Rick Pitino - Head Coach at St John’s University!!!

[Beasts of the East]

In 13 non conference games Slazinski averages 15.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 33.4 mpg.
In 12 conference games he averages 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 25.8 mpg.

You don't post a lot, but when you do it's always well thought out and makes sense.

Gonzalo, as many of you know, is a huge fan, and without question our #1 international fan. I believe you are in Spain, correct?

I'm not sure if you've ever seen the Johnnies play in person but if you plan a trip here we'll need to have Mjmaher set up a red.fans get together just for you.

 

[fuchsia]

You don't post a lot, but when you do it's always well thought out and makes sense.

Gonzalo, as many of you know, is a huge fan, and without question our #1 international fan. I believe you are in Spain, correct?

I'm not sure if you've ever seen the Johnnies play in person but if you plan a trip here we'll need to have Mjmaher set up a red.fans get together just for you.

He has seen us play and I had the honor of meeting him in Bilbao, Spain.

 

[bamafan]

In 13 non conference games Slazinski averages 15.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 33.4 mpg.
In 12 conference games he averages 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 25.8 mpg.

That could be a product of them getting some key players back from injury.

 

[nycfan]

I was shocked by the amount of traction this got into the night, and doesn't look like it stopped today either.

RP may not want to apologize or even think he has to, but when it goes that viral is when non-sports people start commenting on social media. And that's when the really ridiculous takes start happening.

Hopefully staff tries to talk him into some sort of conciliatory speech in practice and a half-hearted apology tour. PTI would probably be a good spot for a short interview. He can workshop some of his new comedy bits there but also slip in how he should have done it differently.

Pitino - not backing down, standing by his quotes and 'was not ripping anybody':

SJU's Pitino 'not ripping anybody,' stands by words

St. John's coach Rick Pitino, speaking to Newsday on Monday, said he stands by the criticism he leveled at his team Sunday night after the Red Storm blew a 19-point lead in a 68-62 loss to Seton Hall.

www.espn.com

 

[Redenbacher]

Pitino’s moved on to next season, the press conference made that abundantly clear. If we happen to win the lottery and sweep our next games or win the BE tourney, great. But he’s moved on.

 

[redmanwest]

Again he didn’t rip anybody personally. Unathlletic plays, drawing no fouls. He isn’t wrong at all. It’s the players that play the games. I addition my feeling is he singled out Ledlum who probably got a shit ton of money to leave Tennessee just to not perform here. Just my gut feeling on that. Again I don’t think he’s wrong but I’ll blame Pitino and say that we should have just kept Slazinski who is quite a good player and fits better with the way we are playing.

I agree in principal with your "paid employee, not amateur student athletes" thing, but even professional coaches know better than to call out by name their players' deficiencies. He went over the line. And, he did rip individual players by name. Some of the comments could affect some of these kids professional prospects (overseas) by saying how unathletic they are or how they don't play defense...

It was unprofessional and unnecessary to do so publicly.

 

[Rhythm]

I agree in principal with your "paid employee, not amateur student athletes" thing, but even professional coaches know better than to call out by name their players' deficiencies. He went over the line. And, he did rip individual players by name. Some of the comments could affect some of these kids professional prospects (overseas) by saying how unathletic they are or how they don't play defense...

It was unprofessional and unnecessary to do so publicly.

Teams over seas will see the tape. The only ones who hurt their chances. Are the paid employees who will not give max effort.

 

[Silly Donovan]

I don’t think it’s so much that the team quit on coach Pitino, Pitino quit on the team.

So let me get this straight……

Pitino lauds the great job his staff does recruiting this team.

The team is coming along nicely, goes 4-1 in conference play and no one, not Coach, staff, fans is saying anything about the players not being quick/athletic enough etc.

After a few close losses to Creighton and UConn, the team starts to lose to teams it beat the last time they played as game after game, the team goes into half time with a decent lead and gets badly outplayed the second half.

Now at press conferences, Pitino starts telling us all the limitations of some of his players as to why the losses occurred but never a word about what the staff may have done better.

We now see a decline in the performances of several players, Soriano, Taylor, Dingle, Allyne etc. and more press conferences implying that the team is not up to the task.

And now after a 19 point lead, the team losses to the Hall, scoring one basket in 14 minutes with Joel, after a good first half who never sees the ball. Now Pitino hammers the players in the press conference with his only criticism of his staff was that they recruited the wrong kids?

And fans say the team quit on Pitino, no, it’s the other way around. Since Pitino couldn’t get the job done with this group of kids he claims they arnt good enough?? Is that what a HOF coach does???if that what a coach should do then the Seton Hall coach shouldn’t have won 3 games this season with the talent on his team.

Given Pitino’s expertise , he had to know the ability level of his kids and should have adjusted accordingly, if not, that’s an issue in itself. If every coach who had players with a limited skill set gave up on their team like he did, every final 4 would only include 1 and 2 seeds.

Of course Pitino gets a pas cause he’s a HOF coach and I do believe he will clean house and start again. Whether the results will be different is anybody’s guess but for the sake of this fan base, they better be.

 

[kranmars]

I got over a dozen text messages from friends ripping me about Pitino, not going to lie wasn't a fan of what said but more about how he said it! But we knew when we hired him that, at the first presser this is a whole new deal here! I guess a little more pain before we can enjoy this program!

I hope those same friends text you next year when this incident is forgotten and SJU is in the NCAA tournament.

 

[Rhythm]

I don’t think it’s so much that the team quit on coach Pitino, Pitino quit on the team.

So let me get this straight……

Pitino lauds the great job his staff does recruiting this team.

The team is coming along nicely, goes 4-1 in conference play and no one, not Coach, staff, fans is saying anything about the players not being quick/athletic enough etc.

After a few close losses to Creighton and UConn, the team starts to lose to teams it beat the last time they played as game after game, the team goes into half time with a decent lead and gets badly outplayed the second half.

Now at press conferences, Pitino starts telling us all the limitations of some of his players as to why the losses occurred but never a word about what the staff may have done better.

We now see a decline in the performances of several players, Soriano, Taylor, Dingle, Allyne etc. and more press conferences implying that the team is not up to the task.

And now after a 19 point lead, the team losses to the Hall, scoring one basket in 14 minutes with Joel, after a good first half who never sees the ball. Now Pitino hammers the players in the press conference with his only criticism of his staff was that they recruited the wrong kids?

And fans say the team quit on Pitino, no, it’s the other way around. Since Pitino couldn’t get the job done with this group of kids he claims they arnt good enough?? Is that what a HOF coach does???if that what a coach should do then the Seton Hall coach shouldn’t have won 3 games this season with the talent on his team.

Given Pitino’s expertise , he had to know the ability level of his kids and should have adjusted accordingly, if not, that’s an issue in itself. If every coach who had players with a limited skill set gave up on their team like he did, every final 4 would only include 1 and 2 seeds.

Of course Pitino gets a pas cause he’s a HOF coach and I do believe he will clean house and start again. Whether the results will be different is anybody’s guess but for the sake of this fan base, they better be.

Did you watch the games? Anytime this team faced adversity, it laid down. Right off the bat with Michigan. Pitno has been saying they need max effort to win from the start of the season.
This team will not even run back hard after a made basket. Who is that on?
I still feel this was his last move to get through to them. Because ripping them at practice has not worked.

 

[Jack Williams]

Did you watch the games? Anytime this team faced adversity, it laid down. Right off the bat with Michigan. Pitno has been saying they need max effort to win from the start of the season.
This team will not even run back hard after a made basket. Who is that on?
I still feel this was his last move to get through to them. Because ripping them at practice has not worked.

A lot of what Rick said the other day has nothing to do with effort though. He was saying they are just too slow and unathletic and that the staff misrecruited this past offseason. I believe he even said "they try hard".

What Rick said was extremely unprofessional and just a way for him to shift blame from himself. Full stop. People applauding this are just angry at the outcomes of our games. When they get some distance from the season they will realize how immature it was

 

[Silly Donovan]

Did you watch the games? Anytime this team faced adversity, it laid down. Right off the bat with Michigan. Pitno has been saying they need max effort to win from the start of the season.
This team will not even run back hard after a made basket. Who is that on?
I still feel this was his last move to get through to them. Because ripping them at practice has not worked.

But if they don’t have the athleticism, as he claims, to play at this level, why not adopt your offense/defense to their skill/athletic level? He stated, they are a nice group of kids who “try hard” so what more can you ask of them?

 

[redmanwest]

Did you watch the games? Anytime this team faced adversity, it laid down. Right off the bat with Michigan. Pitno has been saying they need max effort to win from the start of the season.
This team will not even run back hard after a made basket. Who is that on?
I still feel this was his last move to get through to them. Because ripping them at practice has not worked.

Unfortunately, ripping them in public is not likely to work either. And, it was as I said unprofessional and unnecessary. Kind of narcissistic in a way.

 

[paultzman]

Pitino’s moved on to next season, the press conference made that abundantly clear. If we happen to win the lottery and sweep our next games or win the BE tourney, great. But he’s moved on.

He and staff just have to play out remaining games and prepare for next season.

Matt was hired to land “whales” and will be under pressure to deliver probably 4 quality guys. Two guards and two power guys is menu subject to the fluidity of recruiting. Like any program, they will lose a few kids.

Hopefully this is not all about “glitz” guys who intoxicate fans. Target players who will come to play every game at both ends of court and won’t let their NIL $ be their sole motivator. Obviously fitting with what Pitino wants is a given.

As Rick’s mic episode fades, for the money SJU pays him, he has to deliver this off season and it must translate to a better product than this season. Not expecting top 4 BE status in year 2, but the blown leads, fading at crunch time, being swept by top teams and long losing streaks must move in a more positive direction.

Rick has a great opportunity at SJ, an outstanding University President and Big East affiliation in his backyard. Time to move the needle Rick, get it done w no excuses.

 

[nysj144]

Did you watch the games? Anytime this team faced adversity, it laid down. Right off the bat with Michigan. Pitno has been saying they need max effort to win from the start of the season.
This team will not even run back hard after a made basket. Who is that on?
I still feel this was his last move to get through to them. Because ripping them at practice has not worked.

Agree to an extent, almost thirty years in a classroom. try your best to Praise in public scold in private.

With only a few weeks left in the season this is who they are Been at and watched every game. No need for that press conference. In the beginning it was great seeing a coach coach I went to the open practice. Then they lost to pace then collapsed against Michigan etc. so many times they got beat down court Stop pressing.
Sunday was no different

 

[weathermannyc]

He and staff just have to play out remaining games and prepare for next season.

Matt was hired to land “whales” and will be under pressure to deliver probably 4 quality guys. Two guards and two power guys is menu subject to the fluidity of recruiting. Like any program, they will lose a few kids.

Hopefully this is not all about “glitz” guys who intoxicate fans. Target players who will come to play every game at both ends of court and won’t let their NIL $ be their sole motivator. Obviously fitting with what Pitino wants is a given.

As Rick’s mic episode fades, for the money SJU pays him, he has to deliver this off season and it must translate to a better product than this season. Not expecting top 4 BE status in year 2, but the blown leads, fading at crunch time, being swept by top teams and long losing streaks must move in a more positive direction.

Rick has a great opportunity at SJ, an outstanding University President and Big East affiliation in his backyard. Time to move the needle Rick, get it done w no excuses.

Well said. We need players who will fit his vision and system. Seton Hall has shown that this year that you don't need 5 star recruits to do that. What you need is 5 star fight, 5 star toughness and 5 star chemistry.

 

[paultzman]

Well said. We need players who will fit his vision and system. Seton Hall has shown that this year that you don't need 5 star recruits to do that. What you need is 5 star fight, 5 star toughness and 5 star chemistry.

Spot on

 

[SJU61982]

Well said. We need players who will fit his vision and system. Seton Hall has shown that this year that you don't need 5 star recruits to do that. What you need is 5 star fight, 5 star toughness and 5 star chemistry.

A true point guard, and a good returning nucleus helps, too.

Unfortunatly, we had neither this year, and almost certainly won't have the latter next year, either.

 

[Howie71]

I'm fully aware Rick is outspoken and no angel, but diving into the Bobby Knight IDGAF persona full bore at this point in his career was honestly not something I expected.

 

[paultzman]

Wilcher could be quality combo guard, play him Rick in remaining games to give him experience, confidence and solidify his commitment to the program. Important piece.