Top 25 BE players as per Bleacher Report

[GumbyDamnit!]

Well lets look at it this way. Last season D'Angello Harrison was the second top scorer in the league before being suspended. He was either first or second all season long. Chris Obekpa was the nation's leading shot blocker and JaKaar Sampson won the Rookie of the Year award. That was in the 15 team version of the league. Why would St. John's having five of the top 25 be such a stretch?

Ok. Let's accept that SJU has 5 of the top 25 players in the league and G'twn has 1. If Lavin can't turn that into a BE regular season championship (& BET with basically home court advantage) then I guess there is no excuse for him. He'd be the single worst coach in the league not to win the league with that talent. Or at the very least if you guys don't finish in front of G'twn then clearly JT3 is a without question a superior coach to Lavin. Did I get that right?

[milksteak]

I can't say I speak to for all Butler fans, but Kellen should be in the 15-20 range, and Khyle shouldn't even be in top 25. He's way too inconsistent.

[redmen9194]

Well lets look at it this way. Last season D'Angello Harrison was the second top scorer in the league before being suspended. He was either first or second all season long. Chris Obekpa was the nation's leading shot blocker and JaKaar Sampson won the Rookie of the Year award. That was in the 15 team version of the league. Why would St. John's having five of the top 25 be such a stretch?

Ok. Let's accept that SJU has 5 of the top 25 players in the league and G'twn has 1. If Lavin can't turn that into a BE regular season championship (& BET with basically home court advantage) then I guess there is no excuse for him. He'd be the single worst coach in the league not to win the league with that talent. Or at the very least if you guys don't finish in front of G'twn then clearly JT3 is a without question a superior coach to Lavin. Did I get that right?

No. Sometimes the team with the best players doesn't always win out. Basketball doesn't work that way. It happens all the time. With this talent, the Johnnies should absolutely finish at or near the top of the league. Lavin was able to coach Norm's players who had done nothing for three years into third place in the Big East in 2010-2011 so I don't really see much of a problem. Don't stress over these pre-season lists.

[butlerguy03]

I can't say I speak to for all Butler fans, but Kellen should be in the 15-20 range, and Khyle shouldn't even be in top 25. He's way too inconsistent.

On potential, Khyle should be in the 5-10 range...but on performance, 25-50.

[Hall2012]

Well lets look at it this way. Last season D'Angello Harrison was the second top scorer in the league before being suspended. He was either first or second all season long. Chris Obekpa was the nation's leading shot blocker and JaKaar Sampson won the Rookie of the Year award. That was in the 15 team version of the league. Why would St. John's having five of the top 25 be such a stretch?

Ok. Let's accept that SJU has 5 of the top 25 players in the league and G'twn has 1. If Lavin can't turn that into a BE regular season championship (& BET with basically home court advantage) then I guess there is no excuse for him. He'd be the single worst coach in the league not to win the league with that talent. Or at the very least if you guys don't finish in front of G'twn then clearly JT3 is a without question a superior coach to Lavin. Did I get that right?

I don't know about the worst coach, but it's no secret that Steve Lavin is an excellent recruiter but his teams always underachieve. In his time at UCLA, he twice at the nation's top recruiting class and sent 7 players to the NBA, but he couldn't win anything. His best season, by far, was his first (with Jim Harrick's players). Since then, we couldn't crack 3rd in the PAC-10 and the sweet 16. Not bad, but not good enough for the ridiculous amount of talent on his teams.

[redmen9194]

Well he overachieved in his first year at St. John's - I don't think anybody anticipated being tied for third with wins against Duke, UConn, Pitt, G'Town and ND. He still have to prove he can get Ws but that's not what this list was about. It was about players. But with this team, he should contend for top spot in the league.

[Bill Marsh]

Well lets look at it this way. Last season D'Angello Harrison was the second top scorer in the league before being suspended. He was either first or second all season long. Chris Obekpa was the nation's leading shot blocker and JaKaar Sampson won the Rookie of the Year award. That was in the 15 team version of the league. Why would St. John's having five of the top 25 be such a stretch?

Ok. Let's accept that SJU has 5 of the top 25 players in the league and G'twn has 1. If Lavin can't turn that into a BE regular season championship (& BET with basically home court advantage) then I guess there is no excuse for him. He'd be the single worst coach in the league not to win the league with that talent. Or at the very least if you guys don't finish in front of G'twn then clearly JT3 is a without question a superior coach to Lavin. Did I get that right?

I don't know about the worst coach, but it's no secret that Steve Lavin is an excellent recruiter but his teams always underachieve. In his time at UCLA, he twice at the nation's top recruiting class and sent 7 players to the NBA, but he couldn't win anything. His best season, by far, was his first (with Jim Harrick's players). Since then, we couldn't crack 3rd in the PAC-10 and the sweet 16. Not bad, but not good enough for the ridiculous amount of talent on his teams.

Ever here of Felipe Lopez, #1 recruit in the country? Sometimes the recruiting services get it wrong.

If Lavin's recruits at UCLA were so good, why didn't any of them except for Baron Davis ever do anything in the NBA? They were at best marginal NBA players or role players in the cases of the few who actually did anything at all in the pros. Did he ruin their pro careers too?

Here's a list of the top UCLA recruits after Davis who were brought in by Lavin whom Lavin actually got to coach, according to Statsheet:

Earl Watson
Dan Gadzuric
JaRon Rush
Ray Young
Matt Barnes
Jerome Boiso
Jason Kapono
TJ Cummings
Cedric Thompson
Dijon Thompson
Andre Patterson
Michael Fey
Ryan Hollins

[TheHall]

Well lets look at it this way. Last season D'Angello Harrison was the second top scorer in the league before being suspended. He was either first or second all season long. Chris Obekpa was the nation's leading shot blocker and JaKaar Sampson won the Rookie of the Year award. That was in the 15 team version of the league. Why would St. John's having five of the top 25 be such a stretch?

Ok. Let's accept that SJU has 5 of the top 25 players in the league and G'twn has 1. If Lavin can't turn that into a BE regular season championship (& BET with basically home court advantage) then I guess there is no excuse for him. He'd be the single worst coach in the league not to win the league with that talent. Or at the very least if you guys don't finish in front of G'twn then clearly JT3 is a without question a superior coach to Lavin. Did I get that right?

No. Sometimes the team with the best players doesn't always win out. Basketball doesn't work that way. It happens all the time. With this talent, the Johnnies should absolutely finish at or near the top of the league. Lavin was able to coach Norm's players who had done nothing for three years into third place in the Big East in 2010-2011 so I don't really see much of a problem. Don't stress over these pre-season lists.

A lot of pressure being thrown at SJU but Villanova (Jay Wright) is in the same boat...Both programs should win more games than they have over the last 3-5 years for multiple reasons. Also Hillard is a much better player than Ryan Arch right now and should have been on the top 25 list.

[Dave]

Ever here of Felipe Lopez, #1 recruit in the country? Sometimes the recruiting services get it wrong.

If Lavin's recruits at UCLA were so good, why didn't any of them except for Baron Davis ever do anything in the NBA? They were at best marginal NBA players or role players in the cases of the few who actually did anything at all in the pros. Did he ruin their pro careers too?

Here's a list of the top UCLA recruits after Davis who were brought in by Lavin whom Lavin actually got to coach, according to Statsheet:

Earl Watson
Dan Gadzuric
JaRon Rush
Ray Young
Matt Barnes
Jerome Boiso
Jason Kapono
TJ Cummings
Cedric Thompson
Dijon Thompson
Andre Patterson
Michael Fey
Ryan Hollins

In Lavin's own PR, he seemed pretty pleased with his recruiting accomplishments:
"In 2002-03, the Bruins’ have another highly-regarded incoming freshman class, led by two centers, 7-0 Michael Fey and 6-11 Ryan Hollins. Entering the 2001-02 season, UCLA’s incoming freshman class (McDonald’s All-American Cedric Bozeman, Andre Patterson, Dijon Thompson, Fey; on June 29, 2001 the Bruins announced that Fey was not enrolling in Fall 2001, but he is enrolling in Fall 2002) was voted No. 1 in the nation by Sports Illustrated.

Entering the 2000-01 campaign, UCLA’s talented incoming freshmen were T. J. Cummings, son of NBA and DePaul standout Terry Cummings; Josiah Johnson, son of NBA and UCLA great Marques Johnson and Ryan Walcott, whose cousin Mike Bibby was an All-American at Arizona and current standout with the Sacramento Kings. In 1999, the Bruins signed McDonald’s All-American Jason Kapono. In 1998, UCLA landed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, led by three McDonald’s All-Americans (Dan Gadzuric, JaRon Rush and Ray Young, who will be a redshirt senior this year). In 1997, the Bruins signed the nation’s No. 2 class, led by prep National Player of the Year Baron Davis.

In all, Lavin has recruited six McDonald’s All-Americans to UCLA — 2001 Bozeman, 1999 Kapono, 1998 Gadzuric, Rush, Young and 1997 Davis."

[Dave]

A lot of pressure being thrown at SJU but Villanova (Jay Wright) is in the same boat...Both programs should win more games than they have over the last 3-5 years for multiple reasons.

Why do you have to be a Nova hater? Are you a St Joes fan?