Staff Evaluation

How could this staff have possibly been expected to recruit a capable team in a few months? The team is terrible because the roster was completely depleted when the staff arrived. The grabbed a couple of good recruits late in Lovett, Yakwe, Mussini, Ellison and Sima. Lovett hasn't played, Yakwe missed the first few games, Ellison and Sima both have missed significant time with injury. Only consistent fresham in the lineup has been Mussini. Could the team play a little Bette and win 2-3 more games? Sure but what's the difference in the long run. Cannot judge this staff until they have had a full recruiting cycle and a full offseason with a full roster. Ponds, Ahmed and RF from everything I have heard are very good players. If by this time next year we are having this same conversation then I'll understand the gripe.

There are several ways an under talented team can win games :

Play tough defense.
Out hustle the opponent. Turn the 50/50 plays in your favor.
Rebound
Get to the line and hit your free throws.
Stay healthy

This team has to improve in all these areas and if it does will rack up 3-4 wins

True that. No reason not to hustle, rebound, box out and hit free throws. While guys are hustling and rebounding, we could improve on boxing out and free throws.

That being said, Durand "Chuck" Johnson takes us out of so many possessions. Why this guy has a greenlight to chuck it from beyond three without getting his legs set and not even trying to move the ball around in the thought maybe, just maybe a teammate might have a better chance of scoring instead of putting up chucks w 20 seconds left on the shot clock, is beyond Sunday morning CYO basics.

They grabbed a couple of good recruits late in Lovett, Yakwe, Mussini, Ellison and Sima.

And don't forget Darien Williams and Owens. (And grad transfers Mvoika and DJ).  They did a great job even to be able to field a team.  The killer was the Lovett ineligibility.  You have to have a point guard in college basketball.  When teams pressure us, we don't have more then 18 seconds, after we get into our offense, a lot of the time.

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

Next year will be the year to really grade the coaching staff on their ability to build a cohesive, well oiled team. The team will be a year plus into the new regime and the chemistry should be much better plus the big time talent coming in. If the team isn't showing improvement then I will have serious questions regarding the coaching staff. This year they are just trying to steal a few BE games, while getting better and more comfortable playing together. Hard to grade them this year but it seems like Mullin is developing more of a presence on the sideline.

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

Very harsh assessment. I'm a natural skeptic,and your repeated reaction to this season is unrealistic and hyperbolic. Applaud your relentlessness though.

Quote from: Poison on January 20, 2016, 07:25:23 PM

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

Very harsh assessment. I'm a natural skeptic,and your repeated reaction to this season is unrealistic and hyperbolic. Applaud your relentlessness though.

What is harsh about my assessment of a last place team that also owns losses at home to Incarnate Word and NJIT? I think a better word would be fair.

Quote from: Gray Chudney on January 20, 2016, 08:23:17 PM

Quote from: Poison on January 20, 2016, 07:25:23 PM

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

Very harsh assessment. I'm a natural skeptic,and your repeated reaction to this season is unrealistic and hyperbolic. Applaud your relentlessness though.

What is harsh about my assessment of a last place team that also owns losses at home to Incarnate Word and NJIT? I think a better word would be fair.

To put it simply: your assessment lacks any perspective

Quote from: Poison on January 20, 2016, 08:36:39 PM

Quote from: Gray Chudney on January 20, 2016, 08:23:17 PM

Quote from: Poison on January 20, 2016, 07:25:23 PM

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

Very harsh assessment. I'm a natural skeptic,and your repeated reaction to this season is unrealistic and hyperbolic. Applaud your relentlessness though.

What is harsh about my assessment of a last place team that also owns losses at home to Incarnate Word and NJIT? I think a better word would be fair.

To put it simply: your assessment lacks any perspective

Actually, yes it does. I pointed out, specifically, that this season isn't about wins and losses. That is where I gave a clear example of perspective. However, I don't think any team, no matter the situation, should get a pass for not playing hard, and that is why I refused to give them a pass until they started to.

I understand that there are some on this board who don't understand the game well enough to see that guys like Johnson are dogging it. Recently, our coach has decided to make a change to the starting line up. Coincidently, or maybe not, that is when the team started to show some improvement.

plenty of reasons for optimism. We have some talent and plenty is on the way.
Plenty of reasons for skepticism. We are currently 10 in conference only because their are only 10 teams. We have a long way to go just be a bad team like Marquette and DePaul .

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Short of a few coaches disliking each other, it is a fraternity.

Quote from: sju61982 on January 21, 2016, 10:49:45 AM

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Short of a few coaches disliking each other, it is a fraternity.

Of course.  That's why you never hear ex-coaches who are now broadcasters, rip other coaches during games.  They've all been there before.

However, BE coaches used to always say, usually after beating us, that Norm was doing a great job at SJU, and was in position to turn us around.  The general feeling was that they were only saying this because they knew that, as long as Harrington kept Norm around, we would be the punching bags for the rest of the teams in the BE (this was especially true for a certain coach in Storrs, who is now retired).  JT3's postgame comments last week were similar to that.  It may very well have been one coach trying to be classy, but it bears watching (probably won't get a definitive answer on that this year, as has been said elsewhere).

Quote from: paultzman on January 21, 2016, 10:52:28 AM

Quote from: sju61982 on January 21, 2016, 10:49:45 AM

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Short of a few coaches disliking each other, it is a fraternity.

Of course.  That's why you never hear ex-coaches who are now broadcasters, rip other coaches during games.  They've all been there before.

However, BE coaches used to always say, usually after beating us, that Norm was doing a great job at SJU, and was in position to turn us around.  The general feeling was that they were only saying this because they knew that, as long as Harrington kept Norm around, we would be the punching bags for the rest of the teams in the BE (this was especially true for a certain coach in Storrs, who is now retired).  JT3's postgame comments last week were similar to that.  It may very well have been one coach trying to be classy, but it bears watching (probably won't get a definitive answer on that this year, as has been said elsewhere).

With all due respect, more important things bear watching in this rebuild. I'll leave the vigilance on this one to you.

Agreed.  I wouldn't read that far into.  More likely is that coaches respect Mullin for a variety of reasons, and likely hold Slice in the same regard because of how long he has been in the business. 

There were some coaches who often went out of their way to praise Lavin -- Kevin Willard and Jay Wright as two examples.  There were obviously issues between Lavin and his staff and other coaches/staffs - like Providence and Gtown.  I think Lavin rubbed some people the wrong way, and our current guys really don't (or haven't yet).

Quote from: sju61982 on January 21, 2016, 10:57:52 AM

Quote from: paultzman on January 21, 2016, 10:52:28 AM

Quote from: sju61982 on January 21, 2016, 10:49:45 AM

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Short of a few coaches disliking each other, it is a fraternity.

Of course.  That's why you never hear ex-coaches who are now broadcasters, rip other coaches during games.  They've all been there before.

However, BE coaches used to always say, usually after beating us, that Norm was doing a great job at SJU, and was in position to turn us around.  The general feeling was that they were only saying this because they knew that, as long as Harrington kept Norm around, we would be the punching bags for the rest of the teams in the BE (this was especially true for a certain coach in Storrs, who is now retired).  JT3's postgame comments last week were similar to that.  It may very well have been one coach trying to be classy, but it bears watching (probably won't get a definitive answer on that this year, as has been said elsewhere).

With all due respect, more important things bear watching in this rebuild. I'll leave the vigilance on this one to you.

Quote from: paultzman on January 21, 2016, 10:52:28 AM

Quote from: sju61982 on January 21, 2016, 10:49:45 AM

Anything this staff has done that bothers me is minor enough for me not to complain about it.

However, some of the praise being doled out to this staff by other coaches in the BE is eerily similar to the type of "praise" Norm was getting, and we know what the motivation was there.

It was one thing for Chris Mack to say what he said about Mullin and staff.  After all, our undermanned and less talented team took them to the final minute.  However, for JT3 to shower Mullin with the kind of praise he did after that blowout is a little disturbing to me.  For all of Lavin's faults, you never got the sense that opposing coaches praised him, so that he could be kept around (praise was few and far between, as a matter of fact).

Right now, it's just the one time with JT3 (plus Mack, but like I said, that was justified), but it's something that bears watching going forward, IMO.

Short of a few coaches disliking each other, it is a fraternity.

Of course.  That's why you never hear ex-coaches who are now broadcasters, rip other coaches during games.  They've all been there before.

However, BE coaches used to always say, usually after beating us, that Norm was doing a great job at SJU, and was in position to turn us around.  The general feeling was that they were only saying this because they knew that, as long as Harrington kept Norm around, we would be the punching bags for the rest of the teams in the BE (this was especially true for a certain coach in Storrs, who is now retired).  JT3's postgame comments last week were similar to that.  It may very well have been one coach trying to be classy, but it bears watching (probably won't get a definitive answer on that this year, as has been said elsewhere).

Coaches aren't that smart to think of deep rooted conspiracies. Like Paultzman said it's a fraternity. You aren't going to crush one of your own. This happens across all sports.

The players need to play hard, and they need to be held accountable when they don't. The staff gets a pass for wins and losses, but if they get a pass for Johnson chucking up an off balance 3 pointer with 17 seconds left on the clock and then standing around while his man takes a wide open jumper, then what's the point in playing these games?

Early on, I thought the staff was taking it easy. As a whole, the players were lazy and lost. However, since BE play has started, they've been playing harder, and they've been playing smarter. The progress is as slow as it has ever been. The bad fortune is par for the course at St.John's - a healthy mix of what is out of our hands combined with only the people at St.John's could create, like they always do.

There is no team in any sport that looks good with no talent. There has never been a terrible team that someone said man I like they way they play. That comes with being terrible. Nothing at all can be taken from this year. Good or bad.

I've been impressed with staff's ability to get the ball in the post. I know it sounds simple but they've done a good job of isolating post to allow a good entry pass. Their game plan against the 2-3 zone was a thing of beauty. I've also enjoyed watching how they've gotten Felix into positions where he can rip and get to the rim taking advantage of his glide game. Early in the year they rewarded Christian Jones early for good play and benched Durand Johnson for poor play.

Out of bounds plays have been suspect and haven't seen anything incredible coming out of timeouts. Would like to see more timeouts to stop bleeding at times before it becomes too late.

I've been indifferent with rotation. I think they've been solid of getting everyone minutes without compromising talent on the floor. (I know there isn't much to begin with). Defensively I'm not sure how much emphasis is put into this because too many times close outs are not there and awareness of rotations are below average. Having Sima and Yakwe protecting the rim has been a saving grace.

Conditioning wise I haven't seen the gains that I saw under Pat Dixon. I don't really know strength coach at all.

They also run that pretty play where Federico starts in the paint, sets a screen....and circles around a screen or two to pop open at the top of the key..... a thing of beauty.....and of late have figured out he can't play 35 minutes night after night.