1st signee - Jonathan Mcgriff

Georgetown did quite well will freshmen last year

My point: Greg Williams isn’t and will not be a point guard.

I don’t know what you’re responding to, but the context seems to be left out.

He's a warm body. Not very impressive

He's a warm body. Not very impressive

Similar to our coaching search. Who could we have got that has better upside this late in the game? We have no point guards on the roster. At the very least he can handle the ball and play solid defense for 94 feet. With a solid player development program in place who knows how he may develop. This isn’t the NBA. He’s strong which will mitigate his height some. My only concern will be his lateral quickness. Couldn’t get a read on that from the videos. It’s a solid pick up for us.

My point: Greg Williams isn’t and will not be a point guard.

I don’t know what you’re responding to, but the context seems to be left out.

Unwise to write off Williams this early.  He looks like a high IQ player and I could see him evolving into a Carrington type of PG/combo.

He's a warm body. Not very impressive

Maybe so, but this is the kind of player we need. Lazy coaches and lazy players have left us with nothing at the end of every season for ten years.

F stars, and F these rankings. I’ll take hard working kids and with a good teacher at the top. We don’t even know what that looks like anymore.

Unwise to write off Williams this early.  He looks like a high IQ player and I could see him evolving into a Carrington type of PG/combo.

I’m not writing him off. I like his upside as well. All I’m saying is that he’s not point guard.

Maybe in a couple of years time he’ll be able to bring up the ball, but it would be a disaster if they asked him to do it now. He needs significant work just to take a dribble and not turn it over.

I am neutral on this kid.  I like that it helps fill a huge void and I subscribe to the philosophy of never having too many ball-handlers. I'm not in love with the handle/athleticism combination he show, but if he is in fact "tough as shit" and he has the right intangibles then he could really be a solid pickup.

I am neutral on this kid.  I like that it helps fill a huge void and I subscribe to the philosophy of never having too many ball-handlers. I'm not in love with the handle/athleticism combination he show, but if he is in fact "tough as shit" and he has the right intangibles then he could really be a solid pickup.

Agree with respect to "attitude".  If it is as advertised, he will become a favorite as were some others in the past who might not have had the requisite physical requirements for their positions but had an attitude that was a differential such as Ty Grant, Anthony Glover and Kevin Williams (who had to be restrained from fighting Ewing).  The ultimate attitude player was Ronnie AKA Meta World Peace who would not back down, ever> 

He's a warm body. Not very impressive

Similar to our coaching search. Who could we have got that has better upside this late in the game? We have no point guards on the roster. At the very least he can handle the ball and play solid defense for 94 feet. With a solid player development program in place who knows how he may develop. This isn’t the NBA. He’s strong which will mitigate his height some. My only concern will be his lateral quickness. Couldn’t get a read on that from the videos. It’s a solid pick up for us.

I'll trust Dave's word on this as to he sees kids playing ball all year long. What i just don't understand is how can you tell a player is strong and all this other stuff from a youtube video. I coach at the high school level and can make a kid on my team look good at all of these things with a simple highlight reel. I hope he turns out to be a good 4 year contributor but lets not anoint him Chris Lykes just yet.

I'll trust Dave's word on this as to he sees kids playing ball all year long. What i just don't understand is how can you tell a player is strong and all this other stuff from a youtube video. I coach at the high school level and can make a kid on my team look good at all of these things with a simple highlight reel. I hope he turns out to be a good 4 year contributor but lets not anoint him Chris Lykes just yet.

I agree with Dave. It’s not very impressive. Maybe this time instead of a hollow hype machine, we can build a complete roster where each player knows who they are.

This kid is a point guard. Not a combo guard, or a guard/forward. A straight up NYC point guard. Something we could have used last year since we only had one on them on our team.

He's a warm body. Not very impressive

I don't think anybody should be doing cartwheels about the acquisition of McGriff. Hopefully he can develop into a decent rotation piece in this system considering his willingness to defend and up tempo style of play.

However, it is nice to see Anderson get a commit ranked 242 after recruiting a kid for a week while the other staff was getting players like Josh Roberts ranked 215 after recruiting a kid for a whole year.

Maybe so, but this is the kind of player we need. Lazy coaches and lazy players have left us with nothing at the end of every season for ten years.

F stars, and F these rankings. I’ll take hard working kids and with a good teacher at the top. We don’t even know what that looks like anymore.

Rankings and Stars actually are very important and are correct often. Every rule has exceptions and its nice to see that once in a while kid coached up from 3 star to stardom, but we need to start winning right now. This program has been in shambles for a long time now. 4s and 5s and future NBA types should be the goal. I would rather take a team filled with these that gets upset in Round of 32 then your "hard-working" low talent bunch that overachieved to squeeze in to tournament. We are not the A-10 we are the Big East, recruit like it. Better pipeline with future recruits and talent with the former (line of top players) rather than the latter.

Rankings and Stars actually are very important and are correct often. Every rule has exceptions and its nice to see that once in a while kid coached up from 3 star to stardom, but we need to start winning right now. This program has been in shambles for a long time now. 4s and 5s and future NBA types should be the goal. I would rather take a team filled with these that gets upset in Round of 32 then your "hard-working" low talent bunch that overachieved to squeeze in to tournament. We are not the A-10 we are the Big East, recruit like it. Better pipeline with future recruits and talent with the former (line of top players) rather than the latter.

+1

Rankings and Stars actually are very important and are correct often. Every rule has exceptions and its nice to see that once in a while kid coached up from 3 star to stardom, but we need to start winning right now. This program has been in shambles for a long time now. 4s and 5s and future NBA types should be the goal. I would rather take a team filled with these that gets upset in Round of 32 then your "hard-working" low talent bunch that overachieved to squeeze in to tournament. We are not the A-10 we are the Big East, recruit like it. Better pipeline with future recruits and talent with the former (line of top players) rather than the latter.

I don't mind 3 star recruits, but I don't want the majority of my team filled with 'em.  This is why I don't understand when I hear a very, small faction of our fans say they'd rather we target only 3 and 4-star kids (mainly, top 70 kids and below) to fill our roster.  WTF?! 

Like you, I'd rather take my chances on 4 and 5-stars, and go from there.  I know we won't land a bunch of 5-star kids, but as long as we can nab one every, three years then that'll suffice.  Give me a bunch of 4-star kids (I'm talking about top 70 AND higher), sprinkled in with a couple high-level or mid-grade 3-star personnel and an occasional 5-star.

You always target and recruit a few 5-star kids each season.  You just never know when it may pay off.  Just be mindful of chasing too long when chances are slim-to-none to land the kid.  Otherwise, in our case, continue to recruit a small group of 'em each season.     

Rankings and Stars actually are very important and are correct often. Every rule has exceptions and its nice to see that once in a while kid coached up from 3 star to stardom, but we need to start winning right now. This program has been in shambles for a long time now. 4s and 5s and future NBA types should be the goal. I would rather take a team filled with these that gets upset in Round of 32 then your "hard-working" low talent bunch that overachieved to squeeze in to tournament. We are not the A-10 we are the Big East, recruit like it. Better pipeline with future recruits and talent with the former (line of top players) rather than the latter.

It’s like you haven’t been paying attention to St. John’s the last 20+ years. We’re not going to get a consistent flow of 4 and 5 stars.  And the Big EAST isn’t what it use to be. I just don’t understand how so many of you keep living in the past.

As many have said before, our goal should be to achieve a similar level of consistency like Xavier, Creighton, heck even SH has seen more consistency than us.  You build programs with 3 & 4 stars who stick around four years and keep that cycle going. You win with upperclassmen not with the rankings.

I have confidence that CMA is looking at the long term. Guys that he thinks can get better and will be here for 4 years. That’s why guys like Heron and LJ are so important. They’re upperclassmen who can drive some level of consistency and set the stage for the next group....

It’s like you haven’t been paying attention to St. John’s the last 20+ years. We’re not going to get a consistent flow of 4 and 5 stars.  And the Big EAST isn’t what it use to be. I just don’t understand how so many of you keep living in the past.

As many have said before, our goal should be to achieve a similar level of consistency like Xavier, Creighton, heck even SH has seen more consistency than us.  You build programs with 3 & 4 stars who stick around four years and keep that cycle going. You win with upperclassmen not with the rankings.

I have confidence that CMA is looking at the long term. Guys that he thinks can get better and will be here for 4 years. That’s why guys like Heron and LJ are so important. They’re upperclassmen who can drive some level of consistency and set the stage for the next group....

Lavin got those level of kids to come here

It’s like you haven’t been paying attention to St. John’s the last 20+ years. We’re not going to get a consistent flow of 4 and 5 stars.  And the Big EAST isn’t what it use to be. I just don’t understand how so many of you keep living in the past.

As many have said before, our goal should be to achieve a similar level of consistency like Xavier, Creighton, heck even SH has seen more consistency than us.  You build programs with 3 & 4 stars who stick around four years and keep that cycle going. You win with upperclassmen not with the rankings.

I have confidence that CMA is looking at the long term. Guys that he thinks can get better and will be here for 4 years. That’s why guys like Heron and LJ are so important. They’re upperclassmen who can drive some level of consistency and set the stage for the next group....

"We are not getting a consistent flow of 4 and 5 stars." Well maybe that should be the goal so talk about Sweet 16s and Final 4s are not crazy anymore. I do not think its living in the past to see that the top teams every year (albeit few exceptions) have 4s and 5s. They just reload and reload. More to the NBA each year until it has become a factory. Xavier and Creighton are good, but they are not great. I and many others would like to see us try to be great. Its a process, but you cannot just settle. Xavier and Creighton are short term goals, but there is no reason why the longer game cannot be to shoot for Kentucky and Duke level production or to at least be worthy of being on the same court with them. We may never fully get there, but at least lets try especially here in NY and send more to the pros in the process. Lets be finalists and nab some 5s from time to time.

And Big East not what it once was? Nova just won 2 chips in recent memory and Georgetown and SHU are getting better. Providence will be back up soon. The conference has gotten strong.

And the thing that LJ and Heron have in common who are your two major examples- 4 stars that were highly touted. We are not going to the next level with 3s, if you want mediocrity and occasional upsets stick with the 3s.

"We are not getting a consistent flow of 4 and 5 stars." Well maybe that should be the goal so talk about Sweet 16s and Final 4s are not crazy anymore. I do not think its living in the past to see that the top teams every year (albeit few exceptions) have 4s and 5s. They just reload and reload. More to the NBA each year until it has become a factory. Xavier and Creighton are good, but they are not great. I and many others would like to see us try to be great. Its a process, but you cannot just settle. Xavier and Creighton are short term goals, but there is no reason why the longer game cannot be to shoot for Kentucky and Duke level production or to at least be worthy of being on the same court with them. We may never fully get there, but at least lets try especially here in NY and send more to the pros in the process. Lets be finalists and nab some 5s from time to time.

And Big East not what it once was? Nova just won 2 chips in recent memory and Georgetown and SHU are getting better. Providence will be back up soon. The conference has gotten strong.

And the thing that LJ and Heron have in common who are your two major examples- 4 stars that were highly touted. We are not going to the next level with 3s, if you want mediocrity and occasional upsets stick with the 3s.

With Kentucky and Duke level of expectations CMA will be gone in 4-5 years.  LOL

Like I said 3 & 4 star talent that will stick around to become upperclassmen  will get us into the tourney every year with some good deep runs every couple of years.  And who knows, we may have a Butler type Final Four run in us.

I’ve been a SJU fan and New Yorker long enough to understand the context of where SJU stands as a school and brand. We’re not a blue blood and never will be. Nova is the closest thing to Kentucky, Duke, UNC, etc but there’s no school out there that has ever approached the same level of success of the chosen few. To expect SJU to be in that same fraternity is setting yourself up for continued disappointment.

Ok sorry in advance for the long winded rant but here goes...

It's a shame that most of you are missing the point. It's the way this new regime is going about their business that's the most encouraging sign.

The ratings and stars debate is silly. St. John's has no right expecting a certain level of player to come here. This program is in no position to expect that based on the last 15 years of on court results.

What's nice to see is that within a few weeks of getting the job Anderson signs a tough, solid rated point guard with upside. He then puts out offers to a couple of 6'9 and 6'10 kids. Forget the ratings on these kids. It's nice to see him targeting point guards and big men right off the bat.

Look at the big picture. Under the past regime we were in the dark most of the time and most of the time when there was talk about signing this recruit or signing a coach (Mike Rice,etc) it almost never panned out. Adding insult to injury, under the last regime these rumors would linger for not days, not weeks, but MONTHS. I've never seen a high major program live in secrecy the way they did the last 4 years with the rumor mill BS. It got so old and the worst part was it didn't yield any positive results. Some may argue that this past year was a positive but next year was bound to be a disaster again and the old regime wasn't going to implement any sweeping change to avoid this from happening. They were just going to keep doing the same things that they did for 4 years that barely moved this program in the right direction. I'll give them a little credit because that is all they deserve, nothing more.

You can bash these kids that Anderson is going after all you want but at least give the guy a year to see what he's trying to build. Hell we gave CM like 3 years of total leash before putting the pressure on him this past season to produce a solid season.

Anderson is moving fast. Adding players, coaches and targeting recruits. So far to me he's bringing a level of experience and professionalism to this job that I haven't seen here in a very long time. I may be wrong but let's see how it plays out because I think he knows what he's doing.

Kids get "Star Ratings" based on HS performances but what they do with them in college is not guaranteed.  They may have looked great in HS but what was the level of competition; was the player dominant because he was physically significantly different than competition?  It is what they do at the next level because the competition is better.  Are the coachable; are they continuing to develop skills.  Look at 5 star Jahvon Quinerly at Nova and his teammate, 3 star Eric Paschall (as a frosh at Fordham.   The 3 star has turned out better as he developed/was coachable/worked hard. 

I would like to see CMA work with kids he chooses and see what develops--as said above he deserves time to show what he can do with players he believes fit his approach--as all do not.