My two biggest issues with him were his inability to stick to a rotation and the lack of imagination on offense. With ADR and Thomas being ineligible Lavin "lucked" into the 6 man core rotation that has played great together. That has been the biggest difference in the previous 3 years. If anyone has bothered to notice he still plays his 7-9 men with no rhyme or reason, but it is such limited minutes that it does not matter. As far as the offense again the limited rotation allows Branch and Pointer to play more and not look over their shoulder which gives the team 3 solid passers to go with Harrison who is playing unselfishly and unselfish(partly becuase he is limited)Obekpa. The passing has been noticeably better and that has been the biggest difference in the offense outside of the Defense causing some easy baskets. Now here is where Lavin gets all the credit in the world. The team might play harder than any team in the country and despite playing a short rotation are in great shape. The commitment to Defense is very impressive and they sort of remind me of that UAB team that made the Sweet 16 a couple seasons ago purely on their tenacious D. Furthermore the team seems to genuinly like each other and are playing confidently and with swagger. All of that is on Lavin as well. No matter what happens this year I have to say the Lavin era has been truly confusing to date. Two very enjoyable teams and two utterly frustrating teams.
The people who raise their hands only when Lavin has failed have been quiet, or at best, absolutely full of shit, but he's done well this year, and his roster isn't empty after the starting 5. Jordan, Jones, Delarosa and Stewart aren't the worst bench we've ever had. If they believe in the current system and they truly buy into their roles, it can work. They all played well on Sunday given the circumstance.
As per usual, it's easy to hide behind a fake name and always cry, but the people, the men, who have supported and paid for this program regardless of its success deserve this success.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying that the sissies who never have anything good to say about the program don't deserve to see this, but rather that they are soft, fragile sissies (students especially) who also deserve a crack or two. That is all. Only a sissy would predict failure year after year when it has proven to be the norm. State the obvious, and you get no respect.
That said, f the haters. This is our year. Go St.John's.