In all honesty...

For the sake of the thread, lets put aside any animosty towards Norm.

Ok well moving forward in St Johns basketball can we admitt that with this recruiting class progress is being made. Now time to weigh the good with the ugly:

Last year Ty was forced to play at the 1, which was not his position, ty is a natural 2. obviously this was a recipe for disaster. especially after boothe got injured. now with boothe healthy and stith coming in, we do have added depth. having said that, stith might be a decent spark off the bench but he will not be an instant program changer his freshman year.

Not sure how hardy is on defense but its safe to say this man can score...averaging 39 his senior year at JFK. Obviously sju can use all the scorers it can get. Omari also a pretty good scorer and defender at his position.

With the latest JUCO signing of justin we also have added depth at the 3/4 which is definetly needed.

Factor in all these with our top scorer in Mase coming back and the rest of our starters.

Also, definitly watch out for Rob Thomas next season. We all saw flashes of his potential towards the end of last season. Watch him come in and be a major factor for st johns. I have personally witnessed him in practice after the season ended and he continues to impress me. Hopefully his hard work in practice will transfer over to games next season.

So what are everyones thoughts?

last year's class was probably the worst class in st john's history. even for norm, there was nowhere to go but up...

we still missed out on basically every top prospect, outside of omari (credit goes to cross a lot more than norm), we targeted.  No Lance, No Scott, No Parrom, No Jennings, No Willliams...

i just can't be optimistic about this program until norm is fired.  he can't coach, he can't recruit, hell i've even heard he's grown an ego...

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

Some cant seem to keep him out of every sentence. Wont be long before his name comes up in the "Best Rapper Alive" thread

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

how can someone not? he has everything to do with this program and recruiting.

Quote from: bball_fan on May 15, 2009, 05:33:02 PM

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

how can someone not? he has everything to do with this program and recruiting.

But you gave credit to Oz Cross for geting Omari. Which is it?

i know he has everything to do with this program and recruiting. we discuss him enough in other threads, thats not what i want to discuss in this one. i want to talk about the group of student athletes and see everyones opinion on how theyll function as a team next year...in a weaker big east. in my humble opinion i feel sju will get some big wins next year.

Quote from: Classof2013 on May 15, 2009, 05:44:37 PM

Quote from: bball_fan on May 15, 2009, 05:33:02 PM

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

how can someone not? he has everything to do with this program and recruiting.

But you gave credit to Oz Cross for geting Omari. Which is it?

cross deserves the majority of the credit.  if it wasn't for him, omari wouldn't be suiting up for us. norm deserves some credit for closing the deal, but it was really cross who got us him.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2008/02/25/2008-02-25_highpressure_storm_norm_roberts_feels_he.html?page=1

"A game like that makes it hard to consider them," Lawrence said. "They didn't stay energetic. They got stagnant. Maybe it's just too early in the process for things to be different. I want to produce and play and win on a high stage. They are on a high stage, but don't win."

what was teh diff btwn then and now? cross...

B-Ball fan, I respect you asking a basketball-only question.  Norm's going to sneak his way into the thread no matter what.  But Classof2013, his question wasn't about your optimism about the program - few people can be optimistic about the coming roster apocalypse - but about basketball. 

This is a team, love them or not, that returns all of their minutes.  Personally, I don't think they have a high ceiling, and the future is stormy (so to speak) but basketball teams tend to improve when they return the whole squad for another go-'round.  That's what this thread can be about - what does that mean?  Some people will have fantasies of players making big leaps, some will take a look at the status quo sans 38 minutes per game of Horne/ Boothe/ Kennedy.  What will happen to Justin?  Will Evans take a step back?  Does Rob Thomas have more athleticism in him?  & cetera.

19 wins, 8th in big east, NIT team.

19 wins, 8th in big east, NIT team.

I agree with this.

I agree with 19 wins or so, and around 9th or 10th in the Big East and an NIT appearance.

Ty was playing out of position because he isn't cut out for this level of basketball.

Evans, Kennedy and Horne kept us out of the cellar last season.
They need to continue to improve and all of the new guys have to help immediately.

Norm Roberts lack of recruiting impact players is a larger reason why he fails than his in game coaching. In order to finally be good again, Roberts has got to find his Marcus Hatten.

 

19 wins really? you guys have them higher than me. Whats the big east record?

i go with 17 wins. no NIT.

An NIT appearance is definetly possible.

Depends on the schedule.  I have a hard time believing the team even has a good showing in the Philly classic but I could be wrong.  Playing Georgia might be  benefit to them - the Bulldogs are weak.  I could see 18-19 wins as well, especially based on the slop they like to schedule out of conference.  Besides the Philly Classic, Duke, and Georgia, I expect a steady diet of teams worse than LIU.  Hell, LIU might be tough next year.

I say NIT is iffy simply because a lot of other mediocre teams will have better schedules, if they whip out some 300-RPI squads to practice against at Carnesecca again.

Quote from: bball_fan on May 15, 2009, 05:33:02 PM

lol i was trying to keep norm out of this thread.

the point is to discuss how the team will do basketball wise.

Some cant seem to keep him out of every sentence. Wont be long before his name comes up in the "Best Rapper Alive" thread

It's like trying to talk about World War II without mentioning Hitler. 

Hey, I have one for you Baldi...talk about St. John's lack of ballhandling but don't mention Malik Boothe or Ty.

An NIT appearance is definetly possible.

And that should be considered a success for a head coach in his 6th year?

19 wins really? you guys have them higher than me. Whats the big east record?

Really, OldRed?  I'm pretty sure you have them at about 30 wins and a national title.  By the way, your grammar and spelling as "bball fan" has improved immensely over the course of the past week.  You went from sounding like a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMpsttlXye8&feature=relateded 7 year old to someone who actually has typed before.  Kudos.  It's tough to stay "in persona" for long, isn't it?