Jon Rothstein 10 least appreciated players in college basketball

One POV is that Keita’s injury killed the season, however, I don’t think it’s ever fair to blame a season on an injury or injuries unless there are a Yankee-like amount of them.

This team had no depth. As much as we are struggling for PG depth, Anderson’s group in year one already has more balance. Either Mullin and co didn’t realize how to put the roster together or didn’t bother to. All of us knew that we needed big men. Why didn’t the coaches?

I think keita was better then he showed. I think he certainly could have helped. He atleast was tough. Caraher seems like an ok player. He tries. I have no complaints about him. Still it was a an absolute mistake to waste a scholarship on Him last year. Eli Cain and Mikey Dixon same thing.
Tough to compete when you get nothing from 25 percent of the roster.
The staff didn’t seem, almost welcomed losing yakwe and Owens. Why would you do that without a back up plan? Imagine last years team with senior 4 star yakwe who actually got better in four years. Or imagine last years team Owens who really did get better with a different coaching staff.

This is never going to happen, but I would love to hear mullin’s perspective on everything. Was he that lazy, arrogant, or did he really not give a shit?

I think keita was better then he showed. I think he certainly could have helped. He atleast was tough. Caraher seems like an ok player. He tries. I have no complaints about him. Still it was a an absolute mistake to waste a scholarship on Him last year. Eli Cain and Mikey Dixon same thing.
Tough to compete when you get nothing from 25 percent of the roster.
The staff didn’t seem, almost welcomed losing yakwe and Owens. Why would you do that without a back up plan? Imagine last years team with senior 4 star yakwe who actually got better in four years. Or imagine last years team Owens who really did get better with a different coaching staff.

This is never going to happen, but I would love to hear mullin’s perspective on everything. Was he that lazy, arrogant, or did he really not give a shit?

I do think the staff gave up on players too soon. (meanwhile they never gave up on Trimble)

This is outside looking in but my take was this.

Mullin not involved day to day
Richmond non existent
St. Jean players didn't respect or react to him (even though he was preaching correct things)
Matt mentality was f it...it's easier for me to find a transfer to replace you

The makeup and culture of staff was not cohesive at all. We should have got more from Yakwe, Keita, and others. Should have convinced Mussini, Dixon, and Owens to stay and be a part of something special.

If we had Mussini and Owens on last year's team it would be hard to convince me we aren't a sweet 16 team.

I do think the staff gave up on players too soon. (meanwhile they never gave up on Trimble)

This is outside looking in but my take was this.

Mullin not involved day to day
Richmond non existent
St. Jean players didn't respect or react to him (even though he was preaching correct things)
Matt mentality was f it...it's easier for me to find a transfer to replace you

The makeup and culture of staff was not cohesive at all. We should have got more from Yakwe, Keita, and others. Should have convinced Mussini, Dixon, and Owens to stay and be a part of something special.

If we had Mussini and Owens on last year's team it would be hard to convince me we aren't a sweet 16 team.

Thank you Dave. Been waiting a long time for that post. That’s not bashing coach mullin if it’s the truth.

Thank you Dave. Been waiting a long time for that post. That’s not bashing coach mullin if it’s the truth.

I think this mostly speaks to the inexperience of coaching college basketball. I don't think we were at the pulse of their daily lives which is vital for chemistry and culture.

Can't treat college players like pros simply bc they aren't pros for a reason

I think keita was better then he showed. I think he certainly could have helped. He atleast was tough. Caraher seems like an ok player. He tries. I have no complaints about him. Still it was a an absolute mistake to waste a scholarship on Him last year. Eli Cain and Mikey Dixon same thing.
Tough to compete when you get nothing from 25 percent of the roster.
The staff didn’t seem, almost welcomed losing yakwe and Owens. Why would you do that without a back up plan? Imagine last years team with senior 4 star yakwe who actually got better in four years. Or imagine last years team Owens who really did get better with a different coaching staff.

This is never going to happen, but I would love to hear mullin’s perspective on everything. Was he that lazy, arrogant, or did he really not give a shit?

Did you just say Keita was tough? Tough to watch yea

Did you just say Keita was tough? Tough to watch yea

The guy kind of played a role. He wasn’t the worst player of the mullin era. I would rather have keita then Christian Jones who couldn’t  stop anyone. Many of you like him. The guy was here 3 years and didn’t contribute to 1 big east victory.
Keita sucking wasn’t the  main problem. The staff that gave keita 2 scholarship years to suck was the problem.
Besides Simon- None of the sit out transfers were worth the wait in my opinion.

The guy kind of played a role. He wasn’t the worst player of the mullin era. I would rather have keita then Christian Jones who couldn’t  stop anyone. Many of you like him. The guy was here 3 years and didn’t contribute to 1 big east victory.
Keita sucking wasn’t the  main problem. The staff that gave keita 2 scholarship years to suck was the problem.
Besides Simon- None of the sit out transfers were worth the wait in my opinion.

Keita is the worst big man I’ve seen get minutes at St. John’s. There was nothing tough about his game. He went up soft on offense and he clapped well on defense.

Keita is the worst big man I’ve seen get minutes at St. John’s. There was nothing tough about his game. He went up soft on offense and he clapped well on defense.

He was also hurt. I never thought he was good. Just better then he showed. Under different circumstances he could have helped more last year.

I think keita was better then he showed. I think he certainly could have helped. He atleast was tough. Caraher seems like an ok player. He tries. I have no complaints about him. Still it was a an absolute mistake to waste a scholarship on Him last year. Eli Cain and Mikey Dixon same thing.
Tough to compete when you get nothing from 25 percent of the roster.
The staff didn’t seem, almost welcomed losing yakwe and Owens. Why would you do that without a back up plan? Imagine last years team with senior 4 star yakwe who actually got better in four years. Or imagine last years team Owens who really did get better with a different coaching staff.

This is never going to happen, but I would love to hear mullin’s perspective on everything. Was he that lazy, arrogant, or did he really not give a shit?

Keita’s ability or inability isn’t the point. The program should have known to add two big men not just for depth, but so there could be a full team. You can’t have two PF/C on your roster for entire season.

That carelessness did then in.

Keita wasn't as good as hyped but wasn't as bad as he showed. The real disappointment was we could have had Sandro Mamukelashvili but we turned him down and he went to Seton Hall instead.

Keita wasn't as good as hyped but wasn't as bad as he showed. The real disappointment was we could have had Sandro Mamukelashvili but we turned him down and he went to Seton Hall instead.

Yup. Crazy.

Yup. Crazy.

Other contributors have written we could have had Hassan French from St Louis. Is that true too?

Other contributors have written we could have had Hassan French from St Louis. Is that true too?

I'm not directly familiar but do think there was a point in time but we were holding out for juco kid I think.

I'm not directly familiar but do think there was a point in time but we were holding out for juco kid I think.

Thought it was we chose zack brown instead

That's a gut punch.  That kid would have helped enormously last year and he looks like he'll have a strong junior year and even better senior year if he stays around, which he likely will because Willard (assuming he's still there) will tell the kid whatever he needs to convince him to not go play abroad and start making money.

Keita wasn't as good as hyped but wasn't as bad as he showed. The real disappointment was we could have had Sandro Mamukelashvili but we turned him down and he went to Seton Hall instead.

Plenty of folks on the boards wanted us to take him.  Again, would have helped last year enormously and for the next two years.  At least we now have the assistant coach who was smart enough and good enough to get him to St. Louis.

Other contributors have written we could have had Hassan French from St Louis. Is that true too?

Thought it was we chose zack brown instead

I thought it was someone else that was also questionable character guy

This team had no depth. As much as we are struggling for PG depth, Anderson’s group in year one already has more balance. Either Mullin and co didn’t realize how to put the roster together or didn’t bother to. All of us knew that we needed big men. Why didn’t the coaches?

You've hit the nail on the head.

I've never seen who runs practice; been to an aau tournament or city high school game; don't know how much time was spent in Cali and don't much care about perceived optics during timeouts. Those that post as if they know of such things lie so much and are so full of it that they can't be believed or taken seriously.

The teams of the Mullin tenure never had enough horses. They had some talented thoroughbreds, but needed more of them. Particularly Clydesdales. When Lovett took his ball and went home that promising season was lost. In a perfect world, there should have been a backup plan. Last year we had the preseason player of the year and the defensive player of the year but were limited by only going five deep with NO size and NO bench at all. A larger, more balanced roster was sorely needed.

You've hit the nail on the head.

I've never seen who runs practice; been to an aau tournament or city high school game; don't know how much time was spent in Cali and don't much care about perceived optics during timeouts. Those that post as if they know of such things lie so much and are so full of it that they can't be believed or taken seriously.

The teams of the Mullin tenure never had enough horses. They had some talented thoroughbreds, but needed more of them. Particularly Clydesdales. When Lovett took his ball and went home that promising season was lost. In a perfect world, there should have been a backup plan. Last year we had the preseason player of the year and the defensive player of the year but were limited by only going five deep with NO size and NO bench at all. A larger, more balanced roster was sorely needed.

I totally get it that you love Mullin and he is your hero, but why can you never say a bad word about him. Your reasons sound like excuses to me. We had no depth because of him. We had a lot of talent last year but had no discipline. If you have watched out games this year can you honestly say that you don't think we are more disciplined on offense (shot selection.....etc) and way more engaged and aggressive on defense? Also, maybe depth wouldn't have been as big of a problem if he recruited guys to stay rather than transfer and if he actually eased our freshman into playing in our non conference blowout wins. They were not developed at all.

I totally get it that you love him, but hen other posters provide some evidence you always state that "oh its definitely a lie, did anyone see him not at practice or doing this, or that?" Maybe only half of it is true, but its obvious that he was not cut out for it and didn't put the time in the be a head basketball coach at a major division 1 program.

but why can you never say a bad word about him. 

I just did.