Its frustrating to think we are still considered a bubble team. We should be much better than last year and we were a bubble team before Dlo got suspended. But, the only thing that really matters is what we do in games, it really doesn't matter what pundits think at this point.
True and I am very optimistic. I don't go in much for making predictions and I don't think I've ever done so in 15 years of redmen.com but I'm going to predict that this team gets into the Top 10 rankings. This is the best team we've had since the Erick Barkley crew and we have a LOT of weapons that most teams won't be able to matchup with. That team had a lot of chemistry aside from the skills. If these guys come together like that as a team this will be a great team.
Wow...top 10? For that to happen this team will have to look like a totally different team from last year. Night and day. Jordan will have to be the real deal, Hooper will have to knock down 3's consistently, Sampson, Pointer, and Harrison will have to significantly improve, Sanchez has to dominate with rebounds, and we will need to be healthy for a top 10 spot to even be realistic. I'd be thrilled being anywhere in the top 25 and if we made the sweet 16 I'd be ecstatic and so would the city. It's just hard to picture this team having that much success growing up as they sucked 95% of my lifetime. We no doubt have the horses...the question is, will they live up to these expectations? Let's hope this is a season to remember. Make or break year for Lavin.
Please explain why it is make or break.
Because this is a season where Lavin will have as talented and veteran a team as he ever will. All the horses are here...if we have a bad year it won't be for lack of talent or too much inexperience. The missing piece is Lavin getting them prepared now. When I said make or break I don't mean fired obviously, but if we don't at the very least make the tournament and flirt with the top 25-30 while finishing in the top 4 in conference, then something is wrong and Lavin will have tons of articles written about him being on the hot seat. He has his best horses out there, so what happens this year will be more attributed to the coach IMO. Let me turn that around...if we miss the tourney, how does Lavin NOT get placed on the hot seat with a sweet 16 capable team talent wise?
Certainly fans have expectations for this season (including me; indeed I have very high hopes); and also for certain this is a high pressure job for Lavin. But I think that this season there is still room for an in-between result where it doesn't 'break' or 'make' the momentum of the program. What would happen if they make the tournament and win only one game and get upset in the second round? Is that a failure? what if they lost in the 1st game of the tournament, but Lavin has again brought even more high-level recruits? Would that be a 'break' season? On the other hand, let's say that we make the sweet sixteen or elite eight, but we can't get a single stud recruit to come on board? Is that a 'make' season? I know I'm parsing words, but I think there is a little more wiggle room between the two absolutes of 'make' or 'break'. A whole range of possibilities can happen, and most likely the team's results and the direction of the program will be something between and an absolute stunning success and an absolute failure.
1. Make tourney and win only 1 game then upset in 2nd round = mild success because we still made the tourney which is the absolute bare minimum we are expected to do.
2. Lost in 1st game of tourney but Lavin brings more high-level recruits = mild success because we made the tourney, but questions would begin to surface and he would be seen as a glamorous recruiter with no results, so the high-recruiting profile would start to seem meaningless.
3. Make sweet 16 or elite 8 but can't get stud recruits = 100% wild success...this is a results-oriented business and both of those are exceptional results so recruiting takes the back seat here.
Results are more important than recruiting...just ask Temple, Wichita State, Butler, Creighton, etc. If Lavin does not take us to the tourney at the bare minimum, this season will be seen as a severe failure. If we make the tourney but get knocked out asap people will say "well, at least SJU is taking steps towards being a long-term relevant program again, but his recruiting prowess seems like it means nothing if the results don't match the recruiting talent". We will be seen as paper tigers.
