Phil Mushnick throwing another log on the fire
http://nypost.com/2014/11/22/why-must-steve-lavin-recruit-the-sketchiest-characters/
Why don't places like Lexington, Kentucky and Syracuse, New York have guys like Mushnick? He would have been sent packing in any of these college towns.
Any coach coming to coach NY's only prominent college hoops program has to come here knowing that they are a target of a local press that sees right through them. Lavin is no different from any of them. Mushnick failed miserably in not pointing out that the same BS goes on in all these football and hoops programs.
First time you have read him? He kills everybody all the time. He is a critic it is what he does. Truth hurts? Emperor has no clothes?
It was not the first time. Not even close. We all love Mushnick when he blasts Francesa. He should stick to what he does well - sports media coverage.
He should know that everyone coaching this sport at this level has things to hide. Lavin is doing what they all do to reach the top in this sport. He's recruiting kids that are high caliber players and very questionable students. He was far from the only program recruiting these ones. The kids he lost where questionable students too. One is on Cuse and no one up there on down here will question it. In NYC you don't get away with the BS that BSC schools hide from the public. Are you naïve enough to think UConn, Kentucky and Cuse players are students? You don't know that their local press is afraid to go after them on anything?
As for this piece. it was lazy to lump together Adonis with the WCC issue as Mushnick did when he said they were "ruled" ineligible. I would like to see more in the press on the Adonis issue. As far as I know, we have an anonymous third party call the school and the school reports the situation to the NCAA. The school now sits the kid while they wait for a ruling. Is that the case? I am not even sure since the local beat reporters have written so little about it. Mushnick probably wrote this article after a ten minute conversation with local beat reporter who covers the team. Where is that beat reporter on the Adonis story?
Ok. Evil Poison here...
Just like the injuries and failed recruiting and coaching attempts were all Norm's fault, Lavin's recruiting and coaching issues are his to own as well. What good is it if Lavin only has a great player for one or two seasons, if we can't win in that structure? It's certainly not one individual player's fault like Harkless and Sampson, but if you combine their departures w Norvelle Pelle, Amir Garrett, Jakarr Sampson, Orlando Sanchez, Marco Bourgault, Keith Thomas and Adonis Delarosa w inconsistent coaching and lousy in-game strategy you have a point if you are unhappy with the body of work.
I don't care why they didn't qualify. I don't care why Nurideen Lindsay quit the team after several games. I don't care why Lavin ignored the 14-15 recruiting class until it came down to several less than ideal options.
If the answer isn't he was sick, which was more than acceptable for the 11-12 season, I don't want to hear it. It's just another excuse. Mushnick is calling Lavin out fairly. He's bringing up several issues that could have been avoided. At the end of the day, it comes done to improvement and continuity. We haven't seen either yet. Just a lot of hype. As fans, the end result is what we are left with, and I'm sick of filling out brackets without our name in on them.
Lavin shouldn't be extended at this time. I can understand that hurts recruiting, but St.John's should be thinking about the program before they think about one season - which looks like it will require a miracle in terms of recruiting and kids staying to even have a chance to be competitive.
#Unfinished Business - It applies to the players, and it applies to the coach and his staff. Lavin talked to the season ticket holders about how close we were to winning some of the games we lost. Some of that is on Lavin directly. Out of a TO, he chose to have guy that we never use to inbound a ball, inbound a ball under the oopposing's basket. Why? What the hell was he thinking? Fair is fair. This year, Lavin will be judged by everyone. No more coasting.