Is Obekpa Next? No! He's staying!
- Thread starter tom in salem
- Start date
beast of the east
Active member
As fans we can't have it both ways. Fans here screamed at moaned at the 0-5 start, which was partially due to scheduling, and partially due to poor play, and still yet, in game coaching decisions.
When did we win our first game? When Obekpa rode the pines with GG containing Teague in the Seton Hall game. GG fought for and established himself as worthy of serious minutes during the stretch where we won 9 of 10 games. I believe it was in that stretch where Obekpa's minutes became limited that his frustration grew. I always felt he should start, but there was no denying that GG brought something positive onto the court that Obekpa didn't supply - interior muscle. Some people here lauded GG over Obekpa at the time.
So the sore festered, until Obekpa played 3 incredibly dumb minutes, committing bad fouls that anchored him to the bench vs. Providence. What did he want Lavin to do - play him with 2 fouls with 18.5 minutes to go in the first half? Then he goes out and commits #3 within the first 1.5 minutes. Again, did he expect to stay in, and is the correct game call to try to stay in the game for 8 minutes or so and then hope Obekpa won't commit the 4th.
There is not question that whatever happened on the bench came when Lavin went to insert him at that juncture. We all saw that after some animated back and forth, GG was then inserted instead of Obekpa.
You can say whatever you want about CO's potential - it's there. His value to the team in the absolute is unquestioned. But there is no way in hell that CO earned minutes without question on this team. Only Harrison stayed on the floor from game 1 till the end. Everyone else had to fight for minutes.
The team may be crumbling, but Obekpa staying would have caused a slower decay if he brought the same attitude. Someone will grab him, and on a great team he will likely become an important sub or a role player starter. Unless I hear otherwise, can't pin this on anyone but Obekpa.
When did we win our first game? When Obekpa rode the pines with GG containing Teague in the Seton Hall game. GG fought for and established himself as worthy of serious minutes during the stretch where we won 9 of 10 games. I believe it was in that stretch where Obekpa's minutes became limited that his frustration grew. I always felt he should start, but there was no denying that GG brought something positive onto the court that Obekpa didn't supply - interior muscle. Some people here lauded GG over Obekpa at the time.
So the sore festered, until Obekpa played 3 incredibly dumb minutes, committing bad fouls that anchored him to the bench vs. Providence. What did he want Lavin to do - play him with 2 fouls with 18.5 minutes to go in the first half? Then he goes out and commits #3 within the first 1.5 minutes. Again, did he expect to stay in, and is the correct game call to try to stay in the game for 8 minutes or so and then hope Obekpa won't commit the 4th.
There is not question that whatever happened on the bench came when Lavin went to insert him at that juncture. We all saw that after some animated back and forth, GG was then inserted instead of Obekpa.
You can say whatever you want about CO's potential - it's there. His value to the team in the absolute is unquestioned. But there is no way in hell that CO earned minutes without question on this team. Only Harrison stayed on the floor from game 1 till the end. Everyone else had to fight for minutes.
The team may be crumbling, but Obekpa staying would have caused a slower decay if he brought the same attitude. Someone will grab him, and on a great team he will likely become an important sub or a role player starter. Unless I hear otherwise, can't pin this on anyone but Obekpa.
westchesterjoe
Active member
IT'S not fishing. Sure Coaches whose season has finished , well or like Lavin's, do the TV gig and so what. The difference is that our Program is on the down elevator to Macy's Basement and our Coach ought to be on the job here, not his next job..
Funny how Chris gets bagged on as a quitter when he suited up on a badly sprained ankle just weeks before. You would think the praise for that matches just an ounce of the venom he's received for a sideline dispute that no one can confirm.
Students and student-athletes transfer every day to hopefully better their situation/environment just as people look for other jobs in the workforce.
This conversation is hilariously funny.
Students and student-athletes transfer every day to hopefully better their situation/environment just as people look for other jobs in the workforce.
This conversation is hilariously funny.
Desco, why do you say Lavin put out feelers for the Cal job? I read the article that was posted here about Montgomery and nowhere in that article did it say that Lavin was in the mix. Do you have another source?
Coaching Changes @CoachingChanges Apr 3
“@CV_26: "@CoachingChanges: Steve Lavin is snooping" @NYPost_Brazille” Look for him to try at Cal
And, fwiw, I've heard that that's accurate. Nothing may come of it, but SL has been asking around. Zero indication that Cal has any reciprocal interest however.
OK. Thanks. If this is true, I can't see SJU keeping him on. It's deja vu with Fran all over again.
so much for all the tragedies pulling the team closer together....so much for the European trip pulling the team closer together, so much for the teammates follwoing each other from other schools making the team closer together, so much for Lav bringing in his mentor and former players bringing the team closer together......now we are dealing with all the speculation that Lavin is gone too. If this is true, fire him, if its not true, he needs to put it to rest with a statement. Fans want to know what is going on with this program. Fans, the ones that BUY TICKETS!
Yup. Also, when one student-athlete/employee leaves, it could be for any variety of reasons related to the individual, program/employer, or both. When a bunch start leaving, it becomes less about the individual and more about the program/employer.
CO is also getting his game picked apart pretty nicely now that he is leaving. However his game was not getting picked apart like this when it looked like we were going to be missing him for the Nova and Xavier games. His game really went downhill in the last 6 weeks apparently!
As one of the few people on here who thought Lavin was an awful coach from Day 1 I have to say, I don't blame CO at all. Thank you for coming here Chris. And no hard feeling for realizing 2 years in that your coach is an absolute moron. Wish we could fire him and retain your services but the world is cruel and that won't happen.
I am not defending Lavin here per se; I am not a big fan to say the least BUT - a player can go on the Internet and get great instruction on how to shoot a basketball, how to improve foot work, how to box out, etc. So Obekpa, a very, very limited player in all facets of the game except blocking shots made absolutely no effort to better skill sets he would need in an area he professed to want to earn a living at. Neither did Sampson, Pointer, Greene, etc. I exclude Harrison because I think in some ways he was a better player this year, inconsistent still, but clearly a better rebounder, defender, and passer than he had been. Lavin is an easy target but the lack of development by these players cannot be laid exclusively at his doorstep by any means. And the idea that all of these players sat back and said "well, if Lavin isn't going to work at improving me, I guess I'm not going to improve, I'll just leave" is crazy. It is obvious the ship be sinking but I think the blame goes to virtually everyone involved, from all coaches to all players. You want to blame Lavin more because he was the leader, fine, but I don't think anyone associated with this program the last 3 years should be walking tall.
CO improved this season. I thought he should have been a 10-15 mpg guy last year. He was much better the 2nd half this year. He is also one of two guys to physically improve himself. He was barely a top 75 kid...and I think the expectations for him and where he should be are completely unreasonable. How many soph bigs outside the top 50 are better than him?
southernjohnny2
Member
why in the world did he get a blanket release? ? does anybody else see an issue with that?