A little info on Coach Mike Anderson

Hello,

First time poster here.  I'm from Arkansas, seen that Mike Anderson landed the job here, just wanted to give you guys a little insight on him from someone that's seen his teams play in person many times over the years.

First off, his teams are always exciting to watch.  A lot of people really enjoy the style of play his teams bring with the full court pressing, allowing his players freedom on offense, and running anywhere from 9-12 guys at you all game long.  When it's working right and guys know their roles it looks like a thing of beauty, you could see that with his UAB, Mizzou, and some of his better Arkansas teams.

As Mike said in his presser today, at times his system won't look so pretty and you'll be thinking what in the world are they doing giving up so many easy buckets, but once guys buy in and figure out the rotations on defense his system works well and you can catch a lot of teams off-guard that's not prepared for it.  That Arkansas/Providence NIT game is a good example.  Also, the thing about his system it does take experience, that's why his Arkansas team this year was just in the NIT, he had the 2nd youngest team in the nation, getting guys that are older, experienced, and can catch on quick are going to be key for him here.  When he's had guys like that his teams have always done really well.

Mike is going to run a clean program and do things the right way, you guys won't ever have to worry about any violations or trouble from NCAA.  He's a players coach the players will love him, should be able to keep some players that are on the fence, especially JUCO players.  His track record with JUCO's is amazing.  He has one right now in Daryl Macon that's in the NBA on the Mavericks, Jaylen Barford is another that's really close to playing himself in the league.  He had Coty Clarke who had some 10-day contracts in the NBA, and his most recent in Mason Jones, he averaged 14 PPG his first year under Anderson.

If anyone wants to know anything else, let me know.  I intend to keep up with Mike as he coaches here at St. John's, I grew up on the 40 MOH back when Mike was with Nolan, so I'm always going to be a fan of his teams and see how they do.

And last thing, was hoping someone could let me know who are the best follows on twitter for St. John's basketball/recruiting info.  And what New York radio stations are the best to keep up with St. John's news?

Cheers!

Thanks for the insight! How was the program when Mike got his hands on it?

Thanks for the insight! How was the program when Mike got his hands on it?

An absolute dumpster fire.  We had APR problems, was the only team in the conference without a practice facility, players were always getting in trouble/suspended, we were having a completely new roster every year.  We were pretty much a bottom tier SEC team under Pelphrey.

Anderson, while didn't get us to the peak that most Razorback fans hoped for, during his 8 years Arkansas had the 3rd best conference record, played in 2 SEC Championship games, 3 NCAA tournament appearances, 2 NIT appearances, and never had a losing season.  With Anderson you'll always be competitive every year, no matter who's on the roster, his teams will always play hard.  He gets criticized about only making the NIT this year, however we were really young, we had graduated 6 seniors, we started 2 freshman and 3 sophomores.

I can tell you a lot of razorback fans were sad to CMA go, he put Arkansas back on stable ground and made it an attractive program again.  The new AD apparently wants his own guy and felt like we should be further along, so that's how he ended up here.  I personally think Arkansas is going to regret it, we hadn't had the level of success he brought there in over 20 years.  He's going to come in with a chip on his shoulder and I think do some really good things for St. John's.

An absolute dumpster fire.  We had APR problems, was the only team in the conference without a practice facility, players were always getting in trouble/suspended, we were having a completely new roster every year.  We were pretty much a bottom tier SEC team under Pelphrey.

Anderson, while didn't get us to the peak that most Razorback fans hoped for, during his 8 years Arkansas had the 3rd best conference record, played in 2 SEC Championship games, 3 NCAA tournament appearances, 2 NIT appearances, and never had a losing season.  With Anderson you'll always be competitive every year, no matter who's on the roster, his teams will always play hard.  He gets criticized about only making the NIT this year, however we were really young, we had graduated 6 seniors, we started 2 freshman and 3 sophomores.

I can tell you a lot of razorback fans were sad to CMA go, he put Arkansas back on stable ground and made it an attractive program again.  The new AD apparently wants his own guy and felt like we should be further along, so that's how he ended up here.  I personally think Arkansas is going to regret it, we hadn't had the level of success he brought there in over 20 years.  He's going to come in with a chip on his shoulder and I think do some really good things for St. John's.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like we really lucked out, for once. Hope the Razorbacks made the right move. Sounds like tough shoes to fill.

And last thing, was hoping someone could let me know who are the best follows on twitter for St. John's basketball/recruiting info.  And what New York radio stations are the best to keep up with St. John's news?

@DoTheTeabag is the best SJ follow on twitter by a long mile. Unfortunately he doesn't post too much anymore. Your best bet is to follow the hash tag #SJUBB.

NY sports writers are mostly all hacks and the radio guys are worse and none of them follow the program anyway, not even the beat writers. Forget them, they stink.

Thanks for the insight! How was the program when Mike got his hands on it?

Team was in the worst spot it had been in decades. The player problems started under Stan Heath. He was let go after two straight NCAA appearances and the brass thought they had Altman lined up. He came in and went through the presser, got a good look at the team and ran back to Creighton.

Pelphrey was a desperation hire and he made the tourney his first year with Heath's players, but it was steady down hill after that.

When Mike came home he was the savior and immediately started building a real basketball program. What Musselman just inherited is a team ready to win next year.

I understand why Mike was let go and I think Muss was a great hire, but that doesn't mean Anderson isn't still a heck of a coach. Ya'll may have caught lightning with a guy who's hungry with something to prove.

Here’s what you should except to see, this is them vs Providence this year. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWB0xUP3hg

Here’s what you should except to see, this is them vs Providence this year. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWB0xUP3hg

Whoa, I wasn't aware Providence was physically capable of losing to a team wearing red.