Obekpa

http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041814aaa.html

Lavin Announces Center Chris Obekpa's Return To Red Storm

Subtraction by addition.

I would have said relapse but people are just so sensitive.

Zach's take;

http://nypost.com/2014/04/18/chris-obekpa-changes-mind-will-stay-at-st-johns/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

 Things are looking up.  Lets lock up Thomas and we have some solid forwards to go along with best backcourt in the Big East. 

Things are looking up.  Lets lock up Thomas and we have some solid forwards to go along with best backcourt in the Big East. 

Yep

What a roller coaster this has benn the last 10 days or so.      Wow. 

Can't see how anyone can be overly pessimistic at this point.   Well, I guess I can, but those will only be happy if Lavin is gone.   Clearly, that's not happening, so jump back on board.   

Could be a fun season, imagine that?

What a roller coaster this has benn the last 10 days or so.      Wow. 

Can't see how anyone can be overly pessimistic at this point.   Well, I guess I can, but those will only be happy if Lavin is gone.   Clearly, that's not happening, so jump back on board.   

Could be a fun season, imagine that?

Hope we close out on Thomas this week before Antigua brothers get their hands on him. Lol

Quote from: boo3 on April 18, 2014, 04:48:00 PM

What a roller coaster this has benn the last 10 days or so.      Wow. 

Can't see how anyone can be overly pessimistic at this point.   Well, I guess I can, but those will only be happy if Lavin is gone.   Clearly, that's not happening, so jump back on board.   

Could be a fun season, imagine that?

Hope we close out on Thomas this week before Antigua brothers get their hands on him. Lol

And desco  

Welcome back CO. Said it from the get go, Sampson was no loss, Obekpa is the one we needed to keep.

Come back from vacation to learn Obekpa's coming back!  Finally good news!   I guess I need to take more vacations, for the benefit of the team, of course.

Very good news. Now the staff just needs to learn how to coach this kid up. Him and Jordan have the most potential on this team.

Good to have the big guy back.

 I'm glad Lavin didn't have to replace those 3 points and 4 rebounds per game

Good to have the big guy back.

 I'm glad Lavin didn't have to replace those 3 points and 4 rebounds per game

Dude, you seriously need a new hobby if this news doesn't bring you any joy whatsoever. 

Internet forums will never change. There will always be the griefer. Even 100 years from now.

Quote from: boo3 on April 18, 2014, 04:42:30 PM

Things are looking up.  Lets lock up Thomas and we have some solid forwards to go along with best backcourt in the Big East. 

Yep

yep +1

Good to have the big guy back.

 I'm glad Lavin didn't have to replace those 3 points and 4 rebounds per game

Nobody said they wanted him back for his amazing offensive game.

He could score 1 ppg next year and we'd still be exponentially better than we'd be without him.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on April 18, 2014, 06:17:56 PM

Good to have the big guy back.

 I'm glad Lavin didn't have to replace those 3 points and 4 rebounds per game

Nobody said they wanted him back for his amazing offensive game.

He could score 1 ppg next year and we'd still be exponentially better than we'd be without him.

Agreed. Like I said, glad he is back.  I was busting tha kids balls

What else are the crucial pieces for this team to be succesful?
Who has faith in Whitesell is being an asst coach who can develop players?
Does anybody have any ideal who SJU will be playing next year? Hopefully it is tougher then last year picture.

What else are the crucial pieces for this team to be succesful?
Who has faith in Whitesell is being an asst coach who can develop players?
Does anybody have any ideal who SJU will be playing next year? Hopefully it is tougher then last year picture.

Why would we want a tougher schedule? If we play good teams we might not win 20 games and I've heard that 20 wins apparently constitutes a season being successful

What else are the crucial pieces for this team to be succesful?
Who has faith in Whitesell is being an asst coach who can develop players?
Does anybody have any ideal who SJU will be playing next year? Hopefully it is tougher then last year picture.

We need to replace Jakarr's 10 foot jumper. He hit that shot regularity, and often it was the only debt we made in a zone d. If Chris Jones can step into the role of a scoring forward, and he can handle rebounding at a D1 level, we may have something. Otherwise we find someone who replace that O. Gotta beat the zone. Need shooters to achieve that.

Quote from: nudginator59 on April 18, 2014, 11:25:41 PM

What else are the crucial pieces for this team to be succesful?
Who has faith in Whitesell is being an asst coach who can develop players?
Does anybody have any ideal who SJU will be playing next year? Hopefully it is tougher then last year picture.

We need to replace Jakarr's 10 foot jumper. He hit that shot regularity, and often it was the only debt we made in a zone d. If Chris Jones can step into the role of a scoring forward, and he can handle rebounding at a D1 level, we may have something. Otherwise we find someone who replace that O. Gotta beat the zone. Need shooters to achieve that.

Another way to beat the zone is by crashing the glass and making them pay. Hopefully our bigs spend a lot more time underneath the basket next season.

Another way to beat the zone is by crashing the glass and making them pay

This is forward looking thinking. Between them Harrison, Greene and Jordan took 45 percent of SJ's shots. Of those 900 or so they missed 65 percent, meaning there were ~ 600 opportunities for put backs. Assuming that the offense is similarly moribund next year there should be lots of misses up for grabs, especially since we had the good fortune to lose our two leading rebounders.

Quote from: Poison on April 19, 2014, 12:57:34 AM

Quote from: nudginator59 on April 18, 2014, 11:25:41 PM

What else are the crucial pieces for this team to be succesful?
Who has faith in Whitesell is being an asst coach who can develop players?
Does anybody have any ideal who SJU will be playing next year? Hopefully it is tougher then last year picture.

We need to replace Jakarr's 10 foot jumper. He hit that shot regularity, and often it was the only debt we made in a zone d. If Chris Jones can step into the role of a scoring forward, and he can handle rebounding at a D1 level, we may have something. Otherwise we find someone who replace that O. Gotta beat the zone. Need shooters to achieve that.

Another way to beat the zone is by crashing the glass and making them pay. Hopefully our bigs spend a lot more time underneath the basket next season.

We lost Sampson, Sanchez and Gift. Gift didn't play very much but neither Sampson or Sanchez were particularly good on the offensive glass. Rebounding when you're playing in a poorly structured offense is difficult. Sampson often didn't know where he was supposed to be, but is so athletic, that he got his share of boards. I know this Thomas kid is supposed to be a great rebounder, but IDK how we can know this from his games at WCC. Sampson didn't like to get hit. We know that. Sanchez played well enough overall, but he looked liked the old guy at the Gun'd open run.

What we need are bigs who aren't afraid to get, and get hit hard. You try to draw contact, because you're trying to get to the line. If Thomas can do that, if he play tougher than Sampson, he might off set the talent that he's probably lacking offensively.