Rick’s Targets

Marillac2 said:
Norm Roberts level recruits with a hall of fame level coach. There is no other way to view what’s happening here.
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Pitino fanboy here.

There is another way to look at it. The Roberts level recruits coached by Lavin as seniors gave us one of the most fun regular seasons in recent memory (and if not for Kennedy’s injury, who knows how far they would have gone).

I will take that replicated next season.
 
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paultzman said:
nypost.com

Rick Pitino lands Quinn Slazinski as St. John’s third Iona transfer

Rick Pitino added his third transfer from his former school, Iona, when stretch forward Quinn Slazinski verbally committed to the Queens school.
nypost.com nypost.com
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Quinn is the type of player Creighton usually gets. You never turn away a 6'9 player who is coachable and can shoot. While I liked both Nyiwe and Stanley, neither ever brought any offense to the lineup when in the game.
While lacking the same lateral quickness on defense of the other two, his offense and nose for the ball are way ahead of both.
I consider Quinn an upgrade from both the departed players.
 
Our team will have one of the best Big men in the game next year. A guy who took a major leap this past season, so i can only imagine what type of development we'll see out of Joel this next one- he'll have one of the best to ever do it drawing up an Offense designed around HIM. He'll have guys surrounding him who will be able to knock down shots- which will benefit his production even more.

Having said that... we need some bucket-getters.
 
Boo Harvey said:
Our team stunk last year. Comparing incoming players favorably, to the extent true, does not mean we are recruiting well.
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The "team" stunk. We had some very good individual players that many fans miss.
Posh, Storr and even Stanley were good players. Storr is the one that is hardest to replace but Rick may get lucky with one or two recruits he is pursuing. He is putting effort in the recruiting process 24/7.
We've had coaches spend half their recruiting budget traveling to California.
 
NCJohnnie said:
Glad I'm not on Twitter. I never even made it to Facebook lol.
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I was on FB until my account was hacked and the support there to get it back was like talking to a wall. Don't really missed it, stuff is way too political there. I did like various groups I was in but whatever.
 
People pretending to have sources is a clear indication of a mental health condition. A sign as good as a blood test.
 
Guys, raise your hand if you remember the names Kassoum Yakwe and Yankuba Sima? Anyone, anyone? They were two of the supposedly top recruits in Mullin’s first class. At the time, some reputable people said Sima was a potential NBA talent. I sss ass excited about both of them. For the most part, both of them were forgettable.

I bring them up not to disparage them or Mullin, but to remind us not to get too carried away and not to pretend we know more than we know. Pitino knows what he’s doing - the roster will be fine.
 
logen said:
So many of you believe Pitino could have made the tournament with last years team. Just curious, who were the “impact” players from last year that are gone now? Not players who people liked or felt ”busted their ass” but players who truly consistently, positively, impacted games. In my eyes there was one, Soriano, who is still here.
I have no idea how good the players Pitino has recruited so far are because I don’t remember ever seeing any of them play but I certainly trust his time proven judgement and am not afraid to go out on a limb and say the product on the court next year will be light years ahead of the last couple of years, indeed, the last couple of decades, except for the occasional rare anomaly teams.
First off, the team will play real defense, not poke and hope for steals with fake hustle, with the backup plan being praying teams are off from wide open, most times from 3. Players will exhibit real hustle, not act like fighting for a rebound or loose ball will somehow land them in jail.
They will run an offense and share the ball, passing until they get an open shot, not heave ridiculous chucks that would have me screaming at whoever was on my team throwing that crap up in a playground game. Soriano will learn to kick out from the post to shooters moving to open spots, not holding the ball as double teams come and teammates stand around watching, wondering what they should be doing. Players will play the last 5 minutes of close games the “right way”, not play like if they don’t make the “big play” the game isn’t worth winning.
In short, we will see a basketball team, playing intelligent, committed basketball which is why I think we will be far more competitive in the conference next year, regardless of how many impact players people feel we are missing. SJU has an impact coach, who has made a career out of molding impact teams.
He has brought in experienced mature players and as I posted before, I expect to see a team where the total is far greater than the sum of the parts; we shall see.
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This is one of the best posts I have read on this site in 20 years. Well said Logen
 
paultzman said:
Easy to rationalize additions, but most of us expected a few high quality kids. Still time, but they definitely need that imo. Glad Rick is here, but just being candid. Then again, still time.
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Actually, it was difficult "...to rationalize these additions..." on the face of it. Lol.
All mid-major guys except for Nahiem.
Again, I just fall back on trusting the guy who's rebuilding the roster.
Rick isn't done yet and as you say, Paultz, time is still on the clock.
It's a tough landscape out there but here's hoping Rick can get a couple high-end players.
 
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RedmanMike said:
Guys, raise your hand if you remember the names Kassoum Yakwe and Yankuba Sima? Anyone, anyone? They were two of the supposedly top recruits in Mullin’s first class. At the time, some reputable people said Sima was a potential NBA talent. I sss ass excited about both of them. For the most part, both of them were forgettable.

I bring them up not to disparage them or Mullin, but to remind us not to get too carried away and not to pretend we know more than we know. Pitino knows what he’s doing - the roster will be fine.
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I remember both as young promising players who were never really offensive threats. Yakwe couldn't put the ball on the floor and dribble drive or have a pull up jumper. He was a good defender with really long arms. Broke his foot after transferring to Uconn and never played again.

Sima also left for greener pastures and is back in Spain playing professional basketball in the beautiful city of Malaga. Not the best foot movement and forgettable offensive threat.

Rick Pitino knows what he needs but it's a players market with the NIL and transfer portal.
WHO the coach IS is not a big a factor as it used to be.
Kids are leaving programs that never lost kids before like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, etc. because how much they play and how much you pay is now more important than who the coach is. Some of these Prima Donna's are more attached to an assistant coach than THE coach because they are the ones who groomed them to commit and always told them what they wanted to hear.
 
logen said:
So many of you believe Pitino could have made the tournament with last years team. Just curious, who were the “impact” players from last year that are gone now? Not players who people liked or felt ”busted their ass” but players who truly consistently, positively, impacted games. In my eyes there was one, Soriano, who is still here.
I have no idea how good the players Pitino has recruited so far are because I don’t remember ever seeing any of them play but I certainly trust his time proven judgement and am not afraid to go out on a limb and say the product on the court next year will be light years ahead of the last couple of years, indeed, the last couple of decades, except for the occasional rare anomaly teams.
First off, the team will play real defense, not poke and hope for steals with fake hustle, with the backup plan being praying teams are off from wide open, most times from 3. Players will exhibit real hustle, not act like fighting for a rebound or loose ball will somehow land them in jail.
They will run an offense and share the ball, passing until they get an open shot, not heave ridiculous chucks that would have me screaming at whoever was on my team throwing that crap up in a playground game. Soriano will learn to kick out from the post to shooters moving to open spots, not holding the ball as double teams come and teammates stand around watching, wondering what they should be doing. Players will play the last 5 minutes of close games the “right way”, not play like if they don’t make the “big play” the game isn’t worth winning.
In short, we will see a basketball team, playing intelligent, committed basketball which is why I think we will be far more competitive in the conference next year, regardless of how many impact players people feel we are missing. SJU has an impact coach, who has made a career out of molding impact teams.
He has brought in experienced mature players and as I posted before, I expect to see a team where the total is far greater than the sum of the parts; we shall see.
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I agree with the premise. At this point, we have basically lesser players than we gave up. On the other hand, the prospect of coaching against Pitino is daunting...especially in the post season if we get there.
 
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