Johnnies Season Preview Piece

[quote="redken" post=400772]Didn't know Mike Anderson has to "prove himself."[/quote]

Really? I like CMA and he showed solid potential in year 1...but we went 5-13 in conference play and were just picked 9th by coaches. I think we will be better than that, but there's a lot more proving to do. If he already made tourneys on the reg, won a game in them, and had us ranked on and off then I'd agree with you. I know you will probably point to his time at other schools, but different coaches perform differently at other schools. Doing well at 1 does not guarantee doing well at another, especially with worse resources. He still has not gotten a consensus 4 star recruit and that continues if Cuffe Jr. does not come here. He has shown he can do well here, but we have not done anything that remarkable...just a solid year where we were not pushovers. But still very poor conference performance though that was expected. I think if CMA is half the coach many on here say he is, we should be a 18+ win team and either on bubble or penciled into the NIT. Anything worse than that with this depth will be concerning. This is not a super young team either so hopefully we don't hear that if we start off poorly. We have not even made a tourney appearance yet under him. Many, many schools do that on a regular basis and it's not seen as that special...more of a given. I think CMA has the talent to be on bubble or better if he's a legit coach.
 
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[quote="Mike Zaun" post=400776][quote="redken" post=400772]Didn't know Mike Anderson has to "prove himself."[/quote]

Really? I like CMA and he showed solid potential in year 1...but we went 5-13 in conference play and were just picked 9th by coaches. I think we will be better than that, but there's a lot more proving to do. If he already made tourneys on the reg, won a game in them, and had us ranked on and off then I'd agree with you. I know you will probably point to his time at other schools, but different coaches perform differently at other schools. Doing well at 1 does not guarantee doing well at another, especially with worse resources. He still has not gotten a consensus 4 star recruit and that continues if Cuffe Jr. does not come here. He has shown he can do well here, but we have not done anything that remarkable...just a solid year where we were not pushovers. But still very poor conference performance though that was expected. I think if CMA is half the coach many on here say he is, we should be a 18+ win team and either on bubble or penciled into the NIT. Anything worse than that with this depth will be concerning. This is not a super young team either so hopefully we don't hear that if we start off poorly. We have not even made a tourney appearance yet under him. Many, many schools do that on a regular basis and it's not seen as that special...more of a given. I think CMA has the talent to be on bubble or better if he's a legit coach.[/quote]

Mike - It is very possible that CMA may not live up to your expectations but he is a good coach and made last year entertaining, with as you pointed out a team with less talent than many other schools in The Big East. There was a stretch that was frustrating but most of the season was competitive with nice wins over Arizona, West Virginia and a nice end to the season. It looks like we have an improved team with some of the additions and several key players with a year in his system. Offset that against losing LJ and Rutherford who both provided a lot of steals and I believe we have a slightly better team this year. CMA is a solid basketball coach who earns the respect of his players and is an asset to the University.
 
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[quote="Duke of Earlington" post=400790]The writer believes David Caraher is the starting small forward and champy is the starting center. Huh??????[/quote]

Yeah writer doesn’t know the team.
 
1. Mike Anderson has to "prove himself" should have been clarified. He has already proven by his track record he can coach at the DI level in a good conference. He has to prove that he can do it and recruit in New York.
2. As mentioned writer doesn't know the team. Roberts started at the "center " role last year, not Julian who played the four role until Roberts got hurt.
3. I don't recall Dunn being a staple in the starting five after January. I remember him coming off the bench quite a few times with Rutherford starting.

All in all some fair points but some additional research and fact checking wouldn't have hurt.
 
Also incorrectly said WVU was ranked when we beat them. They weren't. Arizona was. But both were top 25 teams at some points of the season.

Regarding CMA...it doesn't have to be so extreme from one side to the other IMO. I think he's a good coach but he clearly needs to prove himself here still and he needs to show he can recruit well enough to hang around as a regular top half Big East team. So far that has not happened. But I'm hopeful. So many want to crown our coaches before they have really done much. It looks like we are certainly moving in the right direction, but let's see how we do this year. The pieces are in place to have a good year if not sneak up on a few other teams and finish 5-6. But we don't know if Posh makes instant impact along with Cole. We will need them to if we want to overachieve.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=400776][quote="redken" post=400772]Didn't know Mike Anderson has to "prove himself."[/quote]

We have not even made a tourney appearance yet under him.[/quote]

Wow, that says it all!! Maybe NIT last year, probably not, but man, be a little objective and fair. NO ONE made a tourney appearance last year, which just to remind you, was the only year CMA has been here. I think Duke maybe should fire K for missing the tournament, what do you think?
Anderson is not the cause of yours and others impatience and the ridiculously premature criticism by you and others is comical. Give the man a chance at least.
 
The writer may know the team better than some on this board. The team played its best ball last year with Earlington at PF and Champagnie at Center. I do not see Champagnie as a small forward. He is too slow and doesn't shoot it well enough to be effective at that position.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=400802]Also incorrectly said WVU was ranked when we beat them. They weren't. Arizona was. But both were top 25 teams at some points of the season.

Regarding CMA...it doesn't have to be so extreme from one side to the other IMO. I think he's a good coach but he clearly needs to prove himself here still and he needs to show he can recruit well enough to hang around as a regular top half Big East team. So far that has not happened. But I'm hopeful. So many want to crown our coaches before they have really done much. It looks like we are certainly moving in the right direction, but let's see how we do this year. The pieces are in place to have a good year if not sneak up on a few other teams and finish 5-6. But we don't know if Posh makes instant impact along with Cole. We will need them to if we want to overachieve.[/quote]

I just used 'the google' and it shows me WVU was #24 when SJU beat them.
Thanks for playing. Be sure to tip your waitress
 
[quote="AlBovino" post=400807]The writer may know the team better than some on this board. The team played its best ball last year with Earlington at PF and Champagnie at Center. I do not see Champagnie as a small forward. He is too slow and doesn't shoot it well enough to be effective at that position.[/quote]

IMO Champ needs to play more PF then anything. I like Earl's energy off the bench at both the SF and PF positions. We now have some big boys to play the low post. Hopefully they are effective. We didn't have that last year.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=400799][quote="Duke of Earlington" post=400790]The writer believes David Caraher is the starting small forward and champy is the starting center. Huh??????[/quote]

Yeah writer doesn’t know the team.[/quote]

How can you write about a team when you have no clue about them?
 
I don't think I learned a damned thing about the team by reading this article. His projected starting five is likely way off, as was his summary of the loss of Figueroa. It's a fluff piece where there is really no indication that it was written by doing anything else but reading other articles from last season. There are no insights, and apparently no access to anyone who knows anything about the program. His walk through the past 20 years qualifies him to post over and over again the same things on this website.
 
I think we're going to use six different centers this year, so I won't get on any writer for his or her take on that position.

Caraher may be the 10th or 11th man by the end of the season, though.
 
[quote="L J S A" post=400819]I think we're going to use six different centers this year, so I won't get on any writer for his or her take on that position.

Caraher may be the 10th or 11th man by the end of the season, though.[/quote]

If our starters are all roster players from last season, we are in deep trouble.
 
Someone posted that Cole was nursing an injury but if he is healthy and can’t secure a starting slot or at least play significant minutes that is a bad sign. SJU has had a weakness in its outside shooting for what seems forever and the addition of Cole and some improvement in Williams and Earlingtons shooting who both showed promise during the latter part of last season gave hope that that deficiency may not be so bad this season.
If Cole doesn’t earn minutes the opponents will do what they have been doing for years, clog the middle preventing any access to the rim.
 
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