slu06 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 You honestly believe this? Yes; I temper my expectations because I know we aren't / never have been a consistent D1 program. I try to remain optimistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I can't believe how quickly it has all unraveled. Not being facetious, I thought SLU would be still climbing. You thought SLU would still be climbing after graduating all 5 starters and about 75-80% of their minutes? I get last year was disappointing, but we graduated everyone and that wasn't JC's fault. RM left it like that. He also had a lame duck recruiting year with last years Soph class. It'd be nice to see everyone just remain supportive for another year and give the guy the opportunity he earned. And yes, I believe he earned more than a 1 year shot. Especially when the circumstances for that year were really stacked against him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufan13 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I'll be honest. I thought after 2 straight A10 titles, multiple weeks in the top 10, even more weeks in the top 25, wins in the NCAA tourney 3 straight years, a national coach of the year award, and honestly just a lot of attention due to our story, I thought we would have landed a 4 star recruit by now or at the very least I didn't think we'd miss out on our main targets consistently to not huge schools (Butler, Xavier) (Macura, O'Mara, Kelan Martin, etc). And despite everything we lost, I thought we'd bring in enough good players/have good enough coaching to not finish 298th out of 351 teams last year including finishing behind UMKC, SIUE, and SEMO. I'm not saying Crews should be fired immediately and I could even buy the argument that he "deserves" even more than this upcoming season, but giving a coach what he deserves, rewarding past success, and not being proactive is how you set your program back. 15-15 record this year and I think you have to let Crews go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiseAndGrind Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 You thought SLU would still be climbing after graduating all 5 starters and about 75-80% of their minutes? I get last year was disappointing, but we graduated everyone and that wasn't JC's fault. RM left it like that. He also had a lame duck recruiting year with last years Soph class. It'd be nice to see everyone just remain supportive for another year and give the guy the opportunity he earned. And yes, I believe he earned more than a 1 year shot. Especially when the circumstances for that year were really stacked against him. yes, especially as it relates to recruiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Good God people. Come off the ledge. I seriously doubt anyone here would pass up an opportunity to play at Duke and a chance for a national championship if you were only going to play college hoops for one season. This program did not get an increase in blue chip recruits when Hughes came nor would we if Tatum had come. People would have complained if they did not recruit Tatum just like they are now that they spent too much time on a kid who never was planning on coming to SLU anyway. The program is not in the toilet nor is this the death of the program. We played primarily freshman and sophomores last year. We are not Kentucky. Our freshman cannot come in and dominate from day one like Kentucky. Anyone who thinks Crews should have been dismissed after last season should not follow college basketball any longer. However, this is a big season from Crews. THe team has to improve or that seat will become hot. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 So did a handful of other teams that beat us last year. Youth is not an excuse. Other young teams were simply better than our young team. Unless our players experience a dramatically higher improvement curve than other teams' players - something that hasn't happened under Crews yet - I'd expect more of the same this coming season. Not *quite* as bad, but still bad. Almost all frosh with very little help from sophs and 1 upperclassman that did anything. Yes there were other young teams but very few that counted on frosh as much as we did. I'm not saying I was happy with everything that happened or even much that happened, but I do believe he has earned our support for this upcoming season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 yes, especially as it relates to recruiting. So lets let the frosh become sophs before we decide if we did or didn't have an uptick in recruiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Based on what has been reported and what I've heard from Justin Tatum and then a couple people a little more removed from the situation, I'd say that SLU did everything they were supposed to do, but maybe not everything they could do. -I feel compelled to ask, what was missed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 -I feel compelled to ask, what was missed? What was missed was coaching excellence. I fooled myself into thinking it was a possibility as well, but I was delusional. Crews vs. Coach K? Really? Not even a tough decision. The kid knows he will be in the NBA, so why wouldn't he want a coach that will not only win and possibly compete for a national championship but also better prepare him for the NBA? I just don't think SLU was in it and Jayson wanted to break it to St. Louis on friendly terms so he could milk the attention for a year and also try and keep SLU on friendly terms. This all may backfire for him too. I blame Majerus. Had he taken better care of himself he'd still be coaching and I think JT would have a hard time not picking SLU if he were the coach. (kidding, sort of) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiseOfTheBillikens Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 What was missed was coaching excellence. I fooled myself into thinking it was a possibility as well, but I was delusional. Crews vs. Coach K? Really? Not even a tough decision. The kid knows he will be in the NBA, so why wouldn't he want a coach that will not only win and possibly compete for a national championship but also better prepare him for the NBA? I just don't think SLU was in it and Jayson wanted to break it to St. Louis on friendly terms so he could milk the attention for a year and also try and keep SLU on friendly terms. This all may backfire for him too. I blame Majerus. Had he taken better care of himself he'd still be coaching and I think JT would have a hard time not picking SLU if he were the coach. (kidding, sort of) Hate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I think a lot of the optimists are downplaying (or up-playing) how terrible last year was. It was record setting bad. The non conference schedule was terrible in terms of strength and results against that strength. The team won 3 conference games. 3. The team went 1-9 in the last 10 games, not exactly trending upwards. There were and still are questions at the 5, 4, and 1 spots. Anything above .500 will probably be the biggest turn around in the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I think a lot of the optimists are downplaying (or up-playing) how terrible last year was. It was record setting bad. The non conference schedule was terrible in terms of strength and results against that strength. The team won 3 conference games. 3. The team went 1-9 in the last 10 games, not exactly trending upwards. There were and still are questions at the 5, 4, and 1 spots. Anything above .500 will probably be the biggest turn around in the country. +1 Memories are short. Beyond just the record, the 2014-2015 was historically bad in terms of efficiency (at both ends) and pretty much every other statistic you can dream up. And it showed. That team was absolutely abysmal to watch, especially in conference play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne's_World Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 +1 Not nearly as bad as I'd thought. Have we grown up? It's either one of two things:1) Last season was so bad that we basically burned out all of our negative emotions. 2) We all expected Tatum to pick Duke anyways. Also, in response to Tonka's last point, it's crazy to think about where this program would be of Majerus had never gotten sick and had been able to keep recruiting/coaching these past 3 years. We might have had a top 5 team, gotten to the final 4, and most likely would have landed JT. But thinking about such things is pointless.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 There's probably truth in both of those. Llike I was telling a couple other posters, I was 50-50 between Duke and SLU for a quite a while. It might have tilted back and forth a little but it was clear we were both in it. Then over the past month I pretty much began the process of accepting it was Duke as they started getting all the positive chatter, his bro-love with Giles seemed to blossom again, and so forth. But when he was on camera, I still got really, really nervous and still had a little bit of hope. So even though I knew/had known he was going to say Duke, it still stung. It definitely wasn't a Cliff Alexander moment; we didn't get burned quite like Illinois fans. It wasn't 50-50 by the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 So part B of my Taj-long post is this: SLU did not waste its time, efforts, and resources. If you accept my premise that there's no grand conspiracy that in addition to being the best high school basketball player in the country, Jayson Tatum is also a mastermind of controlling everyone around him and keeping a year-long major secret, then you accept that SLU was a legitimate finalist in his recruitment. No, being second does not help us. But what good is it not to try? How often does a local player come along who is that good and has that many ties to the program? There was no reason not to throw everything we had at this kid. To do otherwise is a little brother (ahem, chicken little) mentality. A loser's mindset. The kind of we're-never-good-enough pathetic mentality that so many SLU fans are stuck with. You're not going to win every local kid, especially early on in a coach's tenure. But not even trying is not a long-term solution, especially when we arguably have a lower level of talent right now than we've seen in over two decades. We were right to recruit him with everything we had until the bitter end. Now, the only question is: Did we throw everything we had into his recruitment? The narrative that we wasted a lot of effort is hard to buy. The kid lived in StL and came to our house to play pickup with D1 players, although some will argue they're D2 level. It wasn't like we were chasing out to LA, CHI, or NYC spending beau coup bucks on air fare and hotels. And it should have worked tou our advantage to be chasing after him in AAU ball. If we didn't make contact with other possible kids at these events, shame on the staff. They should be fired if all their efforts were concentrated on a long shot., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenboy Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Been watching this play out and I do not want to say I told you this would never happen for SLU but just as I stated it would. I got lambasted for stating it would not. The good thing about this announcement is that the Tatums saw fit to make the announcement early to eliminate the local pressure for this kid to sign with SLU. At least the staff and supporters of SLU can now move on and focus on our team. Wish the kid well and lets move on people. The ship has sailed...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Been watching this play out and I do not want to say I told you this would never happen for SLU but just as I stated it would. I got lambasted for stating it would not. The good thing about this announcement is that the Tatums saw fit to make the announcement early to eliminate the local pressure for this kid to sign with SLU. At least the staff and supporters of SLU can now move on and focus on our team. Wish the kid well and lets move on people. The ship has sailed...! Congratulations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I think we should forget his existence and indeed move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Been watching this play out and I do not want to say I told you this would never happen for SLU but just as I stated it would. I got lambasted for stating it would not. The good thing about this announcement is that the Tatums saw fit to make the announcement early to eliminate the local pressure for this kid to sign with SLU. At least the staff and supporters of SLU can now move on and focus on our team. Wish the kid well and lets move on people. The ship has sailed...! Can I be your mentee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeniceMenace Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 So did a handful of other teams that beat us last year. Youth is not an excuse. Other young teams were simply better than our young team. Unless our players experience a dramatically higher improvement curve than other teams' players - something that hasn't happened under Crews yet - I'd expect more of the same this coming season. Not *quite* as bad, but still bad. Such as? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenboy Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Whatever...I am only supporting the kids wearing Billiken Blue and White. Good luck to JT and his family. Good choice with Duke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Congratulations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettFlight5 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Such as? I know Fordham, Vermont (close win), and Vanderbilt were mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgeldmacher Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Crews cannot be blamed for failing to close Tatum. You can't close a deal that you never had a shot at. I truly believe that we were going to finish 2nd to whatever team he ended up choosing. It may not have even been a conscious decision on this part that SLU was going to come in second, but it was inevitable. He was going to pacify the locals with talk that he might go to the local school and then pick where truly wanted to go. If you want to argue that Crews can't close, then you have to argue that Calipari and Roy Williams can't close. That being said, Crews will not retain his job past this year unless: 1. The team as it is assembled has a much better year than last year. 2. He salvages something with this recruiting class. 3. He hires an assistant that can be counted out to either (a.) recruit nationally, or (b.) recruit locally. When I say a guy that can recruit nationally, I'm not talking about top 50 recruits. I just mean solid guys that would be rated 51-200. When I say a guy that can recruit locally, I mean someone that knows the local high school coaches and the AAU programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Crews cannot be blamed for failing to close Tatum. You can't close a deal that you never had a shot at. I truly believe that we were going to finish 2nd to whatever team he ended up choosing. It may not have even been a conscious decision on this part that SLU was going to come in second, but it was inevitable. He was going to pacify the locals with talk that he might go to the local school and then pick where truly wanted to go. If you want to argue that Crews can't close, then you have to argue that Calipari and Roy Williams can't close. That being said, Crews will not retain his job past this year unless: 1. The team as it is assembled has a much better year than last year. 2. He salvages something with this recruiting class. 3. He hires an assistant that can be counted out to either (a.) recruit nationally, or (b.) recruit locally. When I say a guy that can recruit nationally, I'm not talking about top 50 recruits. I just mean solid guys that would be rated 51-200. When I say a guy that can recruit locally, I mean someone that knows the local high school coaches and the AAU programs. If Crews/SLU fills your #3 with Justin Tatum, we get Jayson as well. It was that simple. Another classic SLU head scratcher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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