10 Super Duper Early St. John’s Season Takeaways
By Joe Nardone
Lavin as an Idea is up for Debate
It should really read, “The Idea of Steve Lavin as St. John’s Coach for the Future is up for Debate”, but that doesn’t look as sexy (or fit the title guidelines).
What I mean by all of that is Lavin’s never been known as an on-the-floor general, but more of a recruiting mastermind. Two things that are pretty accurate, although, I don’t think he is as bad a coach on the floor as others do. What I do think, however, is that fans are already growing restless of Lavin’s ability to let his players play iso-offense to the point of them dribbling the ball off the floor for no reason and not make honest attempts to get to the basket.
Really, it seems pretty split. I should do some sort of poll on here (which we will if St. John’s struggles at some point) to gauge the St. John’s fanbase, but from what I read, message boards I visit (Redmen(dot)com, I <3 you) and fans I talk to, it is pretty much a 50/50 split as far as what they think of Lavin. Which is fair.
I am a Lavin guy, so my point of view is obviously of one thinking he is the right man for the job for right now and the future. I mean, I do remember Norm Roberts forcing an athletic team (who couldn’t shoot jumpers or run offensive sets) into playing half-court offense and basically doing everything required to insure that the players were not able to maximize off their athleticism by going up-tempo as often as they should have. Ahhhhh! A random Norm Roberts rant. I apologize to you and to him (he, like Lavin, seems like a legitimate good human being).
Regardless, this team has to do well if Lavin wants to avoid losing support. That might feel like an obvious statement, but this year’s version of the Red Storm is pretty heavily hyped. There is nothing worse for a coach to start a season with the perceived best team of his tenure, with his recruits, only to falter.
Time will tell, but Lavin can’t afford to stumble early or those in-conference growing pains St. John’s is sure to have will feel like giving birth to a lobster instead of just losses with learning experiences for down the road.