Relax people

Quote from: Foad on March 28, 2014, 02:48:29 PM

Quote from: DFF6 on March 28, 2014, 02:42:14 PM

Good choice on OA.   Based on this year, you're right re: Dom.  I am, however, holding out hope that Dom gets back on track his senior year.

This is a key question, to the extent that there is any reason for optimism about next year: whether Pointer takes a step forward his senior year like say Donald Emanuel or a further step backward like say Reggie Jessie. He has the talent and athleticism to be a wrecking ball all over the court. Unfortunately he's so far displayed the smarts of a bowling ball.

I think I've seen you say this before.  Don't you think Jessie's numbers dropped as the talent around him diminished?  I don't remember him being noticeably worse, but I do recall the team looking completely lost after Artest and then Bootsy, Barkley, and Postel left.

My recollection is he got worse as time went on. Much worse. As usual YMMV.

Quote from: desco80 on March 28, 2014, 01:48:10 PM

Branch is more than a backup pg.   

Our best lineup is Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Jones and Obekpa.   And it's not close.

Not going to argue wih you about Branch.  It's not at the Carmine/Phil level, but I know you feel strongly about what he brings to the table.  Your lineup works if the other team's 3 is not a brusier, but I'd rather have Dom on the floor against the bigger teams for his defense. 

Really, dom in for his defense? This notion still exists? He is not a good defender. Harrison at the 3 is better then dom in every aspect of the game. Defense, rebounding, passing, shooting, DECISION MAKING. Some of us have been saying it since before the season. Jamal, rysheed, Dlo is the best way to go.

Quote from: DFF6 on March 28, 2014, 01:59:13 PM

Quote from: desco80 on March 28, 2014, 01:48:10 PM

Branch is more than a backup pg.   

Our best lineup is Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Jones and Obekpa.   And it's not close.

Not going to argue wih you about Branch.  It's not at the Carmine/Phil level, but I know you feel strongly about what he brings to the table.  Your lineup works if the other team's 3 is not a brusier, but I'd rather have Dom on the floor against the bigger teams for his defense. 

Really, dom in for his defense? This notion still exists? He is not a good defender. Harrison at the 3 is better then dom in every aspect of the game. Defense, rebounding, passing, shooting, DECISION MAKING. Some of us have been saying it since before the season. Jamal, rysheed, Dlo is the best way to go.

Mase, not saying Harrison vs Dom, but Branch vs. Dom at the 3. Harrison is always in at 2 and Jordan should always be at 1, IMO.

Branch starts and plays 30 minutes a game this season. We make tournament with a decent seed. Not that he is that great. Think he is good. Just the alternative is just stupid. Also think Dom should get time at the 4. De scion making not as much of an issue for post players. Also think he is tough enough.

if the teams rebounds well enough to run some, Dom would be a good fit to play 25 or more.  He is useless in a set up offense but is an excellent finisher on the break.  Just don't want him to be coming down the middle and have to make a decision.   His defense is spotty but if works a bit he could be very good as he occasionally showed.  Remember, the team will not be deep unless Mr. Happy pulls an April miracle.  If Jones can rebound strongly they could be a good rebounding team.  DLO, Jordan, Obekpa can all board and Dom has the potential if he ever improves.

We've said it on this board 1000 times.  Dom should be a much better rebounder than he is.  Hopefully that changes next year but we'll see

People here are crazy...  We have zero front court who can rebound nor score.  Teams will pack it in and zone us to death.   People downplaying Sampson's importance?  Really?  The kid was a mega athletic forward with a great midrange game who also helped us shut down McDermott this season when he committed to defense.  Who is going to replace Sampson and our only other skilled forward in Sanchez?  If we don't replace those two with some better than decent players, we are going to be horrible next year imo.  I don't know what Lavin has up his sleeve if anything at all, but I hope he has something...

People here are crazy...  We have zero front court who can rebound nor score.  Teams will pack it in and zone us to death.   People downplaying Sampson's importance?  Really?  The kid was a mega athletic forward with a great midrange game who also helped us shut down McDermott this season when he committed to defense.  Who is going to replace Sampson and our only other skilled forward in Sanchez?  If we don't replace those two with some better than decent players, we are going to be horrible next year imo.  I don't know what Lavin has up his sleeve if anything at all, but I hope he has something...

The consensus seems to be that Jones will be better than Sampson

Anyone who thinks that we are going to miss Sampson as a junior is NUTS.  Like you said MCNPA, let's hope Lavs has something up his sleeve.  Otherwise we need improvement across the board and an unexpected jump in some cases to be where we want this squad to be.

Meant we "aren't" going to miss Sampson.  We were all expecting him to be a key guy next year.

Quote from: MCNPA on March 28, 2014, 09:56:54 PM

People here are crazy...  We have zero front court who can rebound nor score.  Teams will pack it in and zone us to death.   People downplaying Sampson's importance?  Really?  The kid was a mega athletic forward with a great midrange game who also helped us shut down McDermott this season when he committed to defense.  Who is going to replace Sampson and our only other skilled forward in Sanchez?  If we don't replace those two with some better than decent players, we are going to be horrible next year imo.  I don't know what Lavin has up his sleeve if anything at all, but I hope he has something...

The consensus seems to be that Jones will be better than Sampson

LeBron as well.

Meant we "aren't" going to miss Sampson.  We were all expecting him to be a key guy next year.

Not only are we going to miss him.  We are going to have a relatively useless and undermanned frontcourt without him.  The situation is bad.  So bad that I don't know if we can get anybody to score more than 6 points per game in the frontcourt right now.

Truth is, I'm not actually upset with Lavin's coaching.  I'm most upset with all of the ridiculous social issues.  In addition I'm baffled by the fact that we are not prepared for losses of personnel.  Lavin's strength is recruiting, yet lack thereof has put us in a hole.  I can't figure it out to tell the truth. 

Then to spit in fan's eyes by telling us he likes the roster "as is" is insulting.  We were destroyed in the first round of the NIT this year "as is" and that is WITH Sampson, Sanchez, Bourgault, Gift and Hooper.  I guess "as is" means 8th place finish in the Big East?  Play like Villanova?  We didn't do that this year and we were 5 players richer...  How are we going to do that next year?

Truth be told, Lavin isn't Beilein, so if he's not recruiting talent, then I don't know what he's doing.  I don't know what he's got up his sleeve, but I'm not seeing many options that are going to make us any better than this year, unless he comes up with 3-4 major sleeper players.  I just don't see that happening...

People here are crazy...  We have zero front court who can rebound nor score.  Teams will pack it in and zone us to death.   People downplaying Sampson's importance?  Really?  The kid was a mega athletic forward with a great midrange game who also helped us shut down McDermott this season when he committed to defense.  Who is going to replace Sampson and our only other skilled forward in Sanchez?  If we don't replace those two with some better than decent players, we are going to be horrible next year imo.  I don't know what Lavin has up his sleeve if anything at all, but I hope he has something...

We are not going into the season without any additions. I'm not saying Sampson wasn't a good player for us, I'm saying he was a terrible rebounder and defender. I'm not making that up, its true whether he left this year or not. If we bring in some big bodies who could actually play defense and rebound, we will be a better team. You can find those type of players late in the game. Losing Sampson by itself would be bad, but not as bad if we are able to bring in some able body replacements. College basketball is about guard play, we will have one of the best one's in Jordan.

The author of this thread is 100% correct.  Too much is being made of the loss to RM as bad as it was.  Stop acting like they finished 10 games under 500.

If you step back and look at it SJU, even without JaKarr, returns more talent then any team in the BE sans maybe Villanova and that is AFTER Sampson is gone and BEFORE Lavin adds players.

I don't like how SJU finished last year but remember after Nova and Creighton SJU was tied for the best record in the BE and Creighton loses EVERYBODY, Xavier which lost 4 out of 5 to end the year is about to lose their best player, PC loses its two best players and SJU returns its leading scorer and what I believe will be the best guard in the BE next year, Rysheed Jordan.  Any realistic person think for a moment that Jordan is going to average 9.7 points a game next year??  No way he is going to blow by that.  Kid is a stud.  Name me a BE team with a better backcourt right now then Jordan and Harrison?  Jordan was up and down this year partly because of the adjustment but as we know all of the personal issues he had. 

I understand that without games to take our minds off of things people have only the last few games to talk about and they were not pretty.  Understood.  But don't overreact.  SJU is not in that bad a shape and in fact I think will be good come next year.

This isn't being pro-Lavin or anything like that it is just settling down and stop letting yourself get over emotional.

Sampson is not a big loss, he had little impact on the game. Sampson's potential is what makes his departure feel worse than it actually is.

Are we so good that we can just absorb the loss of BE rookie of the year guys and it's nothing?  Silly.

Quote from: SJUFAN on March 27, 2014, 10:41:39 PM

Sampson is not a big loss, he had little impact on the game. Sampson's potential is what makes his departure feel worse than it actually is.

Are we so good that we can just absorb the loss of BE rookie of the year guys and it's nothing?  Silly.

It's not nothing, but I do believe we can absorb the loss of a player who didn't make all BE 3rd team. Lets be realistic here guys. What skill set does Sampson bring that will be hard to replace that equated to us winning games? We will miss his mid range game, but that's about it. His scoring will be absorbed. Will we miss his rebounding, defense, free-throw shooting, passing, dribble penetrating, screening, decision making, etc, etc. Its these and other intangibles that's difficult to measure but contributes to the success of the team, Sampson lack those. If we can find players that are strong in these areas, we can be a better team. 

The author of this thread is 100% correct.  Too much is being made of the loss to RM as bad as it was.  Stop acting like they finished 10 games under 500.

If you step back and look at it SJU, even without JaKarr, returns more talent then any team in the BE sans maybe Villanova and that is AFTER Sampson is gone and BEFORE Lavin adds players.

I don't like how SJU finished last year but remember after Nova and Creighton SJU was tied for the best record in the BE and Creighton loses EVERYBODY, Xavier which lost 4 out of 5 to end the year is about to lose their best player, PC loses its two best players and SJU returns its leading scorer and what I believe will be the best guard in the BE next year, Rysheed Jordan.  Any realistic person think for a moment that Jordan is going to average 9.7 points a game next year??  No way he is going to blow by that.  Kid is a stud.  Name me a BE team with a better backcourt right now then Jordan and Harrison?  Jordan was up and down this year partly because of the adjustment but as we know all of the personal issues he had. 

I understand that without games to take our minds off of things people have only the last few games to talk about and they were not pretty.  Understood.  But don't overreact.  SJU is not in that bad a shape and in fact I think will be good come next year.

This isn't being pro-Lavin or anything like that it is just settling down and stop letting yourself get over emotional.

Our team talent though isnt equal to the sum of the individual parts.  We were arguably the most talented team in the BE this year. 
Harrison and Jordan were arguably the best backcourt in the BE this year.   And yet our ball movement was pretty awful.

We were a flawed team this year, what exactly is going to make us better next season if important pieces aren't being added?   I dont think Jordan being a year older makes up that entire difference.
And therein lies the rub, we don't need to be AS GOOD as we were this season.  We need to be better.  What's going to make the team better exactly?
So far I've heard: Jordan's development. Which I can buy to some extent.
A weaker BE.
And possible transfer or JUCO additions.

I think the last item is what could be the difference maker.   But let's see who it is we add.  Coach's comment about liking the roster as it is worries me. 

Hopefully Lavin can recruit players with better home situations...The family issues really distracted the team at the end. How players families or friends were murdered this year alone? Terrible and tragic situations that would put a dark cloud over any team. 

I'm not saying Sampson wasn't a good player for us, I'm saying he was a terrible rebounder

Sampson led the team in rebounding two years in a row. In those two years he had 420 total rebounds, more than two year players Ron Artest, Billy Goodwin, Lamont Middleton, and Wayne McKoy. Those guys must have  been really really terrible rebounders.

At 420 total he's slightly behind three year players Jason Williams (490) and Billy Singleton (500). Had he returned for his Jr year he would have passed them and terrible rebounders Chris Mullin (509) and Willie Glass (618), putting him just behind terrible rebounders Bill Wennington (644) and David Russell (667). Had he played 4 years he likely would have ended his career as only the third player in SJ history with 800 rebounds, behind Z Hamilton and Malik Sealy.

But don't overreact [...] stop letting yourself get over emotional.

Good points and sorry for being overly emotional. I will address this over reaction more fully in the near future in a separate thread entitled MEA CULPA in which I apologize publicly to every Saint John's fan in the world.