(POST-GAME) @Xavier, Sat. Mar. 9, 5pm, FOX / 970AM

[quote="gonzalo" post=328995][quote="REB" post=328981]
Please give us a head coach who can coach basketball and a staff that has two members actively engaged in recruiting (great if one of them is Matt).[/quote]

Sorry, why Matt gets a pass?
He only recruits transfers. We are seeing now why they played less than 10 minutes in his previous teams.
He has never recruited HS players. Neither in Iowa State nor with us.
It looks like he has not established any relation with HS coaches. I know that Mullin had to help, but we see that other assistant coaches (Kimani Young, Tony Chiles, Jared Grasso) have connections. After 4 years we have none.[/quote]

Matt does have relationships with HS players. The recruits we've been in the mix for were almost all connected to Matt. But how can he close the deal with big-time programs competing against us and no indication that the staff can actually coach the team successfully. Landing true high-major prospects is tough when everyone is telling them the SJU staff can't coach and therefor the team will continue to be a bottom dweller. Matt's done a heck of a job connecting with recruits and selling this an an attractive place to play. Put him on a staff that gets results and creates opportunities for players to do what they do well and I believe he will be a huge asset. Anyway if there's a new staff they need two guys who recruit and it would be good if one of them had strong local roots. I don't think I'm giving Matt a pass. I'm giving him his due.
 
[quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice!
 
Hard to believe hankins at 6 ft 11 was a d2 transfer. Xavier has 3 grad transfers all bigs. Maybe all these big guys are that good that we played against or maybe it was because our guys gave away 6 inches and 50 lbs to these guys
 
[quote="REB" post=329140][quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice![/quote]

Femi would have started every game this year for us as a freshman. and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.
 
[quote="41ndone" post=329197][quote="REB" post=329140][quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice![/quote]

Femi would have started every game this year for us as a freshman. and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.[/quote]

Except that he is 23 and a grad transfer. Nice job
 
On a completely different note....just returned from Cincy (yes...we drove). The Cintas Center is a model for an on-campus arena. Seats 10k (granted...can we fill them all?), food and beverage all over the place, hall of fame area, X gear shops, private boxes with food and drink, plenty of X-branded staff, and, of course, a robust and dedicated fan base. Post-game, the Welage kid came with his family into the same restaurant as we were in down the road from the Center. He rec'd a standing O. As we left, we stopped at their nearby table, mentioned that we came from NYC for the game (yeah...we were the only ones in red in the place), wished for a different outcome, but congratulated him on his game.He thanked us....nice kid. From this small, one-weekend sample, X seemed to be a good model for a basketball program. Mr. Cragg was in attendance at the game; I hope he was taking notes.
 
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I think this season ended up pretty much how we all projected it to. In the big picture, 20 wins and around a .500 record in the big east were the expectations coming in to the season for a lot of people. What people didn't expect is how we got there. Instead of going 3-1 against Nova/Marquette and being swept by the bottom two teams, the exact opposite was probably more realistic. We got the 20 wins and an almost .500 record in conference (which should have been .500 with the Seton Hall game). Is that enough progress for Mullin and his staff? That's for Cragg to determine.

As far as the game last night, it was the first game this season that I had the pleasure to watch in person. We definitely have a lot of problems with this team, and I am still not sure if it is the fault of the staff or the players or both. It's probably both. We don't run any form of organized offense, which is on Mullin. But at the same time, we take way too many ill-advised shots, and a lot of the time they are very early in the shot clock, which falls on the players. They don't play team basketball, which results in a lot of "hero"/one-on-one basketball. Once again, I don't know if that's by design, or if they aren't following the game plan. At the other end of the floor, we just don't know or understand how to play defense. For example, on one play in the 2nd half last night, I think we cut the lead to 4. On the next possession, Xavier takes the shot clock down to under 10, and they penetrate with about 5 seconds left. And for some reason, Clark leaves his man in the corner to collapse on the ball, and the player dishes off to the guy in the corner and he drained the 3. That was my biggest takeaway. At the slightest hint of penetration, we have too many players leave their man to collapse on the ball, which always leaves a shooter wide open.

The final record of 20-11 is probably around where we should be. And according to most 'experts', we are still firmly in the tournament. From there, it's all about who we get matched up against.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=329201][quote="41ndone" post=329197][quote="REB" post=329140][quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice![/quote]

Femi would have started every game this year for us as a freshman. and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.[/quote]

Except that he is 23 and a grad transfer. Nice job[/quote]

Ah Beast, you actually posted something less than 14 paragraphs,
You're correct , 23 year old Femi would have started every game for us and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.
 
[quote="Eric Williamson" post=329210]I think this season ended up pretty much how we all projected it to. In the big picture, 20 wins and around a .500 record in the big east were the expectations coming in to the season for a lot of people. What people didn't expect is how we got there. Instead of going 3-1 against Nova/Marquette and being swept by the bottom two teams, the exact opposite was probably more realistic. We got the 20 wins and an almost .500 record in conference (which should have been .500 with the Seton Hall game). Is that enough progress for Mullin and his staff? That's for Cragg to determine.

As far as the game last night, it was the first game this season that I had the pleasure to watch in person. We definitely have a lot of problems with this team, and I am still not sure if it is the fault of the staff or the players or both. It's probably both. We don't run any form of organized offense, which is on Mullin. But at the same time, we take way too many ill-advised shots, and a lot of the time they are very early in the shot clock, which falls on the players. They don't play team basketball, which results in a lot of "hero"/one-on-one basketball. Once again, I don't know if that's by design, or if they aren't following the game plan. At the other end of the floor, we just don't know or understand how to play defense. For example, on one play in the 2nd half last night, I think we cut the lead to 4. On the next possession, Xavier takes the shot clock down to under 10, and they penetrate with about 5 seconds left. And for some reason, Clark leaves his man in the corner to collapse on the ball, and the player dishes off to the guy in the corner and he drained the 3. That was my biggest takeaway. At the slightest hint of penetration, we have too many players leave their man to collapse on the ball, which always leaves a shooter wide open.

The final record of 20-11 is probably around where we should be. And according to most 'experts', we are still firmly in the tournament. From there, it's all about who we get matched up against. [/quote]

The quick and ill-advised shots has been going on since Mullin's first season. I used to speak about it on this forum. Different players, same stuff.
 
"At the other end of the floor, we just don't know or understand how to play defense. For example, on one play in the 2nd half last night, I think we cut the lead to 4. On the next possession, Xavier takes the shot clock down to under 10, and they penetrate with about 5 seconds left. And for some reason, Clark leaves his man in the corner to collapse on the ball, and the player dishes off to the guy in the corner and he drained the 3. That was my biggest takeaway. At the slightest hint of penetration, we have too many players leave their man to collapse on the ball, which always leaves a shooter wide open."

Well I agree that our guys shouldn't be leaving their men wide open to collapse on drivers ... but perhaps they wouldn't be tempted to do that so much if we had a post presence capable of challenging the drivers.
 
[quote="41ndone" post=329222][quote="Beast of the East" post=329201][quote="41ndone" post=329197][quote="REB" post=329140][quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice![/quote]

Femi would have started every game this year for us as a freshman. and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.[/quote]

Except that he is 23 and a grad transfer. Nice job[/quote]

Ah Beast, you actually posted something less than 14 paragraphs,
You're correct , 23 year old Femi would have started every game for us and lead us in rebounding by a large margin.[/quote]

Thank you, but in one post you showed everything that you know about basketball, and exactly why your trashing of Mullin should be disregarded by all. I'll wait for your public apology to the Mullin family for the disgusting things you posted know that it's public knowledge that he had more on his plate that certainly took a lot of his time and thoughts.
 
[quote="Amaseinyourface" post=328993]I blame herons issues on heron. He’s averaging just about the same amount of point as he did at auburn on his best %’s. Maybe the most of us, myself included, were just a little bit wrong about his game. He is one of the most predictable offensive players I’ve seen at sju. And there is plenty you can blame CM for.[/quote]

Since the staff wants to play the pro-style game, they should have Heron do the Harden head jerk every time someone breathes on him. Although the refs hate us so that strategy might not work.
 
[quote="REB" post=329140][quote="L J S A" post=329087][quote="DoodyNY33" post=329059]
Everybody except the St. John's staff knew they needed another big man on the roster. For some unexplainable reason, they didn't add a grad transfer in the summer.[/quote]

Matt knew. It's hard to land a decent one, though. In hindsight, even a non-decent one could have helped.[/quote]

I had the impression that after Tariq transferred, the big that DePaul landed, Femi, visited SJU but that Chris did not come back to NYC to meet with him ... and that perhaps Femi chose DePaul over us because he didn't quite feel the love. If thats' the case, that one recruit alone would have made enough difference to get us the BET 3rd seed and to be a lock for the NCAA - if only cause he wouldn't have been on DePaul when we lost yo them twice![/quote]

Yeah, I wasn't even factoring staff not showing up in my statement. More just a general "there aren't a lot of difference maker ones transferring and we aren't an attractive destination for them for some reason" sort of statement.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=329143]Xavier landed a D2 big man in Hankins. No excuse for us not having any real ones.[/quote]

Always thought this was an untapped resource, big or small man. The best D-2 guys can definitely help a D-1 team, especially one with no depth. D-2 studs need to start to recognize early that they are studs and try to graduate in three years.
 
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