One step forward, three steps back

beast of the east

beast of the east

Active member
So here we are, 5 months before another season starts.

Since the start of last season, we have lost 3 rotation players, plus a kid (Freudenberg) who could have developed into one by junior year. We've added some transfers, but not a single stud freshman. While the transfers appear to be valuable additions, all three players who left figured to get meaningful playing time this season.

We are building for something better, but no one can deny that each guy who left is a loss because they each brought something to the table. Each could be seen as having a role on a plus .500 conference team trying to get a bid to the dance. I understand that transfers are part of the game, and foreign players have different objectives, but this is frustrating as hell to see us with a thin roster again, and not much hope for an NCAA bid.
 
The weakest part of SJU's game was its' porous defense. Of the players who left , to describe Mussini and Freudenberg as weak defensive players is overrating them. Ellison and Williams were decent defensive players but Williams was out too often and both their minutes will be taken by the two transfers who have reputations of being tough defensive players. These moves are all a step up to move into the top half of the conference.
 
Far from over-confident about what the 17/18 overall prospects are, but I like the chances for improvement over 16/17.

Retained (by far) the 4 most productive players from the 16/17 roster in Ponds, Lovett, Ahmed, and Owens. So the base is intact, and given that these players were all first year players at SJU last year, not out of question to get collective improvement from this group from their stellar first years.

Lost Mussini, Ellison, Williams, and Freudenberg.

Replaced with Simon, Clark, Wilson, and Trimble.

That's not close. Not diminishing the value that Mussini/Ellison/Williams could have in roles as upperclassmen, or the improvement Freudenberg could make, all of which could have been additive to the second group since they were not mutually exclusive. But since transfers are something that most every program deals with, SJU came out way ahead in this particular tradeoff.

So based on (1) having the primary 16/17 pieces back with a chance for improvement, and (2) a much better supporting cast with certain of those players expected to be more primary piece than supporting cast, I certainly like where we are now a lot more than 2 months ago.
 
have some coffee, regroup and get some sunshine. Sid Wilson = Stud Freshman...
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Beast I enjoy your posts but this one seems so unnecessarily down and not in line w the terrific ( as opposed to terrible) recruiting by of this past month - Paul you need to specify decaf coffee or wine or maybe just the fresh air

Seems to me, humble opinion as it is, we have positioned ourselves for a better season, more Ws, possible NCAA, probably NIT and likely a BE tourney win or two
AND
Becoming more of a destination talented kids are being attracted to.
All the best!

P.H. Sheridan
Union General
1883-1888
 
This has to be a troll post, or OP is a naturally depressed poster.

I have no idea what any of you guys see about Freudenberg, but he just wasn't built for the Big East. He missed open threes, lack defense, and couldn't stay on the floor. Rather have Sid Wilson than Freudenberg.

No stud Freshman?

I believe Sid Wilson was a top 50 player in the 2018 class, and made the decision to come here now. Seems like a Stud to me.

About losing Ellison, sad to see him go, but how many times were you guys wailing on him last year? Remember the " what a bonehead play by Ellison", " Ellison thinks he's better than he is", " Another turnover by Ellison", " Ellison is a Low IQ player", etc,etc. That seemed to be a constant theme on this site.
Having Simon replacing him seemed smart hence the reason he decided to leave.

Losing Mussini was very unfortunate, but not the end of the world. Tremble shoots around 45 percent from three. It is what it is. I respect Mussini for doing a lot for the team ( playing point guard, moving to the bench the next year), but c'mon now. He's not Jesus Shuttlesworth.

Pieces added >> Pieces lost.

These guys look good to me

 
The weakest part of SJU's game was its' porous defense. Of the players who left , to describe Mussini and Freudenberg as weak defensive players is overrating them. Ellison and Williams were decent defensive players but Williams was out too often and both their minutes will be taken by the two transfers who have reputations of being tough defensive players. These moves are all a step up to move into the top half of the conference.
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Mussini was only loss of value. Ellison had 2 good games, besides that was a liability. Mussini was a threat off the bench but a liability on D. Lets hope these additions improve our team. Its all speculation until we see them play against BE talent. Love the Wilson addition. BT looks good but in his highlights he is not even guarded, so lets see how he shoots with a 6-6 guy in his face. Fingers crossed for 2017/18- we are due for a good run. Go johnnies!!!
 
Our current roster is a big step up from last season. Not a huge jump, but a big jump.
I like our chances come March Madness, now.
 
Mussini was our 4th guard.
Freudenberg in three years with a little luck would be a Junior. Really wasn't expecting much more than that.
Williams-I liked and would have liked to keep but he was limited physically and in grand scheme of things not a terrible loss.
Ellison- maybe one day will develop a complete game but if he and Ahmed played another season together there was a very good chance my nice flat screen would have a remote control sticking out of it by February.

Certainly none of these losses were worth starting a thread and ripping off a Bruce Springsteen song to boot.
 
Let's be honest. We lost some nice kids. However, none of them were 'impact" players and in fact the two players (Mussini/Ellison) would have a serious reduction in playing time. So I believe they saw the writing on the wall and correctly looked for opportunity elsewhere. DW is a loss as we are clearly a little (no pun intended) short in the middle. Freudenberg was/is a project. I had high hopes for him but work was needed for him to catch up to the speed of the US college game. He decided to go home and that was his decision. Again, I am not convinced he would have seen much court time next year.

However, we have two transfers who worked with the team last year.(Clark/Simon) Both were higher rated recruits than Mussini/Ellison. By a lot. We will see if they work out. Best of all in the last month we added a 4 star in Wilson who will be a real nice player. Don't forget he's also a local kid to help us plant the flag. We also nabbed Trimble who is a 3 star, recruited by good schools and will help offset the loss of Mussini. Add that the 2018 transfer additions of Sedee and Dixon and I think wow we are clearly headed in the right direction. Did we mention that Lovett did not leave?

Yes, I still worry about our post play next year but let's be realistic. We now appear to have options to make inroads to building a strong roster now and in the future. I don't know how anyone can say that the overall talent level of the roster is not trending up in a big way. I for one can't wait to see what CM and MA can do with a few more wins on the floor. I am hopeful.
 
The staff did an amazing job in improving the talent from year one to year three. Certainly question marks to be answered and need to keep this going with solid recruiting every year but I see this more as three steps forward and no steps back.

Consensus Four Star High School Players on the Roster

Ponds
Lovett
Simon
Wilson
Yawke - I realize he doesn't always play that way
Keita - Eligible next year

Clark, Owens, Trimble and Dixon are solid players.

Year one team had only Yawke as a Four Star with Johnson, Mvouika, Sima and Ellison and almost no bench. I think we are heading in the right direction.
 
I'm with a few that thought this post was about Lovett leaving. I don't understand how we possibly went 3 steps back, that's preposterous. We retained a top 5 backcourt nationally, Simon and Clark are eligible to play after sitting out a year, we still have Owens and Ahmed, and add Sid Wilson. Just picked up a 3 star guard who can pick up the slack for Mussini leaving. C'mon man, 3 steps back??? I'm going to Vegas in a few weeks, I'm going to put 100 on St. John's to win the championship just to wash out this negativity. I've spent money on worse.
 
Our current roster is a big step up from last season. Not a huge jump, but a big jump.
I like our chances come March Madness, now.
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So we all or mainly agree to rename this topic:
THREE STEPS FORWARD
ONE STEP BACK!
Moving not only I the right direction but in a direction better than most of us anticipated!
 
Either beast woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or Realfan made him write a hostage post.
 
Saw the thread and assumed Lovett had quit school and fled to Europe.
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I thought something bad happened to Jay Wright and the Villanova basketball program.
 
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