Next Coach?

[paultzman]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

 

[OLV72]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

 

[Knight]

If there is a change, we better get someone known and tested.
How good are our asst. coaches? Do they get to give input? I do not see them involved when the TO lectures are being conducted.

 

[paultzman]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

In all seriousness, the team name is "Unfinished Business"

 

[Marillac]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

And a new pocket protector. Braziller needs to stfu and quick.

 

[paultzman]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

And a new pocket protector. Braziller needs to stfu and quick.

Or what?

 

[Marillac]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

 

[monte]

Let's understand what Lavin is... he is a mediocre coach in most respects. And let's remember a larger truth -- most people are mediocre at their jobs.

His game coaching is as bad as advertised. It's almost embarrassing when the cameras show our huddle and the microphone picks up the useless palaver that Lavin is spouting. It's like he's coaching middle school. His constant use of timeouts to stop our runs is mind-boggling

His recruiting is far worse than advertised. He has recruited worse than Jarvis did (look at the results, who actually showed up on campus and played) -- and Jarvis was a lazy recruiter. His reputation as a recruiting wiz is wildly out of synch with reality.

He is a good spokesman for the program and the university, so as a public face he is effective -- far better than anyone since Looie in that regard.

Sometimes I think he is a good motivator, but he's only mediocre... as soon as this team tastes even a little success it takes its foot off the gas. Witness the lat two games, which were embarrassments as well as the start to the BE season. So he's not a good motivator. He gets the guys up when their backs are to the wall -- but its easy to motivate in that situation.

So he is mediocre. That's who he is -- that's our coach. We can do worse -- and we have (Mahoney, Roberts). But we can do better -- and we have (HoFers Looie and Lapchick). Lavin is on par with Fraschilla and slightly better than Jarvis.

But in fairness, let's remember that we could have done worse than Lavin in 2010 after we fired Roberts. Remember when Paul Hewitt was our top choice (after the Donovan pipe dream)? He turned us down, and now he's a disaster with Mason in the A-10.

On balance, if I was making the call, I'd probably extend Lavin without a raise. He makes plenty of money for what he delivers. There is no natural successor candidate out there. Either of the Hurleys would be looking for a new job the second they stepped on campus, I'll pass on Masiello, and McKillop is too old. Maybe you can talk me into Braica or Cluess in a year or two, but they haven't gotten over the hump in their own conferences. So I'd stick with Lavin for now, realizing that he's more style than substance.

In short, when the teams wins and plays well, people here are inclined to extend him. When we get blown out in a single game, no less two, the pendulum shifts, the criticism intensifies, and in his case, nothing about him has been off limits - not his wife, not his cancer, not his morals, not his ethics, not his diligence, intelligence, recruiting, coaching, NOTHING. It's why if anyone reads my posts, even after going 7-1 and seemingly securing an NCAA berth, I tempered my enthusiasm to say let's wait it out. The season STILL isn't over yet, so let's wait it out. Plenty of time to think about his suitability to coach after the balls have been put away

Beast you and I have similar positions with regard to waiting till the season ends before making any declarations about Lavin's contract extension(or not). However as long as he is still coaching games and recruiting players, the critiquing of those two things and related matters(IE his diligence as a recruiter, his acumen as an in-game coach, etc) is fair game IMO.

 

[monte]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

When you say that he "mistakenly believes is the majority.....", do you have some statistics to show that it's not the majority? Or is that just your "unbiased" opinion?

 

[Marillac]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

And a new pocket protector. Braziller needs to stfu and quick.

Or what?

On a professional level not everyone at the Post is happy with the way he is letting his personal bias towards Lavin color the way he covers the team. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Marillac]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

When you say that he "mistakenly believes is the majority.....", do you have some statistics to show that it's not the majority? Or is that just your "unbiased" opinion?

It is clearly my opinion. Does that really need to be qualified? It's a message board so you should assume every post begins with "In my opinion...."

 

[monte]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

When you say that he "mistakenly believes is the majority.....", do you have some statistics to show that it's not the majority? Or is that just your "unbiased" opinion?

It is clearly my opinion. Does that really need to be qualified? It's a message board so you should assume every post begins with "In my opinion...."

When you proclaim that he panders to the anti-lavin crowd because he mistakenly thinks they're the majority, I am just wondering where you came up with that? I have no idea one way or the other what the split is. If I had to guess I would put it at 50//50. And when I say that I mean people who think Lavin is the long term answer and those who don't. Of course then there's the proverbial "don't know" group.

 

[beast of the east]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

I thought it was that close but we finished 10-8. The second and third place teams finished 12-6

 

[beast of the east]

Let's understand what Lavin is... he is a mediocre coach in most respects. And let's remember a larger truth -- most people are mediocre at their jobs.

His game coaching is as bad as advertised. It's almost embarrassing when the cameras show our huddle and the microphone picks up the useless palaver that Lavin is spouting. It's like he's coaching middle school. His constant use of timeouts to stop our runs is mind-boggling

His recruiting is far worse than advertised. He has recruited worse than Jarvis did (look at the results, who actually showed up on campus and played) -- and Jarvis was a lazy recruiter. His reputation as a recruiting wiz is wildly out of synch with reality.

He is a good spokesman for the program and the university, so as a public face he is effective -- far better than anyone since Looie in that regard.

Sometimes I think he is a good motivator, but he's only mediocre... as soon as this team tastes even a little success it takes its foot off the gas. Witness the lat two games, which were embarrassments as well as the start to the BE season. So he's not a good motivator. He gets the guys up when their backs are to the wall -- but its easy to motivate in that situation.

So he is mediocre. That's who he is -- that's our coach. We can do worse -- and we have (Mahoney, Roberts). But we can do better -- and we have (HoFers Looie and Lapchick). Lavin is on par with Fraschilla and slightly better than Jarvis.

But in fairness, let's remember that we could have done worse than Lavin in 2010 after we fired Roberts. Remember when Paul Hewitt was our top choice (after the Donovan pipe dream)? He turned us down, and now he's a disaster with Mason in the A-10.

On balance, if I was making the call, I'd probably extend Lavin without a raise. He makes plenty of money for what he delivers. There is no natural successor candidate out there. Either of the Hurleys would be looking for a new job the second they stepped on campus, I'll pass on Masiello, and McKillop is too old. Maybe you can talk me into Braica or Cluess in a year or two, but they haven't gotten over the hump in their own conferences. So I'd stick with Lavin for now, realizing that he's more style than substance.

In short, when the teams wins and plays well, people here are inclined to extend him. When we get blown out in a single game, no less two, the pendulum shifts, the criticism intensifies, and in his case, nothing about him has been off limits - not his wife, not his cancer, not his morals, not his ethics, not his diligence, intelligence, recruiting, coaching, NOTHING. It's why if anyone reads my posts, even after going 7-1 and seemingly securing an NCAA berth, I tempered my enthusiasm to say let's wait it out. The season STILL isn't over yet, so let's wait it out. Plenty of time to think about his suitability to coach after the balls have been put away

Beast you and I have similar positions with regard to waiting till the season ends before making any declarations about Lavin's contract extension(or not). However as long as he is still coaching games and recruiting players, the critiquing of those two things and related matters(IE his diligence as a recruiter, his acumen as an in-game coach, etc) is fair game IMO.

No argument from me there Monte regarding critiquing Lavin. I know you hit the HS gyms, but I don't know how anyone can possibly know how hard his staff is recruiting. After the season, I will write a hypothesis of what's going on there.


But we have to be honest that most of us, and maybe all of us, do not possess the knowledge we think we do. My point is that when we win and play well - transition game, move the ball well in halfcourt, make shots, collapse on D, and WIN, most of think Lavin had done a pretty good good. But every single time we lose, there are those that take that as an opportunity to bash Lavin. My guess is that it isn't LAvin having good and bad games, its the erratic players we on our roster.

 

[monte]

Let's understand what Lavin is... he is a mediocre coach in most respects. And let's remember a larger truth -- most people are mediocre at their jobs.

His game coaching is as bad as advertised. It's almost embarrassing when the cameras show our huddle and the microphone picks up the useless palaver that Lavin is spouting. It's like he's coaching middle school. His constant use of timeouts to stop our runs is mind-boggling

His recruiting is far worse than advertised. He has recruited worse than Jarvis did (look at the results, who actually showed up on campus and played) -- and Jarvis was a lazy recruiter. His reputation as a recruiting wiz is wildly out of synch with reality.

He is a good spokesman for the program and the university, so as a public face he is effective -- far better than anyone since Looie in that regard.

Sometimes I think he is a good motivator, but he's only mediocre... as soon as this team tastes even a little success it takes its foot off the gas. Witness the lat two games, which were embarrassments as well as the start to the BE season. So he's not a good motivator. He gets the guys up when their backs are to the wall -- but its easy to motivate in that situation.

So he is mediocre. That's who he is -- that's our coach. We can do worse -- and we have (Mahoney, Roberts). But we can do better -- and we have (HoFers Looie and Lapchick). Lavin is on par with Fraschilla and slightly better than Jarvis.

But in fairness, let's remember that we could have done worse than Lavin in 2010 after we fired Roberts. Remember when Paul Hewitt was our top choice (after the Donovan pipe dream)? He turned us down, and now he's a disaster with Mason in the A-10.

On balance, if I was making the call, I'd probably extend Lavin without a raise. He makes plenty of money for what he delivers. There is no natural successor candidate out there. Either of the Hurleys would be looking for a new job the second they stepped on campus, I'll pass on Masiello, and McKillop is too old. Maybe you can talk me into Braica or Cluess in a year or two, but they haven't gotten over the hump in their own conferences. So I'd stick with Lavin for now, realizing that he's more style than substance.

In short, when the teams wins and plays well, people here are inclined to extend him. When we get blown out in a single game, no less two, the pendulum shifts, the criticism intensifies, and in his case, nothing about him has been off limits - not his wife, not his cancer, not his morals, not his ethics, not his diligence, intelligence, recruiting, coaching, NOTHING. It's why if anyone reads my posts, even after going 7-1 and seemingly securing an NCAA berth, I tempered my enthusiasm to say let's wait it out. The season STILL isn't over yet, so let's wait it out. Plenty of time to think about his suitability to coach after the balls have been put away

Beast you and I have similar positions with regard to waiting till the season ends before making any declarations about Lavin's contract extension(or not). However as long as he is still coaching games and recruiting players, the critiquing of those two things and related matters(IE his diligence as a recruiter, his acumen as an in-game coach, etc) is fair game IMO.

No argument from me there Monte regarding critiquing Lavin. I know you hit the HS gyms, but I don't know how anyone can possibly know how hard his staff is recruiting. After the season, I will write a hypothesis of what's going on there.


But we have to be honest that most of us, and maybe all of us, do not possess the knowledge we think we do. My point is that when we win and play well - transition game, move the ball well in halfcourt, make shots, collapse on D, and WIN, most of think Lavin had done a pretty good good. But every single time we lose, there are those that take that as an opportunity to bash Lavin. My guess is that it isn't LAvin having good and bad games, its the erratic players we on our roster.

FWIW I don't think I possess very much knowledge at all lol. I do think that Lavin has done a pretty good job with this group. Going in to the season I felt, like many, that we were a borderline NCAA team. We made the tournament so from that perspective he's done a good job with this team. However, as well prettty much all agree, he did not do a good job in assembling a balanced/deep team and IMO he has not done a good job at avoiding the kind of blowouts that demoralize a team, not to mention a fan base. Every team has a stinker from time to time, but a veteran team headed for the tourny should simply not get completed annihilated 2 games in a row at this juncture in the season. While much of that falls on the kids, so to does a lot of it fall on the staff. Not looking for a reason to bash Lavin, just making some observations on recent games and season.

 

[beast of the east]

Let's understand what Lavin is... he is a mediocre coach in most respects. And let's remember a larger truth -- most people are mediocre at their jobs.

His game coaching is as bad as advertised. It's almost embarrassing when the cameras show our huddle and the microphone picks up the useless palaver that Lavin is spouting. It's like he's coaching middle school. His constant use of timeouts to stop our runs is mind-boggling

His recruiting is far worse than advertised. He has recruited worse than Jarvis did (look at the results, who actually showed up on campus and played) -- and Jarvis was a lazy recruiter. His reputation as a recruiting wiz is wildly out of synch with reality.

He is a good spokesman for the program and the university, so as a public face he is effective -- far better than anyone since Looie in that regard.

Sometimes I think he is a good motivator, but he's only mediocre... as soon as this team tastes even a little success it takes its foot off the gas. Witness the lat two games, which were embarrassments as well as the start to the BE season. So he's not a good motivator. He gets the guys up when their backs are to the wall -- but its easy to motivate in that situation.

So he is mediocre. That's who he is -- that's our coach. We can do worse -- and we have (Mahoney, Roberts). But we can do better -- and we have (HoFers Looie and Lapchick). Lavin is on par with Fraschilla and slightly better than Jarvis.

But in fairness, let's remember that we could have done worse than Lavin in 2010 after we fired Roberts. Remember when Paul Hewitt was our top choice (after the Donovan pipe dream)? He turned us down, and now he's a disaster with Mason in the A-10.

On balance, if I was making the call, I'd probably extend Lavin without a raise. He makes plenty of money for what he delivers. There is no natural successor candidate out there. Either of the Hurleys would be looking for a new job the second they stepped on campus, I'll pass on Masiello, and McKillop is too old. Maybe you can talk me into Braica or Cluess in a year or two, but they haven't gotten over the hump in their own conferences. So I'd stick with Lavin for now, realizing that he's more style than substance.

In short, when the teams wins and plays well, people here are inclined to extend him. When we get blown out in a single game, no less two, the pendulum shifts, the criticism intensifies, and in his case, nothing about him has been off limits - not his wife, not his cancer, not his morals, not his ethics, not his diligence, intelligence, recruiting, coaching, NOTHING. It's why if anyone reads my posts, even after going 7-1 and seemingly securing an NCAA berth, I tempered my enthusiasm to say let's wait it out. The season STILL isn't over yet, so let's wait it out. Plenty of time to think about his suitability to coach after the balls have been put away

Beast you and I have similar positions with regard to waiting till the season ends before making any declarations about Lavin's contract extension(or not). However as long as he is still coaching games and recruiting players, the critiquing of those two things and related matters(IE his diligence as a recruiter, his acumen as an in-game coach, etc) is fair game IMO.

No argument from me there Monte regarding critiquing Lavin. I know you hit the HS gyms, but I don't know how anyone can possibly know how hard his staff is recruiting. After the season, I will write a hypothesis of what's going on there.


But we have to be honest that most of us, and maybe all of us, do not possess the knowledge we think we do. My point is that when we win and play well - transition game, move the ball well in halfcourt, make shots, collapse on D, and WIN, most of think Lavin had done a pretty good good. But every single time we lose, there are those that take that as an opportunity to bash Lavin. My guess is that it isn't LAvin having good and bad games, its the erratic players we on our roster.

FWIW I don't think I possess very much knowledge at all lol. I do think that Lavin has done a pretty good job with this group. Going in to the season I felt, like many, that we were a borderline NCAA team. We made the tournament so from that perspective he's done a good job with this team. However, as well prettty much all agree, he did not do a good job in assembling a balanced/deep team and IMO he has not done a good job at avoiding the kind of blowouts that demoralize a team, not to mention a fan base. Every team has a stinker from time to time, but a veteran team headed for the tourny should simply not get completed annihilated 2 games in a row at this juncture in the season. While much of that falls on the kids, so to does a lot of it fall on the staff. Not looking for a reason to bash Lavin, just making some observations on recent games and season.

You are one of the posters I really like. We can disagree but are fair with each other's assessments and really aren't that far apart most of the time. Agree 100% with this post.

 

[1and1sju]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

I wouldn't classify it as a resounding success Jack.
Considering the circumstances, our most talented team in awhile, and senior laden with experience, it was a mediocre regular season.

Desco. the regular season is what is projected to get this team to the NCAA - despite the poor showing yesterday. Mediocre does not get you a bid. Stick your other points. This one does not help your argument.

As for Zach, it is well known to any reader of this board that he and Lavin dislike each other since at least last year when Zach ran his piece that Lavin is not supported by influential supporters of the program - their poor relationship probably goes back further. I do think Lavin made a mistake going against the hoops writer of the one of the few local papers that cover local teams.

Accurate assessment of Zach/Lavin relationship. That said, they remain on the same SoHo bowling team. Go figure!

Lavin should buy him a new bowling ball.

And a new pocket protector. Braziller needs to stfu and quick.

Or what?

On a professional level not everyone at the Post is happy with the way he is letting his personal bias towards Lavin color the way he covers the team. I'll leave it at that.

I call BS on that.
And I can verify it real easily.

But the bigger issue is that somebody doesn't like reading things he disagrees with.
I didn't see you complaining about Megdal's story last week when he was praising Lavin. Now that someone is holding him accountable you're crying for unbiased journalists.
The next edition of the Post that is unbiased (or even qualifies as "journalism"), will be the first.

 

[fun]

My guess is that it isn't LAvin having good and bad games, its the erratic players we on our roster.

At least part of the reason that the players play erratically is because the "system" that is in place requires that they create plays out of nothing. Lavin said it himself: it's a jam session and they're improvising. So there's really only one play: someone takes someone off the dribble. It'd be a great system if he recruited five Rysheed Jordans. It works less well when you have Phil Greene on drums and Jamal Branch on bass. Butler and Xavier don't have more talent than Saint John's, they have systems that maximize the talent they have.

 

[beast of the east]

My guess is that it isn't LAvin having good and bad games, its the erratic players we on our roster.

At least part of the reason that the players play erratically is because the "system" that is in place requires that they create plays out of nothing. Lavin said it himself: it's a jam session and they're improvising. So there's really only one play: someone takes someone off the dribble. It'd be a great system if he recruited five Rysheed Jordans. It works less well when you have Phil Greene on drums and Jamal Branch on bass. Butler and Xavier don't have more talent than Saint John's, they have systems that maximize the talent they have.

I think that what Lavin means is that we have an offensive schema but not a lot of set plays. We set a lot of high screen, and guards rotate alot, so I know there is a system. I don't read offensive sets all that well, but it is a motion offense of sorts. The failing I think we have is #1 - that it's not a very sophisticated offense , and #2- Lavin is pretty incapable of coming up with a specific game plan for a given opponent and #3 - LAvin has not demonstrated that he can make in game adjustments that can change an outcome for the better.

 

[Marillac]

"Despite being picked by the league’s coaches to finish third, Lavin led the Johnnies (21-11) to a fifth-place finish."

Come on zach, are you really gonna try to make it sound like the regular season was a failure ??

Zach shouldn't be brought back. Journalists are supposed to report in a neutral fashion. Zach's bias is clear and he panders to the anti-Lavin crowd which he mistakenly believes is the majority just because they are the most vocal on WFAN, Redmen, and JJ.

That quote by Zach is just absurd. We missed 3rd place by a four point loss to Butler due to Rysheed not playing.

When you say that he "mistakenly believes is the majority.....", do you have some statistics to show that it's not the majority? Or is that just your "unbiased" opinion?

It is clearly my opinion. Does that really need to be qualified? It's a message board so you should assume every post begins with "In my opinion...."

When you proclaim that he panders to the anti-lavin crowd because he mistakenly thinks they're the majority, I am just wondering where you came up with that? I have no idea one way or the other what the split is. If I had to guess I would put it at 50//50. And when I say that I mean people who think Lavin is the long term answer and those who don't. Of course then there's the proverbial "don't know" group.

Monte, I have no idea what the % split is. I know that some very good fans and very good posters have been driven away by the constant negativity on these boards. I personally know several.

The tone of the tweets to Zach and posts on JJ and Redmen is very negative, but most negative people seem to be the most vocal and many have multiple screen names. I think the fans that show up to games is generally pro-Lavin while it is probably closer to 50/50 on Redmen and JJ, but after a loss it feels a lot more like 95/5 anti-Lavin.