New Coach

Who else is better that we could have obtained? We had mid-major coaches turning us down. I feel damn lucky we were able to land CMA. He’s going to get our program respectable. If he’s able to develop the right relationships, no reason a 5* can’t pop for us.

Smaller schools like us needs a coach to develop relationships with top recruits to land them. When his time is through, maybe Cleveland could take over. Would be nice to have a succession plan for a change. At the very lest we will be a respectable program once again where the better coaches will consider us because of our pedigree.

The problem is the search was flawed from the beginning. It was amateur hour. Cragg put all his eggs in the Hurley basket. Jeff Capel is the reason we hired Anderson. He had to spoonfeed it to Cragg. Would I take Anderson over Jones or Hewitt? No question. The fact it got to that level is mind boggling. Fans clamoring for Cluess and I understand the board and administrators apprehension. Goff could've done that hire.

As far as Cleveland taking over? Not trying to mock you but ask the Arkansas fans about him. He is a career assistant or a low level head coach. Borman if hired has more potential. He is very intelligent,grassroots guy that is well connected, he also has coaching ability...he just needs experience at Div 1.

 I'm fine with being optimistic. I'm sure Anderson will have us at a "respectable level" but when you come in telling me you have this worldwide vision for St. John's and you present to me Mike Anderson, it is ridiculous. I expect more. The guy was ready to retire and collect his money. He called the place St. James at the press conference.

Imagine being mad that CMA has no NY roots when CHRIS MULLIN was our coach and we had one player from NY on our roster last season.

Sheesh.

Chris Mullin was not connected to NY baketball. He lived on the West Coast. His staff was from the West and then there was Matt who made his coaching and recruiting inroads at Iowa st. The pipeline from NY was dry for them. Matt had just started to crack it recently. Slice was not here long enough either to establish himself again.

The problem is the search was flawed from the beginning. It was amateur hour. Cragg put all his eggs in the Hurley basket. Jeff Capel is the reason we hired Anderson. He had to spoonfeed it to Cragg. Would I take Anderson over Jones or Hewitt? No question. The fact it got to that level is mind boggling. Fans clamoring for Cluess and I understand the board and administrators apprehension. Goff could've done that hire.

As far as Cleveland taking over? Not trying to mock you but ask the Arkansas fans about him. He is a career assistant or a low level head coach. Borman if hired has more potential. He is very intelligent,grassroots guy that is well connected, he also has coaching ability...he just needs experience at Div 1.

 I'm fine with being optimistic. I'm sure Anderson will have us at a "respectable level" but when you come in telling me you have this worldwide vision for St. John's and you present to me Mike Anderson, it is ridiculous. I expect more. The guy was ready to retire and collect his money. He called the place St. James at the press conference.

How in the world are you going to claim that Borman is a better coaching candidate than Cleveland. Sure, You could be right, I hope their both fantastic,  but you have no freaking clue and are just saying shit to support your narrative.

Here are some numbers to put into perspective the type of coach we are getting in Mike Anderson. In each of his 3 stints he had more success than his predecessors and successors with the exception of frank Haith who had a 30-5 record his first year at Mizzou with a roster built mostly by MA.

UAB
Bartow - 103-83 (55.4%)
ANDERSON - 89-41 (68.5%)
Davis - 123-73 (62.8%)
Hease - 80-53 (60.2%)
Ehsan - 57-44 (56.4%)
**MA 3 tourneys in 4 years. 2 for UAB since.

Missouri
Snyder - 126-91 (58%)
ANDERSON - 111-57 (66.1%) 
Frank Haith 76-28 (73.1%) **first year 30-5 with team built mostly by Mike Anderson*
Kim Anderson - 27-67 (28.7%)
Martin - 35-29 (54.6 %)

Arkansas
Stan Heath - 82-71 (53.6%)
Pelphrey - 69-59 (53.6%)
ANDERSON - 169-102 (62.4%)

If we are being objective, none of these candidates are home run hires that could compete with who the blue bloods would get.

Pitino is the best recruiter and game coach by far, but what if the investigations into his time at Louisville don’t go away? I think they won’t. You don’t mess the government. They ain’t letting you off the hook.

Hurley was good free throw shooting day and a couple of and ones from Ponds away from losing in the first four two consecutive seasons.

Moser was Norm Roberts before a miracle run to the FF.

Anderson didn’t have the success that many expected him to have at Arkansas, but if he had, the guy would be coaching for $7 million a year.

Chris Mullin was not connected to NY baketball. He lived on the West Coast. His staff was from the West and then there was Matt who made his coaching and recruiting inroads at Iowa st. The pipeline from NY was dry for them. Matt had just started to crack it recently. Slice was not here long enough either to establish himself again.

So why is it brought up as a negative for Mike Anderson? That's what I was referring to. We haven't recruited NY or the east at all well in decades, since before I was born.

The problem is the search was flawed from the beginning. It was amateur hour. Cragg put all his eggs in the Hurley basket. Jeff Capel is the reason we hired Anderson. He had to spoonfeed it to Cragg. Would I take Anderson over Jones or Hewitt? No question. The fact it got to that level is mind boggling. Fans clamoring for Cluess and I understand the board and administrators apprehension. Goff could've done that hire.

As far as Cleveland taking over? Not trying to mock you but ask the Arkansas fans about him. He is a career assistant or a low level head coach. Borman if hired has more potential. He is very intelligent,grassroots guy that is well connected, he also has coaching ability...he just needs experience at Div 1.

 I'm fine with being optimistic. I'm sure Anderson will have us at a "respectable level" but when you come in telling me you have this worldwide vision for St. John's and you present to me Mike Anderson, it is ridiculous. I expect more. The guy was ready to retire and collect his money. He called the place St. James at the press conference.

Yes the search was flawed but again...who could we have realistically got that would have been better? Clearly the administration doesn’t want to spend much on a head coach. Outside of Pitino, who I doubt was even considered which is disappointing, I like what CMA brings to our program.

As far a Cleveland being a career assistant well...you could have said the same of CMA.

Let’s give CMA a chance, like he said himself, his record speaks for itself. He’s won on a high level every where he’s been. For a fan base of a program which hasn’t won a NCAA tournament game as long as we have I’m surprised some are disappointed in the hire. Its important that we level set, we are not paying 4 million a year for a coach.

Pitino was a far away dream, looking for the next job.  Reported today he is in discussions with Cleveland Cavs. 

Good seeing CMA at Barclay Center yesterday (to see his nephew with TJ).  This is good optics to the locals.  Hot story with new coach--look for announcements this week as to assistants.

As to Cragg/Capel relationship re CMA--this is why he was hired as he has a network in college BB. 

Happy Easter to all and hopefully SJU BB has "risen".   

On this Easter let's all be thankful that we landed Anderson as he is the most proven option at the high major level by far.

Now we need to build a strong staff around him particularly in the area of recruiting. Then I'll be interested to see who the new staff targets at PG and PF.

Pitino was a far away dream, looking for the next job.  Reported today he is in discussions with Cleveland Cavs. 

Good seeing CMA at Barclay Center yesterday (to see his nephew with TJ).  This is good optics to the locals.  Hot story with new coach--look for announcements this week as to assistants.

As to Cragg/Capel relationship re CMA--this is why he was hired as he has a network in college BB. 

Happy Easter to all and hopefully SJU BB has "risen".   

Spot on!

On this Easter let's all be thankful that we landed Anderson as he is the most proven option at the high major level by far.

Now we need to build a strong staff around him particularly in the area of recruiting. Then I'll be interested to see who the new staff targets at PG and PF.

The anti mullin. Defense, toughness, and effort.

Did we have size and depth in 1999?

You dare compare 1999 to this limited roster? We had a capable and popular poor man's Unseld/Singleton in Grant and 2 Nba first rounders and one second rounder.

How many teams go more than 7-8 deep?

Some. Not many.

How many teams go 5 deep? Our first off the bench was Trimble or sometimes Keita when he wasn't injured. Jessie, Chudney and Emmanual comprised a stronger bench.

We had the most talent in the big East.

We had a good starting five with no size and depth.

Who had a better back court than Ponds and Heron?

Marquette. Howard and anybody.

Throw in LJ and the defensive player of the year. Williams and Keita are both top 100 players. No business finishing 8-10 in BE play.

He made the Ncaa tournament at St. John's with this lineup. That's break open the bubbly worthy around here.

Did I miss the time we finished 4th in the BE under Mullin?

I wrote:
"Mullin coached the 4th best team in the conference this season." Not
"Mullin coached the team with the 4th best conference record this season."

That never happened. And clearly, we didn’t belong in the ncaa tournament.

Yes, what you thought I wrote never happened.  And clearly, self loathing is an insidious problem. I suffer from it as well.

So why is it brought up as a negative for Mike Anderson? That's what I was referring to. We haven't recruited NY or the east at all well in decades, since before I was born.

Do you think maybe that is why we haven't been a successful program?

The anti mullin. Defense, toughness, and effort.

A fresh start.

I just had lunch with a couple of Missouri rooters.  They had nothing but great things to say about Anderson.

I wrote:
"Mullin coached the 4th best team in the conference this season." Not
"Mullin coached the team with the 4th best conference record this season."Yes, what you thought I wrote never happened.  And clearly, self loathing is an insidious problem. I suffered from it as well.

Mullin proved without any doubt that it was a mistake to give us a bid. We didn’t belong.

Mullin proved without any doubt that it was a mistake to give us a bid. We didn’t belong.

This is what you wrote on this very topic on this very page.

"Hurley was good free throw shooting day and a couple of and ones from Ponds away from losing in the first four two consecutive seasons."

Make up your mind you waffler.

This is what you wrote on this very topic on this very page.

"Hurley was good free throw shooting day and a couple of and ones from Ponds away from losing in the first four two consecutive seasons."

Make up your mind you waffler.

Arizona State stinks, too. Our guys didn’t do their part either. But that doesn’t mean the complete lack of leadership on Mullin’s part should be ignored.