[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=386222]I think Brian Mahoney was a good Assistant and confidant to Lou all those Years . As was Ron Rutledge . Yet , with Felipe and Zendon coming in as McD All Americans , one would think he would have Coached the team to better results ... I’m sure some will say Felipe and Zendon and Tarik didn’t live up to their HS Rankings but , Felipe and Zendon were good enough to play in the NBA . Fran didn’t get a lot more out of them in the 1 year he Coached them but , those were the Years that G’Town had Allen Iverson .[/quote]
I remember at the time when Felipe committed to SJU a local Catholic HS coach told me his opinionwas that Felipe wasn't the player we expected. We really expected Felipe to be a Jordanesque type of force, a guys who may eaisly be the number 1 pick in the NBA draft, a guys heads and tails above the other stars in college basketball. The expectations were just too high, and in a lot of ways, too much to put on a kid who began playing basketball at 13 or 14.
Zendon was a local LI kid of course. A friend of mine who is close to the 114 guys, and a basketball junkie, saw him play a lot at Sewanhaka.. His impression back then was that it was hard to know what he was capable of since most of his HS games were against 6'2 centers. Zendon could bring the ball up, shoot from 25, crush competition inside at his size and agility. All of those physical skills led everyone to believe he would be a dominant college player. Unfortunately, he sometimes played like he was 6'2, putting the ball on the floor too much, holding the ball low instead of protecting it high, etc.
Still, both were two very good college players, just not the lottery pick guys we thought they'd be. When expectations are so lofty, even making the NBA can seem like a disappointment unless they were both stars there.
