Staff Evaluation

2011-2012 with  replacing cupboard.

Beat Notre Dame, Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCLA, Fordham
Close losses against Duke, Arizona, Texas A&M, and Villanova and hell even that 20 pt loss to that elite Kentucky team looks better than that embarrassment to Incarnate Word , NJIT, and Fordham this season.

Although, I was very close with the last staff and players I am willing to give Mullin some leeway this season considering the circumstances.  But one must ponder, in a rebuilding year with major conference worthy players no matter their inexperience, losses to those 3 teams are inexusable. At least make those games close but they werent. Next years season is make or break for this staff. Lets hope Lovett and the rumored ones thrive here. Also I am a firm believer Sampson would have made a huge impact here-we should have found a way to keep him.

Who do you consider to be major conference worthy?
Sima? Yakwe?  Johnson?
How many big programs could they be starters for right now?
Ellison is a nice player, but let's not kid ourselves. 

Sima is the only player i think who would be in the 7 man rotation of any other Big East team right now.   

And I agree with you, Sampson would've been a nice player.  And I was looking forward to him too.   But the results at LSU speak for themselves.   Maybe he'll develop.   But I can't imagine he would be shooting the lights out here.

As much as I was unhappy with the previous staff.  I really think either Whitehead or Briscoe would've saved Lavins job. 
I think that's something we don't discuss enough.  They wouldve been tough to get for a number of different reasons.
But those were two guys we were all over since they were freshmen and sophomores.  Heck, this board had followed them for years. 
In my opinion, if Lavin and Tony C had landed those types of players or the Diallos or Chris McCulloughs .. he would still be here, regardless of everything else.

2011-2012 with  replacing cupboard.

Beat Notre Dame, Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCLA, Fordham
Close losses against Duke, Arizona, Texas A&M, and Villanova and hell even that 20 pt loss to that elite Kentucky team looks better than that embarrassment to Incarnate Word , NJIT, and Fordham this season.

Although, I was very close with the last staff and players I am willing to give Mullin some leeway this season considering the circumstances.  But one must ponder, in a rebuilding year with major conference worthy players no matter their inexperience, losses to those 3 teams are inexusable. At least make those games close but they werent. Next years season is make or break for this staff. Lets hope Lovett and the rumored ones thrive here. Also I am a firm believer Sampson would have made a huge impact here-we should have found a way to keep him.

Make or break is a bit over the top I think. The staff hasn't even been on the job for a year and next season is make or break? Yes we need to see vast improvement but we are building for the long term. As the previous poster said not really fair to compare the two because Lavin had much longer to build that roster. Mullin had to throw this roster together in a couple months. I agree next year is big but I don't expect it to be make or break.

2011-2012 with  replacing cupboard.

Beat Notre Dame, Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCLA, Fordham
Close losses against Duke, Arizona, Texas A&M, and Villanova and hell even that 20 pt loss to that elite Kentucky team looks better than that embarrassment to Incarnate Word , NJIT, and Fordham this season.

Although, I was very close with the last staff and players I am willing to give Mullin some leeway this season considering the circumstances.  But one must ponder, in a rebuilding year with major conference worthy players no matter their inexperience, losses to those 3 teams are inexusable. At least make those games close but they werent. Next years season is make or break for this staff. Lets hope Lovett and the rumored ones thrive here. Also I am a firm believer Sampson would have made a huge impact here-we should have found a way to keep him.

Sampson is getting no burn on an average LSU team. There's no way he'd even make a 1 win difference in the BE this year had he chosen to come here instead.

2011-2012 with  replacing cupboard.

Beat Notre Dame, Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCLA, Fordham
Close losses against Duke, Arizona, Texas A&M, and Villanova and hell even that 20 pt loss to that elite Kentucky team looks better than that embarrassment to Incarnate Word , NJIT, and Fordham this season.

Although, I was very close with the last staff and players I am willing to give Mullin some leeway this season considering the circumstances.  But one must ponder, in a rebuilding year with major conference worthy players no matter their inexperience, losses to those 3 teams are inexusable. At least make those games close but they werent. Next years season is make or break for this staff. Lets hope Lovett and the rumored ones thrive here. Also I am a firm believer Sampson would have made a huge impact here-we should have found a way to keep him.

Who are the major conference worthy players on this team? I'm actually impressed that we only lost by 5 points to Marquette with a pile of shit. There aren't any major conference worthy players on this team, except maybe Yakwe, and he's a freshman. We have players who get major minutes that had no business being on the same court as Incarnate Word.

And speaking of Incarnate Word and NJIT, yes, those were pathetic losses, but I think as a group they realized that you have to play hard for the entire game.

Re: players being "major conference worthy"
Of our freshmen I'm sure sima (injury not withstanding) and mussini would be getting burn elsewhere. Despite mussini's deficiencies there's no way you leave a shooter of his caliber on the bench too long.

I would love to say yakwe too, but he is behind the curve a bit this year, even though he has obviously shown massive potential.

Re: players being "major conference worthy"
Of our freshmen I'm sure sima (injury not withstanding) and mussini would be getting burn elsewhere. Despite mussini's deficiencies there's no way you leave a shooter of his caliber on the bench too long.

I would love to say yakwe too, but he is behind the curve a bit this year, even though he has obviously shown massive potential.

Except that's where Mussini belongs. He's a better version of Max Hooper, but he's not capable of running the offense or playing the 2, because he can't get by anyone and he can't defend anyone. He's a valuable role player, but he shouldn't be starting. It doesn't help any team to have a player let that scores 18 points but gives up 29.

For St.John's to return to playing the style of basketball that we brought Mullin here to bring back, we need to defend like we mean it.

Lavin gets blamed for not recruiting . Is that his job? I know he is responsible for it. But wasn't tony chilies the lead recruiter? I assume Mullin isn't actually recruiting. Maybe Lavin should have fired chiles earlier? Is this accurate?

Re: players being "major conference worthy"
Of our freshmen I'm sure sima (injury not withstanding) and mussini would be getting burn elsewhere. Despite mussini's deficiencies there's no way you leave a shooter of his caliber on the bench too long.

I would love to say yakwe too, but he is behind the curve a bit this year, even though he has obviously shown massive potential.

I agree with you. Sima would get burn, there just aren't a lot of 6'11 big men who can impact the game on both ends. He is raw for sure but he would get some burn. Mussini would be a nice bench piece for a good team as a freshman with his shooting but he is being exposed here by playing too many minutes. Yakwe probably wouldn't play for many other Big East teams but I think by his Junior year he has a chance of being very valuable with his athleticism. Once we have more weapons next year these players should be able to settle into roles that fit their skill sets better.

I would love to say yakwe too, but he is behind the curve a bit this year, even though he has obviously shown massive potential.

Considering that he should still be in high school isn't he ahead of the curve as a starter in D1?

Anybody who thinks both Yakwe and Sima aren't major conference worthy has lost it.  Yakwe just got cleared mid season and has had 13 blocks vs Marquette alone in the last month!   His first game vs Marquette he had 9 points, 11 Rebs, 6 blocks.   And some say that a freshman with his ridiculous athleticism, having games like this with only having become eligible recently isn't major conference material?

Both he and Sima are going to be excellent and there are a ton of high major schools who would love to get their hands on either one of them.  Mussini might not have next level athleticism, but he's a major conference player for sure. 

Anybody who thinks both Yakwe and Sima aren't major conference worthy has lost it.  Yakwe just got cleared mid season and has had 13 blocks vs Marquette alone in the last month!  Both he and Sima are going to be excellent and there are a ton of high major schools who would love to get their hands on either one of them.  Mussini might not have next level athleticism, but he's a major conference player for sure. 

Two huge pieces for sure.

Please give the staff a minimum of three years to get things running smoothly.  While I hope and expect to see improvement next year, the last thing this program needs is a revolving door when it comes to the coaching staff.  It takes time and, unless there are extraneous issues unrelated to W's and L's, we should be patient.  While I didn't think Lavin should have been fired, I really like this staff and want to see them succeed.

Please give the staff a minimum of three years to get things running smoothly.  While I hope and expect to see improvement next year, the last thing this program needs is a revolving door when it comes to the coaching staff.  It takes time and, unless there are extraneous issues unrelated to W's and L's, we should be patient.  While I didn't think Lavin should have been fired, I really like this staff and want to see them succeed.

I agree with you but because of just how badly this season might end up they might have to slightly exceed expectations for next year to keep the critics at bay. Finishing over 500 is probably a must next year.

Next year team will be rolling.

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

Quote from: Dave on January 26, 2016, 10:54:37 AM

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

This team is so severely handicapped it's amazing that they aren't getting blown out in every single game. When they add a point guard, and a shooting guard capable of staying with his man on defense, and taking him off the dribble, this will be a completely different team. My biggest concern was seeing them give up earlier in the season, but since BE play has started the team is giving it 100%. It would have been nice to see them buy in earlier, but we have to accept that we have a lot of players on this team who are here to fill out the roster, and their laziness was tolerated, Next year, Johnson, Mvouika, Jones and maybe Williams will all be gone next year.

Quote from: we are sju on January 26, 2016, 10:58:20 AM

Quote from: Dave on January 26, 2016, 10:54:37 AM

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

This team is so severely handicapped it's amazing that they aren't getting blown out in every single game. When they add a point guard, and a shooting guard capable of staying with his man on defense, and taking him off the dribble, this will be a completely different team. My biggest concern was seeing them give up earlier in the season, but since BE play has started the team is giving it 100%. It would have been nice to see them buy in earlier, but we have to accept that we have a lot of players on this team who are here to fill out the roster, and their laziness was tolerated, Next year, Johnson, Mvouika, Jones and maybe Williams will all be gone next year.

Yes I think they will be much better. 15-17 wins is much better

Quote from: Dave on January 26, 2016, 10:54:37 AM

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

Carolina Panthers

Quote from: we are sju on January 26, 2016, 10:58:20 AM

Quote from: Dave on January 26, 2016, 10:54:37 AM

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

Carolina Panthers

Cam Newton have eligibility?

Quote from: Dave on January 26, 2016, 10:54:37 AM

Next year team will be rolling.

Careful
16 wins next year will be double the win total from this year.
That is asking a lot.
15-17 wins is a realistic expectation and a nice sized improvement.
Anything else is wishful thinking honestly.

I think that if we win 17 games next year I would be good with that as a fan. I am going in next year saying NIT is what we should do but more is possible. Like other posters have said this current group other then Mussini, Sima, and Yakwe is completely without Big East talent and they are competitive in most games. Add Lovett, Ahmed, Ponds, RF and possibly more who are all four star recruits and throw in a full season Sima and that's a pretty deep and diverse roster. At the same time all the players mentioned above are underclassmen so you have to temper your expectations a bit. I would be happy if come March we are still in the conversation as a bubble team. That would be great but not saying if we aren't that the year has been a let down because with so many new pieces next year is hard to predict.