St John's- Pitino

[stever20]

That’s a net of +1. I don’t see how this means the whole league is better.

In the short term, the league is worse. You’re ignoring the fact that Providence had a tremendous recruiting year in place to add to Hopkins and Carter. They were potentially a top ten team next year. Now recruiting is shot and Bynum has already entered the portal. Who knows what else the fallout from this will be there. Pitino is cleaning house at St. John’s and Cooley has nothing to work with at Georgetown where they need a complete overhaul. Both of those are major rebuilding jobs, which will not happen overnight. We’ll have to wait and see if the league is better off as a result of this.

Things to watch in all of this are Pitino and Cooley. 70-year-old coaches like Pitino are usually maintaining what they have previously built, like Coach K and Jim Boeheim in recent years. There’s not much history of old coaches taking on major rebuilding projects at this stage of their lives. Larry Brown, every bit as good a coach as Pitino, tried it at SMU at a similar age. There’s no doubt that he turned the program around, but he only lasted 4 years and only got them to one NCAA tournament where they were one and done.

Cooley’s personal life appears to be in a shambles. Will a change of scenery solve his problems? Who knows? It could make them worse. Moving and changing jobs are 2 major life stressors. Things were cruising at Providence this year. At one point they had a 9-game winning streak and won 11 of 12. But then the cracks gradually started to appear and they ended the season on a 4 game losing streak and going 4-7 down the stretch. What happened? It would appear that Cooley’s personal problems undermined his professional success. Will moving to Georgetown make that all better? Pull up a seat and get out the popcorn. It should be interesting.

The transfer portal means there can be rebuilding jobs that happen far quicker than you think. They can happen overnight now. This isn't even 5 years ago, it's the new wild wild west. And Cooley showed last year he can play that game, and I feel fairly safe in saying Pitino will be able to play that game as well pretty easily. I'd say it's more likely than not that at least 1 of Georgetown or St John's makes the tourney next year.

[Jasper67]

That’s a net of +1. I don’t see how this means the whole league is better.

In the short term, the league is worse. You’re ignoring the fact that Providence had a tremendous recruiting year in place to add to Hopkins and Carter. They were potentially a top ten team next year. Now recruiting is shot and Bynum has already entered the portal. Who knows what else the fallout from this will be there. Pitino is cleaning house at St. John’s and Cooley has nothing to work with at Georgetown where they need a complete overhaul. Both of those are major rebuilding jobs, which will not happen overnight. We’ll have to wait and see if the league is better off as a result of this.

Things to watch in all of this are Pitino and Cooley. 70-year-old coaches like Pitino are usually maintaining what they have previously built, like Coach K and Jim Boeheim in recent years. There’s not much history of old coaches taking on major rebuilding projects at this stage of their lives. Larry Brown, every bit as good a coach as Pitino, tried it at SMU at a similar age. There’s no doubt that he turned the program around, but he only lasted 4 years and only got them to one NCAA tournament where they were one and done.

Cooley’s personal life appears to be in a shambles. Will a change of scenery solve his problems? Who knows? It could make them worse. Moving and changing jobs are 2 major life stressors. Things were cruising at Providence this year. At one point they had a 9-game winning streak and won 11 of 12. But then the cracks gradually started to appear and they ended the season on a 4 game losing streak and going 4-7 down the stretch. What happened? It would appear that Cooley’s personal problems undermined his professional success. Will moving to Georgetown make that all better? Pull up a seat and get out the popcorn. It should be interesting.

The transfer portal means there can be rebuilding jobs that happen far quicker than you think. They can happen overnight now. This isn't even 5 years ago, it's the new wild wild west. And Cooley showed last year he can play that game, and I feel fairly safe in saying Pitino will be able to play that game as well pretty easily. I'd say it's more likely than not that at least 1 of Georgetown or St John's makes the tourney next year.

I commend you, Stever. You’re an optimist.

I’m well aware what can be accomplished in a shot time with the transfer portal, but you’re still limited by what’s available in the portal. The most successful players in the country aren’t in the portal. Occasionally you strike hold as Marquette did with Tyler Kolek a few years ago, but other times it’s a dud.

Cooley also showed last year that he fell off his game. His team fell apart on him down the stretch. College coaching is a high stress job. To see him putting a positive face on things at the a Georgetown presser and hearing him talk about how they were going to build something “special” down there was head snapping. Watched that with an image of Bryce Hopkins in tears at the end of their last game in my head. How does a guy walk out of that PC locker room with players in the emotional state they were in and show up just a few days later in DC and put on that act. He came across as having nothing authentic about him. When a coach loses his authenticity, he loses everything. It showed in Providence where he clearly lost his team down the stretch. This is a guy going through a major life crisis.meh needs a year away from the game, not a leap into a bigger pressure cooker where fans are desperate for a winning team. I don’t know that it’s as simple as using the portal for a quick rebuild.

I’d be more optimistic about Pitino. I think he can do what you’re suggesting in the short run. How long it will last is the big question with him.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Pinzon in the portal.

[Jasper67]

Pinzon in the portal.

Perfect example of a lot of what’s in the portal. He’s there because the new coach doesn’t like his attitude and/or skills.