What Feels Different So Far

[room112]

The biggest difference for me is that it seems we are “involved“ with more high school kids. I know we have recruited the Posh Alexander’s and Julian Champagnie’s mixed in. However, it seems we leaned very heavily on JUCO’s and transfers. Now, I am not against recruiting good players whatever the route. However, I do think the “potential” of good high school players like Gardner, like Storr, like Pinzon, potentially Williams breathes life into the program. Less of a mercenary feel. Yet, you still get guys like Jones and Curbelo who are open to coming closer to home.

I would compare it to how fans in baseball love the homegrown Jeter’s, Alonso’s Judge’s and Wright’s vs how it takes time to “accept” the Arods, Lindor’s, Giambi’s etc.

I agree with you. The issue with the high school kids is they don't often stay at one program their entire career. So in most cases you'll have to expect a transfer. Obviously Posh, Julian and even Ponds are the exception so far

 

[Johnny Rapper]

I hear what you're saying JR, and agree that the only real buzz will come with success on the court, but make no mistake, recruits, parents, coaches, etc all took notice when we got a commitment from Curbelo, and then quickly followed it up with a commit from Jones and now Gardner. Plus we're involved with more high ranked kids then we have been in quite some time. There is definitely a buzz about our recruiting for the 1st time in the CMA era. Time will tell if it translate to Ws, but I gotta tell ya, I'm way happier with where we are right now then I have been in a while.

The internal buzz for us followers is certainly there but I also remember the tremendous buzz we had going into last season where we all believed that we could play with and actually defeat teams like Kansas and other top Big East teams. After telling a multitude of friends, family etc. (as Im sure many of you did so as well) how good the team was going to be, they laid a colossal egg, not beating a single team in the upper half of the league and getting destroyed by the Jayhawks. After this past year, I will keep my optimism to myself and hope for the best. And while yes, there has been an uptick in recruiting which is exciting, I will temper my enthusiasm untill we actually start winning significant games.

 

[IDRAFT]

Last year SJU had one of the highest transfer rates in the country. This year they have one of the lowest. The players we are adding become additions - not replacements. Plus they are both much more respected nationally (Curbello and Jones) then any other the replacements brought in last year. Oh, and one of the two guys who were supposed to win games no matter who surrounded them (Champagnie and Posh) is still at SJU.

Any exuberance going into last year required extreme rose colored glasses. But I can rationally look at this years team and expect a NCAA season.

And absolutely, beyond folks like us there is zero buzz in NYC about SJU. I don’t think one out of ten thousand people here would know who Brandon Gardner or David Jones are. For them the team has to win. But as others have pointed out, HS coaches and AAU coaches are noticing SJUs current recruiting and that is a narrow but critical audience.

 

[JohnnyFan]

Love all you guys but only in the summer would we be having a lengthy discussion surrounding what is buzz, is there buzz, what causes buzz, and what is the impact of buzz.

I would tell you all to buzz off, but I clearly enjoy this on some sick level.

 

[Johnny Rapper]

Last year SJU had one of the highest transfer rates in the country. This year they have one of the lowest. The players we are adding become additions - not replacements. Plus they are both much more respected nationally (Curbello and Jones) then any other the replacements brought in last year. Oh, and one of the two guys who were supposed to win games no matter who surrounded them (Champagnie and Posh) is still at SJU.

Any exuberance going into last year required extreme rose colored glasses. But I can rationally look at this years team and expect a NCAA season.

And absolutely, beyond folks like us there is zero buzz in NYC about SJU. I don’t think one out of ten thousand people here would know who Brandon Gardner or David Jones are. For them the team has to win. But as others have pointed out, HS coaches and AAU coaches are noticing SJUs current recruiting and that is a narrow but critical audience.

If you want to maintain your sanity, keep your expectations low and your hopes high. Last year there was allot of buzz about all the great transfers we got. While there are those on this site that will deny this, if one were to look back at the posts, the excitement was off the charts for many of these transfers as many loudly proclaimed that the Johnnies upgraded the talent that left and the depth of the team with quality players was plentiful. Im not saying you shouldn't be excited but along with big expectations there can be even bigger disappointments. I will look forward to the upcoming season quietly until the wins start coming.

 

[Mean Gene]

What I love about this current staff is that all the players that they are involved with seem like fine young men of high character in addition to being extremely talented. You can admire talent but you bet on character every time.