[quote="Class of 72" post=317931]After the first two years of the Mullin experiment I posted a few times that Mullin could never consistently win at St. John's without top tier talent because the unstructured NBA system he coaches could only be effective with Blue Blood level talent. It also requires lights out shooters that are supported by a strong inside game.
Today we witnessed everything that could go wrong with that system when one or two players shoot miserably from the outside. Unfortunately, when Clark's outside game is off he doesn't have the skillset to bring his game inside. Even when he tried today he got stuffed like a turkey.
What was more disturbing to me is what I see happening to my favorite player Shamorie Ponds. I don't see the fire in his belly. I see wasted passes to teammates that can't finish plays. I see frustrating 25 foot shots with 20 seconds on the clock because he doesn't see another money player on the floor. Part of that is the fault of a totally unstructured system that falls off the cliff as soon as Mullin has to go to his undertalented bench.
What many have been saying since Owens announced his departure was that without a competent big body this team would struggle against bigger competition. The top priority was getting a transfer big because Keita was a big question mark.
When we had that opportunity in the form of Femi Olujobi on April 9, 2018 the only member of the staff to greet him was Matt Abelmassih.
Neither Mullin nor Mitch were in NYC for this important visit. The kid felt slighted.
"St. John's assistant Matt Abdelmassih met with graduate transfer Femi Olujobi yesterday. A visit is likely. Plan is to take one immediately eligible big and two sit-out transfers right now. #sub
1:30 PM · Apr 9, 2018."
On April 30th Femi chose DePaul. Hofstra made the final cut. HOFSTRA!!
"Olujobi chose Depaul over Georgetown, Butler, and Hofstra, the schools rounding out his final four."
This staff was praised by some fans for their ability to develop players.
I never saw any development and the fact that a dozen Mullin recruits have left the program says a lot about the value of their tutelage. Underachieving has been the hallmark and it was clearly mentioned by Owens when he chose his 5th year under a different staff.
Owens: " It hasn't gone how we expected it to go, for everybody not just me. We expected ourselves to be somewhere else we didn't get to. That alone would make anybody weigh their options." -- Tariq Owens. #sjubb
12:44 PM - Apr 9, 2018
A talented 5 star player like Heron has lost his game at St. John's. Simon and Clark are exactly the same players they were on day one. Trimble would not have gotten off the bench at Florida State. Yes, we are transfer U but we need to remember why players transfer.
I came home and rewatched much of the game in fast forward and television gives you a closer and more personal look at this staff. Burning time outs to have St. Jean rally the players while looking at your shoes and talking to Richmond is a very bad visual for fans. Especially when the players come out and make the same mistakes.
As I'm sure some have mentioned, this didn't look like a rested team but an unprepared team. It's getting futile mentioning the fact that we have no depth because when we had the opportunity to give Williams and Roberts burn in the OOC we got an overdose of Trimble. When Clark isn't hitting and Shamorie isn't leading the offense effectively we will lose. I expect to see more of the same in the remaining games.[/quote]
So do you think Velcro UA sneakers for Chris is the answer?
