SJU Offseason Thread (portal and recruiting discussions)
- Thread starter paultzman
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He apparently is in Gainesville right now. Not getting my hopes up.
Also learned he was teammates with Olivier Rioux (the 7'9" kid) on Team Canada. A lot of connections there.
Competition with Florida for a guard a couple of years ago yielded them Walter Clayton Jr. That turned out pretty well for the Gators. Hopefully, however it turns out, we will wind up cutting down the nets like they did this year.
hnkcolumbia
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82 degrees and cloudy in Gainesville today.
SJUDave
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Here's my take for the hoard of people currently upset across multiple platforms for Lee. It's trending towards Florida but who knows.
SJU is in the final 2 for the best PG in the entire portal, if they want to blow out FL with a financial move they absolutely have the opportunity. I'm sticking with the fact that the sell for Xaivian Lee at St. John's is the easiest sell of all time. If he wants to be a showcased PG with a ton of talent in the biggest media market, where his friend Jeremy Lin also did so, with the best player development coach for prob 2 million American dollars he will be here. If he doesn't it's his loss.
In the same breath, it's obviously very easy to sell Florida, the campus, the girls, the national championship, slotting into the Walter Clayton role etc.
St. John's has a shot, and that's a lot more than can be said in years past.
All that being said...if St. John's misses on Lee but lands 4 of the other major names that have been bandied about, no one is going to care.
SJU is in the final 2 for the best PG in the entire portal, if they want to blow out FL with a financial move they absolutely have the opportunity. I'm sticking with the fact that the sell for Xaivian Lee at St. John's is the easiest sell of all time. If he wants to be a showcased PG with a ton of talent in the biggest media market, where his friend Jeremy Lin also did so, with the best player development coach for prob 2 million American dollars he will be here. If he doesn't it's his loss.
In the same breath, it's obviously very easy to sell Florida, the campus, the girls, the national championship, slotting into the Walter Clayton role etc.
St. John's has a shot, and that's a lot more than can be said in years past.
All that being said...if St. John's misses on Lee but lands 4 of the other major names that have been bandied about, no one is going to care.
MugCostanza
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I'll care a little bit unless one of the 4 major names you're referring to is an experienced PG.
Gators prevail and yes SJ will likely land their targets, but PG remains the interesting challenge as Mug noted.
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Agree with most of this but think Lee is by far the most important of all the recruits based upon his position, what we have on our roster today, and what’s left in the portal (right now).
Getting Lewis would certainly help if he’s ready to play and Rick trusts him. However, the drop off from Lee to Lewis or whoever we get to play PG is probably going to be greater than the drop off from any of those other 4 guys and what we would have at their positions.
Unless one of the four big names Dave is referencing is Dajuan Wagner.
SJUDave
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Doesn't sound like one Rick Pitino would do.
If the names that are being talked about come in, there will be players that leave...thus leaving more spots open...I think Rick has proven that he wants a veteran point guard - IE - Jenkins, Richmond, Smith
Don't know why everyone just assumes they will stand pat
MugCostanza
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Not many do. But options are dwindling.
week left for guys to enter...
Some posters are always in panic mode. We have 2 1st team Big East players in our front court, we have two former top 30 recruits in our backcourt, and we have some very nice depth guys. There are a thousand ways we can finish off this roster and be a top 10 preseason team.
MugCostanza
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Yep. But who are even the realistic options that would be good that haven't entered yet that actually might.
Seems Wagner is still the most realistic one and perhaps he's waiting to see how the Lee situation plays out before entering. But also Villanova still needs a PG and has a ton of money and they are closer to home for him, so might not be as easy as we think.
Who else? Pettiford? Doubt it, and another guy that will demand at least a couple mil. Not sure who else is even out there at this point.
Fair, level headed take as usual Mug.
“Everyone” is not accurate.
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