The worst part of being a STJ fan...

[paultzman]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

As an alum, long time supporter & season ticket holder, I sadly concur.

 

[redfazed]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

I was at MSG yesterday. Your post perfectly encapsulates why the Nova fans, even though far outnumbered, were far louder than the SJU fans.

 

[redfazed]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

I was at MSG yesterday. Your post perfectly encapsulates why the Nova fans, even though far outnumbered, were far louder than the SJU fans.

And just to be clear: I could not agree with you more.

 

[Class of 72]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

The Mahoney years were the dark ages. Worst hire in BB history! You did not near much from him because he could not string three sentences together while Lavin can ad lib for hours and say nothing.
Do not be surprised if Lav starts using "next year" in his interviews by the end of February.
He needs to pull two playable recruits out of arse by April and lock down his top targets by November or it is back to square one.

 

[dee]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

I was at MSG yesterday. Your post perfectly encapsulates why the Nova fans, even though far outnumbered, were far louder than the SJU fans.

Dont worry guys, after reading the Lavin quotes I can assure you this team will be ready to play by March, 2014. At which point we will breeze thru this new and weakened BE, win the tournament title, be named to the NCAA and upset the first team we play. Trumpets will sound as we play the next game with hopes of making the sweet sixteen. At that point it will be anyone's guess. All I can say is that it is a good thing they had 9 extra games in Europe for our coach to figure out a lineup and develop good team work. btw we all all be cheering loud and clear and much louder than Nova fans as we win all those games in March. Uhh did I say 2014?

 

[bobre45]

I'm also a very long suffering alum and season tix holder for more than four decades, My memory is thankfully fading on all the unbelievable negative stuff that has befallen this program. When Lavin's name came up for this job I was astonished that we would take a guy who was thrown out of his last job amidst the negative howls of the LA fans. Not even Roberts or Jarvis could lay claim to such negative publicity. So who was it that thought seven years of BSing in the booth could turn Lavs into a real coach? Recruiting revolves around the identity of the schools. His ability to recruit for UCLA is hardly a surprise but there's little about it that translates to SJU until we prove that we can win consistently. That hasn't happened and unless it does nothing will change. Now we're still losing and I find the fact that we have no 2014/15 recruits signed to be totally depressing. I do not trust this coach to do right by Saint Johns. It's my school and my son's as well. I care about the school and the program and am very disappointed that people who are paid to do so don't. Add that to the scandal involving the president and it's not a pretty picture at all. Time to throw the rascals out and rebuild from the ground up. Lavin has no credentials that interest me and I'm sure worthwhile recruits feel the same. The longer we wait the longer it will take. We need new blood here by next season to rekindle some school spirit. Remember what that is????

 

[monte]

I'm also a very long suffering alum and season tix holder for more than four decades, My memory is thankfully fading on all the unbelievable negative stuff that has befallen this program. When Lavin's name came up for this job I was astonished that we would take a guy who was thrown out of his last job amidst the negative howls of the LA fans. Not even Roberts or Jarvis could lay claim to such negative publicity. So who was it that thought seven years of BSing in the booth could turn Lavs into a real coach? Recruiting revolves around the identity of the schools. His ability to recruit for UCLA is hardly a surprise but there's little about it that translates to SJU until we prove that we can win consistently. That hasn't happened and unless it does nothing will change. Now we're still losing and I find the fact that we have no 2014/15 recruits signed to be totally depressing. I do not trust this coach to do right by Saint Johns. It's my school and my son's as well. I care about the school and the program and am very disappointed that people who are paid to do so don't. Add that to the scandal involving the president and it's not a pretty picture at all. Time to throw the rascals out and rebuild from the ground up. Lavin has no credentials that interest me and I'm sure worthwhile recruits feel the same. The longer we wait the longer it will take. We need new blood here by next season to rekindle some school spirit. Remember what that is????

While it won't happen, I would love to see what a different coach could do with this group of kids.

 

[southernjohnny2]

I havent given up on Lavin..What exactly has he done wrong? He recruited top kids. He got us kids rated higher than Norm ever did. He got us a top 25 kid in Jordan.We had our first freshman drafted in the rd 1 in a long time.We have a kid in the NBA other than Ron-Ron..He took us to the dance something Norm was not able to do. We also had an assistant coach become a head coach in the NBA. Dunlap was the x and o guy, and Norm didn't hire an x and o guy until late this year.I said it on this board at the end of last season we will not be better this season than we were last season, why did I say that?? Shooters, we do not have shooters...Now what has become obvious is Sampson and Sanchez are more liability than assets when on the court.Sampson hit those late free throws but missed others during the game.He looks lost on defense, looks lost when he gets the ball down low.Sanchez looks just as lost out there. Now I know why he started walk ons..We missed 15 easy shots yesterday...we have no shooting on this team..I would play Obekpa over Sampson, atleast Obekpa knows where he is limited, and does not look lost on the court.

 

[monte]

I havent given up on Lavin..What exactly has he done wrong? He recruited top kids. He got us kids rated higher than Norm ever did. He got us a top 25 kid in Jordan.We had our first freshman drafted in the rd 1 in a long time.We have a kid in the NBA other than Ron-Ron..He took us to the dance something Norm was not able to do. We also had an assistant coach become a head coach in the NBA. Dunlap was the x and o guy, and Norm didn't hire an x and o guy until late this year.I said it on this board at the end of last season we will not be better this season than we were last season, why did I say that?? Shooters, we do not have shooters...Now what has become obvious is Sampson and Sanchez are more liability than assets when on the court.Sampson hit those late free throws but missed others during the game.He looks lost on defense, looks lost when he gets the ball down low.Sanchez looks just as lost out there. Now I know why he started walk ons..We missed 15 easy shots yesterday...we have no shooting on this team..I would play Obekpa over Sampson, atleast Obekpa knows where he is limited, and does not look lost on the court.

We have enough problem putting points on the board without sitting our second leading scorer and replacing him with a guy with zero offensive ability.

 

[southernjohnny2]

that dagger 3 to put nova up 7 was Sampson's guy...do you know where he was when the shot went up...

 

[monte]

that dagger 3 to put nova up 7 was Sampson's guy...do you know where he was when the shot went up...

Obekpa and Samson both played 24 minutes. Samson had 10 points and 9 rebounds. Obekpa had 4 points and 2 rebounds. Putting aside CO's blocked shots, neither is a stellar defender.

 

[gregbodkin]

Let's not forget that 5 years after Jay Wright took the reigns at Nova, he still had fans and alum screaming for his head. I say we have patience with coach and let him work it out. Don't forget that he lost 2 years to cancer as well. I want to win as much as anybody, but you have got to give coach the benefit of the doubt and let him do his job. If this goes another few years, then we can talk about doing things differently. Don't forget how many years we gave Norm.

 

[gregbodkin]

I also noticed how bad we are at boxing out. The opposition gets far too many rb's on both ends.

 

[redfazed]

Let's not forget that 5 years after Jay Wright took the reigns at Nova, he still had fans and alum screaming for his head. I say we have patience with coach and let him work it out. Don't forget that he lost 2 years to cancer as well. I want to win as much as anybody, but you have got to give coach the benefit of the doubt and let him do his job. If this goes another few years, then we can talk about doing things differently. Don't forget how many years we gave Norm.

Please get your facts straight. Lavin did not "lose 2 years to cancer." Heck, in yesterday's NYT story, Lavin was portrayed as only being away from the team for a month. In reality, he stepped back in November and let Dunlap coach for 4 straight months, while he spent much of his time recruiting - I remember the tweets he sent from the road. That raised a lot of eyebrows, by the way. Still does.

 

[beast of the east]

Let's not forget that 5 years after Jay Wright took the reigns at Nova, he still had fans and alum screaming for his head. I say we have patience with coach and let him work it out. Don't forget that he lost 2 years to cancer as well. I want to win as much as anybody, but you have got to give coach the benefit of the doubt and let him do his job. If this goes another few years, then we can talk about doing things differently. Don't forget how many years we gave Norm.

Please get your facts straight. Lavin did not "lose 2 years to cancer." Heck, in yesterday's NYT story, Lavin was portrayed as only being away from the team for a month. In reality, he stepped back in November and let Dunlap coach for 4 straight months, while he spent much of his time recruiting - I remember the tweets he sent from the road. That raised a lot of eyebrows, by the way. Still does.

Lavin came back after treatment, coached one game, and found he was completely exhausted and didn't have the stamina to be on the sidelines. He then focused on recruiting, which he claimed was far less acutely taxing on his body. I've never had cancer, but seen it up close and personal in my family. I wouldn't raise eyebrows about anyone's reaction to the after effects of chemo or radiation, which to many is worse than the cancer itself.

 

[redfazed]

Let's not forget that 5 years after Jay Wright took the reigns at Nova, he still had fans and alum screaming for his head. I say we have patience with coach and let him work it out. Don't forget that he lost 2 years to cancer as well. I want to win as much as anybody, but you have got to give coach the benefit of the doubt and let him do his job. If this goes another few years, then we can talk about doing things differently. Don't forget how many years we gave Norm.

Please get your facts straight. Lavin did not "lose 2 years to cancer." Heck, in yesterday's NYT story, Lavin was portrayed as only being away from the team for a month. In reality, he stepped back in November and let Dunlap coach for 4 straight months, while he spent much of his time recruiting - I remember the tweets he sent from the road. That raised a lot of eyebrows, by the way. Still does.

Lavin came back after treatment, coached one game, and found he was completely exhausted and didn't have the stamina to be on the sidelines. He then focused on recruiting, which he claimed was far less acutely taxing on his body. I've never had cancer, but seen it up close and personal in my family. I wouldn't raise eyebrows about anyone's reaction to the after effects of chemo or radiation, which to many is worse than the cancer itself.

I don't believe Lavin underwent chemo or radiation. I remember because I had a family going through it around that time. But I am not a doctor and I am very glad he recovered.

I had no intention of bringing the cancer topic up or rehashing the past- I was simply responding to another poster's blatantly incorrect statement that Lavin missed 2 years due to cancer. And yes, eyebrows were raised during that whole episode. Rightly or wrongly, that is a fact.

 

[mjmaherjr]

I feel like being a St Johns fan is like the geico commercial where they say i just saved a lot of money by switching to Geico.

In our case I just saved a bunch of money by not having to buy plane tickets to go see us play in an NCAA game this year

 

[Marillac]

Sampson has been slightly above average as a sophomore after being very good his freshman year. On this trend why would his junior year be a treat?

Besides Jordan, Sampson is the player that most excites me in terms of improvement for the rest of this year. I think he is finally starting to understand and embrace his role. He could be exponentially better his third season--which could have been this year.

We'll never know for sure, but I strongly believe that we would have seen the soph version of Moe if Sampson qualified out of high school. Moe's incredible rebounding and block #'s (8.6 and 1.5, respectively) had NBA GM's salivating, and I think Sampson would have cut into them quite a bit since Sampson was regarded as the better fit down low while Moe had better perimeter skills.
If anything, it would have allowed Moe to play more on the perimeter where his lack of NBA readiness might have been more exposed instead of hiding it and highlighting his excellent size, length, and ability to play near the basket. There was nothing besides Moe but an overmatched, undersized first year D-2 JUCO and a raw freshman 6'5 SF. By the time Garrett arrived in January, Moe's NBA future had been sealed.

 

[dee]

Let's not forget that 5 years after Jay Wright took the reigns at Nova, he still had fans and alum screaming for his head. I say we have patience with coach and let him work it out. Don't forget that he lost 2 years to cancer as well. I want to win as much as anybody, but you have got to give coach the benefit of the doubt and let him do his job. If this goes another few years, then we can talk about doing things differently. Don't forget how many years we gave Norm.

Please get your facts straight. Lavin did not "lose 2 years to cancer." Heck, in yesterday's NYT story, Lavin was portrayed as only being away from the team for a month. In reality, he stepped back in November and let Dunlap coach for 4 straight months, while he spent much of his time recruiting - I remember the tweets he sent from the road. That raised a lot of eyebrows, by the way. Still does.

I understand the 2 yr comment because that first year, although he coached a few games, was lost and the next yr you really need to mark up as continued recuperation

 

[SJUISBACK]

I am an alum and I desperately wish that I could be like the rest of my alumni friends who don't give a crap about the team unless they are winning.

I'm trying every day to take my heart our of this.

Honestly, the only reason I watch the games at this point is to see Rysheed's development.

But this is a worse feeling than back in 1994 when we brought in Felipe, Zendon and Tarik. It is much worse.

Reason being, we didn't have a pompous loudmouth coach who loved being on camera and talking up a bunch of nonsense. The expectations back then were much higher because we had the best player in the nation AND Felipe and Zandon were local kids so there was that attachment to them.

But this "Lavin regime" is magnified because he is trying to Sell you a Lamborghini where we can all see that it is a lemon.

Never again should we hire a coach that does not have NY roots.

Lavin's cool, hands-off approach can work in Hollywood but it won't fly over here. He doesn't understand the NY attitude, hustle and desperation. NYers are hard to impress. No one is going to stop because you step into a room and that's the part that Mr. Soho doesn't get. Save the hair gel. We need someone who wants to get his fingernails dirty.

So I hope to post much less and less as we get closer to Febru...err...I mean March. And I will start to purposely not tune in to more and more games since the Leader of the team said don't bother because you won't see the best product until the last month of the season.

Yeah, "it's fluid".

As an alum, long time supporter & season ticket holder, I sadly concur.

I talked up about this team before this season started.
Then everyone I know told me: "oh but every year we always hear it`s this year, and what always happens?"
This year I responded with : "no this is the year that we are back. We are not young this year, with lots of juniors, we are getting a 25 year old man that is a NBA prospect (all the experts said so), we`re getting a 5star pg recruit. Trust we are gonna be top3 in the B.E.
If not this year then never.
So right now it feels like a few slaps to the face while being laughed at while everyone says to me WELL WTF HAPPENED?
Only thing I could do is turn my face away and walk away.

I`m an idiot for saying to myself that this has just has to be the year. Well I guess it isn`t the year huh.

In each game i`d yell and go nuts because i`m so intense during sju games but I was calm in the last 5minutes just shaking my head which is telling me that maybe i`m starting not to care.
Then I read Lavins quote saying: "Our goal is to win in March.

So if Lavin doesn`t care about winning now, then why wtf am I caring so much that I get so intense that I start getting pain.
It`s not worth putting my heart into these games anymore.

I`ll still put the games on every now and then and read these posts and maybe post myself every now and then but not like how i am now.

Could I hope for a new coach next year that wants to win in every month and not just in march or yeah I know, I`d most likely be dreaming. What if the donaters all went into SJU at the same time and showed unity and demand that a coaching change happen and get someone who cares to win EVERY DAMN MONTH AND NOT JUST NONE.

They wouldn`t tell the donaters no right? Isn`t repoli a die hard fan and loves sju so I bet this pains him.
Guess I`m dreaming but I could dream right?