What exactly has changed?

Again reality check.  By the end of Norm's 3rd year you had multiple transfers (Calhoun, Patterson, Torres), a player fail to qualify (Derwin Kitchen) and then you had him essentially start over with a huge 8 man recruiting class (Cavataio, Horne, Burrell, Thomas etc.) that included another player that failed to initially qualify Rob Thomas.

But again between years 3 and 4 Norm was allowed to start over again.  His 4th year they went 11-19 (5-13).  Thru 4 years Norm had a BE record of 19-47 (no missed years because of Cancer that I can remember), had not recruited 1 kid that would make an BE All-Rookie team let alone back to back BE ROY awards and was given a rolling extension after year 4.

Lavs is not starting over in his 4th year, not even close.  The pieces are here to do well.  There is not a huge recruiting class coming in because the pices are here already.  If things were the same Lavin would have gone after Jon Severe like Norm offered Mike Cavataio who would transfer the following year.

^^ other than that, nothing's changed. 

Quote from: Poison on March 15, 2013, 01:05:28 PM

One difference between Norm and Lavin in year 4, (provided EVERYONE RETURNS) is that we'll be in position to make a jump towards the top of the conference, because we'll have experienced players.
When Norm had upperclassmen his teams were only marginally better.

Did any players improve from last year and during this year?

Yes. Pointer and Greene have improved. I think Garrett regressed, and Harrison, unfortunately, gets an incomplete.

When Norm went from DJ's freshman class to his soph class, very few players actually improved enough to play well in the conference. DJ got better. Evans improved, but his numbers were inflated due to strong games against teams like LIU and St.Francis. Burrell regressed. Boothe was the same. Coker was the same.
Horne improved quite a bit.

Only DJ and Horne were BE ready.

Jones is a basketball player. He has good instincts, knows where he's supposed to be, rebounds, and has a soft touch on his shots.

This separates him from some of his teammates and I for one think he has what it takes to become an important part of this team.

Good points by Fordham.   Especially about us not having to start over In year 4.  We're building. 
But again, Norm should never be the point of comparison. 

Good points by Fordham.   Especially about us not having to start over In year 4.  We're building. 
But again, Norm should never be the point of comparison.

Agreed but I didn't make this thread someone else did.

The thread itself is silly.

Quote from: desco80 on March 15, 2013, 01:49:11 PM

Good points by Fordham.   Especially about us not having to start over In year 4.  We're building. 
But again, Norm should never be the point of comparison.

Agreed but I didn't make this thread someone else did.

The thread itself is silly.

Any way you look at it, the team still sucks and we have to watch other teams play meaningful games in March. Norm and Lavin still have that in common

Again reality check. 

[...]

no missed years because of Cancer that I can remember

1. How much of a reality check is it comparing Norm and Lavin. Other than Macaroni Bozo and Bobre nobody makes that comparison.

2. Enough with the cancer card already. We get it. Not the disease, but that he had it. Boeheim had it. Calhoun had it. Ditchdiggers get it. If it's a tragedy then stop exploiting it. If it's not, stop mentioning it. At least stop CAPITALIZING it over and over. It's very, just, I don't know, distasteful. And that's coming from a sociopath.

3. What's changed is that we're no longer a laughingstock. Now we just stink. Onward and upward.

Jones is a basketball player. He has good instincts, knows where he's supposed to be, rebounds, and has a soft touch on his shots.

This separates him from some of his teammates and I for one think he has what it takes to become an important part of this team.

I like jones a lot and agree he is more of a l
"basketball player" than some on the team, however rebounding is not something I would say he does well. He showed me a ton in that Marquette game and nada couple of nice plays against nova. I really hope he doesn't leave because him as an upperclassmen could be scary. If gift stays, and of Christian is willing to do so, redshirting him next year wouldn't be a bad idea at all. JaKarr and Sanchez won't e off the floor for too long.

Quote from: fordham96 on March 15, 2013, 01:50:44 PM

Quote from: desco80 on March 15, 2013, 01:49:11 PM

Good points by Fordham.   Especially about us not having to start over In year 4.  We're building. 
But again, Norm should never be the point of comparison.

Agreed but I didn't make this thread someone else did.

The thread itself is silly.

Any way you look at it, the team still sucks and we have to watch other teams play meaningful games in March. Norm and Lavin still have that in common

Baldi in fairness, Lavin got us into the NCAAs in year one, and even this year -  which was a disappointment - he still won more conference games than Norm ever did. 

I expected more, but were not that far off.    Still frustrating though. 

I think a more appropriate comparison is Jay Wright. That's who we should hope Lavin becomes.

Quote from: fordham96 on March 15, 2013, 01:41:55 PM

Again reality check. 

[...]

no missed years because of Cancer that I can remember

1. How much of a reality check is it comparing Norm and Lavin. Other than Macaroni Bozo and Bobre nobody makes that comparison.

2. Enough with the cancer card already. We get it.3. What's changed is that we're no longer a laughingstock. Now we just stink. Onward and upward.

No you don't get it, it set the program back a year and secondly if we stink then why do care so much to post when you spent all that time laughing at people who did nothing but criticize Norm when the program was a laughingstock.

I think a more appropriate comparison is Jay Wright. That's who we should hope Lavin becomes.

Boom.  The smartest thing you posted and the closest analogy.  BTW-I think we are poised to do even better then what Nova has done under Wright and I think Wright has done a heckuva of a job.

Let's look at Wright.  First year he goes 9-7 with Lappas' leftovers and nearly gets them in the NCAA's.  Then he recruits a widely acclaimed class of Foye, Raye, Sumpter and Jason Fraser.  Over the next two years he would add guys like Nardi and Lowery.  But the next two years only included 2 more NIT years. 

Included in that was a 3rd year in which there was a scandal involving rolling supsension of players because they were caught in a phone card incident on campus.  The rolling suspensions were due to the fact that if they were all suspended at once Villanova could NOT FIELD A TEAM.  He goes 16-16 that 3rd year to the NIT.

Think they were upset they fired/pushed out Lappas?  Lappas had far more success at Nova then Norm did at SJU.  Looking back now NO.  It may not have gone perfectly smoothly but Jay got Nova back to being relevent again.

Jay is a good recruiter but the reason I think Lavin is in a position to do even better is I think Lavin has more connections nationally. 

I think a more appropriate comparison is Jay Wright. That's who we should hope Lavin becomes.

Maybe Lavin wants to be Wright too. That would explain why he called that time out for him.

Quote from: Poison on March 15, 2013, 02:03:45 PM

I think a more appropriate comparison is Jay Wright. That's who we should hope Lavin becomes.

Maybe Lavin wants to be Wright too. That would explain why he called that time out for him.

No he called that timeout because John Calamari called him and told him to do it.  He figures if SJU didn't hire him like they were supposed to that hje might as well contribute to their demise now.

If Jones is such a good player, wtf is he doing on the bench?

No you don't get it, it set the program back a year and secondly if we stink then why do care so much to post when you spent all that time laughing at people who did nothing but criticize Norm when the program was a laughingstock.

No, I get it, Lavin had cancer and missed a year. I just think it's weird that you mention it more than he does.

I'll answer your other question if you rephrase it in something other than English as a second language. Talke a deep breath and try typing it again, this time without sputtering.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on March 15, 2013, 01:59:07 PM

Quote from: fordham96 on March 15, 2013, 01:50:44 PM

Quote from: desco80 on March 15, 2013, 01:49:11 PM

Good points by Fordham.   Especially about us not having to start over In year 4.  We're building. 
But again, Norm should never be the point of comparison.

Agreed but I didn't make this thread someone else did.

The thread itself is silly.

Any way you look at it, the team still sucks and we have to watch other teams play meaningful games in March. Norm and Lavin still have that in common

Baldi in fairness, Lavin got us into the NCAAs in year one, and even this year -  which was a disappointment - he still won more conference games than Norm ever did. 

I expected more, but were not that far off.    Still frustrating though. 

Got to NCAA with Norms players and Dunlap running the show.

They should destroy St. John's basketball. Seriously some of yall are really bugging.

They should destroy St. John's basketball. Seriously some of yall are really bugging.

Been there done that