptions. Have they been better than STJ? Sure they have. Not a bad program to emulate but not one to get a chubby over.

 

[austour]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

What's your deal with rankings? Literally every post you have mentions the top 25 rankings. This isn't football, basketball rankings are meaningless.

Just wrong. They DO mean a lot. When random fans go to check the scores, guess what's there? The top 25 scores on top. When fans check the polls, guess what they see? The top 25 teams. Being ranked builds the hype of your team, brings more fans out, and gives you the badge of respect. For better or for worse, some random 16 year old fan is much more likely to be exposed to a #15 St. John's team than a unraked St. John's team. Being ranked if for nothing else gets you recognition, respect, and much more exposure. It's like getting prime advertising space instead of 2 AM on a Sunday.

A bit hyperbolic but not too far off base. Being ranked is nice. Being on TV a lot is nicer (FWIW St Johns has gotten a lot more exposure than Nova nationally this year thanks to Lavin and Obekpa). Getting far in the dance and more than once, however, is the only way to build broad national team awareness and appeal.

Because Nova has done it a few times in the limited time you've been following basketball they appear to you to be a historical powerhouse. That kind of makes sense.

 

[LINY89]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

What's your deal with rankings? Literally every post you have mentions the top 25 rankings. This isn't football, basketball rankings are meaningless.

Just wrong. They DO mean a lot. When random fans go to check the scores, guess what's there? The top 25 scores on top. When fans check the polls, guess what they see? The top 25 teams. Being ranked builds the hype of your team, brings more fans out, and gives you the badge of respect. For better or for worse, some random 16 year old fan is much more likely to be exposed to a #15 St. John's team than a unraked St. John's team. Being ranked if for nothing else gets you recognition, respect, and much more exposure. It's like getting prime advertising space instead of 2 AM on a Sunday.

A bit hyperbolic but not too far off base. Being ranked is nice. Being on TV a lot is nicer (FWIW St Johns has gotten a lot more exposure than Nova nationally this year thanks to Lavin and Obekpa). Getting far in the dance and more than once, however, is the only way to build broad national team awareness and appeal.

Because Nova has done it a few times in the limited time you've been following basketball they appear to you to be a historical powerhouse. That kind of makes sense.

It's that, and also the fact that I'm not sure we can be the top 3 team in this new conference everyone thinks we should be. I guess I just can't picture SJ as a national powerhouse because we never have been as long as I've been alive. Would love to see it, but seems like a pipe dream to me. That's why I'd take Nova's past decade of success in a heartbeat. I might even take Nova over G'Town in the coming years by the way.

 

[MJDinkins]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

St. John's is also a premier name in college basketball. It's been two decades (outside of the teams we had from 1997-2000) since we've been consistently good, but the name is still known. I know casual basketball observers who are very, familiar with the St. John's name. Get out more often.

Villanova had a good run for about 4 or 5 years, but lately that haven't been the case. They did make the Elite 8 (actually, the Final Four) in 2009 and the Sweet 16 in 2008. Those were the years I've included in the 4 or 5 year run that had.

'Nova was mediocre, at best, in the '90's, and followed that up with more mediocre play from 2000-2004. 2004-2005 was the year 'Nova seemed to turn it around, as the natives were starting to get restless with Wright.

'Nova from 2004-2012:
'04-'05: 24-8 (11-5 in the Big East) - Sweet 16
'05-'06: 28-5 (14-2) - Elite 8
'06-'07: 22-11 (9-7) - First Round
'07-'08: 22-13 (9-9) - Sweet 16
'08-'09: 30-8 (13-5) - Final Four
'09-'10: 25-8 (13-5) - Second Round
'10-'11: 21-12 (9-9) - First Round
'11-'12: 12-17 (5-12) - No Tournament

A fairly, good resume', but I can name several programs who have done better for a longer duration. Quite frankly, since Lavin has taken the helm it's been practically even when it comes to St. John's and Villanova. I can't say that about St. John's versus several other programs.

IMO, 'Nova HAD a better run program than St. John's. It's neck-in-neck now, if you ask me. The talent is also practically even. Then again, I'm not sure you can recognize talent based on your McDermott analogy the other day.

What does us losing out on Lawrence has to do with the price of cheese? That's irrelevant. What a way to cherry pick, nonetheless. So, I'm guessing 'Nova has never lost out on any, big-time or targeted recruits, huh? LOL

You are truly a character.

 

[SJUalum98]

We really need to get at the point of being Nova...their name is always everywhere, they always have great recruits many of whom pan out, they are ranked all the time, make the tourney practically all the time, etc. Makes me jealous really...they are where we need to be in another year or 2.

Villanova??????

Yeah.... Villanova. He has some odd fetish about them. I could name many other programs I'd rather emulate than Villanova. I'm guessing his standards aren't too high, if he wants to be where 'Nova is right now.

Villanova is a premier name in college basketball for the past decade. We are not. They have been at the top recently with all the attention. We are still trying to rekindle our 1980's glory. Wasn't Nova just in the elite 8 and sweet 16 and in the top 15 multiple times recently? Nova has a better run program than us and they may just recruit better talent, but one thing is for sure they are well ahead of us at this point and we are losing out on big can't miss recruits like Lawrence.

At this point, and I mean no offense, but I'm not sure when you started watching basketball.

 

[frank61]

Basketball rankings may be meaningless, but I would rather see us listed than not.

 

[LINY89]

How are they meaningless? Is Hofstra on par with Duke? Rankings will tell us not even close. Is the #1 team way better than the #25 team? Rankings will tell us yes. Only the best teams get ranked with maybe a few who don't belong, but for the most part being in the top 25 means you are really succeeding big time.