(2) Big East Games on Tuesday 1/23/18

[MackNova]

I never liked the Mullin hire, and I don't think it will end well, but the situation he inherited was such a dumpster fire that he deserves at least one more year to turn it around.

Lavin left the cupboard completely barren when he left. As bad as this season has been, there's at least some talent out there. Ponds is legitimately a 1st or 2nd-team all-Big East player, and there are pieces around him.

[gtmoBlue]

I usually ignore MM's long winded rants as he sings the same song over and over - and I'm not drunk. However, he's right this time. It's not my place to talk, but as the Prez says: "Fire That SOB."

If Mac did this 3 years running in Omaha, he'd be gone. Use the Rick Johnson clause in his contract. (If a coach looks like, smells like, or loses like Rick Johnson...fire that sucker - quick!)

[NJRedman]

I usually ignore MM's long winded rants as he sings the same song over and over - and I'm not drunk. However, he's right this time. It's not my place to talk, but as the Prez says: "Fire That SOB."

If Mac did this 3 years running in Omaha, he'd be gone. Use the Rick Johnson clause in his contract. (If a coach looks like, smells like, or loses like Rick Johnson...fire that sucker - quick!)

What 3 years running? Last year was a good season for what we were working with. This year is a step back but it's clear depth not talent or coaching is our issue and we have a slew of reinforcements coming in. If the new transfer rules were in place this season I can guarantee you we wouldn't be winless.

[MullinMayhem]

Thank you GTMO for being realistic instead of trying to be fashionable going against me just for kicks lol. If we ever made the top 25 consistently, you'd think I was the biggest optimist. But we haven't. You can't fault complaining fans when your team is freaking 8-40 in the past 3 yrs in conference. Others think what I say, I'm just not afraid to be more brash and blunt about it. Redman, please just admit your standard for success is "almost". You have done nothing but imply that over and over. Your depth excuse holds some merit but it's not the bigger problem. Of course our depth is an issue, of course LoVett's injury hurt badly...but as I said, anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain should be able to watch this team and realize it's clueless. You don't get to 0-9 by accident. Even with the injuries and the lack of depth, there's no excuse for where we are this year. You are incorrect to say it's a rebuilding year. This is the first year we are legitimately able to judge Mullin and other coaches.

There is no one on earth who wants to see us achieve more than me, but I also was not born yesterday. I've seen this team and I've seen this movie before. Ignoring all the clear red flags like our inept coaching only prolongs our misery and bottom 3 placement in the Big East every season. When there's a problem, you don't sweep it under the rug...you address it. Most players have regressed with the exception of Owens. How is that possible if he's doing a solid job? It almost always happens naturally even without coaching. To regress is a damning sign that something ain't right. Do you even watch our games? There's no plan on offense. No one's moving. Mullin repeatedly allows ridiculous shots that have maybe a 5% chance of going in. He gives everyone the green light. I hope I'm completely wrong and we bring in an expert in X's and O's and turn things around next year, but I have to assume that not much will change as long as Mullin's at the helm. You will see next year, I'll bet you money we won't make the tourney. And that hurts but that's how sure I am if he's still coach.

[NJRedman]

Thank you GTMO for being realistic instead of trying to be fashionable going against me just for kicks lol. If we ever made the top 25 consistently, you'd think I was the biggest optimist. But we haven't. You can't fault complaining fans when your team is freaking 8-40 in the past 3 yrs in conference. Others think what I say, I'm just not afraid to be more brash and blunt about it. Redman, please just admit your standard for success is "almost". You have done nothing but imply that over and over. Your depth excuse holds some merit but it's not the bigger problem. Of course our depth is an issue, of course LoVett's injury hurt badly...but as I said, anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain should be able to watch this team and realize it's clueless. You don't get to 0-9 by accident. Even with the injuries and the lack of depth, there's no excuse for where we are this year. You are incorrect to say it's a rebuilding year. This is the first year we are legitimately able to judge Mullin and other coaches.

There is no one on earth who wants to see us achieve more than me, but I also was not born yesterday. I've seen this team and I've seen this movie before. Ignoring all the clear red flags like our inept coaching only prolongs our misery and bottom 3 placement in the Big East every season. When there's a problem, you don't sweep it under the rug...you address it. Most players have regressed with the exception of Owens. How is that possible if he's doing a solid job? It almost always happens naturally even without coaching. To regress is a damning sign that something ain't right. Do you even watch our games? There's no plan on offense. No one's moving. Mullin repeatedly allows ridiculous shots that have maybe a 5% chance of going in. He gives everyone the green light. I hope I'm completely wrong and we bring in an expert in X's and O's and turn things around next year, but I have to assume that not much will change as long as Mullin's at the helm. You will see next year, I'll bet you money we won't make the tourney. And that hurts but that's how sure I am if he's still coach.

First off jack, it was a ground up rebuild and everyone knew it going into this experiment so don't throw out the record like it's some great f---ing surprise to anyone. We won more last year than the year before and it looked like we were going to do the same this year before Lovett went down.

Second how do they look clueless? Just this last game I saw them running set plays out of the huddle and a halftime adjustment that got them back into the game. We made it a one possession game with like 20 seconds to go with Ponds missing the last 13 minutes with an injury. That doesn't look like clueless to me. Thats why no one takes you seriously, you make shit up to try and prove your point. Mullin "allows" ridiculous shots! hahaha Whats he gonna do pull Ponds or Bash and what? Put in a walk on? We have a razor thin roster this year!

[Doge McDermott]

Second how do they look clueless?

They were jacking half court shots with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Heat checks are fine when the 3s are falling, but they weren't.

I don't mean to pile on, but that clip of Ewing getting on his player for crappy shot selection tells you all you need to know. Someone needed to tell those kids to settle down and drive the lane. Creighton does not have an interior presence anymore. Toby is not a shot blocker, and Manny is prone to foul very quickly. Instead, St. John's played Creighton's jump shot game, and that's where we won. It was only in the last 5 minutes where St. Johns kept pounding the lane and we couldn't stop them. Should have figured that out way sooner. Hell, it should have been at the top of the scouting report.

Play your game, that's Coaching 101.

[MullinMayhem]

Redman, it appears many, many people agree with the points I made. If you honestly watch this team on TV and tell me they have a clear plan, get benched for taking terrible shots, have tons of set plays, and move without the ball on offense, then you are out of your mind because it's not happening. Do you know why we were shooting something like 18% at one point deep into the Creighton game? It's because we had guys taking shots from 35 feet out. It's because we had our 6'11 center chucking jumpers. It's because we settled for jumpers instead of driving another 5 feet closer to the basket. If you miss your shots in the paint at least you usually get fouled. If you miss your jumpers, you're in trouble.

I'm not saying I'm always right, but I'm right about this. Even when Lavin was winning 20 games a year, you could see something was fundamentally wrong and that it would prevent us from truly breaking back into the national conversation. He could not coach and it showed. We never showed up for tournament games and his only postseason win was on a buzzer beating one-legged jumper by Pointer in the NIT. That's it! With all that talent. People said the same things...Lavin is good we just need better players! It's a rebuild! It's inexperience! It's injuries. It's everything but the coach. Well, turns out it was Lavin who was the problem, not any of the other factors (though they didn't help).

If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it IS A DUCK! Mullin was a great player and will forever be in our hearts and minds as the best to ever play for us. But he is a putrid coach and he's way in over his head. The longer he's head coach the longer we suffer. Let me know if you'd like to make a bet about next year. It's easy for me, because I know if we have no coaching we will always suck. I want him to succeed BADLY but he just doesn't have it in him as coach.

[NJRedman]

Second how do they look clueless?

They were jacking half court shots with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Heat checks are fine when the 3s are falling, but they weren't.

I don't mean to pile on, but that clip of Ewing getting on his player for crappy shot selection tells you all you need to know. Someone needed to tell those kids to settle down and drive the lane. Creighton does not have an interior presence anymore. Toby is not a shot blocker, and Manny is prone to foul very quickly. Instead, St. John's played Creighton's jump shot game, and that's where we won. It was only in the last 5 minutes where St. Johns kept pounding the lane and we couldn't stop them. Should have figured that out way sooner. Hell, it should have been at the top of the scouting report.

Play your game, that's Coaching 101.

More like the last 10 minutes but whos counting right?

[NJRedman]

Redman, it appears many, many people agree with the points I made. If you honestly watch this team on TV and tell me they have a clear plan, get benched for taking terrible shots, have tons of set plays, and move without the ball on offense, then you are out of your mind because it's not happening. Do you know why we were shooting something like 18% at one point deep into the Creighton game? It's because we had guys taking shots from 35 feet out. It's because we had our 6'11 center chucking jumpers. It's because we settled for jumpers instead of driving another 5 feet closer to the basket. If you miss your shots in the paint at least you usually get fouled. If you miss your jumpers, you're in trouble.

I'm not saying I'm always right, but I'm right about this. Even when Lavin was winning 20 games a year, you could see something was fundamentally wrong and that it would prevent us from truly breaking back into the national conversation. He could not coach and it showed. We never showed up for tournament games and his only postseason win was on a buzzer beating one-legged jumper by Pointer in the NIT. That's it! With all that talent. People said the same things...Lavin is good we just need better players! It's a rebuild! It's inexperience! It's injuries. It's everything but the coach. Well, turns out it was Lavin who was the problem, not any of the other factors (though they didn't help).

If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it IS A DUCK! Mullin was a great player and will forever be in our hearts and minds as the best to ever play for us. But he is a putrid coach and he's way in over his head. The longer he's head coach the longer we suffer. Let me know if you'd like to make a bet about next year. It's easy for me, because I know if we have no coaching we will always suck. I want him to succeed BADLY but he just doesn't have it in him as coach.

Get benched? hahaha for WHO?! We are so short handed because we have a bunch of guys on scholarship who are going to be big pieces for us next year. I counted about two of those shots you bring up. Yeah lets bench Ponds over that. hahaha We'll put in Mikey the walk on.

[Red Rooster]

MullinMayhem/SJHooper is and always has been very reactionary, and uses fallacies and hyperbole to make his points. Annoying, he is, no doubt. But, I agree with quite a few things, per his current Mullin critiques (I can't believe I said that, LOL).

The team is shorthanded, but in year 3, it shouldn't be the case. Even with the team being shorthanded, there are some fundamental flaws with how our team operates on the court. I'm not some superior coach or anything, but I'm far from a novice when it comes to this game. I've coached the game for a few years, have watched it for nearly 40 years, and have been around some good minds when it comes to this game. I can say without a doubt that far, far more times than not; I'm aware when I'm watching a poorly prepared product. The talent is sufficent enough, and there should be more talent once next season rolls around, as long no one departs. There needs to be a significant uptick with the coaching, though.

I won't go into it too much on this forum, as I would on a St. John's forum. But, that's my brief take on the situation.