Okay, back from my errands.
What i meant was we have our "Woo pig sooie" Just wondering if there's a chant or anything y'all do to get the team fired up or to help continue a run? I am seriously going to be a fan. I was elated when Mike came home to Arkansas. Nobody can question that the results weren't what we expected from day one BUT the mess he had to clean up wasn't an overnight job. I'm one of the few that gave him a pass for the first three years. If you look at the last five, he had three NCAA Tourney appearances and an NIT Bid. where he got us allowed us to land Muss as our next head coach.
Hog fans grew impatient due to the monster that Nolan created. Nolan has been gone going on twenty years and we haven't had any success since that time. During Mike's tenure here, Noland was slowly brought back into the program and we celebrated the NC94 team. Lot's of ex players weren't coming around the program at all. Some folks didn't like the hire from the beginning and those were the ones still mad at Nolan so Mike never really had a shot with them. Short leash due to the misery Pel put us through. We were absolutely at rock bottom when Mike came in. That's why i thought he should get one more year. Knowing that we would be build around a Soph center and a bunch of Frosh, why not just fire him last year? This team got better towards the end and should've beaten Texas Tech and UK on the road but we had a couple of bad losses as well. Youth.
The biggest reason i think Mike is going to kill it here is because he's got a really good chance to put his own footprint on St. Johns basketball. Y'all are a hungry fanbase and you will really embrace what he does with young men and in the community. As Nolan Richardson often says "If you meet a person that talks bad about Mike Anderson, then there's probably something wrong with that person" He's elite as a human being. Top notch and classiest man in the game. I say that with 100 percent faith.
There will be times where you will be like "WTF was that?" but it's because he allows his teams to play the game on instinct. You will question lineups at times but if someone is not playing defense he's going to take them out. There will be Hog fans that troll on twitter that claim "Mike doesn't run plays" BS. He's drawn up great plays out of timeouts and sometimes plays don't always work out of timeouts. Some of the idiots in our fanbase would've complained about the way Mike wiped his ass if they were in the stall next to him.
The day he was fired, i was in shock because everyone felt like he'd get next year even though a good portion was pissed off about it. I wanted him to get another year but i was almost relieved when he got fired because of all of the backlash he had gotten. I found myself wishing he had never come to Arkansas at all because he left a GREAT TEAM at Missouri to come home. He gave it all up, including lifetime friends and the Pressey boys. Also left behind an Nephew in Laurence Bowers. That team won close to thirty games the next year with Frank Freaking Haith running the team. I'm convinced Mike would've made a run to the title.
I'll be over here frequently during the season. I am really pumped i have another team to cheer for and your fans seem really cool. You know what's going to happen though. As soon as we both make the tourney, they will pair us together. LOL
In the end, i am convinced this worked out well with both schools and both coaches. I love my Hogs and i am elated with our new coach. I'm also elated for y'all because i know what lies ahead. If he can get a PG or two to finish this class out you can do some damage next year. A lot of folks will tell you "He just hires family". TJ is a good young coach and has turned down other positions in the past. Mike was Loyal to Nolan for 17 years. TJ is loyal to Mike and the kids will love him. If he can get 4star and high 3star talent out of NY City, you will be off and running. He always has less talent than the other guy but his record speaks for itself. HE WILL NOT CHEAT. I've been told it takes 15K just to get a 5star on campus to visit. If you're looking for a coach that's going to take shortcuts and land 3 five star players every year, you will be disappointed. He will develop his kids mentally and physically. They will graduate but you'll have a guy every other year that's good enough to enter the draft.
I know i just wrote a book, my advice. Embrace him, go to war for him on twitter. don't let anyone bad mouth him and have his back. You won't be disappointed.
I am ordering this lid next week
https://campuswardrobe.com/products/ncaa-st-john-s-university-red-storms-6-panel-game-day-snapback-caps-hats?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8rLyIff4QIVv__jBx043gjpEAQYBCABEgLWnvD_BwEGo Hogs and Go Red Storm