THIS Season (formerly Next Season)

But don't we need him because his father is a HS coach in Georgia which will provide us with a pipeline of elite talent?
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Good idea in theory, but in hindsight was it Lavin being lazy and wanting to do as little recruiting as possible?
 
SI picks us ninth in the Big East (ahead of Depaul, who they have some strong words for).

http://www.si.com/college-basketbal...iew-villanova-georgetown-kris-dunn-providence

SI/Hanner Projected 2015-16 stats
NAME POS. PPG RPG APG ORTG POSS MINS
Durand Johnson SF 12.9 5.5 1.6 105.7 22% 76%
Darien Williams SF/PF 10.4 7.2 0.8 97.1 22% 69%
Marcus LoVett PG 9.2 3.4 3.4 96.7 19% 75%
Yankuba Sima C 7.8 6.0 0.7 96.0 19% 60%
Ron Mvouika SG 7.7 4.2 1.5 95.6 23% 55%
Kassoum Yakwe PF 6.6 4.8 0.5 96.7 19% 50%
Federico Mussini PG 6.6 2.2 2.3 96.8 19% 54%
11. That's the staggering number of players on last year’s Red Storm roster who won’t suit up for St. John’s this year. The exodus precipitated the arrival of nine new names (five recruits and four transfers), which new head coach Chris Mullin and his assistants acquired in less than five months on the job. The tumult alone has led to St. John’s projecting as one of the worst teams in the conference. The first chapter of the post-Steve Lavin era has began, though, and it’s unfolding quickly.
 
Mr "Palpable Buzz" chimes in;

@JonRothstein: The two guys that I'm hearing have been playing at a real high level for St. John's? Freshman Malik Ellison & JUCO F Darien Williams. #sjubb
 
In the early days of the Mets, 1962-66, there was really nothing to be hopeful about. The closest thing we came to produce as a player was a guy named Ron Hunt, who like other blunders, was traded for an again Tommy Davis after just 2 seasons. It wasn't until 67, when Seaver arrived, and '68 when Koosman won 19 games as a rookie (finished 2nd to Johnny Bench in ROY voting), that the light at the end of the tunnel was visible. As importantly, we hired our first great manager, a guy name Gil Hodges. The right guy, who taught a bunch of kids how to win.

This year for SJU, we all will get glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel, and likely a lot of moments of darkness. Hopefully a couple of win against marquee teams and some hope for the future. Like another Brooklyn star (Hodges not only was a Dodger, but resided there after baseball), our own Brooklyn star may just teach these kids how to win, and build something special.

I'm guessing the FedEx notice to a package not signed for are my SJU tix. I'm heading down the the FedEx office, and looking forward to the season - the first time I am actually looking forward to a losing season, since, well, the 1968 Mets.
 
Mr "Palpable Buzz" chimes in;

@JonRothstein: The two guys that I'm hearing have been playing at a real high level for St. John's? Freshman Malik Ellison & JUCO F Darien Williams. #sjubb
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This is great news Paultzman as other than the eligibility of Marcus L these two are our biggest question marks for this season in my opinion. We have a good idea what we will get from Sima, Mussini , Johnson , Ron M , but if these two can be double digit scorers and solid rebounders it will go a long way to the improvement and record for the team.
I am more excited than before to watch this team take the floor.
 
Great stuff. Seems like staff not only rebuilt entire roster in a few months but picked up some great, smart kids. Sounds like they all buy in right off the bat, and it's not the collection of egos and characters we had to endure in the past. Gonna be a fun season because we have nothing to lose, will be young and hopefully they play loose. It will be fun for the fans.
 
@ChrisNovakSBN: 4 Big East teams in the @kenpomeroy Top 35:
#5 Villanova
#27 Georgetown
#29 Butler
#31 Xavier

@ChrisNovakSBN: All 10 Big East teams find themselves in the Top 150. DePaul is #113, St. John's #150.

@ChrisNovakSBN: The preseason @kenpomeroy projection for the Big East @becb_sbn
 
@ChrisNovakSBN: 4 Big East teams in the @kenpomeroy Top 35:
#5 Villanova
#27 Georgetown
#29 Butler
#31 Xavier

@ChrisNovakSBN: All 10 Big East teams find themselves in the Top 150. DePaul is #113, St. John's #150.

@ChrisNovakSBN: The preseason @kenpomeroy projection for the Big East @becb_sbn
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I love KenPom but it's impossible to create a mathematical case, good or bad, for this team before they play a game. Way too many literal unknowns and variables.
 
I absolutely understand why we'd be picked last in pre-season polls and ranked low in KenPom but the truth is we're one of the most mysterious teams in the country right now. Any prediction out there is just the best guess of someone who pays less attention to SJU than the posters here.

That game against Vanderbilt in Maui is obviously a great early opportunity to evaluate some of the young guys. Vandy is going to be an excellent team this year and should make a run at Kentucky for the SEC title. A win would seem to be too tall of an order for us but I love that we have an early game against a team this good. Especially looking forward to seeing how Sima does dealing with 7 footer Damian Jones who is going to be an NBA lottery pick next year. Jones will probably take his lunch money but couldn't ask for a better early learning experience for a promising freshman.
 
I absolutely understand why we'd be picked last in pre-season polls and ranked low in KenPom but the truth is we're one of the most mysterious teams in the country right now. Any prediction out there is just the best guess of someone who pays less attention to SJU than the posters here.

That game against Vanderbilt in Maui is obviously a great early opportunity to evaluate some of the young guys. Vandy is going to be an excellent team this year and should make a run at Kentucky for the SEC title. A win would seem to be too tall of an order for us but I love that we have an early game against a team this good. Especially looking forward to seeing how Sima does dealing with 7 footer Damian Jones who is going to be an NBA lottery pick next year. Jones will probably take his lunch money but couldn't ask for a better early learning experience for a promising freshman.
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I think it was a pretty educated guess. Mullin and crew did a fantastic mop up job in quickly assembling a squad of the best of the rest, but with not a single returning impact player, no stud recruit coming in, and the likely top 5 players never having played together, picking them any higher than finishing last would be wishful thinking. That does not mean of course that the guys recruited with more than one year of eligibility remaining won't be valuable pieces of a future winning team. I'd much rather be injected with a dose of reality right now than to think we are going to be anything much better than a last rung team.
 
@ChrisNovakSBN: 4 Big East teams in the @kenpomeroy Top 35:
#5 Villanova
#27 Georgetown
#29 Butler
#31 Xavier

@ChrisNovakSBN: All 10 Big East teams find themselves in the Top 150. DePaul is #113, St. John's #150.

@ChrisNovakSBN: The preseason @kenpomeroy projection for the Big East @becb_sbn
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His total record for all the teams does not equal .500. It equates to 2 games over, which is not possible.
 
I absolutely understand why we'd be picked last in pre-season polls and ranked low in KenPom but the truth is we're one of the most mysterious teams in the country right now. Any prediction out there is just the best guess of someone who pays less attention to SJU than the posters here.

That game against Vanderbilt in Maui is obviously a great early opportunity to evaluate some of the young guys. Vandy is going to be an excellent team this year and should make a run at Kentucky for the SEC title. A win would seem to be too tall of an order for us but I love that we have an early game against a team this good. Especially looking forward to seeing how Sima does dealing with 7 footer Damian Jones who is going to be an NBA lottery pick next year. Jones will probably take his lunch money but couldn't ask for a better early learning experience for a promising freshman.
Click to expand...

I think it was a pretty educated guess. Mullin and crew did a fantastic mop up job in quickly assembling a squad of the best of the rest, but with not a single returning impact player, no stud recruit coming in, and the likely top 5 players never having played together, picking them any higher than finishing last would be wishful thinking. That does not mean of course that the guys recruited with more than one year of eligibility remaining won't be valuable pieces of a future winning team. I'd much rather be injected with a dose of reality right now than to think we are going to be anything much better than a last rung team.
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Yeah, I hear you Beast and I agree that's the right mindset. We should have low expectations for win total and focus on player development. If we have more than 5 conference wins this season, I'll be thrilled. I just meant that no journalist or analyst really knows that much about the majority of our roster. All that most reporters know about Darien Williams for example is a stat line and some YouTube footage against JUCO competition. I'm optimistic about him but who really knows what he'll bring to the table? We don't even know if the freshman who will likely have the biggest impact will be eligible yet. Basically, I'm saying I agree we're gonna struggle but I'm not ready to concede 7th or 8th place just yet. Gotta reach for the stars! 7th place!
 
The only reality in sports is that you absolutely don't know what's going to happen, the beauty of sports. There are just too many unknowns (read everything) to give any credibility to ANY prediction about SJU this year except we will play hard and play together.
 
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