The Holy Land of Hoops

So far:

10- Hoyas
9 - DePaul

I think the votes for SJ at 8th place are more indicative of past seasons where we failed to live up to the hype, which is fair. I still think we have a chance to be better than Marquette, Butler, and definitely G'Town and DePaul. As long as we finish top 7 we will have a chance at the tourney...top 6 will help a lot more. This is of course assuming we dominate our OOC which should happen if our talent plays anywhere near their ceiling. I think people are assuming Jordan will come in at Butler and pick up where they left off immediately as a constant top 25 and Sweet 16 or better threat. That's a big assumption to put it mildly. Very rarely do new coaches come in and continue winning a lot of games seamlessly. I think they will be fine long-term but not without a few years of growing pains first. Marquette is a dangerous team but they lost Fischer and no one mentions that. This year will tell us a lot about the Johnnies and Mullin. If we don't see at least a clear and major step forward i.e. make the NIT or NCAA's then many recruits will continue to cool on us and many fans will wonder if Mullin is up to the task.

MullinMayhem wrote:I think the votes for SJ at 8th place are more indicative of past seasons where we failed to live up to the hype, which is fair. I still think we have a chance to be better than Marquette, Butler, and definitely G'Town and DePaul. As long as we finish top 7 we will have a chance at the tourney...top 6 will help a lot more. This is of course assuming we dominate our OOC which should happen if our talent plays anywhere near their ceiling. I think people are assuming Jordan will come in at Butler and pick up where they left off immediately as a constant top 25 and Sweet 16 or better threat. That's a big assumption to put it mildly. Very rarely do new coaches come in and continue winning a lot of games seamlessly. I think they will be fine long-term but not without a few years of growing pains first. Marquette is a dangerous team but they lost Fischer and no one mentions that. This year will tell us a lot about the Johnnies and Mullin. If we don't see at least a clear and major step forward i.e. make the NIT or NCAA's then many recruits will continue to cool on us and many fans will wonder if Mullin is up to the task.

This is also indicative of some people on here trolling (as, five picked the Johnnies to finish 9th). I'm not even a person who typically bets, but I'm extremely confident those five (unless, we're dealing with multiple monikers) wouldn't be willing to wager on it.

Is St. John's an 8th place team? That's possible, but still not likely, IMO. 5th-7th is their window. I correctly picked it last season, and I believe I'll be in the ballpark again this season.

Johnnie’s fans I don’t have you 8th but why is that so inconceivable to you? Rooster you admit that 7th is realistic. So is it such a stretch that others’ opinions are slightly worse than your own?

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Johnnie’s fans I don’t have you 8th but why is that so inconceivable to you? Rooster you admit that 7th is realistic. So is it such a stretch that others’ opinions are slightly worse than your own?

Reading is fundamental.

By the way, 7th would also be the floor, and not the ceiling (5th, likely being the ceiling).

MullinMayhem wrote:I think the votes for SJ at 8th place are more indicative of past seasons where we failed to live up to the hype, which is fair.

Or it has to do with your team coming off a 14-win season and having a crummy defense outside of Ponds.

And FWIW, I picked Marquette in this poll.

This was definitely a toss up between Marquette (production) and the Johnnies (potential). Will Mullin will be able to coach his way out of a wet paper bag this year? Hopefully I'm wrong and the talent just shines through and they move up to the six spot and an NCAA bid. Have to see it first however.

When it comes to St. John's and Mullin I'll believe it when I see it.

Surprised to see St. John’s 8. I had them 5 and can’t see them below 6th. Maybe my expectations are too high

Red Rooster wrote:

GumbyDamnit! wrote:Johnnie’s fans I don’t have you 8th but why is that so inconceivable to you? Rooster you admit that 7th is realistic. So is it such a stretch that others’ opinions are slightly worse than your own?

Reading is fundamental.

By the way, 7th would also be the floor, and not the ceiling (5th, likely being the ceiling).

Maybe I don't understand Queens, NY English. So when you say: "Is St. John's an 8th place team? That's possible, but still not likely, IMO. 5th-7th is their window." does that not mean that you consider that SJU might finish 7th (or even 8th, as "possbile" means well...possible)? If you actually don't think that 7th is a realistic possibility, then maybe you should have said "5th or 6th" IMO and left the whole 8th or 7th are possible out of it.

Why not just be more definitive and tell us what you would pick if a gun were to your head?