SJU vs. Humboldt St. (Exhibition)

[hoops22]

One thing I still don't understand is how we lost out on Jermaine Lawrence to Manhattan, after he transferred from Cincy. If we had him this year, I think even the pessimists around here would feel good about us making the tournament and even being a ranked team. I do feel Lavin should have been putting on the full court press to get him when he became available. He would have fit in perfectly this season, and maybe even helped us land some of the big recruits Lavin is going after for next year.

[Amase2]

One thing I still don't understand is how we lost out on Jermaine Lawrence to Manhattan, after he transferred from Cincy. If we had him this year, I think even the pessimists around here would feel good about us making the tournament and even being a ranked team. I do feel Lavin should have been putting on the full court press to get him when he became available. He would have fit in perfectly this season, and maybe even helped us land some of the big recruits Lavin is going after for next year.

Talent like that, with a situation where he wanted to come home. Seems to be clear that there had to be some issues.

[RDinNY]

Jermaine's handler had demands the first time we were recruiting him, including the fact that they wanted a film crew to follow him around and film a documentary about his freahman (only?) season. We were again involved and seemingly in the lead when he was transferring (after getting almost no burn at Cinci), and that ended abruptly. There were issues.

[hoops22]

I'm sure there may have been issues. But what did Manhattan do to get him? St. Johns still had a lot more to offer, and you'd think after a rough year at Cincy he'd have been humbled at least a little bit.

[SJHooper]

One thing about SJU is that we don't seem to be able to get any good transfers. It just doesn't happen for some reason. Not sure why.

[Realfan]

One thing about SJU is that we don't seem to be able to get any good transfers. It just doesn't happen for some reason. Not sure why.

It's not just transfers, it's local kids as well. Why can't St. John's attract the top local kids anymore? All the prior coaches ( except for Norm Roberts) got their fair share of top local recruits. If you notice, the transfers that Lavin has gone after are usually kids who are originally from NY. Perhaps it's because these kids are too familiar with the current state of the program and its limitations ( poor organization, coaching, player development). There is a reason why Lavin has expanded his recruiting to overseas, and it's not just the fine restaurants in Venice. But just ask yourself this question. If you had a child who you felt had the potential to make a career out of playing hoops, who has already lost a year for whatever circumstances at another school, would you send him to St. John's, now, in hopes that the current staff would enhance his development as a player?

[Chalmers0]

I'm sure there may have been issues. But what did Manhattan do to get him? St. Johns still had a lot more to offer, and you'd think after a rough year at Cincy he'd have been humbled at least a little bit.

I don't like Mick Cronin at all but one thing he does extremely well is gets his players to play hard, especially on the defensive end. If Lawrence couldn't get off the bench for him it was because he didn't want to play hard. I also believe that he basically has refused to play the 4 because he wants to be an NBA 3, despite having a very limited perimeter game. To me, it kind of sounds like Lawrence would just be compounding on the issues that St. John's already has...

[marquette]

One thing about SJU is that we don't seem to be able to get any good transfers. It just doesn't happen for some reason. Not sure why.

It's not just transfers, it's local kids as well. Why can't St. John's attract the top local kids anymore? All the prior coaches ( except for Norm Roberts) got their fair share of top local recruits. If you notice, the transfers that Lavin has gone after are usually kids who are originally from NY. Perhaps it's because these kids are too familiar with the current state of the program and its limitations ( poor organization, coaching, player development). There is a reason why Lavin has expanded his recruiting to overseas, and it's not just the fine restaurants in Venice. But just ask yourself this question. If you had a child who you felt had the potential to make a career out of playing hoops, who has already lost a year for whatever circumstances at another school, would you send him to St. John's, now, in hopes that the current staff would enhance his development as a player?

What I'm about to say is something I heard but don't actually have personal knowledge about. As I understand it St. Johns had an added recruiting tool prior to 1999: housing stipends. Because St. Johns had no dorms they were allowed to give players and students a stipend to rent an apartment in the area. Many local kids simply pocketed the stipend and lived at home. Nothing wrong with that, just a boost for local recruiting. St. Johns now has dorms and can't provide the stipend anymore.

That still doesn't explain why local kids would want to transfer to Manhattan over SJ. I really don't have an explanation for that.

[NJRedman]

One thing about SJU is that we don't seem to be able to get any good transfers. It just doesn't happen for some reason. Not sure why.

It's not just transfers, it's local kids as well. Why can't St. John's attract the top local kids anymore? All the prior coaches ( except for Norm Roberts) got their fair share of top local recruits. If you notice, the transfers that Lavin has gone after are usually kids who are originally from NY. Perhaps it's because these kids are too familiar with the current state of the program and its limitations ( poor organization, coaching, player development). There is a reason why Lavin has expanded his recruiting to overseas, and it's not just the fine restaurants in Venice. But just ask yourself this question. If you had a child who you felt had the potential to make a career out of playing hoops, who has already lost a year for whatever circumstances at another school, would you send him to St. John's, now, in hopes that the current staff would enhance his development as a player?

It's simple, kids don't want to stay home anymore. Especially kids who grow up in the cities and it goes double for the kids who grow up in the very poor areas of most major cities. They want to get out, go somewhere else. Look at Miami football, they have had a ton more of success than us and have an even deeper talent pool and they can't keep kids home, why? Because they don't want to stay home anymore. Some end up staying home but most rather go somewhere else. Thats what Lavin plays up on and gets kids from other areas who don't want to stay home to come to NYC. DePaul is going through the same issue we are, the local kids want to get out and away from the bad influences of their neighborhoods.

[SJHooper]

"UNC beats Belmont Abbey 112-34 in final exhibition. Five UNC players in double figures, led by Jackson's 16."

Ladies and gentlemen, that is what an exhibition looks like when a major conference team plays a bum. If I had to bet money, SJ would have won 112-111 in the same game.