Chris Mullin new head coach of St. John's!

[hoyahooligan]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

Obekpa should've left after his freshman year honestly when he still had potential. Now it's been 2 more years and only moderate improvement of his offensive game. He no longer has potential. He's just a guy who blocks a lot of shots, while not being a good rebounder and having no offensive game(comparatively for the NBA).

Will Obekpa come back with all his off the court issues? Who knows Lavin surely would've let him back in, but if Mullin is no nonsense as he's billed he might say hit the bricks to a kid that's been suspended multiple times.

[Bill Marsh]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

Obekpa should've left after his freshman year honestly when he still had potential. Now it's been 2 more years and only moderate improvement of his offensive game. He no longer has potential. He's just a guy who blocks a lot of shots, while not being a good rebounder and having no offensive game(comparatively for the NBA).

Will Obekpa come back with all his off the court issues? Who knows Lavin surely would've let him back in, but if Mullin is no nonsense as he's billed he might say hit the bricks to a kid that's been suspended multiple times.

What are "all his off the court issues"?

If a team were going to give up on a player because he smoked a joint, I suppose then that Hall of Famer Bill Walton wasn't worth the trouble.

[Bill Marsh]

CBS story about it:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... -to-accept

the interesting part:
Sources say it's highly unlikely that Rysheed Jordan and Chris Obekpa -- two players who started this year for the Red Storm -- will wind up returning next season.

Does anyone have any info about this comment? I know Obekpa had problems, but neither player seemed pro ready and their loss would impact next season for the new coach. Both players are very talented, but leaving early doesn't seem like a good thing for either one. I think the new hire has great potential, but he will need experienced players or the first year could be a struggle!

I agree that neither Onekpa nor Jordan are pro ready. I imagine they'll be back.

[Bill Marsh]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

In one article Jordan was quoted as favoring Masiello, saying that he'd like to play for him. Doesn't sound like a kid on his way out the door.

[Bill Marsh]

I can't see this ending well for St. John's.

What makes anybody think that an 18 year old recruit would care about Chris Mullin? Maybe a Wally World-type recruit would care but the black kid from Lincoln will not, the kid from suburban St. Joe's Metuchen will not, every kid that flocks to the Patrick School, Roselle Catholic, St. Benedictine's, and St Anthony's isn't going to care.

So we are left with an inexperienced coach and recruiter that really doesn't have the juice with these young kids that the school thinks he does have. This is such a clutcher-f*@k of a hiring that a .500 team will be a morale victory.

You don't have a clue to wtf you're talking about. Mullin and Slice are best friends, and from what I hear him coming here is a real possibility. I seen that we already have a top recruiter sewn up. The staff is very much a key.
Hearing that there are some real exciting names that we are talking to.

Now to the 16, 17, and 18 yr old kids, true they might not know who Mullin is, but you be damn sure that their parents know who he is very well.

Right, i don't agree with the line of thought that says "17 year olds don't know who the guy is"... like you said, parents, uncles, high school coaches, neighbors, really anyone over the age of 30 in NYC knows who Chris Mullin is. And these family members and friends have a huge influence on recruits. Sure, maybe people in Possum Hollow Texas don't at this point, but i don't think that's important right now. Plus he'll help sell tickets.

Absolutely, Billy Jack.

Mullin wouldn't have been my first choice, but there's no doubt that he's a home run.

A big part of recruiting is creating a program with excitement around it so that kids want to come to play there. Mullin's hire by itself is already creating excitement. Ticket sales will go up, donations to the program will go up. Mullin himself will get a far longer grace period than almost anyone else they could hire, giving him the necessary time to build the program back up.

You're right on the mark when you talk about coaches, parents, etc. NYC coaches will open their doors to St. John's just because it's Chris Mullin.

Frankly there's nothing that St. John's could have done to more effectively turn the page from Jarvis/Norm/Lavin. It will be regarded as a new era in St. John's basketball with the expectation that it will wipe away the failures of the past 15 years. It will be a completely fresh start. Mullin must produce or all the good will will evaporate, but he'll be given 2-3 years to do so.

[hoyahooligan]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

Obekpa should've left after his freshman year honestly when he still had potential. Now it's been 2 more years and only moderate improvement of his offensive game. He no longer has potential. He's just a guy who blocks a lot of shots, while not being a good rebounder and having no offensive game(comparatively for the NBA).

Will Obekpa come back with all his off the court issues? Who knows Lavin surely would've let him back in, but if Mullin is no nonsense as he's billed he might say hit the bricks to a kid that's been suspended multiple times.

What are "all his off the court issues"?

If a team were going to give up on a player because he smoked a joint, I suppose then that Hall of Famer Bill Walton wasn't worth the trouble.

Wasn't his first suspension. Was suspended to start the year as well and the year before as well. There's the whole transfer episode over the summer. There was an incident last year in the NIT where he refused to go back into the game.

Also a kid has to be pretty dumb to smoke weed that close to the NCAA tournament when you know they're going to be testing kids at the NCAA tournament. Hey smoke weed all off season if you want that's your business, but it's dumb and selfish to do it during the season. Smoking weed is not with out side effects to your lungs and it's not something an athlete should be doing to their body if they're a serious competitor.

And let's not act like Obekpa is anywhere close to Walton.

[gtmoBlue]

I can't see this ending well for St. John's.

What makes anybody think that an 18 year old recruit would care about Chris Mullin? Maybe a Wally World-type recruit would care but the black kid from Lincoln will not, the kid from suburban St. Joe's Metuchen will not, every kid that flocks to the Patrick School, Roselle Catholic, St. Benedictine's, and St Anthony's isn't going to care.

So we are left with an inexperienced coach and recruiter that really doesn't have the juice with these young kids that the school thinks he does have. This is such a clutcher-f*@k of a hiring that a .500 team will be a morale victory.

You don't have a clue to wtf you're talking about. Mullin and Slice are best friends, and from what I hear him coming here is a real possibility. I seen that we already have a top recruiter sewn up. The staff is very much a key.
Hearing that there are some real exciting names that we are talking to.

Now to the 16, 17, and 18 yr old kids, true they might not know who Mullin is, but you be damn sure that their parents know who he is very well.

Absolutely, Billy Jack.

Mullin wouldn't have been my first choice, but there's no doubt that he's a home run.

A big part of recruiting is creating a program with excitement around it so that kids want to come to play there. Mullin's hire by itself is already creating excitement. Ticket sales will go up, donations to the program will go up. Mullin himself will get a far longer grace period than almost anyone else they could hire, giving him the necessary time to build the program back up.

You're right on the mark when you talk about coaches, parents, etc. NYC coaches will open their doors to St. John's just because it's Chris Mullin.

Frankly there's nothing that St. John's could have done to more effectively turn the page from Jarvis/Norm/Lavin. It will be regarded as a new era in St. John's basketball with the expectation that it will wipe away the failures of the past 15 years. It will be a completely fresh start. Mullin must produce or all the good will will evaporate, but he'll be given 2-3 years to do so.

Good post Securedaball.

Soooo. The Johnnies opted for the PR Homerun. Great for the Marketing and PR departments...not so good for the on-the-court product though. Thank you STJ; thank you, thank you, thank you.
Bill Marsh is giving Mullins a 2-3 year grace period. BillyJack thinks Mullins will hawk and sell tickets. That is all good. Although it will be difficult to rise from 9th/10th to the top 3rd, with a coach with NO Previous Experience coaching...at any level. (And folks are bashing the safe pick at DePaul?) This hire will mire STJ in the muck of the pits of the BE for at least 5 years...until/when they fire Mullins and hire one of the Hurleys!

Fired Lavin who has raised the level of the program back to respectability - and hire a rookie, unproven, no experienced, former "face of the program"? And you expect the program to improve? What a joke this is...can I laugh now?
Should have gone after Shaka, or Gregg Marshall, if Dan Hurley (the URI Hurley) didn't want the job.

Thank you Johnnies. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[jfan]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

Obekpa should've left after his freshman year honestly when he still had potential. Now it's been 2 more years and only moderate improvement of his offensive game. He no longer has potential. He's just a guy who blocks a lot of shots, while not being a good rebounder and having no offensive game(comparatively for the NBA).

Will Obekpa come back with all his off the court issues? Who knows Lavin surely would've let him back in, but if Mullin is no nonsense as he's billed he might say hit the bricks to a kid that's been suspended multiple times.

What are "all his off the court issues"?

If a team were going to give up on a player because he smoked a joint, I suppose then that Hall of Famer Bill Walton wasn't worth the trouble.

Wasn't his first suspension. Was suspended to start the year as well and the year before as well. There's the whole transfer episode over the summer. There was an incident last year in the NIT where he refused to go back into the game.

Also a kid has to be pretty dumb to smoke weed that close to the NCAA tournament when you know they're going to be testing kids at the NCAA tournament. Hey smoke weed all off season if you want that's your business, but it's dumb and selfish to do it during the season. Smoking weed is not with out side effects to your lungs and it's not something an athlete should be doing to their body if they're a serious competitor.

And let's not act like Obekpa is anywhere close to Walton.

Maybe he is just as big a flake as Walton!

[HoosierPal]

Jordan said he was gone before the season started. I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, but it seems like he want's to be gone yesterday.

Obekpa should've left after his freshman year honestly when he still had potential. Now it's been 2 more years and only moderate improvement of his offensive game. He no longer has potential. He's just a guy who blocks a lot of shots, while not being a good rebounder and having no offensive game(comparatively for the NBA).

Will Obekpa come back with all his off the court issues? Who knows Lavin surely would've let him back in, but if Mullin is no nonsense as he's billed he might say hit the bricks to a kid that's been suspended multiple times.

What are "all his off the court issues"?

If a team were going to give up on a player because he smoked a joint, I suppose then that Hall of Famer Bill Walton wasn't worth the trouble.

Wasn't his first suspension. Was suspended to start the year as well and the year before as well. There's the whole transfer episode over the summer. There was an incident last year in the NIT where he refused to go back into the game.

Also a kid has to be pretty dumb to smoke weed that close to the NCAA tournament when you know they're going to be testing kids at the NCAA tournament. Hey smoke weed all off season if you want that's your business, but it's dumb and selfish to do it during the season. Smoking weed is not with out side effects to your lungs and it's not something an athlete should be doing to their body if they're a serious competitor.

And let's not act like Obekpa is anywhere close to Walton.

Add the flagrant, deliberate elbow to Wideman in February. Lavin suspended him, sat his arse out, what ever you want to call it. The list gets longer and longer. He's not the program ambassador you are looking for. Yeah, let him chaperon a recruit and see how that goes.

[SJU1987]

It'll all come down to recruiting. Will he recruit ?
Many high school kids will schedule a meeting just to meet Mullin. Would you ?