Plan=Good, Execution=Not so good

In fairness (don't jump on me too much for this), this year's Team should have had two very big pieces (The Plan), but didn't. ADR and Thomas were supposed to be part of the Plan (Good) and would have provided a very different dimension to our performance. That didn't happen (Bad), so Plan B had to be devised. So far that Plan is not working very well. The Big East Conference tests the mettle of every Team within it. So far our mettle is shown to be weak. To be fair, undue criticism of the Coach is a bit overreaching, if one is fair-minded in evaluating the overall picture. I am certainly very disappointed, as are many, but don't feel like the Sky is Falling. The season is not yet over, and stranger things can and have happened in the past. Through it all, I remain a strong and loyal fan. That's my opinion and many may disagree, and have that right, but continuing negative comments emanate from the least favorable place and don't help the outcome one iota. In fact, it may turn off SJU fans in a big way, and the College Basketball Community, and reflect poorly on our standing as a University family.

right on point . The obsessive attack on the staff and players does no good and hurts our standing. Why would good recruits come here to be sniped at by our fans when they can go elsewhere and be treated with appreciation.

Well said.  I like to consider myself in the same line of thinking as you (it's not over yet, not as bad as we make it out to be, etc.) though to be honest last night's loss was the first time where I really felt the dark side drawing me in.  I'll brush it off for now, as we can still make the tournament if we somehow get to 10-8 or 9-9 and win a BET game (against someone not named depaul, creighton, or marquette).  Here's hoping for a home win against Providence to get things moving in the right direction again.

right on point . The obsessive attack on the staff and players does no good and hurts our standing. Why would good recruits come here to be sniped at by our fans when they can go elsewhere and be treated with appreciation.

Recruits haven't been coming here

Quote from: loughlinguy on January 29, 2015, 02:46:12 PM

right on point . The obsessive attack on the staff and players does no good and hurts our standing. Why would good recruits come here to be sniped at by our fans when they can go elsewhere and be treated with appreciation.

Recruits haven't been coming here

Aside from half our team being top 100 recruits, Brandon Sampson is committed to us for next year.  Keith Thomas was highly sought after (yes, I know he didnt make it here, but he committed).  We've gotten highly rated recruits here, that's a fact...we just haven't done anything with them yet.

Every team goes through adversity in some way. Whether through injuries or guys being ruled ineligible or whatever. It's part of the game. The good coaches (not Lavin) make sure they have the depth and pieces needed to survive the adversity

This will 4th year in a row w/o NCAA tourney. You want to let him catch Norm's record?

Honestly I don't think our fan base has gotten on the core players this year aside from Jordan.  We appreciate D-Lo, Phil, Dom, Jamal and CO (with his seemingly new outlook).  Our frustration is directed to a staff that makes us play undersized and undermanned, which is going to cost the seniors the chance to play in the tourney (and which we all desperately want).

Even if the season spirals further downward, I will still attend the games because I love the Johnnies and the seniors deserve that.

In fairness (don't jump on me too much for this), this year's Team should have had two very big pieces (The Plan), but didn't. ADR and Thomas were supposed to be part of the Plan (Good).

That's part of the problem I have with Coach Lavin. Why is he relying on question marks? 3 years in and for the past two years his recruiting class consists of a head case in Jordan, and academic issues in ADR and Thomas. The staff was well aware of these issues and still recruited these kids instead of targeting others. How is that a "Good" plan? I'm a supporter of Lavin, but the decisions he has made is setting this program back. He is a good enough recruiter and needs to stop targeting kids with issues.

Quote from: jsk on January 29, 2015, 11:36:48 AM

In fairness (don't jump on me too much for this), this year's Team should have had two very big pieces (The Plan), but didn't. ADR and Thomas were supposed to be part of the Plan (Good).

That's part of the problem I have with Coach Lavin. Why is he relying on question marks? 3 years in and for the past two years his recruiting class consists of a head case in Jordan, and academic issues in ADR and Thomas. The staff was well aware of these issues and still recruited these kids instead of targeting others. How is that a "Good" plan? I'm a supporter of Lavin, but the decisions he has made is setting this program back. He is a good enough recruiter and needs to stop targeting kids with issues.

He usually signs kids late & wonder if desperation was part of equation for taking chances on Thomas & ADR, both of whom were academic question marks.

We need a competent Xs and Os guy. We were drastically better with Dunlap on staff.

In fairness (don't jump on me too much for this), this year's Team should have had two very big pieces (The Plan), but didn't. ADR and Thomas were supposed to be part of the Plan (Good) and would have provided a very different dimension to our performance. That didn't happen (Bad), so Plan B had to be devised. So far that Plan is not working very well. The Big East Conference tests the mettle of every Team within it. So far our mettle is shown to be weak. To be fair, undue criticism of the Coach is a bit overreaching, if one is fair-minded in evaluating the overall picture. I am certainly very disappointed, as are many, but don't feel like the Sky is Falling. The season is not yet over, and stranger things can and have happened in the past. Through it all, I remain a strong and loyal fan. That's my opinion and many may disagree, and have that right, but continuing negative comments emanate from the least favorable place and don't help the outcome one iota. In fact, it may turn off SJU fans in a big way, and the College Basketball Community, and reflect poorly on our standing as a University family.

This is an embarrassing post.   

Sorry to embarrass you.

How many times has Moose had to tell you guys that other teams fans are worse than ours and that is for more successful teams?

In fairness (don't jump on me too much for this), this year's Team should have had two very big pieces (The Plan), but didn't. ADR and Thomas were supposed to be part of the Plan (Good) and would have provided a very different dimension to our performance. That didn't happen (Bad), so Plan B had to be devised. So far that Plan is not working very well. The Big East Conference tests the mettle of every Team within it. So far our mettle is shown to be weak. To be fair, undue criticism of the Coach is a bit overreaching, if one is fair-minded in evaluating the overall picture. I am certainly very disappointed, as are many, but don't feel like the Sky is Falling. The season is not yet over, and stranger things can and have happened in the past. Through it all, I remain a strong and loyal fan. That's my opinion and many may disagree, and have that right, but continuing negative comments emanate from the least favorable place and don't help the outcome one iota. In fact, it may turn off SJU fans in a big way, and the College Basketball Community, and reflect poorly on our standing as a University family.

"So far our mettle is shown to be weak"  -  IMO it is more accurate to state that it has wavered.  Mettle has been shown on some occasions we all know, but team resolve to get it done night in, night out has been lacking.  I believe it is there, but doing it consistently will be the test. This will determine bid/no bid.  We were a few games off last season, but I am pulling for those few tough games to be gutted out at the end of this season..

bball purist, I think your comment is a fair one. I overstated mine regarding our "mettle" being weak.

bball purist, I think your comment is a fair one. I overstated mine regarding our "mettle" being weak.

you did a good job of being as objective as possible.  Injuries are part of the game, and the guys have beenworking throuGH dlo's ailment, but the RJ distractions have hurt the squad from establishing and setting a better tone in Beast play. So far, the guys go as RJ and PG go.