It's not the coach

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

 Prepare for the onslaught IsHam...  All points are valid, but coach should have been able to address and correct earlier.. These kids have been here for a while now...  Thanks for '15 update, sounds promising..  again, good luck

So who was responsible for playing Gift and Hooper down the stretch last night despite both of them contributing absolutely 0. Who was responsible for Branch riding the pine the entire 2nd half when he was pretty much our best player in the 1st half? How come the team went to complete 1 on 1 streetball offense the last 5 minutes?

Lavin lacks common sense in substitution patterns. That's not an opinion that's a fact

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

Not the caches fault??  now its on the players??  Who brought in these players Norm?  Your argument would be valid if these issues were for one or even a few of the players but the whole group?  Give it a break Mr. Lavin, we have all heard the excuses before. You barely give Mr. Hooper two minutes a game but rely on him to take the winning shot? Why is it that none of these kids play good interior defense?  Why is it that fundamentals are lacking amongst the entire team?  And please don't compare coaching HS kids with high school All Americans.  I have no doubt that with a different staff, this group would be of championship caliber.  But come on now can we have another round or..............  "We are the youngest team in the country"  "we play the toughest schedule we ever had"  "  We'd like to be undefeated but just wait till February"  oh please, lets break out the gag bags.

Am I the only one who thought Gift played pretty well yesterday? Ok, he didn't blow me away or anything, but he had a couple physical rebounds and a block or two.  I definitely thought he was giving us way more than Obekpa.
 Hooper I would have sat for Branch straight up, did Karr foul out? I know he came out with 4 fouls, and dont think he got back in after that.

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

Playing into an identity, role allocation and consistent lineups leads to better team defense and defensive rotations which improve rebounding.  THAT is on the coaching staff.

This is the same team as last year + a few pieces.  They didn't lose anyone except Amir and yet they're worse than they were last year.  He's had a whole offseason to allocate roles, form an identity and put out consistent lineups in which players know who they'll generally be on the floor with and when they should expect to come in and out. 

They have also had an extra 25 hours or so of practice time and an extra 5 games than 75% of the team in the country because of Europe.

There is no excuse and the culture is set by the coaching staff.

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I have no doubt the coaching staff is working hard towards fixing the team's issues.  However, I can't ignore the elephant in the room.  Obviously, this season has not worked out and SJU will be lucky to make the NIT Tournament.  What about next year?  Are we to expect that the current players are going to take such a great leap forward?  Not to mention, that we don't have any big time recruits coming to join this bunch in 2014-'15.

Ok, so we are onto to the 2015-'16 season with these 5 incoming freshmen.  Due to the fact that Lavin and his coaching staff have been unable to improve the games of current players in 2-3 years, I guess it's unrealistic to think he's going to turn a team with 4 freshmen into something special.  So I guess that season is a wash too.

So who was responsible for playing Gift and Hooper down the stretch last night despite both of them contributing absolutely 0. Who was responsible for Branch riding the pine the entire 2nd half when he was pretty much our best player in the 1st half? How come the team went to complete 1 on 1 streetball offense the last 5 minutes?

Lavin lacks common sense in substitution patterns. That's not an opinion that's a fact

I was on lavins ass last night and im with you that his substitutions make no sense. But saying that gift contributed 0 last night is just as nuts. He played the best interior defense the whole night, he scored a bucket, he blocked a shot, and he took a charge. Did he play perfect? No. Should he get major minutes? No. But if Jakarr continues to be such a liability on defense I will have no problem with him not getting minutes.

Now not playing branch is a whole different story. No reason in hell he should have got the least amount of minutes out of everybody who played. 

Am I the only one who thought Gift played pretty well yesterday? Ok, he didn't blow me away or anything, but he had a couple physical rebounds and a block or two.  I definitely thought he was giving us way more than Obekpa.
 Hooper I would have sat for Branch straight up, did Karr foul out? I know he came out with 4 fouls, and dont think he got back in after that.

no, you're not

If the on court results continue to be poor does anyone really think Lavin will be able to sign multiple high end recruits who will have their pick of the blue blood programs who win and go to the NCAA T every year. I highly doubt it.

Great thing about college sports is that there is always just 1 person to blame, the coach. He plays both the role of GM and coach. It's not like these flawed players just hopped off the Q46 and enrolled in classes. Lavin hand picked them and it appears he didn't do a very good job of assessing their talent.

Prepare for the onslaught IsHam...  All points are valid, but coach should have been able to address and correct earlier.. These kids have been here for a while now...  Thanks for '15 update, sounds promising..  again, good luck

Boo now that everyone else has gone overboard and I am not overacting you will finally be able to see my point. I have posted that no matter what happens the rest of the way, and I think there is real potential for things to get real ugly Lavin should come back next year. With that being said the most aggravating thing to me about Lavin isn't even his shaky coaching it is the ridiculous things he says to back up his shaky coaching. I can deal with shaky coaching, at points this season Lavin has gone off the deep end and then defended it with goofy sayings and hyperbole. It is as if he thinks he is smarter than everyone else when in reality he seems to struggle with the most basic things.

There is no defense for the Gtown lineup. I personally think he was trying to have the announcers say look at Lavin's unique lineup. Since his offense is so bland I think he thinks he has to show his creativity with crazy lineups and rotations.
Also the "so and so is the best at fill in the blank" gets old real quick when you are 0-4. If everyone is the best then clearly the finger gets pointed at the coach.

The other thing he keeps spouting is that ridiculous "we will be a force in February" thing. That is great if they were playing an 82 game season or if the team could at least tread water until February. But the team is sinking and that February thing is a hollow prediction at this point.

Personally I think some of the players are overrated and a lot of the pieces don't fit. This along with Lavin's shaky game coaching doomed the season.

I would like to see Lavin try to keep things simple stop saying ridiculous things until at least we have some success and I think he can turn things around if not this year def next.

Great thing about college sports is that there is always just 1 person to blame, the coach. He plays both the role of GM and coach. It's not like these flawed players just hopped off the Q46 and enrolled in classes. Lavin hand picked them and it appears he didn't do a very good job of assessing their talent.

I will say that the only two players that I am sold on as far as talent is Harrison and Jordan. Jordan I think will be a real force by the next game or two, he even hit a couple jumpers yesterday.

Branch is still an enigma to me, cuz he comes out some games and plays real well (yesterday) but still doesn't see a bump in minutes. Then he will have other games where he looks lost. I kinda think a lot of that has to do with the offensive system and the pieces around him though.

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I don't think your points are as crazy as the rest of the board probably will. Still, Lavin has the team playing with new parts at every turn. That's what Nov/Dec are for. Figure it out.  Lavin did an exceptional job bringing high level talent in from all over the country. BUT, this team has no POV. What kind of offense do they run against the zone? How do they beat it? Norm couldn't beat a zone. I expected a better plan from Coach. He was a Wooden disciple. Why are we trying to beat the zone by dribbling through it? That has never worked for STJ, but since Mahoney took over it's been our plan of attack.

On defense, we play zones, several of them, and at times we play man. Playing zone with 12 players, who are for the most part athletic, physical and particularly quick is maddening. It allowed DePaul to beat us. It gave them the time they needed to run their offense.

Lavin's judgement has been getting progressively worse. I think he's lost Obekpa, and I think it's His fault. I think he should be building his defense around Obekpa's ability to block shots. Instead, he's got Obekpa chasing guards around the perimeter. But that's the thing, be it a 2/3 zone or a man to man, Lavin is trying to find the right recipe for the talent he's recruited. And that's why I have lost faith in him.

What is Lavin's POV? I think it's BS. Seriously, that's where he's consistent. His plan is to BS.

Quote from: goredmen on January 15, 2014, 09:47:03 PM

So who was responsible for playing Gift and Hooper down the stretch last night despite both of them contributing absolutely 0. Who was responsible for Branch riding the pine the entire 2nd half when he was pretty much our best player in the 1st half? How come the team went to complete 1 on 1 streetball offense the last 5 minutes?

Lavin lacks common sense in substitution patterns. That's not an opinion that's a fact

I was on lavins ass last night and im with you that his substitutions make no sense. But saying that gift contributed 0 last night is just as nuts. He played the best interior defense the whole night, he scored a bucket, he blocked a shot, and he took a charge. Did he play perfect? No. Should he get major minutes? No. But if Jakarr continues to be such a liability on defense I will have no problem with him not getting minutes.

Now not playing branch is a whole different story. No reason in hell he should have got the least amount of minutes out of everybody who played. 

I concede the point that Gift was by far our best interior defender last night and did many good things on that end of the court in the 2nd half. However there were several instances late in the 2nd half where they could have made offense/defense substitutions to get Gift off the court on the offensive possessions

Quote from: isham on January 15, 2014, 09:38:50 PM

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I don't think your points are as crazy as the rest of the board probably will. Still, Lavin has the team playing with new parts at every turn. That's what Nov/Dec are for. Figure it out.  Lavin did an exceptional job bringing high level talent in from all over the country. BUT, this team has no POV. What kind of offense do they run against the zone? How do they beat it? Norm couldn't beat a zone. I expected a better plan from Coach. He was a Wooden disciple. Why are we trying to beat the zone by dribbling through it? That has never worked for STJ, but since Mahoney took over it's been our plan of attack.

On defense, we play zones, several of them, and at times we play man. Playing zone with 12 players, who are for the most part athletic, physical and particularly quick is maddening. It allowed DePaul to beat us. It gave them the time they needed to run their offense.

Lavin's judgement has been getting progressively worse. I think he's lost Obekpa, and I think it's Lavin's fault. I think he should be building his defense around Obekpa's ability to block shots. Instead, he's got Obekpa chasing guards around the perimeter. But that's the thing, be it a 2/3 zone or a man to man, Lavin is trying to find the right recipe for the talent he's recruited. And that's why I have lost faith in him.

What is Lavin's POV? I think it's BS. Seriously, that's where he's consistent. His plan is to BS.

The problem with the zone and Obekpa is that it isn't a 2-3 where Obekpa can stay in the lane and protect the rim. Instead it's more of a 1-2-2 where the bottom guys have to go out and defend the corners which is how teams get him to the perimeter.

Also on man it seems that the plan is to switch every ball screen 1-5 which has caused Obekpa and Gift to guard on the perimeter while Greene/Harrison/Branch/Jordan have to guard bigs in the post

I'm sorry, but I like this particular team too much to let Lavin off the hook.   I'm not someone who believes this entire roster is overrated.  I really like most of the guys on our team.  Our team may not be filled with future pros but there is real talent here.   

And if the coaching staff doesn't want to hear people talk about their possible replacements then they should go out and fix this.  I'd be happy to talk about how good a job Lavin is doing ...but he's gotta go out and make that happen.   

A good coach fixes this.  Plain and simple.   Give people a reason to want you back as the coach.m

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2014, 11:43:24 PM

Quote from: isham on January 15, 2014, 09:38:50 PM

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I don't think your points are as crazy as the rest of the board probably will. Still, Lavin has the team playing with new parts at every turn. That's what Nov/Dec are for. Figure it out.  Lavin did an exceptional job bringing high level talent in from all over the country. BUT, this team has no POV. What kind of offense do they run against the zone? How do they beat it? Norm couldn't beat a zone. I expected a better plan from Coach. He was a Wooden disciple. Why are we trying to beat the zone by dribbling through it? That has never worked for STJ, but since Mahoney took over it's been our plan of attack.

On defense, we play zones, several of them, and at times we play man. Playing zone with 12 players, who are for the most part athletic, physical and particularly quick is maddening. It allowed DePaul to beat us. It gave them the time they needed to run their offense.

Lavin's judgement has been getting progressively worse. I think he's lost Obekpa, and I think it's Lavin's fault. I think he should be building his defense around Obekpa's ability to block shots. Instead, he's got Obekpa chasing guards around the perimeter. But that's the thing, be it a 2/3 zone or a man to man, Lavin is trying to find the right recipe for the talent he's recruited. And that's why I have lost faith in him.

What is Lavin's POV? I think it's BS. Seriously, that's where he's consistent. His plan is to BS.

The problem with the zone and Obekpa is that it isn't a 2-3 where Obekpa can stay in the lane and protect the rim. Instead it's more of a 1-2-2 where the bottom guys have to go out and defend the corners which is how teams get him to the perimeter.

Also on man it seems that the plan is to switch every ball screen 1-5 which has caused Obekpa and Gift to guard on the perimeter while Greene/Harrison/Branch/Jordan have to guard bigs in the post

You make good points, but why hasn't Lavin figured out that his players as a whole aren't playing with a high basketball IQ? I've watched Phil Greene on several occasions tell Jakarr that he was playing zone when the rest of the team was playing man, and vice versa. And I'm not exaggerating. This has happened more than once this season.

Our players aren't playing as a team, and that is where Lavin has failed them and us the most. It's time for him to stop blaming them for not adapting to whatever he decides to do on a given day.

If I'm the AD, I sit down with Lavin and I ask him what type of defense would you like to play for the remainder of season? Who is your starting 5, and what are their roles? Who comes off the bench, and what are their roles? Lavin's Montessori crap doesn't fly in NY. This is a city of realists. Not pill popping, sundries tomato eating skim latte pretenders.

Lavin hasn't chosen a POV because he doesn't have one. Why are kids coming here? Because they fell for his sales pitch. I fell for it too. Most of us did. He has no strategy. Nothing on the court that defines his belief system.

I don't think we'll get Shaka Smart unless he wants to live in NY. Some coaches are cultured and NY appeals to them. If we try for him, and fail, I'd consider his top assistent. What kind of defense does VCU play? It's called Havoc, and it's a lot like what STJ used to look like back in the day when our coach had a POV. Lou hated the 3 point line, and he hated players that were only good for chucking, so he didn't seek them out. Agree or disagree, it's a POV.

Quote from: goredmen on January 15, 2014, 11:51:29 PM

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2014, 11:43:24 PM

Quote from: isham on January 15, 2014, 09:38:50 PM

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I don't think your points are as crazy as the rest of the board probably will. Still, Lavin has the team playing with new parts at every turn. That's what Nov/Dec are for. Figure it out.  Lavin did an exceptional job bringing high level talent in from all over the country. BUT, this team has no POV. What kind of offense do they run against the zone? How do they beat it? Norm couldn't beat a zone. I expected a better plan from Coach. He was a Wooden disciple. Why are we trying to beat the zone by dribbling through it? That has never worked for STJ, but since Mahoney took over it's been our plan of attack.

On defense, we play zones, several of them, and at times we play man. Playing zone with 12 players, who are for the most part athletic, physical and particularly quick is maddening. It allowed DePaul to beat us. It gave them the time they needed to run their offense.

Lavin's judgement has been getting progressively worse. I think he's lost Obekpa, and I think it's Lavin's fault. I think he should be building his defense around Obekpa's ability to block shots. Instead, he's got Obekpa chasing guards around the perimeter. But that's the thing, be it a 2/3 zone or a man to man, Lavin is trying to find the right recipe for the talent he's recruited. And that's why I have lost faith in him.

What is Lavin's POV? I think it's BS. Seriously, that's where he's consistent. His plan is to BS.

The problem with the zone and Obekpa is that it isn't a 2-3 where Obekpa can stay in the lane and protect the rim. Instead it's more of a 1-2-2 where the bottom guys have to go out and defend the corners which is how teams get him to the perimeter.

Also on man it seems that the plan is to switch every ball screen 1-5 which has caused Obekpa and Gift to guard on the perimeter while Greene/Harrison/Branch/Jordan have to guard bigs in the post

You make good points, but why hasn't Lavin figured out that his players as a whole aren't playing with a high basketball IQ? I've watched Phil Greene on several occasions tell Jakarr that he was playing zone when the rest of the team was playing man, and vice versa. And I'm not exaggerating. This has happened more than once this season.

Our players aren't playing as a team, and that is where Lavin has failed them and us the most. It's time for him to stop blaming them for not adapting to whatever he decides to do on a given day.

If I'm the AD, I sit down with Lavin and I ask him what type of defense would you like to play for the remainder of season? Who is your starting 5, and what are their roles? Who comes off the bench, and what are their roles? Lavin's Montessori crap doesn't fly in NY. This is a city of realists. Not pill popping, sundries tomato eating skim latte pretenders.

Lavin hasn't chosen a POV because he doesn't have one. Why are kids coming here? Because they fell for his sales pitch. I fell for it too. Most of us did. He has no strategy. Nothing on the court that defines his belief system.

I don't think we'll get Shaka Smart unless he wants to live in NY. Some coaches are cultured and NY appeals to them. If we try for him, and fail, I'd consider his top assistent. What kind of defense does VCU play? It's called Havoc, and it's a lot like what STJ used to look like back in the day when our coach had a POV. Lou hated the 3 point line, and he hated players that were only good for chucking, so he didn't seek them out. Agree or disagree, it's a POV.

I agree. Lavin doesn't play to the team's and player's strengths and there is far too much confusion to think it's just guys with low basketball IQ. Far too often does one guy think its a switch on a screen while the other guy doesn't. And the list goes on and on....

I think Shaka has a specific job in mind and won't leave VCU until that job is available. He doesn't have to leave VCU because he has created a culture of winning there and his stock likely won't drop while he's there. VCU to St. John's isn't a big enough jump for Shaka to take the risk of seeing his stock drop if he struggles or is just average in a watered down big east

Quote from: Poison on January 16, 2014, 12:18:00 AM

Quote from: goredmen on January 15, 2014, 11:51:29 PM

Quote from: Poison on January 15, 2014, 11:43:24 PM

Quote from: isham on January 15, 2014, 09:38:50 PM

The coaching Staff is as frustrated as all the board members who are calling for their dismissal. They realize the problems and address them everyday at practice.

1  Interior defense is poor ( notice who was on the bench at the end of the game last night)

2  Poor defense leads to fouls ( 9 min into the game the other team is in the bonus shortly thereafter +bonus )

3  Poor rebounding (Bootsy Thorton would be the leading rebounding on this team )

4  No team leader

I've coached H S Basketball and sometimes no matter what you do things don't change. Lavin was desperate when he put that lineup out there for the Georgetown game. He was trying to save the season. He's hoping that by Feb he can correct these issues.
If we don't correct these problems the NIT will be a stretch. Support the staff and hopefully they can turn things around
    On the recruiting front we're in good shape for 2015. the staff may bring in as many as 5 new players.

I don't think your points are as crazy as the rest of the board probably will. Still, Lavin has the team playing with new parts at every turn. That's what Nov/Dec are for. Figure it out.  Lavin did an exceptional job bringing high level talent in from all over the country. BUT, this team has no POV. What kind of offense do they run against the zone? How do they beat it? Norm couldn't beat a zone. I expected a better plan from Coach. He was a Wooden disciple. Why are we trying to beat the zone by dribbling through it? That has never worked for STJ, but since Mahoney took over it's been our plan of attack.

On defense, we play zones, several of them, and at times we play man. Playing zone with 12 players, who are for the most part athletic, physical and particularly quick is maddening. It allowed DePaul to beat us. It gave them the time they needed to run their offense.

Lavin's judgement has been getting progressively worse. I think he's lost Obekpa, and I think it's Lavin's fault. I think he should be building his defense around Obekpa's ability to block shots. Instead, he's got Obekpa chasing guards around the perimeter. But that's the thing, be it a 2/3 zone or a man to man, Lavin is trying to find the right recipe for the talent he's recruited. And that's why I have lost faith in him.

What is Lavin's POV? I think it's BS. Seriously, that's where he's consistent. His plan is to BS.

The problem with the zone and Obekpa is that it isn't a 2-3 where Obekpa can stay in the lane and protect the rim. Instead it's more of a 1-2-2 where the bottom guys have to go out and defend the corners which is how teams get him to the perimeter.

Also on man it seems that the plan is to switch every ball screen 1-5 which has caused Obekpa and Gift to guard on the perimeter while Greene/Harrison/Branch/Jordan have to guard bigs in the post

You make good points, but why hasn't Lavin figured out that his players as a whole aren't playing with a high basketball IQ? I've watched Phil Greene on several occasions tell Jakarr that he was playing zone when the rest of the team was playing man, and vice versa. And I'm not exaggerating. This has happened more than once this season.

Our players aren't playing as a team, and that is where Lavin has failed them and us the most. It's time for him to stop blaming them for not adapting to whatever he decides to do on a given day.

If I'm the AD, I sit down with Lavin and I ask him what type of defense would you like to play for the remainder of season? Who is your starting 5, and what are their roles? Who comes off the bench, and what are their roles? Lavin's Montessori crap doesn't fly in NY. This is a city of realists. Not pill popping, sundries tomato eating skim latte pretenders.

Lavin hasn't chosen a POV because he doesn't have one. Why are kids coming here? Because they fell for his sales pitch. I fell for it too. Most of us did. He has no strategy. Nothing on the court that defines his belief system.

I don't think we'll get Shaka Smart unless he wants to live in NY. Some coaches are cultured and NY appeals to them. If we try for him, and fail, I'd consider his top assistent. What kind of defense does VCU play? It's called Havoc, and it's a lot like what STJ used to look like back in the day when our coach had a POV. Lou hated the 3 point line, and he hated players that were only good for chucking, so he didn't seek them out. Agree or disagree, it's a POV.

I agree. Lavin doesn't play to the team's and player's strengths and there is far too much confusion to think it's just guys with low basketball IQ. Far too often does one guy think its a switch on a screen while the other guy doesn't. And the list goes on and on....

I think Shaka has a specific job in mind and won't leave VCU until that job is available. He doesn't have to leave VCU because he has created a culture of winning there and his stock likely won't drop while he's there. VCU to St. John's isn't a big enough jump for Shaka to take the risk of seeing his stock drop if he struggles or is just average in a watered down big east

You're right from a basketball perspective, but it is still a terrific opportunity to coach and live in NY, and to not live in the suburbs, and some people truly hate the suburbs. The last time we went through this, we tried to recruit Billy Donovan from UF, and he decided to stay where he was. Hard to argue with what he has built there. He's a legend. That's the kind of coach we are looking for. A great recruiter, teacher and planner. We need the next Billy Donovan, and we have to find him before he's at that level. Once a coach has reached legend status, they aren't going to drop everything and come here to a place where the fan and city support has been terrible during bad seasons and just plain bad during good ones.

Shaka Smart probably does have a job in mind. Maybe it's NC? Who knows? I like that VCU has a clear POV. Players go there to be a part of the Havoc. Smart's defense is so good, there is a special name for it.

Personally, I'd like Lavin to be removed. We hired the recruiter instead of the coach, and in the end, you will never succeed with that approach, Lavin isn't an Xs & Os guy, so they say. What the F not? What the hell is he supposed to do during a game if he's not drawing up plays for the team to run?