To be clear on my change in position, what put me over the top was how the SDSU coach couldn't wipe that grin off his face and was almost laughing when he first discussed facing a "Lavin-led St. John's team." He was so relaxed in the halftime interview with that same stupid grin and his players were laughing. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have rather faced us than Buffalo if given the choice and that is sickening to me.
Buffalo was more competitive with a higher seed and a better team than we were with #8 SDSU, and Buffalo was much younger and the core pieces were assembled by Hurley weeks after he was hired.
How does Hurley find a 6'7 240 pound pf that averages 17.5 and 9.2 less than a month after he is hired when we have to start four guards against a team that starts four forwards?
Lavin did a tremendous job rescuing this program from complete obscurity and I am thankful to him for that. He had some bad breaks that weren't really his fault and that really hampered his ability to be successful.
In the end, I don't believe he is a good enough program architect and his style of play is too maddening for me to sign on for another handful of years while I see two exceptional younger coaches that have literally everything it takes to build and maintain a top 25 program. We can't miss out on them now or we will never have a chance to get back to where we once were.