Exactly
Should the Johnnies make the Dance this year, in year four of the Anderson regime? And if not, then what?
- Thread starter Johnny Rapper
- Start date
RedmanMike
Well-known member
Yes, yes, yes! That is exactly what the expectation should be. And that would mean approximately 20-23 wins most years, which is doable if we take care of our business in the OOC and are a middle of the pack BE team. Some years we will be better than that if things fall into place, but that should be the expectation most years. Very achievable IMHO.
Johnny Rapper
Well-known member
Have to agree Paultzman. Yes the pieces are there but they were thought to be there last season. What many dismiss or overlook is that there is more to a program then players. There’s a coaching staff with a system. With this staff, the offense has never been an issue it’s been on the other side of the ball. On paper full court Helter skelter ball pressure looks great but in reality it gives up allot of points. We could have a team of 5 star players on the court but unless a more solid defense is forthcoming the results may not be much better.With a few key new pieces in Curbelo and Jones and loss of some production, the best I can do is project a middle of pack bubble team. I have reservations about Cubelo impact and meshing with Posh, but hoping. We tend to expect a lot from freshmen out of the gate, so I think like most they will need time. We can see improvement in holdovers like Wusu, Stanley and Pinzon of course. Many posters seem to be very high on Pinzon this season. I believe he has nice size, versatility offensively, but as noted by others before, he really has to evidence much better defensive ability or lose minutes. I tip my hat to Joel getting in great shape, but not ready to conclude he will be an excellent big in competitive Big East. Good, perhaps solid, works for me.
The Big East is filled with excellent coaches and very good players. I can’t be as optimistic as my good friend Sterling, but I tend to be moderate in expectations to probably not set myself up for disappointment. Gun shy
Go Johnnies!
Astoria STH
Well-known member
Forgot to touch on Storr on my recap, he's the dark horse, if he is an instant stud it answers a lot of our big questions. At the very least he provides pop, added depth and plays well as a combo wing with Pinzon.
As far as season and year-to-year expectations, I feel that our 86'-93' average should be what we want on an annual basis. Consistently winning, in the scrum during conference season and always a dangerous threat to get into the 2nd or 3rd round of the tournament. Certainly not the instability and inconsistency that this century has brought:
www.sports-reference.com
As far as season and year-to-year expectations, I feel that our 86'-93' average should be what we want on an annual basis. Consistently winning, in the scrum during conference season and always a dangerous threat to get into the 2nd or 3rd round of the tournament. Certainly not the instability and inconsistency that this century has brought:
St. John's (NY) Red Storm Men's Basketball Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Check out the St. John's (NY) Red Storm College Basketball History, Stats, Records, Polls, Leaders and More College Basketball Stats at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
Defending the 3 has been the real big problem defensively. If we can do that we’ll be ok.
Johnny Rapper
Well-known member
True but allot of open threes and break away lay ups were the result of well coached teams against full court pressure. It’s not the 80s anymore, Big East level guards can get through full court pressure regularly and with ease.
Fans want Louie or Louie-“lite” results. Most would be very content with that.
MugCostanza
Well-known member
In my mind there's three main things that are responsible for tempering my expectations about the coming season.
1. The more I think about it the less confident I am that Jr year Curbelo will be closer to Freshman year Curbelo than Sophomore year Curbelo.
2. I don't think this team has enough outside shooting to really take the next step. Everybody, including myself, were encouraged by Posh's shooting in the DR but asking for that consistently over the entire season could or somebody else to really emerge in that department could be a bit much.
3. Xs and Os-wise CMA is at least a level below most of the other coaches in the league and it's at old dog new tricks territory now. Teams will PnR us to death if he keeps switching Soriano onto Guards
1. The more I think about it the less confident I am that Jr year Curbelo will be closer to Freshman year Curbelo than Sophomore year Curbelo.
2. I don't think this team has enough outside shooting to really take the next step. Everybody, including myself, were encouraged by Posh's shooting in the DR but asking for that consistently over the entire season could or somebody else to really emerge in that department could be a bit much.
3. Xs and Os-wise CMA is at least a level below most of the other coaches in the league and it's at old dog new tricks territory now. Teams will PnR us to death if he keeps switching Soriano onto Guards
SJUDave
Well-known member
I'm going to assume this is sarcasm. I hope it is.
I am somewhat in the same boat. I was not nearly as optimistic as most last year. With Julian's poor shooting last year I would have expected a below .500 year. I like Jones and expect that he will at least replicate last year's numbers. Curbelo can be anything from All Big East to a train wreck. CMA has been somewhat successful reigning in erratic, inefficient guards (Dunn and Mathis).With a few key new pieces in Curbelo and Jones and loss of some production, the best I can do is project a middle of pack bubble team. I have reservations about Cubelo impact and meshing with Posh, but hoping. We tend to expect a lot from freshmen out of the gate, so I think like most they will need time. We can see improvement in holdovers like Wusu, Stanley and Pinzon of course. Many posters seem to be very high on Pinzon this season. I believe he has nice size, versatility offensively, but as noted by others before, he really has to evidence much better defensive ability or lose minutes. I tip my hat to Joel getting in great shape, but not ready to conclude he will be an excellent big in competitive Big East. Good, perhaps solid, works for me.
The Big East is filled with excellent coaches and very good players. I can’t be as optimistic as my good friend Sterling, but I tend to be moderate in expectations to probably not set myself up for disappointment. Gun shy
Go Johnnies!
2 big positives this year; the most roster continuity under CMA; the deepest roster under CMA. We are much less reliant on 1 or 2 guys having a big year. I am far more confident in roster spots 4-10 than I can remember. This year Mathis' numbers are the floor for production for our starting SG. I think it likely that both Pinzon and Storr will be better. Last year when Posh got hurt we had no back up. This year we have Curbelo, King and Pinzon. Obviously the big question is outside shooting, but last year we were 46th at Kenpom offensively while shooting 33.4% from 3 (181st) and scoring 27.3% of our points from 3 (275th). I certainly think those numbers are easily attainable.
2 other big concerns: TO - Julian was one of the best high usage players at avoiding TO's. His usage was 27.7% and TO was 7.3%.
D - Last year we were 72nd on Kenpom. We give up too many O rebounds, 3 point shots and FT's. All somewhat an offshoot of the high pressure system that CMA utilizes. Biggest questions for me: can we up our steals, keep Joel from guarding on the perimeter, foul less and switch to a more compact D designed to force tough shots (either zone or man) at times.
Lastly, will we see fewer headscratching substitions and line-ups. This is by far my biggest criticism of CMA last year.
I'd like that too but here's a list of the decent runs (past 2nd round) in the dance in the last 50 years:
1999 Regional Final
1991 Regional Final
1985 National Semi Final
1983 Regional Semi Final
1979 Regional Final
So what we essentially want is STJ to be better than they have ever been, besides the Mullin years. And this despite everything in college hoops growth reducing any advantages STJ ever had, i.e. national growth beyond urban hotbeds, exponential growth of boosters/funds and operational/capital budgets of podunk state schools (vale Bobre), growth of power and influence of FBS conferences, loss of stipend, etc.... I believe that Cragg more than any ADs at least since Manetta and probably all time know the roadmap to get STJ into the top 5 programs in the BE but I fear he doesn't have access to an adequate tool kit to make it happen. So I just enter each year with an undeserved sense of optimism and hope and figure out ways to temper my disappointment in February or March.
L J S A
Well-known member
It's not even good sarcasm if it is, but flat-out terrible post if it isn't.
I wouldn't have brought Anderson back off of last year, so if I'm in charge, I'm definitely working the back channels to see what I can get.
That being said, I'm hopeful that having more returning parts than in the past, combined with the practice and game experience that was gained by the Dominican trip, will put us a little ahead of the curb, when it comes to building early continuity.
That being said (again), the early Big East schedule is brutal. That early December game against Depaul, is about as close to a must win as you can have at that point in the season, because the 3 Big East games we play once conference season starts in full, will be tough to win. Then, you're behind the 8 ball in the league standings, once again.
That being said, I'm hopeful that having more returning parts than in the past, combined with the practice and game experience that was gained by the Dominican trip, will put us a little ahead of the curb, when it comes to building early continuity.
That being said (again), the early Big East schedule is brutal. That early December game against Depaul, is about as close to a must win as you can have at that point in the season, because the 3 Big East games we play once conference season starts in full, will be tough to win. Then, you're behind the 8 ball in the league standings, once again.
Yes it is, but I don't know any other way to look at things than optimistically, lol
Johnny Rapper
Well-known member
Boo Harvey
Well-known member
NIT is meaningless. We declined an invitation two years ago and deserved one last year. NIT would not be progress in year four!
I'm not the biggest fan of Anderson, but Im also under the impression he's the best we can do based on the current status of the program. Who are your back channels telling you would realistically be a better fit here?