Matt A/Recruiting junkie!

[sjc88]

I think this thread went from a positive Matt A recruiting discussion to a Lavin/Mullin, heck I even saw a Norm reference. I don't think any of the past matters. What does matter is we seem to have some legitimate Big East level talent and from this point on this is what Mullin and Matt A will be judged on. Let's all look forward to the better season and brighter future ahead. Heck, nothing we can do about the past 15 years or so.

 

[we are sju]

JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Agreed. Let's stop talking about how repulsive Steve Lavin is and get back to fresh takes on pressing issues such as Norm's coaching record at Queen's college, whether Mark Jackson should have started over Mike Moses, and how the program might have fared had Joe Lapchick not been forced to retire and instead Lou Alcindor committed to play in Queens.

I just go back with you on Jackson thing and even with that, at least posts about our "glory years" were a nice distraction.
And I only bring up Norm when the topic is bad coaches or worst coaches ever or when any former coach is criticized. See Norm was so bad my tolerance for any coach that follows him is very high. Which is why I don't absolutely hate Lavin.

 

[we are sju]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

Who has ever posted that Mullin should have won more than 8 games? Or even that the team should have been any better at all? I can't remember one post stating either.

 

[Ray Morgan]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

 

[beast of the east]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

They should win 8 or 9 games OOC. If they do that, 6 wins in conference should be attainable. 14 or 15 wins is a reasonable goal. IMO 12 would be a failure if they win 8 or 9 OOC. High bar to me would be 9 OOC wins, 7-11 in conference. Anything more than that would be fairly amazing, and not to be expected. 7 OOC wins or less, and 5-13 in conference would be a pretty miserable season given this roster.

 

[monte]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

I would like you to identify a single poster on hear who apologized for Lavin's performance at SJU, or blamed Mullin for winning only 8 games (and 1-17 in conference). Anyone who objectively assessed Lavin's record saw that our program was better under Lavin than under the previous 2 coaches. Anyone who cares to remember knows that at the end of the NR regime, there were very loud whispers, even on here, as to whether we could ever be a winning program again and if any successful coach would want to come to SJU. So, Lavin came here with some questions marks mostly from bitter UCLA fans who expected much more than 5 sweet 16's in 7 seasons.

You want to rip into Lavin because you say he's a phony, lazy, creep, or anything else, and I would say unless you have a close relationship with him, you are only going by something someone closer to the situation told you, or because he simply didn't recruit a good enough roster. I'd agree with the latter rationale, that drives most everyone here who hates Lavin. Trust me, if he had managed 5 sweet 16's in 7 years here and got fired after a losing season, he'd have a ton of support from SJU fans.

Mullin had a deficient roster, and NO ONE, NO ONE, NO ONE expected him to win here with those guys. NO ONE even said he should have won even one more game. But for those who know a little about basketball, his sideline behavior was curious at best, and would allow people to form an opinion that he simply did not coach from the sidelines and delegated to others. It may have not have been possible to win a single additional game, but that doesn't mean that last season (including the Slice $3 million debacle Mullin advocated for) didn't do anything to build confidence that Mullin can run this program. It was a rookie season for a guy who never coached even a single CYO game, coaching at the highest level in NCAA ball - certainly a very, very steep hill to climb.

So, please identify someone who apologizes for Lavin - there aren't a heck of a lot of them here, or realize that the whole Lavin apologist notion is a steaming pile of crap

Beast it was the bitter UCLA fans who were, and still are, most vocal in their contempt of Lavin. But rest assured there were plenty of impartial observers who questioned his work ethic and coaching acumen, amongst other things, during and after his time at UCLA. His UCLA firing was not the result of some sort of witch hunt. When he took over UCLA they were on auto-pilot. The sweet 16s are impressive, but in no time at all he had the program headed in the wrong direction. Pretty much everyone close to the program saw it. I don't speak from my own perspective regarding his UCLA days, but rather from that of a close friend who had close ties to the program at the time. And no, he was not a UCLA fan therefore he had no axe to grind or unreasonable expectations. He simply saw Lavin for who he is.

 

[monte]

I haven't hit happy hour yet so I may not be thinking clearly, but it sure seems to me as though the people who most question Mullin's coaching ability are the same ones who most defended Lavin.

 

[Eric]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

If you guys realistically think 15 wins this year will be a pleasant surprise then I got a bridge to sell you..... ill try not saying I told you so when we end up in the top half of the big east this year and dancing.....a point guard alone gets us 12-14 wins last year

 

[monte]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

If you guys realistically think 15 wins this year will be a pleasant surprise then I got a bridge to sell you..... ill try not saying I told you so when we end up in the top half of the big east this year and dancing.....a point guard alone gets us 12-14 wins last year

I for one would absolutely love to hear you say "I told you so!"

 

[we are sju]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

Don't think exact win total is necessary. If Lovett and Ahmed are real deal. Yakwe shows an improved offensive game. Sima overall improvement and Ponds shows promise. If we are competitive and Mullin looks more um... comfortable, number of wins won't concern me. Seriously what is the difference between 12 or 15 wins?

 

[Eric]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

If you guys realistically think 15 wins this year will be a pleasant surprise then I got a bridge to sell you..... ill try not saying I told you so when we end up in the top half of the big east this year and dancing.....a point guard alone gets us 12-14 wins last year

I for one would absolutely love to hear you say "I told you so!"

You got it Monte

 

[Eric]

Win some games & most folks will be happy. 15 or so this year & win a game in the Dance the following year does it for me. Obviously recruiting seems on right path for sustained success.

If 15 wins is the barometer, there is a good chance that people will be unhappy. Rebuilding a program from scratch is an ugly business. Like rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Impala from the ground up. Matt has done a great job finding the parts, but it's up to Mullin to get the parts to work together. That will take time. The OOC conference games will not be easy. We may be in the hole before the conference schedule starts. There will be lineups with 3 freshman on the floor, and 2 sophs, and another soph running the show from his position sitting on the scorers table. Road wins may be few and far between.

I can deal with 12-13 wins, and will consider 15 a real achievement. We get to 15, then getting to the dance and winning one game there is a nice step up for 2017-2018. I'm just hoping that there is patience among the fans and the media. Best way to deal with this season is to watch for progress in the players and the staff. The 15 win mark will be a pleasant surprise, and an indication we are on or ahead of schedule.

If you guys realistically think 15 wins this year will be a pleasant surprise then I got a bridge to sell you..... ill try not saying I told you so when we end up in the top half of the big east this year and dancing.....a point guard alone gets us 12-14 wins last year

I for one would absolutely love to hear you say "I told you so!"

You got it Monte

With a couple of beers

 

[paultzman]

Coming from a Lavin critic, can we just move on, support Mullin & hope he can get this job done? So far, from recruiting perspective, SJU seems headed in right direction. Let's see what the next step results (player development, coaching & of course winning) are over the next several seasons. The "Lavin Horse" is beyond dead.

 

[mjmaherjr]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

Hard to understand but a lot more than just Lavin lovers blame Mullin

we all know how I felt about the scorers table but I'm being 100% honest ( whether it's right or wrong ) that if Mullin even gave the impression he was coaching last year on the sidelines that there would be a lot less criticism from people. A LOT of people noticed and I doubt it was all just redmen.com lurkers who hang on every mjmaherjr word

With all due respect, that is complete and utter nonsense. Yes, there were clearly times Mullin deferred in huddles, especially to St. Jean; as a leader of a TEAM that is his prerogative. As someone who never coached A MINUTE before last year I think it was a very intelligent thing to defer to those more experienced at times.

Hmmm. The altitude here in Quito is messing with my mind. How many minutes had St Jean coached before that made it such a brilliant decision by Mullin deferring to him ?

You can say it's nonsense but it's not like Mullin was deferring to PJ Carlesimo.

Mullin deferring to St Jean is like a Mensa deferring to a well you get my point.( and it' not a knock on St Jean because this is Chris freaking Mullin. Best player ever at SJU,Dream teamer and NBA Hall of Famer )

Here is a fact and it doesn't really matter if you believe it or not because with all due respect Mullin could run a red light and run over a family crossing the street and you would blame the family for living in the United States but if Mullin ran around the sidelines like St Jean virtually no-one would be saying anything about last year. That's a fact because I know virtually every poster personally on this board who had problems with last year and that was a common denominator

 

[mjmaherjr]

I haven't hit happy hour yet so I may not be thinking clearly, but it sure seems to me as though the people who most question Mullin's coaching ability are the same ones who most defended Lavin.

You better hit happy hour before I take back the + karma

I was a Lavin defender ( I'm not saying you were talking about me ) but I was critical of him at times at the end but overall I think he did a good job and not a great job

 

[monte]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

Hard to understand but a lot more than just Lavin lovers blame Mullin

we all know how I felt about the scorers table but I'm being 100% honest ( whether it's right or wrong ) that if Mullin even gave the impression he was coaching last year on the sidelines that there would be a lot less criticism from people. A LOT of people noticed and I doubt it was all just redmen.com lurkers who hang on every mjmaherjr word

With all due respect, that is complete and utter nonsense. Yes, there were clearly times Mullin deferred in huddles, especially to St. Jean; as a leader of a TEAM that is his prerogative. As someone who never coached A MINUTE before last year I think it was a very intelligent thing to defer to those more experienced at times.

Hmmm. The altitude here in Quito is messing with my mind. How many minutes had St Jean coached before that made it such a brilliant decision by Mullin deferring to him ?

You can say it's nonsense but it's not like Mullin was deferring to PJ Carlesimo.

Mullin deferring to St Jean is like a Mensa deferring to a well you get my point.( and it' not a knock on St Jean because this is Chris freaking Mullin (

Here is a fact and it doesn't really matter if you believe it or not because with all due respect Mullin could run a red light and run over a family crossing the street and you would blame the family for living in the United States but if Mullin ran around the sidelines like St Jean virtually no-one would be saying anything about last year. That's a fact because I know virtually every poster personally on this board who had problems with last year and that was a common denominator

Would that family happen to be here illegally?

 

[mjmaherjr]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

Hard to understand but a lot more than just Lavin lovers blame Mullin

we all know how I felt about the scorers table but I'm being 100% honest ( whether it's right or wrong ) that if Mullin even gave the impression he was coaching last year on the sidelines that there would be a lot less criticism from people. A LOT of people noticed and I doubt it was all just redmen.com lurkers who hang on every mjmaherjr word

With all due respect, that is complete and utter nonsense. Yes, there were clearly times Mullin deferred in huddles, especially to St. Jean; as a leader of a TEAM that is his prerogative. As someone who never coached A MINUTE before last year I think it was a very intelligent thing to defer to those more experienced at times.

Hmmm. The altitude here in Quito is messing with my mind. How many minutes had St Jean coached before that made it such a brilliant decision by Mullin deferring to him ?

You can say it's nonsense but it's not like Mullin was deferring to PJ Carlesimo.

Mullin deferring to St Jean is like a Mensa deferring to a well you get my point.( and it' not a knock on St Jean because this is Chris freaking Mullin (

Here is a fact and it doesn't really matter if you believe it or not because with all due respect Mullin could run a red light and run over a family crossing the street and you would blame the family for living in the United States but if Mullin ran around the sidelines like St Jean virtually no-one would be saying anything about last year. That's a fact because I know virtually every poster personally on this board who had problems with last year and that was a common denominator

Would that family happen to be here illegally?

Yes because Logen is voting Trump like me ( which is why we might disagree in Mullin but I still like him plus he is a met fan I us met fans need other people to share our consent angst ) but yeah it couldn't be Mullins fault because if they waited to come here legally the accident wouldn't have happened

 

[redken]

For those of you who continue to defend Lavin's lack of effort, and those of who questioned whether there was much high D1 talent in the tri-state area, Per zags today):


St. John's Stepping Up Recruiting Efforts in New Jersey


St. John's currently has only one player from the Garden State on its roster in sophomore guard Malik Ellison.

But if Chris Mullin and his staff have their way, they will be adding more Jersey Boys in the years to come.

"We take New Jersey very seriously and our presence will be felt," assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih said. "We view it as our backyard. We want our program to get to a point where all the local kids, New York and New Jersey, feel it's their home school."

St. John's hasn't always taken this approach.

Former St. John's coach Steve Lavin hardly recruited New Jersey at all, with the notable exception of former Roselle Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who ultimately chose Kentucky over the Red Storm.

"Steve Lavin was a California guy," legendary St. Anthony's coach Bob Hurley told me last year. "I don't think if you ask [Cardozo coach] Ron Naclerio or [Christ the King coach] Joe [Arbitello], the guys that are coaching over in the city, how often he was in their gyms, it would probably be similar."

A year ago, St. John's took some initial steps into Jersey when former associate head coach Barry "Slice" Rohrssen began to recruit Daniel Mading at St. Anthony's. (Mading is not currently at St. Anthony's and remains in his native Australia.)

But now, with the Garden State loaded with high-level prospect from the Classes of 2018 and '19, St. John's has taken its recruitment to another level.

On Friday, the first day college coaches could attend high school workouts and begin meeting with prospects, St. John's went three deep at Jersey powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's Prep with Mullin, Abdelmassih and Dan Matic. Their primary target was 6-foot-9 2018 big man Naz Reid.

"I think Coach Mullin is very high on a couple of our guys," RC coach Dave Boff said. "It was great to see him at our first workout and he said he'd be back soon. Our guys are excited to see him in the gym."

On Monday, Mullin and Abdelmassih were at Hudson Catholic, which features three of Reid's Sports U teammates in Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly and Louis King. (A slew of other schools were also represented, including Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Xavier and Cal).

St. John's is particularly focused on the 6-4, 183-pound Muhammad, whom they see as a big guard who could be effective in the rough and tumble Big East.

Asked how hard St. John's was recruiting him, Muhammad said, "Really hard. They want to develop me to get to the max of my potential."

He also mentioned Xavier, Cincinnati and Seton Hall among schools recruiting him hard.

Mullin and Abdelmassih continue to recruit New York City hard, too. They planned to be at Archbishop Molloy on Tuesday for 2018 7-footer Moses Brown, who recently visited campus, and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony. (Duke is also expected Tuesday.)

On Thursday, St. John's is expected to hit both Iona Prep for 2019 guard Bryce Wills and the Ranney School in New Jersey for 2019 studs Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, who in June visited the St. John's Elite Camp and later in the summer had both Kentucky's John Calipari and Kansas' Bill Self watching them.

"Matt checks in all the time," Team Rio director Brian Klatsky said earlier this summer of Abdelmassih. "They've been to a bunch of Ranney games. Those guys are touching base every couple days. They're very interested in five or six kids from the team, similar to the Sports U group."

Going forward, St. John's will have to compete not only with Rutgers and Seton Hall, but with national powers, for many of these elite Jersey kids, but it's clear Mullin and his staff have taken their recruiting efforts in the Garden State to another level.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

I have been accused of running my points (usually with jokes) to the ground but JEEZ Monte. That horse is dead! You can stop curb stomping him. Are you afraid he might come back? He is not Freddy Kruger. Honestly Lavin was not nearly as bad as you and some made him out to be and honestly no one thought he did a great job. But to quote Goodfellas "He's gone, and we couldn't do nothing about it".

Now on to new worries like Mullin's ass placement during games, his fancy water and whether ST Jean can diagram better plays

I only shared the article, I didn't write it. Although the timing of it was uncanny since I had just come from happy hour and was already pretty charged up. The man is gone, and thankfully "..we couldn't do nothing about it", but the stench lingers on. lol.

The stench lingers on and the Lavin / Fraud apologists somehow blame Chris Mullin for only winning 8 games when he was left with 3 returning bench warmers who averaged a total of 4 points amongst them. SMH.

Hard to understand but a lot more than just Lavin lovers blame Mullin

we all know how I felt about the scorers table but I'm being 100% honest ( whether it's right or wrong ) that if Mullin even gave the impression he was coaching last year on the sidelines that there would be a lot less criticism from people. A LOT of people noticed and I doubt it was all just redmen.com lurkers who hang on every mjmaherjr word

With all due respect, that is complete and utter nonsense. Yes, there were clearly times Mullin deferred in huddles, especially to St. Jean; as a leader of a TEAM that is his prerogative. As someone who never coached A MINUTE before last year I think it was a very intelligent thing to defer to those more experienced at times.

Hmmm. The altitude here in Quito is messing with my mind. How many minutes had St Jean coached before that made it such a brilliant decision by Mullin deferring to him ?

You can say it's nonsense but it's not like Mullin was deferring to PJ Carlesimo.

Mullin deferring to St Jean is like a Mensa deferring to a well you get my point.( and it' not a knock on St Jean because this is Chris freaking Mullin (

Here is a fact and it doesn't really matter if you believe it or not because with all due respect Mullin could run a red light and run over a family crossing the street and you would blame the family for living in the United States but if Mullin ran around the sidelines like St Jean virtually no-one would be saying anything about last year. That's a fact because I know virtually every poster personally on this board who had problems with last year and that was a common denominator

Would that family happen to be here illegally?

Yes because Logen is voting Trump like me ( which is why we might disagree in Mullin but I still like him plus he is a met fan I us met fans need other people to share our consent angst ) but yeah it couldn't be Mullins fault because if they waited to come here legally the accident wouldn't have happened

So you're voting for Trump? And here I was looking forward to having a pre- or post-game drink with you one day. Looks like I'll have to have that drink with Serhan The Fan instead.

 

[stjohnnie75]

Seriously what is the difference between 12 or 15 wins?

4 wins?

 

[mjmaherjr]

Seriously what is the difference between 12 or 15 wins?

4 wins?

25%