Next Year...

Certainly isn't clear from the kids press conference two days ago or even his demeanor generally (save for when he isn't playing well, which is really ever kid)

Asking sincerely, why is it clear heron and his family aren’t happy?

Again you're projecting at best. You can't just say you think we'll be as good as those teams unless you have something to back it up. At this point there is no evidence to support that. Increasing their win totals every years was a necessity because they were starting so far down at the bottom. You can only go one direction and that's up.

If you think SJU under Mullin will go to a sweet 16, an elite 8 and win 28-29 games in a season like Xavier has done over the last 4 seasons then give me some of what you're smoking because it is not happening.  SJU is nowhere close to being right up there with them and no objective person would say otherwise.

I am not projecting the best...the best would be saying Ponds returns and we land Precious ...I am telling you what it was just 2 days ago..not comparing last 4 seasons...I am saying forward looking...with most likely 3 rerurning starters, we will be on the level of Xavier and Providence next year...

I am not projecting the best...the best would be saying Ponds returns and we land Precious ...I am telling you what it was just 2 days ago..not comparing last 4 seasons...I am saying forward looking...with most likely 3 rerurning starters, we will be on the level of Xavier and Providence next year...

If you're not using recent historical data to base your projection for next season then what criteria are you using? Wishful thinking??? You're saying without our best player and most prolific scorer that we will be better next year based on LJ, Heron and Simon returning?

Xavier and Providence both swept us this year and it was rebuilding years for both programs. How the hell are we going to be on their level next year when they bring back a lot of their stars, add better recruiting classes than us and we lose our best player?

Your math nor your projections jibe.

If you're not using recent historical data to base your projection for next season then what criteria are you using? Wishful thinking??? You're saying without our best player and most prolific scorer that we will be better next year based on LJ, Heron and Simon returning?

Xavier and Providence both swept us this year and it was rebuilding years for both programs. How the hell are we going to be on their level next year when they bring back a lot of their stars, add better recruiting classes than us and we lose our best player?

Your math nor your projections jibe.

If you take a step back and just review this season and even next season from afar, it will look like we are right there with Xavier and Providence. We danced this year. They didn’t.

But this is kind of like the gambler who only tells you about the times when he wins. The first three years under Lavin we didn’t beat Xavier one time. Do those not count?

Just opened the Post to this headline: Storm AD "We accomplished a lot" this year.

Again, his statement is relative because of how bad this program was in the prior 3 years. He has to say that but he also said he wouldn't go into the details of his ideas on what the program needs to keep improving.

At this point, the onus is squarely on him. Your move, Craggy.

If you take a step back and just review this season and even next season from afar, it will look like we are right there with Xavier and Providence. We danced this year. They didn’t.

But this is kind of like the gambler who only tells you about the times when he wins. The first three years under Lavin we didn’t beat Xavier one time. Do those not count?

Context is a beautiful thing.

Everyone who thinks they know how next season will go is reaching. You have no idea what the team or staff will even look like. Right now we have a lot of scoring returning and some quality additions in wright, Mack and steere. At this point last off-season we didn’t have our second and third leading scorer on the roster. Let the offseason play out.  The season could be good next year or a dumpster fire. We will see.

I don't know what fans really expect, we've been to 1 final four and people think we are a blue-chip household name in college basketball putting us up there with same expectations as Kansas, Kentucky and Duke. 

There is plenty of space between where we are and being a blueblood. And as time goes on there will be more space, as more mid majors show they can play with us and recruit over us. This program is going further down the toilet as is evident this time every year.

Everyone who thinks they know how next season will go is reaching. You have no idea what the team or staff will even look like. Right now we have a lot of scoring returning and some quality additions in wright, Mack and steere. At this point last off-season we didn’t have our second and third leading scorer on the roster. Let the offseason play out.  The season could be good next year or a dumpster fire. We will see.

And just by the skin of our ass were we able to add them. Can you imagine this team without Figgy and Heron this season ? . That's how close we came to a total disaster

Heron and Clark were the reason that Arizona St. beat us. They are both good players but very inconsistent. I’ll take steady play from Wright and Caraher even if there is not as much upside.

And just by the skin of our ass were we able to add them. Can you imagine this team without Figgy and Heron this season ? . That's how close we came to a total disaster

Do those hypotheticals only go one way?

This isn’t about the players, never been, it’s about the staff. We will get enough quality players to complete, it’s about coaching them. Until there is an announcement of staff changes this is the staff leading us next year and they are terrible. This iso ball, non defense playing system will not work.

And just by the skin of our ass were we able to add them. Can you imagine this team without Figgy and Heron this season ? . That's how close we came to a total disaster

We did add them, that is a fact, the timing doesn't matter.

This isn’t about the players, never been, it’s about the staff. We will get enough quality players to complete, it’s about coaching them. Until there is an announcement of staff changes this is the staff leading us next year and they are terrible. This iso ball, non defense playing system will not work.

You’ve never said we didn’t have enough talent?

Way to go from one extreme to the other. Ever heard of middle ground? Kinda like the poster who said if we don't get Pitino then we might as well just stick with Mullin. There are many levels of good between these two examples.

At this point I think we'd all sign up for a Providence or Xavier type of program in terms of their success. Blue blood is unrealistic.

Well I think you are twisting my words. I'd like to clarify that I do not believe the grass is greener elsewhere. I honestly felt the same when the school made the move from Lavin to Mullin.

St. John's glory days are well in the past and in order to sustain any sort of success we need continuity in the head coaching position. A lot of the problems imo has been a failure at the AD position and putting the tools in place to win.

The last time I truly felt we turned the corner was when Lavin was hired because he made a lot of demands of what was needed and the staff he had in place was great. The loss of Dunlap was really bad much like the failure of Mullin to hire a staff that truly complemented him.

Overall St. John's has been a mom and pop show for far too long and it takes someone like Lavin, Mullin, OR someone like Pitino imo to truly sell the school and be the figure head needed to compete.

There is a large difference between winning at low to mid major level to winning at Big East and knowing the nuances of metropolitan area.

If the school and Mullin parted ways after this season we'd have another 3-4 year rebuild and be having this same conversation in 5 years.

Take Matt out of the equation since he is the only one recruiting which is stupid in itself and a byproduct of horrible management.

What players lets say top 5 or even 6 can you say are definably better at the end of the year from the beginning of the year.

Which players showed markedly better seasons this year overlast year

since we know it's not Matt which coaches are responsible for player development ?

What grade would you give them for that

Just by being older they should be better to an extent but which ones showed definably better seasons

To this point our strength and conditioning department as a whole is a joke. Go look at Justin Simon when he was at Arizona or Mustapha Heron when he was at Auburn and I'd argue they both looked in better shape.

We are failing our guys

I should also add that I think in spite of all the ineptitude we're still seeing improvement, scholarship balance, positional balance, increase in talent quality, and wins.

Need to address shortcomings and fix them. Not jump ship.

Dan Murphy ESPN:

St. John's junior Shamorie Ponds says he hasn't made a decision yet on if he'll enter the NBA Draft. Chris Mullin said he'll make sure Ponds knows how NBA GMs think about him "straight from the horse's mouth" and if he's ready, Mullin won't try to convince him to stay. "He's had a huge impact on our program, our school, and on New York. People love him. He's the kid that stayed home. ... He's going to go down as one of the best players in St. John's history."

I should also add that I think in spite of all the ineptitude we're still seeing improvement, scholarship balance, positional balance, increase in talent quality, and wins.

Need to address shortcomings and fix them. Not jump ship.

With you. The answer is not a new coach every 4 years. We have tried that for the last 20 years. Add talent, bench coach and update facilities