SJU Transfer Targets/Possibilities

[fordham96]

Unfortunately that is not even close to a tope tier BE roster.  Most of those players are not even remotely ready to play big minutes and excel at this level.  If they are forced to play a lot it will be a long year. They need 3-4 BE ready talent added in the next few weeks/months.  I assume thru the portal or perhaps a decommitted prep player.  Let's see what happens when the smoke clears.

Remember they won 10 league games and by most standards overachieved and that was not good enough to make NCAA's.  Was not even good enough to get in the next 4 out.  That means the roster needs to be upgraded.  But this can be an opportunity to upgrade.

lawmanfan post=429306

Windy City Johnny Fan said:
how on earth are we going to fill 7 slots?



 

This is correct.  We have at least 7, and probably 8 players in the barn for next year:  Posh, Wusu, Smith, Pinzon, Traore, Stanley, Nyiwe and I'm assuming Julian.  Obviously Julian is a huge piece of the puzzle.

But if that's the core you're starting with, you need to add a couple of bigs (Igehion plus one?) and another shooter to have a complete roster.

After that the challenge for the staff will be getting them all together and off the ground earlier in the season to avoid a slow start.

 

[nysj144]

Terrific boss ,  well said

staying positive 
Phil
‘87

 

[MCNPA]

“Heard a MEAC kid also being looked at. Hopefully they do better.”

Maybe we find out the player first? A couple D2 kids got big offers this transfer season.  Agree though we need to get better this off-season.  

 

[Moose]

“Heard a MEAC kid also being looked at. Hopefully they do better.”

Maybe we find out the player first? A couple D2 kids got big offers this transfer season.  Agree though we need to get better this off-season.  

I'm going to venture a strong guess Paultz knows said player.  Hence his comment.

 

[Notanalum]

Duke were being in pinzon who will score. We need another guard and I’m confident one is on the way. 

I really want Aiden. He is gonna come home and develop into what we need. A beast. He got a reality check at Louisville when he played against older guys who were as strong as he is. 

 

[fordham96]

Normally yes.  But the hope is with the unique circumstances of this year and everyone in their mother looking to transfer that maybe they can land some more sure things.

I mean you see kids transferring who had pretty successful careers or even a really good year at a major school who went to the Tourney and who is projected to be good again.  That does not happen a lot.

MainMan post=429449
End of the day we’re going to end up getting guys who put up small numbers at big schools or guys who put up big numbers at small schools.
That’s just who we are and the nature of the transfer portal.

 

[austour]

that reminds me did Orlando Sanchez ever make the NBA? I could’ve sworn....
 

FWIW he's playing in the 2nd division in Japan, but at least he's starting at SF and averaging 11p 7r 3.5a. 

 

[Jack Williams]

None of this matters unless Champ comes back

 

[MakingPlays]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

Smith averaged 12 PPG on a team that what 27-7 and made the NCAA tournament 2 years ago.  His team the year the pandemic hit and cancelled the tournament was 26-7 and projected in the field he averaged 14 PPG then and shot 42% from three.  

He's dropped 13 points against #2 Kansas, dropped 13 points against #7 Virginia, dropped 17 points against St. John's, and dropped 18 points against Cincinnati in his career.  

You saying he doesn't bring anything to the table that the departures didn't is simply not doing research. 

 

[IDRAFT]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

I for one think Smith is going to be a clear upgrade over Vince Cole. 

but I also came to hate Coles game by the end of the year. His handle was laughable at best. He was a horrid defender. 

He hit some timely 3s for us and that’s pretty much the only good thing I can say about him. 

if Smith can score and also handle the ball well he will already be better than Cole in my book 

I consider Smith a replacement of Dunn. I don't think he is an upgrade over Dunn. I do think he can match his contribution. Dunn is a guy many others had no use for, but not me, so my saying he can match Dunn means I like Smith. But he's not moving the needle, he just helps plug one of many holes.

 

[Amaseinyourface]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

I for one think Smith is going to be a clear upgrade over Vince Cole. 

but I also came to hate Coles game by the end of the year. His handle was laughable at best. He was a horrid defender. 

He hit some timely 3s for us and that’s pretty much the only good thing I can say about him. 

if Smith can score and also handle the ball well he will already be better than Cole in my book 

I consider Smith a replacement of Dunn. I don't think he is an upgrade over Dunn. I do think he can match his contribution. Dunn is a guy many others had no use for, but not me, so my saying he can match Dunn means I like Smith. But he's not moving the needle, he just helps plug one of many holes.

Agree but I would say smith is closer in player type to Williams than Dunn. Dunn was a penetrator and a distributor. Those two are more off guards who can shoot it.

 

[MakingPlays]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

I for one think Smith is going to be a clear upgrade over Vince Cole. 

but I also came to hate Coles game by the end of the year. His handle was laughable at best. He was a horrid defender. 

He hit some timely 3s for us and that’s pretty much the only good thing I can say about him. 

if Smith can score and also handle the ball well he will already be better than Cole in my book 

I consider Smith a replacement of Dunn. I don't think he is an upgrade over Dunn. I do think he can match his contribution. Dunn is a guy many others had no use for, but not me, so my saying he can match Dunn means I like Smith. But he's not moving the needle, he just helps plug one of many holes.

And that is your opinion based on 0 facts.  Facts are transferring into St. John's Smith is a much more accomplished player and performed better against P6 competition than Dunn did and not to mention Smith comes from a winning program that competes for a tournament bid yearly.  Dunn put up numbers on a really really bad team.  

 

[NCJohnnie]

I don't think many of us have seen Smith play enough to judge whether he can bring the defensive intensity Dunn did. Time will tell.

 

[MakingPlays]

I don't think many of us have seen Smith play enough to judge whether he can bring the defensive intensity Dunn did. Time will tell.

Agreed, I don't see how people are already saying he's not an upgrade.  Nobody knows if he is or isn't.  However, if people want to call him a "Dunn Replacement" his prior career before coming into St. John's was better than Dunn's, there's no debating that.

 

[IDRAFT]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

Smith averaged 12 PPG on a team that what 27-7 and made the NCAA tournament 2 years ago.  His team the year the pandemic hit and cancelled the tournament was 26-7 and projected in the field he averaged 14 PPG then and shot 42% from three.  

He's dropped 13 points against #2 Kansas, dropped 13 points against #7 Virginia, dropped 17 points against St. John's, and dropped 18 points against Cincinnati in his career.  

You saying he doesn't bring anything to the table that the departures didn't is simply not doing research. 

First off, as I said when he committed I have seen him play about ten times easy. Full games. But if that is not enough research for you. . . . 

Vermont plays in the America East. They made the tournament because the NCAA takes one team from every conference. They didn't make it as an at large. I do not believe any team from the league ever has. 

He was All America East in 2019 which is very nice. So was Maliek Ellison, who played two years for SJU and one for Pitt. You might want to check out how Ellison did in the ACC and Big East. The rest of us know already. Two years ago people were freaking out that Villanova snagged Joe Cremo from Albany of the AE. The posts are in the archives. Cremo averaged over 17 points a game at Albany - and 4.0 in his grad transfer year at Villanova. He also couldn't guard anyone at the Big East level. Again - guy was a star in the AE.

So thing is I would be fine if Smith is an exception and can produce at a much higher level with no loss of production. And as I keep saying I don't hate the guy either. But an upgrade? Will be happy to believe that when I see it, but I'm not going to believe it because people are wishing it so.

It's weird because I like Smith. Like Dunn, I believe he has the skills to be a fifth/sixth man on a good Big East team. But we had Dunn so if he does that it doesn't improve the team it plugs a hole. Hey, hope I'm wrong and he averages 25 a game. I'm not rooting against these incoming kids, just analyzing what I see going on.



 

 

[Mean Gene]

If an upgrade is coming, it hasn't started yet. Like Smith, he projects as a guy who can at most do what one of the guys leaving did, not more.  If no one who is brought in can do better than what you had (at best) SJU is left with the same talent level with way less continuity and cohesion.  And we will see - but this kid left Purdue for a similar role at SJU? Or is the idea he will play 30 minutes here? 

This is fine if the next four guys are better. I remain dubious.

Smith averaged 12 PPG on a team that what 27-7 and made the NCAA tournament 2 years ago.  His team the year the pandemic hit and cancelled the tournament was 26-7 and projected in the field he averaged 14 PPG then and shot 42% from three.  

He's dropped 13 points against #2 Kansas, dropped 13 points against #7 Virginia, dropped 17 points against St. John's, and dropped 18 points against Cincinnati in his career.  

You saying he doesn't bring anything to the table that the departures didn't is simply not doing research. 

First off, as I said when he committed I have seen him play about ten times easy. Full games. But if that is not enough research for you. . . . 

Vermont plays in the America East. They made the tournament because the NCAA takes one team from every conference. They didn't make it as an at large. I do not believe any team from the league ever has. 

He was All America East in 2019 which is very nice. So was Maliek Ellison, who played two years for SJU and one for Pitt. You might want to check out how Ellison did in the ACC and Big East. The rest of us know already. Two years ago people were freaking out that Villanova snagged Joe Cremo from Albany of the AE. The posts are in the archives. Cremo averaged over 17 points a game at Albany - and 4.0 in his grad transfer year at Villanova. He also couldn't guard anyone at the Big East level. Again - guy was a star in the AE.

So thing is I would be fine if Smith is an exception and can produce at a much higher level with no loss of production. And as I keep saying I don't hate the guy either. But an upgrade? Will be happy to believe that when I see it, but I'm not going to believe it because people are wishing it so.

It's weird because I like Smith. Like Dunn, I believe he has the skills to be a fifth/sixth man on a good Big East team. But we had Dunn so if he does that it doesn't improve the team it plugs a hole. Hey, hope I'm wrong and he averages 25 a game. I'm not rooting against these incoming kids, just analyzing what I see going on.




 

Mike Smith played PG on a Columbia team that was average in the Ivy League then went to Michigan and started in an Elite 8 team this season. What’s your point?

 

[Amaseinyourface]

First off, as I said when he committed I have seen him play about ten times easy. Full games. But if that is not enough research for you. . . . 

Vermont plays in the America East. They made the tournament because the NCAA takes one team from every conference. They didn't make it as an at large. I do not believe any team from the league ever has. 

He was All America East in 2019 which is very nice. So was Maliek Ellison, who played two years for SJU and one for Pitt. You might want to check out how Ellison did in the ACC and Big East. The rest of us know already. Two years ago people were freaking out that Villanova snagged Joe Cremo from Albany of the AE. The posts are in the archives. Cremo averaged over 17 points a game at Albany - and 4.0 in his grad transfer year at Villanova. He also couldn't guard anyone at the Big East level. Again - guy was a star in the AE.

So thing is I would be fine if Smith is an exception and can produce at a much higher level with no loss of production. And as I keep saying I don't hate the guy either. But an upgrade? Will be happy to believe that when I see it, but I'm not going to believe it because people are wishing it so.

It's weird because I like Smith. Like Dunn, I believe he has the skills to be a fifth/sixth man on a good Big East team. But we had Dunn so if he does that it doesn't improve the team it plugs a hole. Hey, hope I'm wrong and he averages 25 a game. I'm not rooting against these incoming kids, just analyzing what I see going on.






 

Mike Smith played PG on a Columbia team that was average in the Ivy League then went to Michigan and started in an Elite 8 team this season. What’s your point?

For starters the IVY is a step up from the AEC. And look at smiths #s at Columbia his last year there.

 

[IDRAFT]

Last word on Smith. Promise. I don't consider my opinion of him negative, but I understand that depends on perspective. 
I thought maybe that folks on a St. Johns message board might want to know what a person who has seen him play a number of times thinks. Again - sorry. 

And I'm a fan of the program and don't want to spend any more time defending the more negative side of a player evaluation. For all of you who think he is the next big thing - in the end I want you folks to be correct.

Carry on, and I will get out of the way.

 

 

[room112]

Dunn transferred in from St. Francis in the NEC and became a solid piece. Not sure any reason why Smith can't provide similar. Don't think it's fair to expect more, but we can be surprised if we get it. 

 

[paultzman]

https://twitter.com/tiptonedits/status/1377697383530762241?s=21