Will St John's ever be a national power again?

[jc1305us]

I'm wondering if college basketball hasn't passed us by. Have we seen the best days of this program? Or are we a couple of recruits away from being back in the picture? Keep thinking we are close, but after this year I'm not so sure. Miss the days of dancing every year and being relevant.

 

[MarkRedman]

It's hard to be a national power again if you were never a national power in the first place

 

[MBoutchatski]

I'm wondering if college basketball hasn't passed us by. Have we seen the best days of this program? Or are we a couple of recruits away from being back in the picture? Keep thinking we are close, but after this year I'm not so sure. Miss the days of dancing every year and being relevant.

National Power? We will never be a national power

National Championship Contender? We were close, if sampson doesn't transfer and we had two 4-star recruits coming in who could shoot.

 

[BOB BARKER]

NOT a national power since 1952....Playing in a mid major league,despite name..Needs to expand,add UCONN. Best that can be hoped for is a run of a few years like the ZAGS..No hope on immediate horizon.....cant even win first round of NIT AT HOME agst PHILLIP MORRIS...Coach doesn't coach,allows street ball,foul shots are a joke....no inside game...its bad and getting worse..

 

[1and1sju]

NOT a national power since 1952....Playing in a mid major league,despite name..Needs to expand,add UCONN. Best that can be hoped for is a run of a few years like the ZAGS..No hope on immediate horizon.....cant even win first round of NIT AT HOME agst PHILLIP MORRIS...Coach doesn't coach,allows street ball,foul shots are a joke....no inside game...its bad and getting worse..

You say that like its a bad thing. If our ceiling is topping out at 16 NCAA tournament appearances in a row five sweet sixteens ... that's cool with me

 

[paultzman]

May be a good initial step to become relevant again.

 

[NYCRedmen]

NOT a national power since 1952....Playing in a mid major league,despite name..Needs to expand,add UCONN. Best that can be hoped for is a run of a few years like the ZAGS..No hope on immediate horizon.....cant even win first round of NIT AT HOME agst PHILLIP MORRIS...Coach doesn't coach,allows street ball,foul shots are a joke....no inside game...its bad and getting worse..

Yeah, the late 70s into the early 90s was pretty bad.

 

[shamsman2]

NOT a national power since 1952....Playing in a mid major league,despite name..Needs to expand,add UCONN. Best that can be hoped for is a run of a few years like the ZAGS..No hope on immediate horizon.....cant even win first round of NIT AT HOME agst PHILLIP MORRIS...Coach doesn't coach,allows street ball,foul shots are a joke....no inside game...its bad and getting worse..

You say that like its a bad thing. If our ceiling is topping out at 16 NCAA tournament appearances in a row five sweet sixteens ... that's cool with me

amen to that, we are a mid major, who cares as long as we are in the dance, and get surprised once in awhile.

 

[ruehlj]

It's hard to be a national power again if you were never a national power in the first place

Yup. Can't lose what you never had.

 

[doodyny33]

I'm wondering if college basketball hasn't passed us by. Have we seen the best days of this program? Or are we a couple of recruits away from being back in the picture? Keep thinking we are close, but after this year I'm not so sure. Miss the days of dancing every year and being relevant.

It'd be nice to win 1 NCAA Tournament game first and foremost. Hasn't happened in 14 years.

 

[westchesterjoe]

It's hard to be a national power again if you were never a national power in the first place

Yup. Can't lose what you never had.

Well,the last time I looked St JOHN'S was still in the top 10 schools in number of wins. While it is true the last 15 years or so have been less than stellar, the Program can be relevant again,

College BB results are largely attributable to the ability of the the Coach in several key areas: Recruiting,improving the skills of your players and motivating them to play hard for the school every game. The great COACHES and near greats do this year in, year out. They lose key players, they have incoming players to pick up the load and not miss a beat.

And, I'm not just talking about Boeheim, K, Cal, IZZO, Pitino, Donavan,ETC. it's rare their Programs ever stumble too badly.. WRIGHT,FEW,MILLER, Ryan's, Beilein's teams are always

in the hunt every year. These are a only a few who have built excellence into the program's

Sad to say, we haven't had that kind of COACH in a long time. Fran might have had the chance to do that here but, screwed up. And, for the faithful here , after 4 years, Lavin isn't the guy and you may think this or that about next year but, if you look at the players he's had here and essentially done zero with them.. 5th place in the BE and blow out losses to the Robt Morris's of the world aren't program builders.

The harsh reality is that at this level, Lavin isn't good enough to build a program. So, until another change happens, results will not achieve the level many fans want.
THose of you who protest this point, fine but, realize he isn't going to be the guy. 4 years in and no NCAA team with his own players and ugly, ugly basketball.
So, if you like his results, keep drinking and hope.

 

[McGarry2]

Yes!

 

[Class of 72]

It's hard to be a national power again if you were never a national power in the first place

Yup. Can't lose what you never had.

Well,the last time I looked St JOHN'S was still in the top 10 schools in number of wins. While it is true the last 15 years or so have been less than stellar, the Program can be relevant again,

College BB results are largely attributable to the ability of the the Coach in several key areas: Recruiting,improving the skills of your players and motivating them to play hard for the school every game. The great COACHES and near greats do this year in, year out. They lose key players, they have incoming players to pick up the load and not miss a beat.

And, I'm not just talking about Boeheim, K, Cal, IZZO, Pitino, Donavan,ETC. it's rare their Programs ever stumble too badly.. WRIGHT,FEW,MILLER, Ryan's, Beilein's teams are always

in the hunt every year. These are a only a few who have built excellence into the program's

Sad to say, we haven't had that kind of COACH in a long time. Fran might have had the chance to do that here but, screwed up. And, for the faithful here , after 4 years, Lavin isn't the guy and you may think this or that about next year but, if you look at the players he's had here and essentially done zero with them.. 5th place in the BE and blow out losses to the Robt Morris's of the world aren't program builders.

The harsh reality is that at this level, Lavin isn't good enough to build a program. So, until another change happens, results will not achieve the level many fans want.
THose of you who protest this point, fine but, realize he isn't going to be the guy. 4 years in and no NCAA team with his own players and ugly, ugly basketball.
So, if you like his results, keep drinking and hope.

Wow Joe you sound like a few of the mods here now! LOL! It appears the consensus here is a coaching change but not because we only won 20 games but because we have zero recruits on the horizon. I know things are bad when HTGS is back as an anti-Lav and the Paultsman voice here gets louder with dissatisfaction. Now if the Maven is no longer sharing wine and cigars with Lav I know the end is near. :lol:

 

[westchesterjoe]

It's hard to be a national power again if you were never a national power in the first place

Yup. Can't lose what you never had.

Well,the last time I looked St JOHN'S was still in the top 10 schools in number of wins. While it is true the last 15 years or so have been less than stellar, the Program can be relevant again,

College BB results are largely attributable to the ability of the the Coach in several key areas: Recruiting,improving the skills of your players and motivating them to play hard for the school every game. The great COACHES and near greats do this year in, year out. They lose key players, they have incoming players to pick up the load and not miss a beat.

And, I'm not just talking about Boeheim, K, Cal, IZZO, Pitino, Donavan,ETC. it's rare their Programs ever stumble too badly.. WRIGHT,FEW,MILLER, Ryan's, Beilein's teams are always

in the hunt every year. These are a only a few who have built excellence into the program's

Sad to say, we haven't had that kind of COACH in a long time. Fran might have had the chance to do that here but, screwed up. And, for the faithful here , after 4 years, Lavin isn't the guy and you may think this or that about next year but, if you look at the players he's had here and essentially done zero with them.. 5th place in the BE and blow out losses to the Robt Morris's of the world aren't program builders.

The harsh reality is that at this level, Lavin isn't good enough to build a program. So, until another change happens, results will not achieve the level many fans want.
THose of you who protest this point, fine but, realize he isn't going to be the guy. 4 years in and no NCAA team with his own players and ugly, ugly basketball.
So, if you like his results, keep drinking and hope.

Wow Joe you sound like a few of the mods here now! LOL! It appears the consensus here is a coaching change but not because we only won 20 games but because we have zero recruits on the horizon. I know things are bad when HTGS is back as an anti-Lav and the Paultsman voice here gets louder with dissatisfaction. Now if the Maven is no longer sharing wine and cigars with Lav I know the end is near. :lol:

20 wins today in college BB don't mean much if several of the wins are against cupcakes. SOS means more than wins against the Wagners, Monmouth, DARTMOUTHS,and who can forget Longwood? So, 20 wins isn't what it meant years ago. 5th place BE Finish, 1st round exit in BE tourney and blowout NIT loss to a mid major, Robt Morris. Add the loss of Sampson, who was a key contributor, Hooper the token 3pt shooter and, who knows next? Lavin has had more than a fair share of defections for a variety of reasons but, they hurt the Program nevertheless.

I just keep remembering the posters who kept thinking the turn around under NORM was just within reach, right up to when he was fired.
We lost a lot of games this year because we faded down the stretch at crunch time..a number of our late game time outs were bizarre, fundamentally flawed and did little to get us a defensive stop or key bucket with the game on the line. Maybe Steve isn't the motivator of players we think he is?
I'm seeing a lot of teams in the NCAA tourney that play hard every play, right up to the last whistle.. I'm not certain our team did that.