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

ADORAZ said:
I think everyone pretty much agrees that Pitino was the most important St. John's "recruit" this off-season, as has been stated many times, but he's still missed out on nearly all of his major targets thus far and we're anxious for Big East caliber starters to join. As soon as he lands a couple four stars (not even five stars) the hype will go back into overdrive. Hopefully that'll happen soon, though I'm glad we have Johnnies news to look forward to in late April / May.
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Well if you think he eventually will then why cry when a few that they are targeting decide to go elsewhere especially considering how late they are with a few of them?

People are acting like SJU hired Joe Smith, long time assistant at UCLA, instead of Pitino.
 
fordham96 said:
Well if you think he eventually will then why cry when a few that they are targeting decide to go elsewhere especially considering how late they are with a few of them?

People are acting like SJU hired Joe Smith, long time assistant at UCLA, instead of Pitino.
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Lol that's unnecessary, I'm not crying, just stating that it's understandable why people are getting a bit impatient. The vast majority of people, myself included, are still extremely excited for our future. It's that excitement which is why we're all posting every day. As stated, I am glad that we have more of the off-season to look forward to because June through October will be a much longer wait.
 
ADORAZ said:
Lol that's unnecessary, I'm not crying, just stating that it's understandable why people are getting a bit impatient. The vast majority of people, myself included, are still extremely excited for our future. It's that excitement which is why we're all posting every day. As stated, I am glad that we have more of the off-season to look forward to because June through October will be a much longer wait.
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Well that is where we disagree I don't find it understandable.

SJU did not hire the 3rd assistant at UCLA they hired one of the 3-4 greatest coaches of his generation who is as motivated as ever to win big.

He has earned several THOUSAND benefits of the doubt.
 
fordham96 said:
Well that is where we disagree I don't find it understandable.

SJU did not hire the 3rd assistant at UCLA they hired one of the 3-4 greatest coaches of his generation who is as motivated as ever to win big.

He has earned several THOUSAND benefits of the doubt.
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I agree he does deserve every benefit of the doubt, especially because zero games have been played, but the fact remains he has swung and missed on nearly every major recruit thus far and the portal is getting smaller every day. It's just perplexing, that's all. I donated to this website for the first time a few days ago despite the recruiting over the past month, that's how excited I am. If you can't understand why people are a little impatient currently then we'll agree to disagree. There's not much else to talk about so people are wondering if the NIL money isn't there yet, for instance. That said, I am expecting some news this week and for the hype to go back into overdrive. I don't think Pitino will get the A team he anticipated (would love to be wrong), but a B/C team should be good enough for this year under Pitino.
 
fordham96 said:
I will go back on my word and add one more thing.

Pitino is the most accomplished coach to ever coach at SJU. A school with HOF coaches like Frank McGuire, Joe Lapchick and Lou Carnesecca and Rick is more accomplished then any of them. That is a fact.

He is EASILY the best coach SJU could have ever thought of hiring in the post-Carnesecca era at SJU. Not even close. By the way just about every high major school except for a few Blue Bloods would say the same thing if they had hired Pitino at their school in the last 30+ years.

Is he beyond criticism? Of course not. But he was not going to line the roster with 5 star kids this late for 2022-23. But his roster will be solid at the end of the day. He will do more with less than anyone and then when he gets even better players things really explode.

Again I always bring up the 2010-11 Louisville team and that Big East conference. He had 5 incoming recruits, 4 prep kids and a transfer . Gorgui Deng, Justin Coleman (his highest rated recruit), Elisha Justice, Russ Smith and transfer Roburt Sallie from Memphis.

Coleman was declared academically ineligible and never made it to campus. Salllie also never enrolled as he had an issue with the timing of his acceptance as a grad transfer and thus never played for Louisville. And Deng was also declared academically ineligible, Louisville eventually won an appeal with the NCAA and he was allowed to play 2nd semester that year.

Remember that was a conference with Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim, Bob Huggins, Jay Wright, Mike Brey, Jamie Dixon. Heck Mick Cronin and Kevin Willard (now coaching at UCLA and Maryland) were literally NOBODIES in that conference it was so stacked.

He had a roster where 4 of his top 6 scorers were non top 100 kids (Preston Knowles, Mike Marra, Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith). They were picked to finish 8th. Pitino told his boosters before the season that it was going to be a transition year.

Well he went 25-10, finished 12-6 tied for 3rd in the BE. They lost the BET Championship to UCONN in a thriller. They got a 4 seed in the NCAA's got upset in the 1st round. That 4 seed would be a better seed then SJU has had in 23 years. And that was a "transition" year for Louisville.

That BE year was historic they sent 11 teams to the NCAA's, and UCONN who actually was seeded 11 in the BE Tourney at 9-9 went on to win the BE Tourney and the NCAA's. That is how stacked the BE was then both in programs and coaches.

And I would argue Pitino was the BEST of them all.

And that guy is coaching SJU right now. Just think about that.
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That's a whole lot more than 1 more thing 😉
 
fordham96 said:
Well if you think he eventually will then why cry when a few that they are targeting decide to go elsewhere especially considering how late they are with a few of them?
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I think it's because his star shown so bright that we believed we'd reach the moon in year one. They do say patience is a virtue. Sometimes I'm unvirtuous. Well most of the time really but only sometimes due to my lack of patience.
 
austour said:
I think it's because his star shown so bright that we believed we'd reach the moon in year one. They do say patience is a virtue. Sometimes I'm unvirtuous. Well most of the time really but only sometimes due to my lack of patience.
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Wait until he signs the next Greek freak!
Opa!
 
fordham96 said:
Well that is where we disagree I don't find it understandable.

SJU did not hire the 3rd assistant at UCLA they hired one of the 3-4 greatest coaches of his generation who is as motivated as ever to win big.

He has earned several THOUSAND benefits of the doubt.
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Plenty of hall of famers who have flopped with their new teams. The fact that Pitino is a hall of fame coach is no guarantee of success, particularly with this job.

I remain extremely optimistic, but have tempered short term expectations based on recruiting to date. It’s not what I expected and the notion that we’re suddenly going to be landing top kids seems unlikely. If Rick couldn’t do it during the honeymoon phase, why would it be different in three months?

I think the best we can hope for is relatively slow and steady progress. At this point in his life and career, I hope Rick has the patience for it.
 
93% of the top 100 in this class is off the table. Hard to nab recruits that don’t exist. The portal will set us up to hopefully reel in the 24’ class. I have zero doubt we will have a very competitive roster when all is said and done.
 
austour said:
I think it's because his star shown so bright that we believed we'd reach the moon in year one. They do say patience is a virtue. Sometimes I'm unvirtuous. Well most of the time really but only sometimes due to my lack of patience.
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A few weeks ago Vegas had our odds to win the 2024 National Championship at 40:1 (13th highest of any team). I doubt our odds will be anywhere near that next time they're updated. I never expected to come close to a Championship year one, but Vegas had us as a Sweet 16 team essentially, so it's more than understandable that people aren't fully patient rn.

For the record, if we make the Tournament year one then I'll consider that to be a major success. I'm less confident that'll happen now, but still time to put out a formidable roster.
 
Boo Harvey said:
Plenty of hall of famers who have flopped with their new teams. The fact that Pitino is a hall of fame coach is no guarantee of success, particularly with this job.

I remain extremely optimistic, but have tempered short term expectations based on recruiting to date. It’s not what I expected and the notion that we’re suddenly going to be landing top kids seems unlikely. If Rick couldn’t do it during the honeymoon phase, why would it be different in three months?

I think the best we can hope for is relatively slow and steady progress. At this point in his life and career, I hope Rick has the patience for it.
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His track record pretty much points to guaranteed success here. If he doesn’t then we might as well pack up the program. Everywhere he’s been he’s won at over a 60 percent clip.

I give all coaches a clean slate. Let them build their teams as they want. They know more about their teams than anyone on this site. Me included.
 
Recruiting for this year not over with and I’m beyond thrilled with Pitino but maybe I paid too much attention to what he personally said at the press conference because I figured when you have IMO one of the top coaches in my generation I was expecting higher level recruits off the bat ( again look at his words in his presser ) at the end of the day let’s see how this season plays out and I’m sure ye will land big time guys going forward

If someone is thrilled with our recruiting so far that’s fine that’s your opinion. Just don’t tell me I don’t have a right to feel underwhelmed with recruiting when I’m happy with the coach
 
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