Rick’s Targets

RedStormRising said:
Has it gotten to this? Win or lose? If we get smacked around next year and say win 6, 7, or 8 games in the BE are we going to say, ‘sure we finished behind butler but did you see the fundamentals of those chest passes’? Or ‘we sure kept it close in the first half against Georgetown, we were really executing those strategies’.
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If the team plays fundamental basketball will they get smacked around? I do not think so. And after Anderson a team playing with sound Philosophies will be a step on the right direction.
Ask yourself this question after 4 years with Pitino at the helm will they be in the tournament? I believe they will be and will be there seasons before. We have a real solid program runner and the days of “make it a street fight are over”
 
SJUDave said:
Yea and none of those guys were who they were before Rick Pitino go his hands on them. So perhaps lets wait it out and see who the next guy in this lineage is before we flush the baby with the bathwater...7 months before the first game...
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Dave,
Again not questioning his coaching. Just haven’t heard of him walking on water or turning water into wine. Does turning Billy Donovan into best player on Final 4 team count as a miracle? Maybe.
Based of what I have seen, even with Pitino will take a miracle of Billy Donovan proportions to get this team into tournament unless there are at least 2 pleasant surprises coming in.
 
Larry Wright said:
Dave,
Again not questioning his coaching. Just haven’t heard of him walking on water or turning water into wine. Does turning Billy Donovan into best player on Final 4 team count as a miracle? Maybe.
Based of what I have seen, even with Pitino will take a miracle of Billy Donovan proportions to get this team into tournament unless there are at least 2 pleasant surprises coming in.
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Did I miss something? Is the roster finalized?
 
Eric said:
Did I miss something? Is the roster finalized?
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Nope.
But the names we're associated with don't elicit much hope that we'll be getting a difference maker.
And the music will eventually run out on the 2023 portal and everyone will be scrambling to grab a seat.
 
SJUDave said:
Perhaps when you guys see an actual half-court offense, with sets, sideline out of bounds plays, ghost screens, pick and rolls, sets out of horns, you'll realize that a good coach is worth their weight in gold.

He's brought in 3 guys who know his system and what he is looking for, that helps with continuity off the bat when you're bringing in 10 overall pieces. He's bringing in older kids with high shooting percentages who he won't have to babysit and worry about their maturity issues. And most of all...there's still 5 open spots of which the staff obviously knows what the needs are so just chill and lets see how this plays out.

The order of which the kids come on the squad is IRRELEVANT! Everyone is so impatient and quick to call things a disaster when the staff have been on the job for less than a calendar month. How is this some people's mentality every hour? You want the splashes first to get excited I get it, but if they come in 2 weeks or 4 weeks, who cares as long as there are 13 guys in the first week of November? These 8 guys is not the final roster, you need two or three more bonafide starters. Something tells me Rick Pitino, Steve Masiello, Taliek Brown, Van Macon, Ricky Johns understand that.
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Who is saying “disaster” 😂 Why is it so difficult for us to discuss anything with even a semblance of nuance? There is no way you are thrilled or a 10 on scale of 1-10 from how you hoped RP’s first month would have gone the day he was hired.

Conversely, I don’t think any posters are a 1, 2, or even 3. I’m mildly concerned and would probably rate the current roster a 6-7 for meeting my original expectations. That could obviously change if we signed an alpha scorer or two. I honestly don’t think 90% of posters are really that far off from what they are feeling now relative to their expectations.
 
So my take...without dwelling on who we lost...most of us already agree we'd at least have liked Storr to stay, if not more.

We now have some depth in the backcourt and that depth is proven to be able to shoot 3P at an acceptable percentage.
We have one of the top 10 centers in the country anchoring the front court.
We have a PF RP feels confident enough to bring over from a MAAC school. Difference maker?? Probably not what some are thinking but if RP likes what he brings..... Seems slightly undersized, at 215, to be a PF, but I have never watched a video of him so...
We have two unproven big men in Traore and Keita, but they are an anomoly until we see what RP sees in them and how they are utilized.

We have a real coach.

All things considered, with RP getting a late start, with SJU being a hot freaking mess for two decades and losing a some talent and experience in the purge, I am not despondent. I mean hell, come on, we survived Jarvis's ineptitude, Norm being in over his head, Lavin ( in my humble opinion the best of the post Lou era), CM being in over his head and MA not delivering what he said he would (40 minutes blah blah blah). We can survive a short while, as the HOF coach gets things situated.

We need another solid big and it would be nice to pull in a stretch that is BE worthy.
 
MugCostanza said:
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Battle has lots of ability as I watched him a couple times against Weber State (as I was watching a local kid, Dillon Jones). Battle didn't exactly shoot the ball well in those games, but you could certainly see his ability to play at a "higher" level.

He played well in Montana State's conference championship game and against K-State in the first round on the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully, we can procure a visit.

EDIT: I noticed he started his career at the University of Washington as a top 90 recruit outta HS.
 
Rhythm said:
If the team plays fundamental basketball will they get smacked around? I do not think so. And after Anderson a team playing with sound Philosophies will be a step on the right direction.
Ask yourself this question after 4 years with Pitino at the helm will they be in the tournament? I believe they will be and will be there seasons before. We have a real solid program runner and the days of “make it a street fight are over”
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You may not think a team that plays fundamental basketball will get smacked around. Counter point Iona vs UConn (who is in the big east). Iona lost by 24. Even if you're really good with physics and your have great form on your throw, I would not suggest bringing rocks to a gun fight.
 
MainMan said:
Nope.
But the names we're associated with don't elicit much hope that we'll be getting a difference maker.
And the music will eventually run out on the 2023 portal and everyone will be scrambling to grab a seat.
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In progress. Keep remembering that.
 
buckethead said:
So my take...without dwelling on who we lost...most of us already agree we'd at least have liked Storr to stay, if not more.

We now have some depth in the backcourt and that depth is proven to be able to shoot 3P at an acceptable percentage.
We have one of the top 10 centers in the country anchoring the front court.
We have a PF RP feels confident enough to bring over from a MAAC school. Difference maker?? Probably not what some are thinking but if RP likes what he brings..... Seems slightly undersized, at 215, to be a PF, but I have never watched a video of him so...
We have two unproven big men in Traore and Keita, but they are an anomoly until we see what RP sees in them and how they are utilized.

We have a real coach.

All things considered, with RP getting a late start, with SJU being a hot freaking mess for two decades and losing a some talent and experience in the purge, I am not despondent. I mean hell, come on, we survived Jarvis's ineptitude, Norm being in over his head, Lavin ( in my humble opinion the best of the post Lou era), CM being in over his head and MA not delivering what he said he would (40 minutes blah blah blah). We can survive a short while, as the HOF coach gets things situated.

We need another solid big and it would be nice to pull in a stretch that is BE worthy.
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While I'd like to think that Rick has his 1989 Knicks team in mind when constructing SJU's roster (Joel as Ewing and our guard transfers as the Bomb Squad), I still think we need a lot more talent to be a competitive team next season.
 
RedStormRising said:
You may not think a team that plays fundamental basketball will get smacked around. Counter point Iona vs UConn (who is in the big east). Iona lost by 24. Even if you're really good with physics and your have great form on your throw, I would not suggest bringing rocks to a gun fight.
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Keep comparing us to the team that won the National Championship and every game in the tournament by double digits. We are a program that has gone to two final fours in one thousand years but if we’re not up to par with the best team in the sport it’s curtains for the program. 🤪
 
Boo Harvey said:
I would even suggest that Soriano is not a clear edge this year. He had an All Big East year last year and was healthy all year. No guarantee he’ll replicate that.
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This is a good point and is certainly possible. BUT, I think the opposite may be more likely. Joel will be a year older and it appears that pitino is trying to surround Joel with 3-4 shooters on the floor. That will clear out space for joel to operate, result in fewer double teams, and provide Joel with more outlets when help comes from the D. Toward the end of the year when Joel was getting doubled more and teams were helping, it was obvious that he wasn't well coached on where to go with the ball and I expect pitino to address that too.
 
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