Malik Stith Withdraws From Basketball Team, Will Remain As Student Assistant

 It is interesting to read all of these posts and see how certain people spin everything positive , while others go out of their way to spin everything negative.

 This season has been a disappointment for me, not on the court though.  I wasn't expecting much more than a .500 record.  With the loss of personnel and the non- qualifiers, I have become a bit dismayed though.  My biggest concern is for the kids still here and how they are feeling.  This is something that none of us are really privy to, except for a select few.

The best we can hope for now is that we snap up some good recruits in the NEAR future to get some positive press and the recent stink off the program. Bottom  line is i have faith in this staff.  These are not your normal circumstances.  Replacing a whole roster and having your coach get cancer at the same time.  I will personally wait till the spring signing period is over before blaming anyone for the lack of talent, players, and crap program. 

 No matter where you stand on this staff, we are leagues beyond where we were a few short years ago.  This sucks now, but so did the Giants at one point this season.   Keep the faith.  If you want to jump ship, go right ahead.  You won't be missed.  I mean, why come on a message board to just spew negativity constantly? Sorry for the rant...needed to vent.




This is a fair assesment. The off the court stuff has been alarming. If Lavin is healthy and comes back I have faith that he can get it straightened out. The problem is Lavin coming back is a question until he actually you know comes back. There really is no way to spin all the off the court stuff. Again I have faith in Lavin as opposed to the former coach. Unfortunately there are question marks surrounding coach.

As far as positives Harkless and Harrison are as good or better than advertised. Pointer and Garret and maybe Greene could develop into solid players on a good team. Those five will need help however and at the moment more people are leaving then coming in.

  It is interesting to read all of these posts and see how certain people spin everything positive , while others go out of their way to spin everything negative.

 This season has been a disappointment for me, not on the court though.  I wasn't expecting much more than a .500 record.  With the loss of personnel and the non- qualifiers, I have become a bit dismayed though.  My biggest concern is for the kids still here and how they are feeling.  This is something that none of us are really privy to, except for a select few.

The best we can hope for now is that we snap up some good recruits in the NEAR future to get some positive press and the recent stink off the program. Bottom  line is i have faith in this staff.  These are not your normal circumstances.  Replacing a whole roster and having your coach get cancer at the same time.  I will personally wait till the spring signing period is over before blaming anyone for the lack of talent, players, and crap program. 

 No matter where you stand on this staff, we are leagues beyond where we were a few short years ago.  This sucks now, but so did the Giants at one point this season.   Keep the faith.  If you want to jump ship, go right ahead.  You won't be missed.  I mean, why come on a message board to just spew negativity constantly? Sorry for the rant...needed to vent.

+1

It's unfortunate for Stith that he wasn't able to crack the rotation for significant minutes. However, the truth is that Lavin told Stith from the first time they met that it was probably in his best interest to transfer if he had an interest in getting solid playing time. Stith decided to stay.

I can't see how this affects the performance of this years team because he didn't play that much. The only negative I see is why did he do it at this point rather than at the end of the season? However, just because he did it at this point in time, I don't think everyone should panic. I think it should be time to panic if it gets late in the spring signing period and we don't sign anyone. Also, let's just say that in the worst case scenario that Lavin does decide he can't coach. I do have faith that the school (or the Alumni who contributed funds recently) will try to find a high level coach to replace him.

Also, let's just say that in the worst case scenario that Lavin does decide he can't coach. I do have faith that the school (or the Alumni who contributed funds recently) will try to find a high level coach to replace him.

I can have faith in a lot of things, but the school spending big bucks on a high caliber coach is not one of them.

Quote from: Johnny4Life on February 10, 2012, 07:08:18 PM

Also, let's just say that in the worst case scenario that Lavin does decide he can't coach. I do have faith that the school (or the Alumni who contributed funds recently) will try to find a high level coach to replace him.

I can have faith in a lot of things, but the school spending big bucks on a high caliber coach is not one of them.

Lavin is big bucks. No?

Quote from: Johnny4Life on February 10, 2012, 07:08:18 PM

Also, let's just say that in the worst case scenario that Lavin does decide he can't coach. I do have faith that the school (or the Alumni who contributed funds recently) will try to find a high level coach to replace him.

I can have faith in a lot of things, but the school spending big bucks on a high caliber coach is not one of them.

  Do you mean, in case he doesn't come back?  I'm confused.  Didn't the school just shell out some major $$$ for the current staff?

It is interesting to read all of these posts and see how certain people spin everything positive , while others go out of their way to spin everything negative.

 This season has been a disappointment for me, not on the court though.  I wasn't expecting much more than a .500 record.  With the loss of personnel and the non- qualifiers, I have become a bit dismayed though.  My biggest concern is for the kids still here and how they are feeling.  This is something that none of us are really privy to, except for a select few.

The best we can hope for now is that we snap up some good recruits in the NEAR future to get some positive press and the recent stink off the program. Bottom  line is i have faith in this staff.  These are not your normal circumstances.  Replacing a whole roster and having your coach get cancer at the same time.  I will personally wait till the spring signing period is over before blaming anyone for the lack of talent, players, and crap program. 

 No matter where you stand on this staff, we are leagues beyond where we were a few short years ago.  This sucks now, but so did the Giants at one point this season.   Keep the faith.  If you want to jump ship, go right ahead.  You won't be missed.  I mean, why come on a message board to just spew negativity constantly? Sorry for the rant...needed to vent.




This is a fair assesment. The off the court stuff has been alarming. If Lavin is healthy and comes back I have faith that he can get it straightened out. The problem is Lavin coming back is a question until he actually you know comes back. There really is no way to spin all the off the court stuff. Again I have faith in Lavin as opposed to the former coach. Unfortunately there are question marks surrounding coach.

As far as positives Harkless and Harrison are as good or better than advertised. Pointer and Garret and maybe Greene could develop into solid players on a good team. Those five will need help however and at the moment more people are leaving then coming in.

Good post, but as you mentioned we dont know how all this is affecting the players. Lavin will add to this group but hopefully no one else will leave. We have been fortunate that we havnt lost any key pieces that will affect us next year except for the nonqualifiers.

Just a hunch, but I think Stith realized that he wasn't going get hardly any playing time this year or next year with Greene's improving play and Branch being able to play next year?

He knew that last year, Lavin told him. Many posters put Stith down but I liked him. I thaught he had a good work ethic. I also liked how the other players called him Pops and how he tried to pass on to them some things he learned from his experiences. I m dissapointed in him and feel he needed a better reason to depart midseason w such a thin roster.

Quote from: carmineabbatiello on February 10, 2012, 02:13:52 AM

Quote from: Marillac on February 09, 2012, 09:19:36 AM

We lost our two worst players.  It's not like Harrison, Moe, or Greene left us.

Nuri was not one of our two worst players.  In fact,  in some games of the 9 total he looked like our best.  In others he looked like our second best.

This post is so assanine...so infuriating...I just feel like punching a wall.  Nuri shot ZERO effing % from three (26 ATTEMPTS including scrimmages)...he shot FT's like he wa a 7'4 360 tribesman that was just shown a basketball for the first time...I've never seen a kid get his shot blocked so much...I've never seen a kid with such an inability to adjust to being called for charge after charge after charge...his defense was disgusting--I don't care what anyone says...and he still averaged 3.2 fouls per game!  Why? Because he was called for so many effing chafrges.  When coaches got this kid on tape, it was over.  Tell your bigs to plant their feet and let this idiot run into you withreckless abandon...if he get by you block his shot.  You cant get away with reckless drives at this level of basketball...this isn't high school.

Where did Nuri end up?  RIDER.  He was passed over by every single Big 10, SEC, ACC, PAC-10, Big East, A-10, and Big 12 school.  Harrison and Harkless were just named two of the top 10 freshman in the country by CBS.  What do you think would happen if Garret, Pointer, Green or even GG left?  They would be highly sought after and would surely end up at a school better than RIDER. 

Was Nuri our best player or second best player at Detriot when he scored 4 points and had SEVEN turnovers and zero assists?  Was he our best or second best player when he had 1 pt, 1 assist, FIVE turnovers and FIVE fouls against Kentucky in just 20 minutes?

This kid lost his job to Green and he bolted.  Stith was getting embarassed by Greene and Branch in practice...he bolted.  Big deal.

Let me start off by saying that I was just an indifferent Nuri watcher while he was here for his cup of coffee, and liked him no more or less than all our other scholarship players not named Moe Harkless.  Now that he's left us in the lurch,  you could qualify me as a bonified Nuri hater.

If you fine sift through your overly emotional and dramatic Nuri hating rabble,  you do have a couple of valid points which I can agree with:

1) Nuri's game had flaws - He was was reluctant to take and showed an inablility to make outside shots; Didn't shoot well from the line.  Particularly in one game very late; He was called for frequent offensive fouls; I don't recall his defensive being standout bad but I might have missed that; And let me add my own.  He was too selfish with the ball for a point.

2) D'lo and Phil's development has most likely been accelerated by him leaving.

But to say he was one of our worst two players is ridiculous.

Against W and M he lead the team in scoring with 19 points on 8 for 12 shooting, had 5 steals and 4 assists with only 1 turnover.  He was clearly our best player that night.  Just as my assanine post states.

Against UMBC he was one assist away from a triple double.  Who was the last Johnny to accomplish that?  Beta World B Free Peace?  Did Chris, Walter and Mark ever have one?  He was clearly our best player that night.  Just as my assanine post states.

Against Arizona he lead the team in scoring with 18 points.  Second best player that night?  Just as my assanine post states.

Against Northeastern he was the second highest scorer with 16 points.  Second best player that night?  Just as my assanine post states.

What's that you say?  He didn't do it against top competetion.  Well this team was life and death to beat powerhouses Lehigh and Texas Pan Am.  This team needed all hands on deck to squeek by our out of conference schedule and Nuri's contribution was invaluable.

I know in your parralel universe you probably judge the relative merit of players based on how many flagrant fouls they commit, or how they wear there socks,  or how many times they inbound the ball. 

But here in the real (Dave's) world.  Players are often/commonly judged by how many points they score.  And the guy that scores the most points, is never described (except by you) as one of your bottom two. 

Nuri's biggest flaw is his character. That said, there are serious holes in his game. And it's completely obvious as to what they are.

Nuri's game had flaws but he also had some skills.  He was terrific at getting by his man and getting to the basket.  The problem is that Nuri wanted to be what D'angelo has become---without making the sacrifices.  Nuri wanted to be the go-to offensive option instead of being a distributor.  Without a true pg, Nuri was asked to play that role.  He didn't want to. 

After Nuri left, D'angelo was asked to play the point to a greater extent, and he did so willingly.  Fortunately, Phil is now becoming a better pg.  In the Georgetown game, i noticed that he has a much better command of running the point than he did earlier in the season.  He and Jamal Branch will be an excellend tandem at pg for us next year.