Xavier @ MSG

Yes your data suggests that we are terrible...in wins v losses your are correct...my question to you is, do you really think we are as bad as our record suggests? I won’t dispute our record, if that is the only indicator you use, but I have watched every game this year, and in my opinion they are far from a terrible team...

I didn't use wins and losses as "the only indicator," I didn't even mention wins and losses. I used a bunch of other indicators, all of which suggest they're awful. And no I don't think "we are as bad as our record suggests," I think we're worse, because we played one of the weakest OOC schedules in the country - the only way they could have lost some of those games would have been if a bomb went off in the locker room at half time.

If I had mentioned wins and losses I'd ask: if they're 3-9 and far from terrible, what would their record have to be for them to actually be terrible, remembering that you can't win a negative number of games.

The half court offense stinks. The half court defense stinks. The press doesn't fool too many people. The only players who looks to have improved over the course of the year are Earlington and maybe Champagnie. The rest of them have regressed and some significantly. My glass is half empty, of bile.

I didn't use wins and losses as "the only indicator," I didn't even mention wins and losses. I used a bunch of other indicators, all of which suggest they're awful. And no I don't think "we are as bad as our record suggests," I think we're worse, because we played one of the weakest OOC schedules in the country - the only way they could have lost some of those games would have been if a bomb went off in the locker room at half time.

If I had mentioned wins and losses I'd ask: if they're 3-9 and far from terrible, what would their record have to be for them to actually be terrible, remembering that you can't win a negative number of games.

The half court offense stinks. The half court defense stinks. The press doesn't fool too many people. The only players who looks to have improved over the course of the year are Earlington and maybe Champagnie. The rest of them have regressed and some significantly. My glass is half empty, of bile.

Yes I know your glass is half empty, that is easy to tell....of what is your choice...you make many good point about our difficulties this year, but what I have not heard from you is what good things are going on...(and please don’t use Earlington and Champagnie as your martyrs)
The fact is that we have played way better the majority of the season then our 3-10 record...if you don’t think the addition of the recruits we have coming in will solidify our team, then all the respect I have garnered for your “weird” but sometimes correct statements will be lost...you seem to lack the ability to see the positive in what I agree has been a lousy season record wise....take a shot of Smirnoff and come back to the good side brother....

I didn't use wins and losses as "the only indicator," I didn't even mention wins and losses. I used a bunch of other indicators, all of which suggest they're awful. And no I don't think "we are as bad as our record suggests," I think we're worse, because we played one of the weakest OOC schedules in the country - the only way they could have lost some of those games would have been if a bomb went off in the locker room at half time.

If I had mentioned wins and losses I'd ask: if they're 3-9 and far from terrible, what would their record have to be for them to actually be terrible, remembering that you can't win a negative number of games.

The half court offense stinks. The half court defense stinks. The press doesn't fool too many people. The only players who looks to have improved over the course of the year are Earlington and maybe Champagnie. The rest of them have regressed and some significantly. My glass is half empty, of bile.

Where was all this expert analysis the last 4 years? Now you just sound like a butt hurt loser. Thanks for explaining that they are awful, we didn’t know.

Dunn is far from clutch.  I cringe in the last minutes when I spot his number on the floor.  If your guard misses the front end of a one and one in the clutch...it's no different than losing the dribble at the end of a game.  You really want Dunn out there?

When you're need to go fullcourt with around 10 seconds left, you need someone who can get it up quick, and a driver.  Dunn is the only guy we have who can fit that criteria (maybe Rutherford can drive, but I have no confidence in him creating anything offensively, last night aside).

Dunn can be frustrating, but with Heron gone, we had no better options, IMO.

When you're need to go fullcourt with around 10 seconds left, you need someone who can get it up quick, and a driver.  Dunn is the only guy we have who can fit that criteria (maybe Rutherford can drive, but I have no confidence in him creating anything offensively, last night aside).

Dunn can be frustrating, but with Heron gone, we had no better options, IMO.

We lose with or without Dunn.  He's no difference maker...that's the sad part.

Thrilled with Earlington’s progress. Funny how fluid he looks with the ball compared to how goofy he looks running back after baskets.

With this being a lost season, would like to see Williams get more chances with the ball in his hands. Having him as a aux ball handler is critical to potential success next year, IMO.

Lastly, I know caraher gets dumped on a lot but thought he played ok overall yesterday. Fought for rebounds, played good team defense and didn’t do anything dumb on offense. He isn’t great at on ball D and has no moves on offense but I’d like to see him get some set shots moving forward.

It’s a shame we have no capability to create offense in the last few minutes. We had one made basket in the last 6:30 and it came off a turnover-runout.

Thrilled with Earlington’s progress. Funny how fluid he looks with the ball compared to how goofy he looks running back after baskets.

With this being a lost season, would like to see Williams get more chances with the ball in his hands. Having him as a aux ball handler is critical to potential success next year, IMO.

Lastly, I know caraher gets dumped on a lot but thought he played ok overall yesterday. Fought for rebounds, played good team defense and didn’t do anything dumb on offense. He isn’t great at on ball D and has no moves on offense but I’d like to see him get some set shots moving forward.

It’s a shame we have no capability to create offense in the last few minutes. We had one made basket in the last 6:30 and it came off a turnover-runout.

Caraher plays his ass off. But He is a complete liability out there. Earlington also plays his ass off. Rutherford was an absolute beast at times yesterday. Those guys give everything they have. Tough to win in the big east with players that limited.

take a shot of Smirnoff and come back to the good side brother....

This oughta be good.

Lastly, I know caraher gets dumped on a lot but thought he played ok overall yesterday.

Wow. 16 pts off the bench on 67% from the field; 50% from 3 and 75% from the line. 5 rebounds; 3 steals; 7 assists and zero turnovers. He was Costco.

You're a tough grader.

frustrating last few minutes.  It would be nice to win one of these close conference games at some point.
earlington continuing to impress. next year's core of earlington, williams, champagnie, and dunn all played ok, but rutherford really turned it on.  LJ was a killer just taking a bunch of bad shots. defense didn't have an answer for xavier's big bodies down low but limited the damage from 3.

Mike has to take the hit on a couple of these losses.....

Bite your tongue! Your timing is off.

I'll help you out since I see you're new here with only 63 posts. The LAST coach was the bad one. The worst ever to coach east of the Mississippi and the worst ever in the world to qualify for the Ncaa tournament.

THIS coach is the good one. He builds culture. He teaches shot selection. He expertly coaches his team of the worst basketball players known to man to late leads in games only to watch his players lose the game late because of their own incompetence. He can do no wrong. "See what good coaching can do?" Just sit back, enjoy and watch us soar.

Wow. 16 pts off the bench on 67% from the field; 50% from 3 and 75% from the line. 5 rebounds; 3 steals; 7 assists and zero turnovers. He was Costco.

You're a tough grader.

Wat? Caraher?

Wat? Caraher?

He’s clueless

Wat? Caraher?

My bad. I somehow confused Caraher with Rutherford since they look so much alike. I need to start drinking less...or more.

what I have not heard from you is what good things are going on

What good things are going on, like you mean the hors d'oeuvres on the Titanic were delicious sort of thing? Should I write an essay about what a nice tie collection Coach Home Run has? Or about his nifty soul patch? What good things are going on are you even talking about? Stuff that might happen next year? Ephemeral cultures that are being developed and various other intangibles? I'll get right on that. And in the meantime you can write an essay about what's good about ninth place.

...(and please don’t use Earlington and Champagnie as your martyrs)

(A) I don't even know what that means and (B) Earlington is my favorite player and before the season started I predicted that he'd be doing this year exactly what he's doing (eye opening is the phrase I think I used) so it's unlikely I'd martyr him. To the contrary, thank goodness he had a year to work on his game with Mitch Richmond, it's really paying dividends. Where would we be without him. Would you believe that when he was signed there were a boatload of people speaking of the Titanic who called it a wasted scholarship? I knew it wasn't and I'd never even heard of him. I just trusted Matt Abdulwhatever, who'd already recruited the best starting five in the Big East, as a keen judge of talent. Champagnie has been a pleasant surprise and looks like an excellent four year player - he reminds me of Kyle Cuffe, except with a functioning frontal lobe -  so I don't want to murder him either.

The fact is that we have played way better the majority of the season then our 3-10 record...

Yes, we're not what are record says we are and we're nearly at .500 if you count moral victories as actual wins, all of which is going to garner us a nice seed in the pantomime NIT. This year the finals will be played at Alice in Wonderland Arena. I've already made reservations. Maybe we can get together for a cocktail.

if you don’t think the addition of the recruits we have coming in will solidify our team, then all the respect I have garnered for your “weird” but sometimes correct statements will be lost

I don't know anything about any incoming recruits and moreover don't care. Recruiting is boring. I take no solace in the fact that next year's team might be better than this year's team: this year is just another lost season. If you were eating a shit sandwich would it be more palatable if you believed your next meal would be steak? (And next year isn't going to be steak BTW, it's going to be a delicious shit souffle.) Or would it taste exactly like excrement. If that hot take's unsatisfactory I'll try and muddle through without your newly garnered respect. 

...you seem to lack the ability to see the positive in what I agree has been a lousy season record wise....take a shot of Smirnoff and come back to the good side brother....

Yeah, we're not brothers and not being a philistine I don't drink Smirnoff and I don't lack the ability to see the positive I just think seeing it's a waste of good pessimism and that people who insist on looking at the brighter side of life through their rose colored glasses only do so because they're scared to stare into the void. Whereas the void's my meat.

Anderson isn’t a genius. His philosophy of playing with maximum effort and tough in your face defense is the difference.

Wasn't that Norm's philosophy? Wasn't he always prattling on about toughness and fighting through adversity and so on? How'd that work out? Pretty good I guess huh?

This is sports.

Well why didn't you say that earlier. This is sports, that explains everything. And here all this time I thought it was knitting. Thanks for clearing things up.

<remainder hosed>

What good things are going on, like you mean the hors d'oeuvres on the Titanic were delicious sort of thing? Should I write an essay about what a nice tie collection Coach Home Run has? Or about his nifty soul patch? What good things are going on are you even talking about? Stuff that might happen next year? Ephemeral cultures that are being developed and various other intangibles? I'll get right on that. And in the meantime you can write an essay about what's good about ninth place.

(A) I don't even know what that means and (B) Earlington is my favorite player and before the season started I predicted that he'd be doing this year exactly what he's doing (eye opening is the phrase I think I used) so it's unlikely I'd martyr him. To the contrary, thank goodness he had a year to work on his game with Mitch Richmond, it's really paying dividends. Where would we be without him. Would you believe that when he was signed there were a boatload of people speaking of the Titanic who called it a wasted scholarship? I knew it wasn't and I'd never even heard of him. I just trusted Matt Abdulwhatever, who'd already recruited the best starting five in the Big East, as a keen judge of talent. Champagnie has been a pleasant surprise and looks like an excellent four year player - he reminds me of Kyle Cuffe, except with a functioning frontal lobe -  so I don't want to murder him either.


Yes, we're not what are record says we are and we're nearly at .500 if you count moral victories as actual wins, all of which is going to garner us a nice seed in the pantomime NIT. This year the finals will be played at Alice in Wonderland Arena. I've already made reservations. Maybe we can get together for a cocktail.


I don't know anything about any incoming recruits and moreover don't care. Recruiting is boring. I take no solace in the fact that next year's team might be better than this year's team: this year is just another lost season. If you were eating a shit sandwich would it be more palatable if you believed your next meal would be steak? (And next year isn't going to be steak BTW, it's going to be a delicious shit souffle.) Or would it taste exactly like excrement. If that hot take's unsatisfactory I'll try and muddle through without your newly garnered respect. 

Yeah, we're not brothers and not being a philistine I don't drink Smirnoff and I don't lack the ability to see the positive I just think seeing it's a waste of good pessimism and that people who insist on looking at the brighter side of life through their rose colored glasses only do so because they're scared to stare into the void. Whereas the void's my meat.

Well thanks for all of your well thought out responses....I agree with some and others I still think just come from a place of negativity....maybe a cocktail at the Big East Tournament....see ya on that Wednesday!!!

Wasn't that Norm's philosophy? Wasn't he always prattling on about toughness and fighting through adversity and so on? How'd that work out? Pretty good I guess huh?

If Anderson is... let’s just say 4-14 after his 3rd year then I will eat crow. Until then as Zack tweeted:

“This St. John's season was simple to me: Lay the foundation, set the standard of work ethic and discipline. That has been done. Sure, you want more wins, but this is also the best new Big East has been. if you can't see positives, you're refusing to see them. #sjubb”

If Anderson is... let’s just say 4-14 after his 3rd year then I will eat crow. Until then as Zack tweeted:

“This St. John's season was simple to me: Lay the foundation, set the standard of work ethic and discipline. That has been done. Sure, you want more wins, but this is also the best new Big East has been. if you can't see positives, you're refusing to see them. #sjubb”

Refusing to see them or butt hurt

if you can't see positives, you're refusing to see them. #sjubb”

That sentence has just as much merit if you replace the word positives with negatives.