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Didn't realize that DeSean Murray (grad transfer from Auburn who some redmen.comers were speculating might be a good target for us after last season) wound up with Western Kentucky. Hill Toppers will be tough this year.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=297403]Didn't realize that DeSean Murray (grad transfer from Auburn who some redmen.comers were speculating might be a good target for us after last season) wound up with Western Kentucky. Hill Toppers will be tough this year.[/quote]

WKU is very fishy to me...who would want to go there? They play in C-USA and have seemingly nothing going for them.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=297405][quote="NCJohnnie" post=297403]Didn't realize that DeSean Murray (grad transfer from Auburn who some redmen.comers were speculating might be a good target for us after last season) wound up with Western Kentucky. Hill Toppers will be tough this year.[/quote]

WKU is very fishy to me...who would want to go there? They play in C-USA and have seemingly nothing going for them.[/quote]

Rick Stansbury is a very good recruiter
 
Mike Zaun wrote: NCJohnnie wrote: Didn't realize that DeSean Murray (grad transfer from Auburn who some redmen.comers were speculating might be a good target for us after last season) wound up with Western Kentucky. Hill Toppers will be tough this year.

WKU is very fishy to me...who would want to go there? They play in C-USA and have seemingly nothing going for them.


Mike, while WKU has been down for the past 5-10 years, they have a very distinguished basketball history as a prominent mid major. They are 16th in NCAA history in total victories, 8th in best winning percentage and have had many NCAA appearances including making the sweet 16 in 1993 and 2008 and final four in 1972. Clearly their new coach Stansbury is looking to resurrect that success and is off to a good start in that respect (27-7 and NIT Final Four last year).
 
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[quote="Mike Zaun" post=297405][quote="NCJohnnie" post=297403]Didn't realize that DeSean Murray (grad transfer from Auburn who some redmen.comers were speculating might be a good target for us after last season) wound up with Western Kentucky. Hill Toppers will be tough this year.[/quote]

WKU is very fishy to me...who would want to go there? They play in C-USA and have seemingly nothing going for them.[/quote]

[URL
 
[quote="Room112" post=297722][quote="fordham96" post=297716][quote="panther2" post=297694]I wonder why some on here criticize without reading the responses. The young man stated in his interview that he chose Clemson because their guards are seniors and will be leaving. Dawes evidently felt his chances of playing as a freshman were better at Clemson. The wild card for us in all of this is Justin Simon and that is what was probably relayed to Dawes. I do not know if Dawes is better that Greg Williams. Mikey Dixon is a proven D1 player. Trimble is a shooter off the bench. Eli Wright just needs an opportunity. LJ can play the 2 if needed.

It might not be that we couldn't close, it might be that that young man was not willing to compete for minutes. His people may have told him that he he stood a better chance of playing at Clemson. In reality, none of us knows for sure. As another poster said, I am concerned about us landing a big man.

For the time being, I am looking forward to enjoying this season and making a run in the NCAA tourney.[/quote]

Or it actually might be that we can't close. Last year Muhammad, this year Gaffney, Bishop and Dawes. If SJU doesn't need guards why the hell do they keep recruiting them?

And this stuff about his words, really? So have you ever heard a kid say (regardless of the real reason why he chose the school) "I chose school A even though I know I will likely not play much early on" or "The other schools sucked." Everyone wants to play and thinks they can play early. My point is kids tend to say the same thing everytime.

Look Dawes isn't the end of the world, but Jesus this is class number 4. Seriously. And they are whiffing on everyone. It is hard to imagine that when he was hired in April 2015 that recruiting would be this poor at this point especially considering the reasons why the previous staff was replaced.[/quote]

I say we go with your plan and just dump the whole staff now and start from scratch. You convinced me through your hundreds of pessimistic posts.[/quote]

The old phony response...
 
[quote="L J S A" post=297724][quote="Room112" post=297722]

I say we go with your plan and just dump the whole staff now and start from scratch. You convinced me through your hundreds of pessimistic posts.[/quote]

You don't think it looks bad that we are whiffing on everyone?[/quote]

To answer that question would not allow him to present his own straw man.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=297716][quote="panther2" post=297694]I wonder why some on here criticize without reading the responses. The young man stated in his interview that he chose Clemson because their guards are seniors and will be leaving. Dawes evidently felt his chances of playing as a freshman were better at Clemson. The wild card for us in all of this is Justin Simon and that is what was probably relayed to Dawes. I do not know if Dawes is better that Greg Williams. Mikey Dixon is a proven D1 player. Trimble is a shooter off the bench. Eli Wright just needs an opportunity. LJ can play the 2 if needed.

It might not be that we couldn't close, it might be that that young man was not willing to compete for minutes. His people may have told him that he he stood a better chance of playing at Clemson. In reality, none of us knows for sure. As another poster said, I am concerned about us landing a big man.

For the time being, I am looking forward to enjoying this season and making a run in the NCAA tourney.[/quote]

Or it actually might be that we can't close. Last year Muhammad, this year Gaffney, Bishop and Dawes. If SJU doesn't need guards why the hell do they keep recruiting them?

And this stuff about his words, really? So have you ever heard a kid say (regardless of the real reason why he chose the school) "I chose school A even though I know I will likely not play much early on" or "The other schools sucked." Everyone wants to play and thinks they can play early. My point is kids tend to say the same thing everytime.

Look Dawes isn't the end of the world, but Jesus this is class number 4. Seriously. And they are whiffing on everyone. It is hard to imagine that when he was hired in April 2015 that recruiting would be this poor at this point especially considering the reasons why the previous staff was replaced.[/quote]

While I agree with much of what you say we all have to put things in perspective.
While it is year 4, none of us expected 3 straight losing seasons to rival the mediocre Norm Roberts years. It is very hard to recruit top talent under those conditions. To our staff's credit we identified targets as good as the ones we lost except for a big man.
Losing Luther was a bummer but he still would have come off the bench behind Simon and Ponds. Hopefully we have talent equivalent to Gaffney, Dawes and Bishop coming up.
Finally, the recruiting process is not over and fluid. With the new transfers rules a team can recover quickly from losing out on a high school player. Mullin better keep Matt very happy because right now he is all we got.
Finally, if Mullin can't win with the current talent he never will so recruiting is the least of his problems.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=297729][quote="fordham96" post=297716][quote="panther2" post=297694]I wonder why some on here criticize without reading the responses. The young man stated in his interview that he chose Clemson because their guards are seniors and will be leaving. Dawes evidently felt his chances of playing as a freshman were better at Clemson. The wild card for us in all of this is Justin Simon and that is what was probably relayed to Dawes. I do not know if Dawes is better that Greg Williams. Mikey Dixon is a proven D1 player. Trimble is a shooter off the bench. Eli Wright just needs an opportunity. LJ can play the 2 if needed.

It might not be that we couldn't close, it might be that that young man was not willing to compete for minutes. His people may have told him that he he stood a better chance of playing at Clemson. In reality, none of us knows for sure. As another poster said, I am concerned about us landing a big man.

For the time being, I am looking forward to enjoying this season and making a run in the NCAA tourney.[/quote]

Or it actually might be that we can't close. Last year Muhammad, this year Gaffney, Bishop and Dawes. If SJU doesn't need guards why the hell do they keep recruiting them?

And this stuff about his words, really? So have you ever heard a kid say (regardless of the real reason why he chose the school) "I chose school A even though I know I will likely not play much early on" or "The other schools sucked." Everyone wants to play and thinks they can play early. My point is kids tend to say the same thing everytime.

Look Dawes isn't the end of the world, but Jesus this is class number 4. Seriously. And they are whiffing on everyone. It is hard to imagine that when he was hired in April 2015 that recruiting would be this poor at this point especially considering the reasons why the previous staff was replaced.[/quote]

While I agree with much of what you say we all have to put things in perspective.
While it is year 4, none of us expected 3 straight losing seasons to rival the mediocre Norm Roberts years. It is very hard to recruit top talent under those conditions. To our staff's credit we identified targets as good as the ones we lost except for a big man.
Losing Luther was a bummer but he still would have come off the bench behind Simon and Ponds. Hopefully we have talent equivalent to Gaffney, Dawes and Bishop coming up.
Finally, the recruiting process is not over and fluid. With the new transfers rules a team can recover quickly from losing out on a high school player. Mullin better keep Matt very happy because right now he is all we got.
Finally, if Mullin can't win with the current talent he never will so recruiting is the least of his problems.[/quote]

Muhammad would play significant minutes this year at SJU.

Secondly this is not an isolated incident, this is a pattern. Third the losing is his problem not mine. I have never heard someone use as an excuse for why they can't recruit because they have sucked so bad. It's a little like saying, "I couldn't have murder that guy because I was too busy murdering someone else."

And lastly many of these problems are self inflicted. That is the real issue.

On the transfer front, guys if the rules are changed and transfers become immediately eligible I don't see how that benefits SJU. Think about it. The Dukes, Kentucky's etc of the world will start to become much more involved in the recruiting of transfers if they feel they can get a stud transfer who is IMMEDIATELY eligible. Then in that case it may be worth it for them.
 
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Most of us are New Yorker's...why can't some people take straight talk? By every metric, the Mullin administration has been awful at recruiting. The last real HS recruit we landed was Ponds over 3 years ago. Just think about that...3+ years. Yes we got a few very nice transfers, but you can't sustain a program on them until proven otherwise. How about just sucking it up already and hiring another assistant like literally everyone else in college basketball? Why do we have to run some weird experiment to see if we can rely entirely on transfers? That's not a plan by the way, it's a desperation move signalling a complete failure with HS recruits. Any other explanation is just trying to cover it up and dress it up. Dawes isn't some beast of a recruit, but he's yet another example of our staff's complete inability to close.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=297732]...........The last real HS recruit we landed was Ponds over 3 years ago. Just think about that...3+ years........[/quote]
______________________

I share your disappointment regarding this season's recruiting but your above statement is incorrect. Last season St. John's landed 4* Greg Williams and 3* Josh Roberts.
 
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[quote="otis" post=297733][quote="Mike Zaun" post=297732]...........The last real HS recruit we landed was Ponds over 3 years ago. Just think about that...3+ years........[/quote]
______________________

I share your disappointment regarding this season's recruiting but your above statement is incorrect. Last season St. John's landed 4* Greg Williams and 3* Josh Roberts.[/quote]

My apologies, I should have qualified that statement more specifically...Williams is a 3 star composite at #156 nationally. So no I would not classify that as a real major recruit. Ponds was a 4 star composite #45 nationally. Not even in the same ballpark. I'm glad we got Williams and I think he can be a solid 4 year player, but you can't expect him to have anywhere near the impact of Ponds. Roberts is another consensus 3 star rated at #271 nationally. Even in his worst year people accused him of sleeping on the job he pulled 4 star Brandon Sampson out of his hat...composite 4 star top 50 kid nationally. Let me repeat that...Lavin (who we did not approve of including myself) in his worst year pulled a Ponds level recruit out of his hat. Now don't get me wrong...I want some good 3 star kids who stay 4 years, so I'm not undermining these kids at all but we have zero studs to build around for the near future and we are getting closer and closer to a complete rebuild...again. Still looking forward to a huge year this year...I just fear that even if we are a top 25 team this year, top 50 recruits will still choose other places over us...and how many will honestly be left by the end of the season anyway? Won't there only be scraps?
 
[quote="otis" post=297725][quote="L J S A" post=297724]

You don't think it looks bad that we are whiffing on everyone?[/quote]

there is undeniably significant talent on this year's St. John's team that has been assembled by the coach(es) he and others chose to trivialize.[/quote]

I don't know where you are pulling this crap from, but I've been predicting 26+ wins for a long while now. The problem is not this season, and never has been. The problem is 2019-20.
 
[quote="L J S A" post=297739]
I don't know where you are pulling this crap from, but I've been predicting 26+ wins for a long while now. The problem is not this season, and never has been. The problem is 2019-20.[/quote]

And just so there are no doubts whatsoever about where I stand this season, that win total is what I think we'll have on Selection Sunday, not the final total.
 
In college basketball coaching is more important than in any other sport in my opinion. They construct the roster, and a good coach can be a huge x-factor in games. Right now I’d have to say we have one of the worst coaches in the NCAA, at least amongst the power conferences. The reason why we aren’t getting any recruits is because of him. He’s arrogant and incompetent. If he were busting his ass on the recruiting trail then I honestly wouldn’t even say anything, but the guy isn’t even trying. It’s a travesty that he’s being paid what he is and basically mailing it in.

This upcoming season we’ll have more talent than ever and I’m sure he’ll manage to mess it up and we’ll grossly underachieve as usual. I just pray that Cragg is smart enough to realize this and make a change as soon as it is feasible or this program is going no where for years to come.
 
It is not the end of the world that we have lost Al Amir Dawes.

The problem is that we are totally irrelevant in the NY/NJ area.

Today is the Tip Off and we know that only 3 HS recruits (one of them Al Amir Dawes) are going to attend. This is an event for the local players (much more easy to attend). I suppose that today we will know more names, but the previous years we knew the attendance of several players before the same day of the event.
 
[quote="gonzalo" post=297743]It is not the end of the world that we have lost Al Amir Dawes.

The problem is that we are totally irrelevant in the NY/NJ area.

Today is the Tip Off and we know that only 3 HS recruits (one of them Al Amir Dawes) are going to attend. This is an event for the local players (much more easy to attend). I suppose that today we will know more names, but the previous years we knew the attendance of several players before the same day of the event.[/quote]

The problem is, and has been, organization. From summer basketball camps to assistant coaches work schedules, to charity events like Dribble fir the Cure, this staff has left a lot to be desired. I hope after 3 years Mullin finally gets it. The Duke AD hire was great in that Cragg comes from a school that knows how to organize. If Mullin and staff can't cut it I think President Bobby has given Cragg the authority to read them the riot act at the end of the season.

PS. Al-Amir Dawes committed to Clemson so I don't expect him to attend.
 
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Time for another bad analogy:

It's like having a beautiful summer day 70 degrees, dry, and clear. Everything's going great and everyone is enjoying themselves, then there's breaking news that a massive tornado is headed right for NYC and might be strong enough to topple buildings in Manhattan.

Now I ask...would the millions of panicked and concerned people be considered "negative" on this forum? Would they be accused of not enjoying today even if they have legitimate reasons to be concerned about tomorrow? You can enjoy the nice sunny day while also having some underlying concern for the near future with a projection of a massive tornado. They can be done simultaneously guys. You can deny the tornado or start boarding up your house. Let's hope Matt pulls rabbits out of his hat after having a great season and the potential tornado becomes a bright sunny day.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=297728][quote="L J S A" post=297724][quote="Room112" post=297722]

I say we go with your plan and just dump the whole staff now and start from scratch. You convinced me through your hundreds of pessimistic posts.[/quote]

You don't think it looks bad that we are whiffing on everyone?[/quote]

To answer that question would not allow him to present his own straw man.[/quote]

Sorry, didn't mean to intrude on you agenda.
 
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