More Disappointing: Marquette or SJ?

[Lavinwood]

If your read the Bruinnation.com artivle and the Huffinton post article by Al Sapiro
"Dear St. John`s, enjoy Steve Lavin, Love UCLA" from April 1, 2010

It`s scary reading what went on then and what`s going on now at SJU.

A lot of people on the SJU boards are saying that something is definitely going on behind the scenes.
That`s why I`m saying I want to see what happens Saturday vs nova.

Lets see, they played with #2 Syracuse the whole game, now they get blown out @ G-Town and vs. Nova in back to back games???
Nah I`m not buying that. To me Saturday is huge.

What kills me is he`s saying that these kids aren`t coachable, didn`t he hand choose them?
He`s the coach, he`s getting paid to motivate them to play. Just wow.

Unreal right? This guy went from being the program savior to being the next ineffective coach we chose to hire. You can't complain when you pick each player carefully. I really hope he learns from this because it seems like this wave of recruits is never going to amount to anything. Based on UCLA posts though, he never seems to learn which implies that's just who he is take him or leave him. Our coaches together are making $3 million. More has to be demanded. He never seems to hold himself accountable…when he doesn't win he says the fan expectations are too high. When players don't develop he says they're uncoachable. When the team fails early he says just wait…they will be good late in the season. When the team fails late he points to the youth of the team even if it doesn't make sense. I wish we could just keep Harrison and Jordan and start over again. There absolutely has to be something going on behind the scenes to start a walk-on and a bench player vs. G'Town a huge rival in a huge game. He was sending some type of message. When I first saw the starting lineup I remember getting really scared assuming a few of our starters were injured. Nope. Our team is lucky enough to be 100% healthy…but Lavin thought starting a walk-on was a good idea vs. G'Town. It's like he's purposely trying to have us fail.

[Bill Marsh]

I love all the whining at St. John's about Lavin. Like the program was doing so much better before he arrived, right? I guess that patience isn't the long suit at St. John's.

[billyfa]

Ok. Show me a link where you read these rumors. You are creating this as you go along. "There have been rumors circulating that Lavin no longer wants to coach here but he can't just leave because then he sacrifices his $1 million paycheck." and "Others say there are rumors the practices are literally just layup lines and dunk contests at the end going back to the UCLA days thru current times." It is actual comical. Please send a link where you read these rumors. I am a big St. John's fan and read every local paper, follow guys on twitter (who are professionals), etc. and haven't read anything close to that.

Not wanting to pick sides but...This isn't the first time I've heard this. I grew up in the West Coast and followed UCLA under Lavin. The guy was not well respected there then and still isn't. If you want sources here is one.

http://www.bruinsnation.com/2011/2/4/19 ... teve-lavin

scroll down to the comments you can read some of the things there. One guy back from 2011 basically said the exact same thing.

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Lavin Practice = Lay-Up Lines
Lavin was infamous for his joke of a practice. According to a friend on the team in the late 90’s (you may know him as a “lucky charm”), the team would regularly spend the whole time doing lay-ups and finish the practice with a dunk contest.

No preparation, no defense, no strategy. Lay-ups.

The funniest part was that Moose still couldn’t make a lay-up to save his life!

I cannot express how important winning tomorrow is for me. As a student during his reign of terror, Lavin personally detracted from my college experience.

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That's why I still refer to him as a Used-Car salesman. It carried over from 10 years ago.

If St. Johns is lucky Lavin will resign and not have to finish his 5 year contract. He is on year 4 now right? Watch the kids during the game, it seems like they don't really respect him very much when he calls the guys together.

Also Lavinwood, you should probably change your name, that "Lavinwood" section is a joke seeing who it's named after.

Yes, I have read this before. I was looking more for something substantial. This is basically a blog or forum of fans just like this board. I am very familiar with how UCLA fans feel about Lavin. This is the same set of fans who ran Ben Howland out of UCLA. They aren't happy with anyone not named John Wooden. My point is rumors always exist but most of the time are created or unfounded. There are individuals on here stating comments as though they are facts. Lavinwood, have you attended a men's basketball practice to see what transpires. I don't know if practices are open to public anymore but they used to be. Also, do you feel better about the program now or before he took over? This hasn't been a high profile job in years. You have to be realistic. He is building a good foundation. And believe me, I get frustrated with many of his in game decisions. Have to take the good with the bad.

[XUFan09]

The "layup lines and dunk contests" depiction of practices sounds like an exaggeration that has festered as a rumor. Now, the practices being disorganized and not too effective? That sounds very likely.