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

Rick wants that final four. He has the means to get there through NIL with a final push for a year or two.

I think he likes holding tactical advantages. Reptole and other donors are one. He try briefly that the recruit freshman transfers with Zuby and RJ. Hopefully he finds another.

Deivon Smith could end up being a Pitino all-timer if he starts attacking the glass more before the defense gets set and stays next year. That team could be absolutely bonkers.
 
Marillac2 said:
Smith could end up being a Pitino all-timer if he starts attacking the glass more before the defense gets set and stays next year. That team could be absolutely bonkers.
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Zaun parachuting in to give his “im so tired of hearing about next year!” Speech

Fall Running GIF by UltimateTagAU
 
I hope he gives it a couple more years. Each year you get to build a new roster. Next years could be better.
 
dk423 said:
Goes both ways. Pitino publicly said he wants to stay and "not quit". If anything, I think he may be reinvigorated by the challenge of both NIL landscape and new generation of players. He knows to cement his legacy as a potential GOAT of the sport, he has to win here.
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John Wooden safely will be GOAT, but respect your opinion on Pitino & hope you are right.
 
paultzman said:
John Wooden safely will be GOAT, but respect your opinion on Pitino & hope you are right.
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I say that because Pitino *loves* to bring up the anecdote of Dick Vitale telling him he would've been the GOAT if he had just stayed at Kentucky & he regrets not staying there.

He's probably telling himself a national title or final four here brings him back into the conversation in a different way (i.e. unlike the others, he's brought the most different programs to final fours, did it in four different decades, etc.)
 
dk423 said:
I say that because Pitino *loves* to bring up the anecdote of Dick Vitale telling him he would've been the GOAT if he had just stayed at Kentucky & he regrets not staying there.

He's probably telling himself a national title or final four here brings him back into the conversation in a different way (i.e. unlike the others, he's brought the most different programs to final fours, did it in four different decades, etc.)
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Fine, guess I am more focused on St John’s getting on a more consistently competitive level than Rick’s personal aspirations.

As an aside, I recall Rick at Iona saying the only two jobs he would leave there for were Kentucky and Providence. Sometimes you have to take what he says as self serving & with a grain of salt. That said, he’s our HC and am pulling for St John’s to succeed under his direction.
 
paultzman said:
Fine, guess I am more focused on St John’s getting on a more consistently competitive level than Rick’s personal aspirations.

As an aside, I recall Rick at Iona saying the only two jobs he would leave there for were Kentucky and Providence. Sometimes you have to take what he says as self serving & with a grain of salt. That said, he’s our HC and am pulling for St John’s to succeed under his direction.
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Oh yeah, I'm not nearly as confident about him achieving what he wants as I was when he was initially hired.
 
Last year Pitino threw the team under the bus, received a ton of national criticism, but then the team played really well after that. I'm not saying I agree with his approach, it personally wouldn't be my style as either a coach or recruit, but he's been a winner his whole career. A lot of the issues with this team, like last year's, do appear to be mental. Hopefully his comments are calculated and his way of sparking the team rather than pure frustration. Let's see how the next couple months play out, unlike last year we don't have any bad losses yet- nothing even below Q1. This isn't the usual Johnnies team where we're out of contention by January, this team still has 100% control over how far they go this year.
 
I feel the same way I felt when they hired him. Best hire at the time, by a mile. If he was younger and had less baggage he wouldn't be here. The SJU job is better than the Iona job and at this point the best Pitino could get. SJU got lucky.

In year one the team made the Big East semis for the first time in 20 years. This year so far, they are 12-3 and 3-1 in the Big East. Anyone expecting Final Fours every year has been in a coma for at least 20 years. CCNY and NYU were powers at one time too. Things change.

Bookmark this post and feel free to use it against me five years after Pitino is gone. Because I will say it now, and only once.

Once he goes this program is going straight off a cliff, permanently. The landscape is changing and not in SJUs favor. Pitino isn't perfect, nobody is, but he is what is standing between SJU basketball and irrelevance.

I'm not thrilled about that, but it is what it is. In the meantime, I'm enjoying this team because I have seen many worse the last 25 years and know that shortly things are going to get very ugly. How ugly? Like a Richmond foul shot ugly.

But that's me.
 
In watching this team, I thought that I saw several of our players sucking wind in the 2nd half. I expect to see that from our opponents, but I thought that our teams were trained to be able to endure the stress of playing tough defense the whole game.

I was wondering if our team's practices are too long, too intense. The shooting, especially 3-point shooting, looks like the players are carrying the world on their shoulders. KR's FT shooting is awful. How do you go from 80+% to shooting in the 40s. Maybe Pitino should lighten up a bit with his practices.

I remember NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin easing up humanizing his approach and found this article of interest.
abcnews.go.com

How Tom Coughlin changed his ways and won over the Giants

abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

I would like Pitino to be more like Buck Showalter. Never criticize your players to the media. Work it out behind closed doors. That being said, I find the current state of the team primarily the reflection of Pitinos coaching. Lighten up on your players, especially in practices, so they can contribute more in the games.
 
IDRAFT said:
I feel the same way I felt when they hired him. Best hire at the time, by a mile. If he was younger and had less baggage he wouldn't be here. The SJU job is better than the Iona job and at this point the best Pitino could get. SJU got lucky.

In year one the team made the Big East semis for the first time in 20 years. This year so far, they are 12-3 and 3-1 in the Big East. Anyone expecting Final Fours every year has been in a coma for at least 20 years. CCNY and NYU were powers at one time too. Things change.

Bookmark this post and feel free to use it against me five years after Pitino is gone. Because I will say it now, and only once.

Once he goes this program is going straight off a cliff, permanently. The landscape is changing and not in SJUs favor. Pitino isn't perfect, nobody is, but he is what is standing between SJU basketball and irrelevance.

I'm not thrilled about that, but it is what it is. In the meantime, I'm enjoying this team because I have seen many worse the last 25 years and know that shortly things are going to get very ugly. How ugly? Like a Richmond foul shot ugly.

But that's me.
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IDRAFT , I think whether or not your prediction comes true depends on how much success Pitino actually has here. I’m not saying he needs Final Fours or a Championship, but if he can get us to perennial Top 25 I think we’ll be ok. That’s what I’m hoping for.
 
Rick's teams have rarely been a great 3-point percentage team (1996 Kentucky was, though). He was just so ahead of the curve re: the three-point shot, that because his team took so many more than their opponents, they got more points out of it.

The "bomb squad" Knicks of 88-89 were only 7th out of 25 in 3 point percentage, but they were first in makes and attempts. The percentages that year, of the guys on that famous poster, were:

Trent Tucker - 39.9 percent (he's really the only guy of the five that I would consider to be a "shooter")
Johnny Newman - 33.8 percent
Mark Jackson- 33.8 percent (slightly less than Newman when you extend it out)
Rod Strikland - 32.2 percent (only 59 attempts, though)
Gerald Wilkins - 29.9 percent

Those are not great percentages (except for Tucker). They did however, attempt 423 more 3's than Sacramento, and made 79 more than the Kings (who finished second in the NBA in both categories).

So, the days of Pitino being a "great 3 point shooting coach" (if he ever was one) are probably over, since the differential in the number of 3's his team shot, compared to his opponents (even going back to his Kentucky days), are not likely to happen ever again.

Now, do you want the good news? His 2013 National Championship Louisville team (the NCAA can refuse to recognize it all they want too), was 214th in the country in 3 point percentage. They were also sub-200 in three pointers made and attempted per game (their championship run though, meant they played more games, and were top 100 in total). When they beat Duke by 22 in the Elite Eight, they did so despite shooting 2-16 from 3 point range.

Also, his 2015 team, which fell in overtime in the Elite Eight, was 311th in 3 point percentage (out of 351). They were sub-200 in attempts per game, and were 258th in free throw percentage (mostly because Montrezl Harrell had the most attempts, and he was just under 60 percent - all the other main foul shooters were good).

So, Rick has shown the ability to be successful without using the three point shot as a weapon.
 
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Three point % and shot attempts per game the last ten seasons pre-STJ:
Iona, 2022-23: 36%, 19 attempts
Iona, 2021-2022: 33%, 21 attempts
Iona, 2020-2021: 34%, 21 attempts
Louisville, 2016-2017: 35%, 20 attempts
Louisville, 2015-2016: 34%, 17 attempts
Louisville, 2014-2015: 30%, 18 attempts -- team went to the Elite 8
Louisville, 2013-2014: 37%, 21 attempts
Louisville, 2012-2013: 33%, 17 attempts -- team won the title
Louisville, 2011-2012: 32%, 18 attempts -- team went to final four
Louisville, 2010-2011: 36%, 24 attempts

Just putting in some perspective.
 
Only other thing to add is, the bigger difference with those teams in bold and ours is our opponent's three point percentage. They're shooting a comfortably 34% this year. A lot of those teams held teams closer to 30%.

I am sure the staff is emphasizing a more realistic path to big winning by trying to get our three point shooting to be respectable (quite literally, so opponents have to defend the perimeter, which can open lanes for our team to slash -- so let's call that 33-34%) and to get much better at defending the perimeter -- something we've shown in spurts & he's already said publicly.
 
IDRAFT said:
Once he goes this program is going straight off a cliff, permanently. The landscape is changing and not in SJUs favor. Pitino isn't perfect, nobody is, but he is what is standing between SJU basketball and irrelevance.
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If this is necessarily true for St. John’s, then it’s even more true for the conf as a whole and the entire BE demise is imminent.

I don’t agree with this prediction btw. I predict BE and St. John’s, will be just fine.

However in retrospect, was a mistake to ditch football decades ago. Should have gone UConn route and become more ambitious in that area. I think it would have worked out better for us than it has for them actually.
 
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