In The end, It All Makes Sense

[monte]

Many years ago I remember doing my thing at the urinal at Alumni Hall when Louie walked in and parked himself at the urinal next to mine. We began talking about a recruit he missed out on who happened to be the son of Leroy Ellis. As I recall Louie mentioned that the kid decided to go to Kentucky instead of SJU. It was obvious that Lou was disappointed in his decision not to come to SJU since his father was such an outstanding player for us. I attempted to put a positive spin on the situation and informed coach that with your coaching ability you will do just fine next year. He turned to me and said, listen in order to win you need to have the "great players: coaching is over rated! Actually over the years he repeated that quote many times and really believed it!! Frankly so do I!!! We need to stay the course with Lavin. This process may take longer than we like!!

But our best season with Lavin was with Norm's players. Which would imply that Lavin is not so much a great recruiter-but may actually be a decent coach of "B-rated" talent.

I don't think that half a season of success with a senior laden team is enough to label him "a decent coach of B-rated talent". Although in hindsight I wish he had held on to Ron Roberts, who was one of Norm's B-rated recruits.

And I mean no disrespect to guys like Hardy--I'd give anything to have someone of his caliber right now. But I don't believe he or any of Norm's guys were "top 100" prospects so to speak.

Pretty sure Burrell was.

 

[mjmaherjr]

Many years ago I remember doing my thing at the urinal at Alumni Hall when Louie walked in and parked himself at the urinal next to mine. We began talking about a recruit he missed out on who happened to be the son of Leroy Ellis. As I recall Louie mentioned that the kid decided to go to Kentucky instead of SJU. It was obvious that Lou was disappointed in his decision not to come to SJU since his father was such an outstanding player for us. I attempted to put a positive spin on the situation and informed coach that with your coaching ability you will do just fine next year. He turned to me and said,

I hoped he stopped peeing before he turned to you

The "many years ago" part troubles me. Back then, Looie probably could really stream it. Right now, he may be down to a dribble (it's a basketball board after all), and would be relatively harmless, even from the next urinal. Now if you were a tween girl and Justin Bieber leaked on your clothes, it's right to E Bay for a big score.

I almost peed my pants laughing at this

 

[monte]

I dont think you people calling for more time get it.
There is nothnig that is going to change at this point. Lavin is not going to figure something out in the near future that he hasnt been able to discover in his entire career. This kind of thing is a "you have it or you dont" kind of thing. We hoped Lavin had grown and changed since his UCLA days, we now see that he hasnt....and isnt ever going to. He is who he is.

The sooner our low IQ AD gets rid of him and hires a smart coach, the better. Continuing the self deception for another couple of years as some of you seem intent on doing is something you will regret.

I don't disagree with you that he's likely never going to "get it", but what choice do we have but to hope that he recruits well enough, and find some floor generals, to keep us in(or close to) the top 25 most years? He is not going anywhere.

 

[Ray Morgan]

Some people here act like Lavin was trying to lure players to a nuclear wasteland. That was Norm's job. Unlike Norm, Lavin had a lot to offer. A proven track record as a head coach and sender of players to the NBA. High quality assistants with name recognition. A program with no NCAA sanctions hanging over its head. A new contract providing some assurance that his recruits would play for the guy that recruited them. Best of all, an almost certain guarantee of playing time from day one, something that no doubt helped him land recruits being courted by schools that Norm couldn't compete with.

He got highly ranked players, one after another. He added to more quality recruits in Obekpa and Jordan. Fans are expecting results by now. What's unreasonable about that? Yes, Moe went pro and Pelle never qualified. That's the way the game works for all schools, not just St. John's.

 

[SJUISBACK]

Lavin is not going anywhere. He was put into a difficult spot with having to recruit
almost an entire team. That alone requires 6 - 7 years to get your numbers back on track.
It's not just one cycle. He is great with the NYCity media and his players. Honestly, he may need
some help with x's and o's but he is a very good face for SJU and our program.

Show some respect to Steve Lavin and his program and St. John's. No one should ever call for someone to be fired
because of a few losses. Think positive. Three losses to ranked teams and were in the game but didn't finish.
They will make a run. Hardest thing to do is to be patient.

6-7 years? Stopppppppppppp thattttttttttttttttt
Why isn`t there much improvement from two years ago, oh that`s right he needs another 2-3 years for the improvement to show?
Right on.
I really don`t give a damn what kind of face he is, just give us a winning face. Just like people didn`t want Norm gone, he didn`t win but people said he was good for the program. Yep a losing coach is a great face to have representing your program.

The thing is I`m getting sick of waiting. Went through the sex capades scandal and said to myself to stick with them and i`ll be rewarded soon when they win and I could say and I never quit on them. Was that the 02-03 season?
Well since then they went to the ncaa tourny once and that was 1 and done.

So if it takes another 2-3 then have fun in the misery that they`ll give you, I`ll be longggggggggggg gone.
I`d rather be called a quitter then be disappointed every season.

Boo freaking hoo. We are all fans of this team, we are all going through this rough time, yet you remain the only one whining and threatening to stop rooting for the team. Stop crying to everybody saying your going to leave the fan base, because nobody cares, if you wanna stay and talk about the team, that's great, but no one wants to hear about your sob story that being a fan is so rough, we all are experiencing the same damn thing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, goodbye

lol have fun rooting hard for them. Last week we talked about acceptance, well yes I accept the fact that SJU sucks and always will suck.
Guess it`s better to call Syracuse NY`s since they are winners, lol what exactly has SJU done since the last 90s? one NCAA tourny which was a one and done.
Once DePaul kicks their ass they`ll be 0-4, 9-7 lol soooooooo saddddddd.

Hey mods you could delete this one too but even one of your fellow mods told me in pms last week that Lavin in a fraud and he must go.
Don`t ask who because i`m not saying.

 

[westchesterjoe]

I would not compare Steve to Jay Wright..It's unfair to both Coaches. Wright has been at NOVA 13 YEARS and built a excellent program. They are leaps and bounds ahead of us right now. No pun intended.

Wright seems to get more out of players than Steve but, that could be since He has better players now than we do.They play a team game, not one on one BB. Still, if we didn't think games are only 33 minutes long, we might have beaten both, Syracuse and Villanova. And, that's the frustration here. We don't finish games positively.

Actually, we have a capacity to fall apart at Crunch time and is why we are all so disappointed in this team.

With the game on the line, we give Harrison and Sampson too much rein to go one and one and it doesn't work. We collapse and lose the concept of a team game.

And, I think we believe the Coach should be better able to manage what he wants the players to do, when the game is on the line.He doesn't seem to orchestrate much in the way of plays or a strategy. In a word, he doesn't impose his will on these players and get them to play within a system.

 

[beast of the east]

Lavin is not going anywhere. He was put into a difficult spot with having to recruit
almost an entire team. That alone requires 6 - 7 years to get your numbers back on track.
It's not just one cycle. He is great with the NYCity media and his players. Honestly, he may need
some help with x's and o's but he is a very good face for SJU and our program.

Show some respect to Steve Lavin and his program and St. John's. No one should ever call for someone to be fired
because of a few losses. Think positive. Three losses to ranked teams and were in the game but didn't finish.
They will make a run. Hardest thing to do is to be patient.

6-7 years? Stopppppppppppp thattttttttttttttttt
Why isn`t there much improvement from two years ago, oh that`s right he needs another 2-3 years for the improvement to show?
Right on.
I really don`t give a damn what kind of face he is, just give us a winning face. Just like people didn`t want Norm gone, he didn`t win but people said he was good for the program. Yep a losing coach is a great face to have representing your program.

The thing is I`m getting sick of waiting. Went through the sex capades scandal and said to myself to stick with them and i`ll be rewarded soon when they win and I could say and I never quit on them. Was that the 02-03 season?
Well since then they went to the ncaa tourny once and that was 1 and done.

So if it takes another 2-3 then have fun in the misery that they`ll give you, I`ll be longggggggggggg gone.
I`d rather be called a quitter then be disappointed every season.

Boo freaking hoo. We are all fans of this team, we are all going through this rough time, yet you remain the only one whining and threatening to stop rooting for the team. Stop crying to everybody saying your going to leave the fan base, because nobody cares, if you wanna stay and talk about the team, that's great, but no one wants to hear about your sob story that being a fan is so rough, we all are experiencing the same damn thing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, goodbye

lol have fun rooting hard for them. Last week we talked about acceptance, well yes I accept the fact that SJU sucks and always will suck.
Guess it`s better to call Syracuse NY`s since they are winners, lol what exactly has SJU done since the last 90s? one NCAA tourny which was a one and done.
Once DePaul kicks their ass they`ll be 0-4, 9-7 lol soooooooo saddddddd.

Hey mods you could delete this one too but even one of your fellow mods told me in pms last week that Lavin in a fraud and he must go.
Don`t ask who because i`m not saying.

If SJUISBACK isn't Miguel, he woke up next to him this morning, or under him. Please get rid of this guy. We don't need someone who is here to taunt other posters.

 

[Jack Williams]

Lavin is not going anywhere. He was put into a difficult spot with having to recruit
almost an entire team. That alone requires 6 - 7 years to get your numbers back on track.
It's not just one cycle. He is great with the NYCity media and his players. Honestly, he may need
some help with x's and o's but he is a very good face for SJU and our program.

Show some respect to Steve Lavin and his program and St. John's. No one should ever call for someone to be fired
because of a few losses. Think positive. Three losses to ranked teams and were in the game but didn't finish.
They will make a run. Hardest thing to do is to be patient.

6-7 years? Stopppppppppppp thattttttttttttttttt
Why isn`t there much improvement from two years ago, oh that`s right he needs another 2-3 years for the improvement to show?
Right on.
I really don`t give a damn what kind of face he is, just give us a winning face. Just like people didn`t want Norm gone, he didn`t win but people said he was good for the program. Yep a losing coach is a great face to have representing your program.

The thing is I`m getting sick of waiting. Went through the sex capades scandal and said to myself to stick with them and i`ll be rewarded soon when they win and I could say and I never quit on them. Was that the 02-03 season?
Well since then they went to the ncaa tourny once and that was 1 and done.

So if it takes another 2-3 then have fun in the misery that they`ll give you, I`ll be longggggggggggg gone.
I`d rather be called a quitter then be disappointed every season.

Boo freaking hoo. We are all fans of this team, we are all going through this rough time, yet you remain the only one whining and threatening to stop rooting for the team. Stop crying to everybody saying your going to leave the fan base, because nobody cares, if you wanna stay and talk about the team, that's great, but no one wants to hear about your sob story that being a fan is so rough, we all are experiencing the same damn thing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, goodbye

lol have fun rooting hard for them. Last week we talked about acceptance, well yes I accept the fact that SJU sucks and always will suck.
Guess it`s better to call Syracuse NY`s since they are winners, lol what exactly has SJU done since the last 90s? one NCAA tourny which was a one and done.
Once DePaul kicks their ass they`ll be 0-4, 9-7 lol soooooooo saddddddd.

Hey mods you could delete this one too but even one of your fellow mods told me in pms last week that Lavin in a fraud and he must go.
Don`t ask who because i`m not saying.

If SJUISBACK isn't Miguel, he woke up next to him this morning, or under him. Please get rid of this guy. We don't need someone who is here to taunt other posters.

Exact vibe I'm getting from his posts as well, Beast.


Hey SJUISBACK, nice job revealing your true colors and sounding happy in your post that St. John's isn't great right now. You truly are a poser and need to get a life.

You sound like a spoiled brat who has gotten everything they wanted their entire life, because as soon as the team you root for (At least I think you root for them, not really sure at this point) doesn't play as well as you hoped, you throw a temper tantrum.

Grow up!
Sincerely, someone much younger than you

 

[salty dog]

Lavin is not going anywhere. He was put into a difficult spot with having to recruit
almost an entire team. That alone requires 6 - 7 years to get your numbers back on track.
It's not just one cycle. He is great with the NYCity media and his players. Honestly, he may need
some help with x's and o's but he is a very good face for SJU and our program.

Show some respect to Steve Lavin and his program and St. John's. No one should ever call for someone to be fired
because of a few losses. Think positive. Three losses to ranked teams and were in the game but didn't finish.
They will make a run. Hardest thing to do is to be patient.

6-7 years? Stopppppppppppp thattttttttttttttttt
Why isn`t there much improvement from two years ago, oh that`s right he needs another 2-3 years for the improvement to show?
Right on.
I really don`t give a damn what kind of face he is, just give us a winning face. Just like people didn`t want Norm gone, he didn`t win but people said he was good for the program. Yep a losing coach is a great face to have representing your program.

The thing is I`m getting sick of waiting. Went through the sex capades scandal and said to myself to stick with them and i`ll be rewarded soon when they win and I could say and I never quit on them. Was that the 02-03 season?
Well since then they went to the ncaa tourny once and that was 1 and done.

So if it takes another 2-3 then have fun in the misery that they`ll give you, I`ll be longggggggggggg gone.
I`d rather be called a quitter then be disappointed every season.

Boo freaking hoo. We are all fans of this team, we are all going through this rough time, yet you remain the only one whining and threatening to stop rooting for the team. Stop crying to everybody saying your going to leave the fan base, because nobody cares, if you wanna stay and talk about the team, that's great, but no one wants to hear about your sob story that being a fan is so rough, we all are experiencing the same damn thing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, goodbye

lol have fun rooting hard for them. Last week we talked about acceptance, well yes I accept the fact that SJU sucks and always will suck.
Guess it`s better to call Syracuse NY`s since they are winners, lol what exactly has SJU done since the last 90s? one NCAA tourny which was a one and done.
Once DePaul kicks their ass they`ll be 0-4, 9-7 lol soooooooo saddddddd.

Hey mods you could delete this one too but even one of your fellow mods told me in pms last week that Lavin in a fraud and he must go.
Don`t ask who because i`m not saying.

If SJUISBACK isn't Miguel, he woke up next to him this morning, or under him. Please get rid of this guy. We don't need someone who is here to taunt other posters.

Maybe he slept near Miguel's pod from the body snatchers.

 

[SJUISBACK]

lol Beast and you woke up next to Jack Williams.
You two sound alike.

And no need for the mods to get rid of me.
I`ll go to my account setting and see if there`s a "delete account" option, and if not then i`ll ask on here how to delete this account
lol no problem

Well I looked but couldn`t find a delete option,oh well.
But don`t worry I won`t comment on SJU anymore because I really dont care about them anymore.

I`ll play the pick em game again next week if i`m not banned by then.
So lol yeah goodbye HAVE FUN

 

[TobinGrad]

I would not compare Steve to Jay Wright..It's unfair to both Coaches. Wright has been at NOVA 13 YEARS and built a excellent program. They are leaps and bounds ahead of us right now. No pun intended.

Wright seems to get more out of players than Steve but, that could be since He has better players now than we do.They play a team game, not one on one BB. Still, if we didn't think games are only 33 minutes long, we might have beaten both, Syracuse and Villanova. And, that's the frustration here. We don't finish games positively.

Actually, we have a capacity to fall apart at Crunch time and is why we are all so disappointed in this team.

With the game on the line, we give Harrison and Sampson too much rein to go one and one and it doesn't work. We collapse and lose the concept of a team game.

And, I think we believe the Coach should be better able to manage what he wants the players to do, when the game is on the line.He doesn't seem to orchestrate much in the way of plays or a strategy. In a word, he doesn't impose his will on these players and get them to play within a system.

Its because he doesnt have a system. Hes a basketball promoter not a basketball coach

 

[Class of 72]

I would not compare Steve to Jay Wright..It's unfair to both Coaches. Wright has been at NOVA 13 YEARS and built a excellent program. They are leaps and bounds ahead of us right now. No pun intended.

Wright seems to get more out of players than Steve but, that could be since He has better players now than we do.They play a team game, not one on one BB. Still, if we didn't think games are only 33 minutes long, we might have beaten both, Syracuse and Villanova. And, that's the frustration here. We don't finish games positively.

Actually, we have a capacity to fall apart at Crunch time and is why we are all so disappointed in this team.

With the game on the line, we give Harrison and Sampson too much rein to go one and one and it doesn't work. We collapse and lose the concept of a team game.

And, I think we believe the Coach should be better able to manage what he wants the players to do, when the game is on the line.He doesn't seem to orchestrate much in the way of plays or a strategy. In a word, he doesn't impose his will on these players and get them to play within a system.

Jay is a great coach and person! Those of us that follow him also know that his first three years were difficult for him and many Nova faithful were calling for his head after year 3. Then he turned it all around in year 4 with a run in the NCAA. The past three years were not his greatest in that they won 21, 13 and 20 games. Two years ago Nova had a losing record. Six of those 13 years were not great by Nova standards but Nova stuck by Jay and it is turning into a great year for him. Lavin needs to fill a couple of critical voids on this team, a rebounder and a shooter. Christian Jones better be working hard and another shooter is a must, even if a JC type.

 

[otis]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

 

[Andrew]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

 

[simplyred]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

Honestly, this exact same post is made every year, over and over, and then Lavin ends up with a good class. Just wait until the signing period is over before making final proclamations. Leave the prejudging to Linda.

Btw, two years ago I traveled to Philly and saw Lavin totally outcoach Wright. It happens once in a while.

 

[Class of 72]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

He has a good eye for shooters and guards in general. We, not so much.

 

[1and1sju]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

Honestly, this exact same post is made every year, over and over, and then Lavin ends up with a good class. Just wait until the signing period is over before making final proclamations. Leave the prejudging to Linda.

Btw, two years ago I traveled to Philly and saw Lavin totally outcoach Wright. It happens once in a while.

Except in years past we were always still involved with 1 or 2 big fish. 2 years ago it was Jakarr and Obekpa, last year it was Rhysheed.
This year there is practically no top100 talent that is uncommitted. How come all the other big coaches have already signed their recruits for the year ?

This is not the same scenario. Also don't forget we needed to wait till the spring to sign Jordan because we technically didn't have an open scholarship.
This year we have 3 openings guaranteed.

 

[Class of 72]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

Honestly, this exact same post is made every year, over and over, and then Lavin ends up with a good class. Just wait until the signing period is over before making final proclamations. Leave the prejudging to Linda.

Btw, two years ago I traveled to Philly and saw Lavin totally outcoach Wright. It happens once in a while.

That Nova team had worse chemistry than ours. Most Big East coaches beat Nova that year so I am not sure it was about coaching. They went 13-19. Who is Linda???

 

[simplyred]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

Honestly, this exact same post is made every year, over and over, and then Lavin ends up with a good class. Just wait until the signing period is over before making final proclamations. Leave the prejudging to Linda.

Btw, two years ago I traveled to Philly and saw Lavin totally outcoach Wright. It happens once in a while.

That Nova team had worse chemistry than ours. Most Big East coaches beat Nova that year so I am not sure it was about coaching. They went 13-19. Who is Linda???

Linda Mirabella. I'm not sure which board she's on.

 

[STJ11Redmen]

Coach Wright is perhaps the best recruiter in the Big East in terms of recruiting players whose skills complement others.

Coach Wright has four 4* commits; two for the 2014 cycle and two for the 2015 cycle.

and St John's has none. This is very concerning to me as we lose much of the team next year.

Honestly, this exact same post is made every year, over and over, and then Lavin ends up with a good class. Just wait until the signing period is over before making final proclamations. Leave the prejudging to Linda.

Btw, two years ago I traveled to Philly and saw Lavin totally outcoach Wright. It happens once in a while.

That Nova team had worse chemistry than ours. Most Big East coaches beat Nova that year so I am not sure it was about coaching. They went 13-19. Who is Linda???

Nova was actually 15th in the country at the time.