(POST-GAME) @Butler, Sat. Jan. 19, 4:30pm, FOX / 570AM

Anyone judging Keita at this point is just plain ignorant. He's a top 100 recruit that is coming back from surgery and still isn't at 100 percent. To suggest he's nothing but a back up is stupid. He's only played a handful of games, which if we had any depth he wouldn't even be playing. He'd still be out rehabbing. I give him credit that he's out there busting it cuz he's trying to help the team and give them some height and depth. That's the type of player I want on my team.
 
I would have liked to have seen Keita get some experience OOC. I think he'll be fine with more pt.
 
Lack of focus and intensity falls on the coaching staff.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=316517][quote="Chicago Days" post=316516]Wish we knew what happened with missing on Femi.
Were we ever truly ‘in’ on the guy and missed for some reason, or was he put off by our style of hyper-guard/wing play?[/quote]
SJU was first team on him, but DP was more aggressive & I will leave it at that. Water under bridge at this point.[/quote

Yeah wasn't the only staff member there was Matt? wtf was Mullin and other? Oh that's right, they couldn't be bothered to be thre and see him. freaking maybe 72 is right, it's a shit show.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=316509][quote="Class of 72" post=316496][quote="Ray Morgan" post=316488][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316471]20-10 (8-10) is what I expect at this point. Not good enough for tourney. I would be hopeful for the BET, but this team just cannot get any consistency and we have a long history of bowing out early in the BET. Really got fooled again and thought this year would be different. I'm going to have to start treating SJ like the Mets. Don't ever buy the hype, just assume the worst and hope for best. This way it's not as disappointing. This is not the ACC, these are beatable teams we consistently lose to. Down year for conference and we still can't break through even with this roster speaks volumes.[/quote]

There were plenty of warning signs for those who don't wear rose colored glasses, even before the season started. No size was number one, although the lack of bench strength was a little unexpected. Then there were last minute victories against so-so VCU and Georgia Tech, and closer than expected wins against mid majors. All at home or on neutral courts. We all hoped that the close games were us playing down to our competition. As for a down year, perhaps at the top, yes. Only 2 ranked teams at the moment., and no one near the top 10. But Depaul is surprisingly good, and the teams at the bottom, including us at the moment, all have talented rosters that can beat you on any given night. Forget the hype machine. Look at the roster, see the lack of size and depth, and not making the dance could never be unimaginable. I still believe that it's more likely we go on a big losing streak than a nice win streak. That's what happens to teams with exploitable deficiencies. Season not over, but margin for error gone, and back up plan for Big East tournament run looking unlikely.[/quote]

Bowling Green, Cal, GaTech and VCU were all red flags but the first red flag may have been the scrimmage loss to Rhode Island. ;)
Not playing the freshmen early also gave hints that any injury would have a big impact. Trimble has been a non factor and the fact he is being used as a 6th man just validates the lack of bench talent. The comparison between the Butler bench and ours shows how this staff has had a very hard time constructing a complete competitive roster in comparison to the rest of the conference. We have Wright and Caraher along with Steere, and a bunch of other untested players to support Figueroa next season. Without any major impact addition like Precious the team's star power will be greatly reduced when Ponds leaves. How the 5 -out positionless game will be beneficial with that roster remains to be seen.
All the players mentioned above will need to be coached up. There would have to be a major coaching addition to the staff for that to happen.[/quote]

Wait. I'm confused, aren't you the same guy who posted that you thought Mullin had improved as a coach?[/quote]

Mrs. 72 thinks he will be coach of the year. I think Wojo and even Dave Leitao may be stronger candidates at present.
I think Mully has improved tremendously from his clueless first year. The problem is Greg St. Jean and Mitch Richmond have remained static figures. Time for everyone to bite the bullet and hire someone to replace Slice because not having an experienced associate head coach has and will hold Mullin back. Steve Lavin had the foresight to hire Mike Dunlap and Jim Whitesell. Tony Chiles was terrific. This staff sucks.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=316530][quote="Beast of the East" post=316509][quote="Class of 72" post=316496][quote="Ray Morgan" post=316488][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316471]20-10 (8-10) is what I expect at this point. Not good enough for tourney. I would be hopeful for the BET, but this team just cannot get any consistency and we have a long history of bowing out early in the BET. Really got fooled again and thought this year would be different. I'm going to have to start treating SJ like the Mets. Don't ever buy the hype, just assume the worst and hope for best. This way it's not as disappointing. This is not the ACC, these are beatable teams we consistently lose to. Down year for conference and we still can't break through even with this roster speaks volumes.[/quote]

There were plenty of warning signs for those who don't wear rose colored glasses, even before the season started. No size was number one, although the lack of bench strength was a little unexpected. Then there were last minute victories against so-so VCU and Georgia Tech, and closer than expected wins against mid majors. All at home or on neutral courts. We all hoped that the close games were us playing down to our competition. As for a down year, perhaps at the top, yes. Only 2 ranked teams at the moment., and no one near the top 10. But Depaul is surprisingly good, and the teams at the bottom, including us at the moment, all have talented rosters that can beat you on any given night. Forget the hype machine. Look at the roster, see the lack of size and depth, and not making the dance could never be unimaginable. I still believe that it's more likely we go on a big losing streak than a nice win streak. That's what happens to teams with exploitable deficiencies. Season not over, but margin for error gone, and back up plan for Big East tournament run looking unlikely.[/quote]

Bowling Green, Cal, GaTech and VCU were all red flags but the first red flag may have been the scrimmage loss to Rhode Island. ;)
Not playing the freshmen early also gave hints that any injury would have a big impact. Trimble has been a non factor and the fact he is being used as a 6th man just validates the lack of bench talent. The comparison between the Butler bench and ours shows how this staff has had a very hard time constructing a complete competitive roster in comparison to the rest of the conference. We have Wright and Caraher along with Steere, and a bunch of other untested players to support Figueroa next season. Without any major impact addition like Precious the team's star power will be greatly reduced when Ponds leaves. How the 5 -out positionless game will be beneficial with that roster remains to be seen.
All the players mentioned above will need to be coached up. There would have to be a major coaching addition to the staff for that to happen.[/quote]

Wait. I'm confused, aren't you the same guy who posted that you thought Mullin had improved as a coach?[/quote]

Mrs. 72 thinks he will be coach of the year. I think Wojo and even Dave Leitao may be stronger candidates at present.
I think Mully has improved tremendously from his clueless first year. The problem is Greg St. Jean and Mitch Richmond have remained static figures. Time for everyone to bite the bullet and hire someone to replace Slice because not having an experienced associate head coach has and will hold Mullin back. Steve Lavin had the foresight to hire Mike Dunlap and Jim Whitesell. Tony Chiles was terrific. This staff sucks.[/quote]

Jay Wright will get plenty of support for COY.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=316517][quote="Chicago Days" post=316516]Wish we knew what happened with missing on Femi.
Were we ever truly ‘in’ on the guy and missed for some reason, or was he put off by our style of hyper-guard/wing play?[/quote]
SJU was first team on him, but DP was more aggressive & I will leave it at that. Water under bridge at this point.[/quote]

While true that nothing can be done about it now, the question to be answered was whether the coach learned anything from this. We needed a big, Femi seems to be a pretty good one, and yet the talk is that the staff got outworked? If true, and nothing changes, then that's a problem.
 
[quote="JackofVirginia" post=316469]Thought we were once again lackadaisical in the first half.
Where were the fast breaks?
Did we scout Butler? Did we not see Tucker shoot the three in his previous game? Did we not know Baldwin is their best player? What we all do know is we continue to have a porous three point defense as evidenced by Butler's 44%.
How did Simon leave Tucker alone in the corner while he sloughed into the middle?
Butler had 6 fouls with 7 plus minutes left in first half and 6 fouls with 9 plus minutes remaining in the second half yet we failed to take advantage by driving to the basket.
Ponds has to get started earlier in the game.[/quote]
Tucker can be easily guarded. Should have been face guarded like we did to Howard and Powell. He would have done nothing. Talked trash after he pushed off on LJ. Look forward to seeing him shut down at CA.
 
Lack of intensity/effort is one thing that can't be excused. Tired of seeing quotes about how we need to play with more intensity next game. When will we learn? Why do we always do this? Get up for a big opponent like Marquette and then play flat the following?

We knew all year that Nova, Marquette and SJU should be the top 3 teams in the conference. The other two are a combined 10-1 in conference. Something's wrong.
 
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[quote="rawdognyc" post=316519]Anyone judging Keita at this point is just plain ignorant. He's a top 100 recruit that is coming back from surgery and still isn't at 100 percent. To suggest he's nothing but a back up is stupid. He's only played a handful of games, which if we had any depth he wouldn't even be playing. He'd still be out rehabbing. I give him credit that he's out there busting it cuz he's trying to help the team and give them some height and depth. That's the type of player I want on my team.[/quote]
I will say that he has improved since he rejoined the team and he does look like his range of motion is still limited and his timing is off. Admittedly, I don’t know what his ceiling is. Hoping it is significantly greater than we’ve seen thus far.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=316537]Nate Oats is a nice sounding name.[/quote]

Pretty cool name, but with how well he's doing he might hold out for a blue blood.
 
Hey, how about the Players stepping up and playing harder and with more intensity ? If they can’t motivate themselves to play hard everyplay , isn’t that on them ? I keep saying this but , dreaming about winning the BE this season was this fan bases overreach . Even BE Coaches thought as a 4 th or 5 th place Team . We still are in that mix . Heron is a nice player . After cleared for transfer , many of us thought he was going to be All BE Conference and maybe challenge for POY . He isn’t at that level at this point and we can hope he ups his game . His Jumper is good , not great and his handle weak going to the rim . I think we also penciled him and Ponds in for 40 points a game combined . Nearly every Game . It hasn’t happened . Ponds is at around 21 a game and Heron about 15 . But, that includes early season games too . Simon and Clark are about what we saw last year . Good Players sure . Figgy is a pleasant surprise all around . Keita got Injured and is behind schedule . No one is at fault . Dixon’s loss is more critically felt . Forget his size and defense , he could play and score and a good spot up shooter . His loss is being felt . And , despite the clamoring for Williams , he isn’t ready yet for this level . Roberts and Earlington either . Trimble plays hard and will occasionally drain a 3 . He seemed to have more a green light last year . Let’s hope we finish in the top 4 and that should be enough to dance .
 
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SLYFOXX1968 wrote: Hey, how about the Players stepping up and playing harder and with more intensity ? If they can’t motivate themselves to play hard everyplay , isn’t that on them ? I keep saying this but , dreaming about winning the BE this season was this fan bases overreach . Even BE Coaches thought as a 4 th or 5 th place Team . We still are in that mix . Heron is a nice player . After cleared for transfer , many of us thought he was going to be All BE Conference and maybe challenge for POY . He isn’t at that level at this point and we can hope he ups his game . His Jumper is good , not great and his handle weak going to the rim . I think we also penciled him and Ponds in for 40 points a game combined . Nearly every Game . It hasn’t happened . Ponds is at around 21 a game and Heron about 15 . But, that includes early season games too . Simon and Clark are about what we saw last year . Good Players sure . Figgy is a pleasant surprise all around . Keita got Injured and is behind schedule . No one is at fault . Dixon’s loss is more critically felt . Forget his size and defense , he could play and score and a good spot up shooter . His loss is being felt . And , despite the clamoring for Williams , he isn’t ready yet for this level . Roberts and Earlington either . Trimble plays hard and will occasionally drain a 3 . He seemed to have more a green light last year . Let’s hope we finish in the top 4 and that should be enough to dance .

Slyfox, still plenty of time to turn this into an 11-7 BE finish and NCAA berth which I hope most reasonable fans would consider a good result. However, let's make no mistake. These are all staff's players and whether you want to call it coaching or lack of player performance, the buck stops at the top as it does in any profession.
 
[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=316542]Hey, how about the Players stepping up and playing harder and with more intensity ? If they can’t motivate themselves to play hard everyplay , isn’t that on them ? I keep saying this but , dreaming about winning the BE this season was this fan bases overreach . Even BE Coaches thought as a 4 th or 5 th place Team . We still are in that mix . Heron is a nice player . After cleared for transfer , many of us thought he was going to be All BE Conference and maybe challenge for POY . He isn’t at that level at this point and we can hope he ups his game . His Jumper is good , not great and his handle weak going to the rim . I think we also penciled him and Ponds in for 40 points a game combined . Nearly every Game . It hasn’t happened . Ponds is at around 21 a game and Heron about 15 . But, that includes early season games too . Simon and Clark are about what we saw last year . Good Players sure . Figgy is a pleasant surprise all around . Keita got Injured and is behind schedule . No one is at fault . Dixon’s loss is more critically felt . Forget his size and defense , he could play and score and a good spot up shooter . His loss is being felt . And , despite the clamoring for Williams , he isn’t ready yet for this level . Roberts and Earlington either . Trimble plays hard and will occasionally drain a 3 . He seemed to have more a green light last year . Let’s hope we finish in the top 4 and that should be enough to dance .[/quote]

The issue is not our starting five. Sure it is unbalanced not having a true four or five but our starting five are all very good. The issue 100% is our bench , or should I say the lack thereof. Keita has been nothing short of a huge disappointment to date. No more no less. Will he improve we all hope so but we need a contribution from him every game. Dixon’s departure was bad this season. Perhaps not next year but right now it is a big problem. Williams has shown he can contribute but for whatever reason is getting minimal pt. Trimble , well we have all seen what he can do. Earlington and Roberts are providing nothing right now and Wright and Caraher are sitting out. Unfortunately we have far too many bodies on the team providing absolutely zero production this season. Unfortunately that is on the staff and no one else.
 
[quote="Adam" post=316539][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316537]Nate Oats is a nice sounding name.[/quote]

Pretty cool name, but with how well he's doing he might hold out for a blue blood.[/quote]

Mas at Manhattan is still available
 
[quote="stjohnnie75" post=316547][quote="Adam" post=316539][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316537]Nate Oats is a nice sounding name.[/quote]

Pretty cool name, but with how well he's doing he might hold out for a blue blood.[/quote]

Mas at Manhattan is still available[/quote]

Great! Let's go after another Manhattan fraudster.0
 
[quote="stjohnnie75" post=316547][quote="Adam" post=316539][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316537]Nate Oats is a nice sounding name.[/quote]

Pretty cool name, but with how well he's doing he might hold out for a blue blood.[/quote]

Mas at Manhattan is still available[/quote]
Really. A guy who can’t outrecruit in a weak league with 2 consecutive terrible seasons
 
[quote="stjohnnie75" post=316547][quote="Adam" post=316539][quote="Mike Zaun" post=316537]Nate Oats is a nice sounding name.[/quote]

Pretty cool name, but with how well he's doing he might hold out for a blue blood.[/quote]

Mas at Manhattan is still available[/quote] Pecora on the Shorea :)
 
[quote="redmannorth" post=316544][quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=316542]Hey, how about the Players stepping up and playing harder and with more intensity ? If they can’t motivate themselves to play hard everyplay , isn’t that on them ? I keep saying this but , dreaming about winning the BE this season was this fan bases overreach . Even BE Coaches thought as a 4 th or 5 th place Team . We still are in that mix . Heron is a nice player . After cleared for transfer , many of us thought he was going to be All BE Conference and maybe challenge for POY . He isn’t at that level at this point and we can hope he ups his game . His Jumper is good , not great and his handle weak going to the rim . I think we also penciled him and Ponds in for 40 points a game combined . Nearly every Game . It hasn’t happened . Ponds is at around 21 a game and Heron about 15 . But, that includes early season games too . Simon and Clark are about what we saw last year . Good Players sure . Figgy is a pleasant surprise all around . Keita got Injured and is behind schedule . No one is at fault . Dixon’s loss is more critically felt . Forget his size and defense , he could play and score and a good spot up shooter . His loss is being felt . And , despite the clamoring for Williams , he isn’t ready yet for this level . Roberts and Earlington either . Trimble plays hard and will occasionally drain a 3 . He seemed to have more a green light last year . Let’s hope we finish in the top 4 and that should be enough to dance .[/quote]

The issue is not our starting five. Sure it is unbalanced not having a true four or five but our starting five are all very good. The issue 100% is our bench , or should I say the lack thereof. Keita has been nothing short of a huge disappointment to date. No more no less. Will he improve we all hope so but we need a contribution from him every game. Dixon’s departure was bad this season. Perhaps not next year but right now it is a big problem. Williams has shown he can contribute but for whatever reason is getting minimal pt. Trimble , well we have all seen what he can do. Earlington and Roberts are providing nothing right now and Wright and Caraher are sitting out. Unfortunately we have far too many bodies on the team providing absolutely zero production this season. Unfortunately that is on the staff and no one else.[/quote]

Keita, Dixon (now Stere) , Williams. Trimble, Wright and Caraher, Earlington and Josh Roberts.
That's EIGHT players who are (were) on scholarship not contributing.
That's most of the team!
We got lucky with Mustapha wanting to transfer and with Shamorie deciding to come back instead of leaving for guaranteed money overseas.
Now, imagine what the roster could have looked like in year four.
It's almost too nightmarish to envision and there would have been a distinct possibility of crashing to the bottom of the Big East once again.
Now, look at the roster of the last team to beat us in what is a down year for them, Butler. Their 2nd year head coach goes 9 deep with a bench that can produce points.
The only staffer scouting for St. John's is Matt who has never played the sport and who has a knack for attracting unhappy campers in the transfer market.
Not having another professional experienced college coach is killing this experiment dead in its tracks.
I'm hoping this AD has the foresight to manage a change for everyone's sake.
 
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