LJ in Transfer Portal?

I’m pissed about this. LJ Figueroa just strung us along as Mike Anderson passed up plenty of options to use his a scholarship, only to transfer. This is a poor move by Figueroa and really shifty. Leaves us with an unused ship (possibly) and a ton less options as well as without our best potential returning player. Terrible form by Figueroa.

As I thought before, we should have given him a timeline and moved on. He took as long as he wanted and screwed us at the end.
 
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[quote="Adam" post=388089][quote="Duke of Earlington" post=388081][quote="Adam" post=388080]Damn. A lot of people are downplaying this, but really bad look for everyone.

Currently we're not recruiting 4 star talent so we need to do well on the court. LJ was expected to be a big part of that. If we miss the Tournament next year and don't pick up some major pieces then enthusiasm will plummet quickly. Staff should try keeping him because we're not replacing 15 PPG on the transfer market.[/quote]

I disagree. I think Cole by himself will make up the 15 ppg.

LJ, like Heron before him, will not make a big difference. We will be just fine and possibley better w/o him.[/quote]

I agree that what you're saying is possible, I just don't think it's probable. Generally fan bases are more biased than the typical outsider, and all the headlines for this are saying it's a massive blow. He'll be considered one of the top transfers in the nation and I can't see that as a good thing.

If he were coming back nearly everyone on here would be on thrilled.[/quote]

Safe to say staff wanted him back, so for them not a welcomed development, not to mention the timing is not great re filling his slot late in process.
 
Classy doesnt get you anywhere in this world, Mike has always been loyal to his players and would never overuse a scholarship to keep a player away and LJ shafts St. Johns like this, leave a month ago and Ray comes here or the Monmouth player and its all good, now we in trouble, I hate the way college basketball is going.
 
[quote="SJU61982" post=388079]Again, it seems like if you want to play for Anderson, you have to be willing to forget everything you've learned in the past, and do it his way. While his way is very exciting for most, it could lead to certain issues re: player selection/recruiting. This was an issue with the Arkansas brass, apparently, so I'll be watching this closely.

That being said, I'm glad we got this past year out of LJ. I didn't want another 10 win season. 17-15 is still at least something to build on, and something to sell to recruits.[/quote]

Not sure where you got that, but that wasn't an issue with him at Arkansas. Was essentially a new AD that wanted his own own hire, and just said at Arkansas just making the tournament isn't enough we need to be competing for national championships, those were his words for the reason he fired him. And of course we're in Arkansas, so there's other politics in play that I won't get into, you can watch Nolan's documentary for all of that.

But, there were plenty of really good players at Arkansas that played for CMA that had great numbers and was able to showcase themselves to NBA teams...Portis, Qualls, Macon, Barford, Hannahs, Clarke, Gafford, etc. All of these guys either played NBA minutes before or currently on the cusp of making an NBA roster.

It's a common misconception that if you play for CMA just because you're not playing 35 MPG you can't showcase what you can do. Portis was SEC POY and first round draft pick in the same system. Daniel Gafford went from a 4-star recruit not a single draft board, or even having a draft profile coming out of high school, to a feature player in the SEC and leaving early and getting drafted after just 2 years.
 
[quote="Billy Don Ferrell" post=388095]Classy doesnt get you anywhere in this world, Mike has always been loyal to his players and would never overuse a scholarship to keep a player away and LJ shafts St. Johns like this, leave a month ago and Ray comes here or the Monmouth player and its all good, now we in trouble, I hate the way college basketball is going.[/quote]

Goodbye and good luck to LJ. At this point, we can go with our twelve talented, versatile players. Now, there are thirty more minutes to distribute to the perimeter players. Maybe the upside turns out to be better team chemistry. Onward and upward.
 
I’ll add, some are underplaying the impact here. He was a pencilled in starter and all Big East player. Anyone who doesn’t think this puts a significant dent in our chances of being an upper half team in the big East this season is mistaken. This is a big blow to our chances of making significant strides unless Cole and Posh are incredible enough to make everybody forget.

Imo go out and land the best grad transfer available at position of need. I’m not of the belief that playing a season one scholarship short of full makes any sense at all. It’s not “saving” a scholarship if it will be vacated at the end of the year.

And good riddance to Figueroa with this backhanded move. I would have loved to have Salnave, a local kid here instead of a LJ who stabbed CMA in the back after being fully supportive.
 
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Seeing the manner in which LJ hung us out to dry, I will consider him like Kevin O'Leary of Shark Tank would say, “He’s dead to me.”
 
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[quote="Las Vegan" post=388097][quote="Billy Don Ferrell" post=388095]Classy doesnt get you anywhere in this world, Mike has always been loyal to his players and would never overuse a scholarship to keep a player away and LJ shafts St. Johns like this, leave a month ago and Ray comes here or the Monmouth player and its all good, now we in trouble, I hate the way college basketball is going.[/quote]

Goodbye and good luck to LJ. At this point, we can go with our twelve talented, versatile players. Now, there are thirty more minutes to distribute to the perimeter players. Maybe the upside turns out to be better team chemistry. Onward and upward.[/quote]

Ditto--many were discussing odd man out due to lack of minutes. I enjoyed LJ for 2 years, even as he could be exasperating at times with shot selection. That said, I was disappointed in his team leadership last year, especially when Heron went down. I expected LJ to step up as the leader but he was still more comfortable in the background and Sears seemed to take a leadership position even with his lack of playing time as he would be the one to lead the team in their post game center court meetings.
If he goes transfer hopefully it will be near his home--BC?
 
At Arkansas, there was always talk that players didn't like to attend every class and make good grades like Mike makes them do, and I get that also, you can go to most schools and the coaches will have deals with professors just to pass athletes, and as an athlete that would be the school to go to, there's very much something sleezy going on in this situation, LJ probably wants a little cash if he's going to come back and play somewhere in college another year, and Mike certainly won't do that.
 
[quote="Making Plays" post=388096][quote="SJU61982" post=388079]Again, it seems like if you want to play for Anderson, you have to be willing to forget everything you've learned in the past, and do it his way. While his way is very exciting for most, it could lead to certain issues re: player selection/recruiting. This was an issue with the Arkansas brass, apparently, so I'll be watching this closely.

That being said, I'm glad we got this past year out of LJ. I didn't want another 10 win season. 17-15 is still at least something to build on, and something to sell to recruits.[/quote]

Not sure where you got that, but that wasn't an issue with him at Arkansas. Was essentially a new AD that wanted his own own hire, and just said at Arkansas just making the tournament isn't enough we need to be competing for national championships, those were his words for the reason he fired him. And of course we're in Arkansas, so there's other politics in play that I won't get into, you can watch Nolan's documentary for all of that.

But, there were plenty of really good players at Arkansas that played for CMA that had great numbers and was able to showcase themselves to NBA teams...Portis, Qualls, Macon, Barford, Hannahs, Clarke, Gafford, etc. All of these guys either played NBA minutes before or currently on the cusp of making an NBA roster.

It's a common misconception that if you play for CMA just because you're not playing 35 MPG you can't showcase what you can do. Portis was SEC POY and first round draft pick in the same system. Daniel Gafford went from a 4-star recruit not a single draft board, or even having a draft profile coming out of high school, to a feature player in the SEC and leaving early and getting drafted after just 2 years.[/quote]

What I was getting at is that he's been accused of being married to the system, not making adjustments, etc. Usually, that filters down to the kind of player you recruit, as well. For example, you may think one guy is a little less talented then another, but a better fit for the system, so you take the lesser guy instead, and as such, you're recruiting looks worse then it might otherwise be. Usually, it's at the point guard position, but not always, and John Belien is a good example of a coach who made that work (and even he loosened the reins, and was more flexible at Michigan).

Anderson comes across as a coach who players are going to have to adjust their games to him, because he likely won't adjust much to his personnel (I actually think he did a bit this past year, to protect Heron - we played better after Heron went down, because Anderson was able to play his preferred style more. No one was wrong in that, IMO). He's not going to be like Pat Riley, who changed his coaching philosophy 100% from the Lakers to the Knicks, because he saw the kind of players he had. He adjusted to his players. Anderson's players will have to adjust to him. That could certainly work, just don't expect 4 and 5 star recruits, or a high ceiling (fortunately, I think this past year was pretty close to the floor we will get, under him, and that's pretty good).
 
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LJ didn't leave anyone out to dry. He put his name in the draft which tells you he wanted feedback on his game and was interested in leaving the school. He never told them he was committed for next year. The pandemic has played a part in his uncertainty. It's not as easy to make a decision without being truly evaluated in camps and workouts.

The staff persued players even without a scholarship. That should tell you they knew there was a strong possibility of LJ not coming back.
 
SJU61982, a ton of respect for you as a poster, but every time I come across you talking about coach Anderson it just makes me shake my head at my phone screen.

What is your argument really, that because a college coach won’t bend over to any kid he recruits, we therefore do not have a higher ceiling?

I’m genuinely confused. Pat Riley comparison doesn’t work here because the NBA and college is completely different. The NBA is all about keeping your stars happy. It’s a stars driven league.

College basketball is not that. Especially with the G League gaining more traction and some of the top stars in the country not going to college, it’s becoming increasingly clear that building a TEAM under the coaches vision is the way to go.

No one player is ABOVE Jay Wright at Villanova. He doesn’t bend to fit any of his guys. It’s why Jahvon Quinerly isn’t there anymore. He came in as a 5 Star and thought he was gonna be THE MAN. It’s why Mikal Bridges was red shirted despite his high ranking. There’s plenty of examples.

As I always say in these discussions. Villanova is the model for sju to build a winning and consistent basketball program. And jay wright makes players play his way. And that hasn’t ruined their ceiling. So don’t give me that, that’s a weak argument
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=388107]SJU61982, a ton of respect for you as a poster, but every time I come across you talking about coach Anderson it just makes me shake my head at my phone screen.

What is your argument really, that because a college coach won’t bend over to any kid he recruits, we therefore do not have a higher ceiling?

I’m genuinely confused. Pat Riley comparison doesn’t work here because the NBA and college is completely different. The NBA is all about keeping your stars happy. It’s a stars driven league.

College basketball is not that. Especially with the G League gaining more traction and some of the top stars in the country not going to college, it’s becoming increasingly clear that building a TEAM under the coaches vision is the way to go.

No one player is ABOVE Jay Wright at Villanova. He doesn’t bend to fit any of his guys. It’s why Jahvon Quinerly isn’t there anymore. He came in as a 5 Star and thought he was gonna be THE MAN. It’s why Mikal Bridges was red shirted despite his high ranking. There’s plenty of examples.

As I always say in these discussions. Villanova is the model for sju to build a winning and consistent basketball program. And jay wright makes players play his way. And that hasn’t ruined their ceiling. So don’t give me that, that’s a weak argument[/quote]

I'm not saying that the players should be above the coach, but the coach should be able to meet them part of the way, at least WRT to on-court style of ball.

What I'm saying is, that I don't think you can play only one style of ball and be successful, in today's game. Duke mixes in zone defense now. Ditto Syracuse, as they play more man-to-man then they used to.

A complaint about Anderson at Arkansas, was that his teams were easy to prepare for, since it was the press and nothing else. If you're married to playing just one style, there's so much video out there now, that other teams will pick up on what you do pretty quickly. That's a concern, although I did see some wrinkles being thrown in throughout this past season, which gives me more confidence.

And yes, Villanova is the model, but it took a decade before they became a consistent power under Wright. They had some good teams prior to the new league, but they weren't a national power until Wright was there for over a decade. Our fan base won't have the patience to wait that long, nor should they. Providence and/or Seton Hall should be our shorter term models.
 
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Look I get LJ hung us out to dry with his late decision but from his perspective he has legitimate concerns.

As much as none of us wants to admit it, there is a possibility that we aren't playing this season. Students have to be on campus when the fall semester starts in order for sports to be played, and Ackerman has already stated that the league will play with six teams if need be. If that's the case, we'd be on the outside looking in based on how NYC is coming back from this virus situation.

So LJ and his team have looked at that possibility. They gotta know he's not making the NBA, and unless he's Europe or G league bound, he needs another year somewhere to improve his game and showcase his talents.

They are probably confident that he'll either get his degree and can grad transfer or claim a covid hardship transfer.

As I said, he could have handled this better, but it is what it is. We've still got the makings of a very talented and deep team without LJ. Next man up!
 
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[quote="linx" post=388105]LJ didn't leave anyone out to dry. He put his name in the draft which tells you he wanted feedback on his game and was interested in leaving the school. He never told them he was committed for next year. The pandemic has played a part in his uncertainty. It's not as easy to make a decision without being truly evaluated in camps and workouts.

The staff persued players even without a scholarship. That should tell you they knew there was a strong possibility of LJ not coming back.[/quote]

This is total BS. They held onto LJ’s ship and passed on players to support him going pro, NOT upping and transferring to another school. That’s garbage. LJ screwed the staff and SJU here. They weren’t holding his ship so he had enough time to figure out which tampering program was the best fit, that I assure you!!
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=388114][quote="linx" post=388105]LJ didn't leave anyone out to dry. He put his name in the draft which tells you he wanted feedback on his game and was interested in leaving the school. He never told them he was committed for next year. The pandemic has played a part in his uncertainty. It's not as easy to make a decision without being truly evaluated in camps and workouts.

The staff persued players even without a scholarship. That should tell you they knew there was a strong possibility of LJ not coming back.[/quote]

This is total BS. They held onto LJ’s ship and passed on players to support him going pro, NOT upping and transferring to another school. That’s garbage. LJ screwed the staff and SJU here. They weren’t holding his ship so he had enough time to figure out which tampering program was the best fit, that I assure you!![/quote]

I agree 100% MCNPA. What are the chances we can get another kid at this point?
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=388114][quote="linx" post=388105]LJ didn't leave anyone out to dry. He put his name in the draft which tells you he wanted feedback on his game and was interested in leaving the school. He never told them he was committed for next year. The pandemic has played a part in his uncertainty. It's not as easy to make a decision without being truly evaluated in camps and workouts.

The staff persued players even without a scholarship. That should tell you they knew there was a strong possibility of LJ not coming back.[/quote]

This is total BS. They held onto LJ’s ship and passed on players to support him going pro, NOT upping and transferring to another school. That’s garbage. LJ screwed the staff and SJU here. They weren’t holding his ship so he had enough time to figure out which tampering program was the best fit, that I assure you!![/quote] Bingo. LJ had the keys to the City and the greenlight on the basketball court, going PRO would be understandable but transferring on his part is just pure BS, especially this late, we couldve had Ray but now Ray is laughing at us on social media because we wouldnt give him a scholarship because we were holding it for LJ. No need to thank LJ for the last two years.
 
I think LJ always considered returning to St Johns as a last resort scenario.....he never did seem too happy to be here. What I think he did is enter his name to the draft to get the appropriate feedback, as many prospects do. He probably didn't like what he heard, so now his options were to return to school or head overseas, and with everything going on, overseas is a very questionable move at this time.

Then LJ hears about possibly getting a waiver due to the virus. Now he has the option to either transfer or head overseas, as I don't see returning to St Johns as a viable option any more. So it's basically a situation where if he gets an offer from the right school, he'll take it. If not, he'll try to head overseas or the G-League.

But I do believe he is going to get serious interest from many high major programs...ie the Duke's, Kentucky's, North Carolina's, etc.

LJ isn't talented enough to be a superstar for these teams, but he isn't going to be asked to be. These teams are always loaded with one and done freshman. LJ's a solid player who will be able to be a team leader and show the incoming players the ropes of college basketball.

LJ will be to a team what Nate Sestina was to Kentucky last year. If anyone follows Kentucky at all, Sestina was a grad transfer from Bucknell. He only averaged like 5pts and 3rbs for Kentucky, but he was a great teammate and leader for a team compiled of freshman who were still learning college basketball. That's what LJ's potential role could be for a team like Kentucky or Duke.

LJ will have offers, and I think they will be from big time programs.
 
[quote="Eric Williamson" post=388117]I think LJ always considered returning to St Johns as a last resort scenario.....he never did seem too happy to be here. What I think he did is enter his name to the draft to get the appropriate feedback, as many prospects do. He probably didn't like what he heard, so now his options were to return to school or head overseas, and with everything going on, overseas is a very questionable move at this time.

Then LJ hears about possibly getting a waiver due to the virus. Now he has the option to either transfer or head overseas, as I don't see returning to St Johns as a viable option any more. So it's basically a situation where if he gets an offer from the right school, he'll take it. If not, he'll try to head overseas or the G-League.

But I do believe he is going to get serious interest from many high major programs...ie the Duke's, Kentucky's, North Carolina's, etc.

LJ isn't talented enough to be a superstar for these teams, but he isn't going to be asked to be. These teams are always loaded with one and done freshman. LJ's a solid player who will be able to be a team leader and show the incoming players the ropes of college basketball.

He had the chance to be a team leader this year when Heron went down, and Sears, and Caraher were more team leaders this year in huddles and didnt even get to see much playing time so dont give me that bullcrap about him being able to go to some blue blood and be a team leader off the court. LJ is comfortable to sit in the corner and hit a three than become vocal and lead a team.
 
[quote="Section9" post=388113]Look I get LJ hung us out to dry with his late decision but from his perspective he has legitimate concerns.

As much as none of us wants to admit it, there is a possibility that we aren't playing this season. Students have to be on campus when the fall semester starts in order for sports to be played, and Ackerman has already stated that the league will play with six teams if need be. If that's the case, we'd be on the outside looking in based on how NYC is coming back from this virus situation.

So LJ and his team have looked at that possibility. They gotta know he's not making the NBA, and unless he's Europe or G league bound, he needs another year somewhere to improve his game and showcase his talents.

They are probably confident that he'll either get his degree and can grad transfer or claim a covid hardship transfer.

As I said, he could have handled this better, but it is what it is. We've still got the makings of a very talented and deep team without LJ. Next man up![/quote]

By that logic, I could see everybody on this team transferring out, if most schools are playing, and we are not. I'm not saying that would happen, but how long would that take to recover from?

That's why, to me, if even one Division 1 school is not holding in-person classes, then the whole year has to be scrapped (or at lease delayed) for everyone.

Now, FTR, I don't think any of this is going to happen, but if COVID-19 is responsible (and I'm sure that's low on the list), then that doesn't look promising for the program going forward. But, I don't think it's going to play out like that.
 
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