Why has Crews failed?

[slu72]

Back to back 20 loss regular seasons and a strong possibility of a quick exit on Wednesday. All this misery after three of the most glorious seasons in school history that the program could/should have built upon rather than do a crash dive into the abyss. Very hard to figure.

One poster confided to me he felt Crews was the wrong guy after the loss to Santa Clara back in the 12-13 season. His opinion was reinforced during a couple of other games that season and solidified in the NCAA loss to Oregon. As for me, I thought the way he handled the 13-14 season was a big red flag. He ran that team into the ground, and it started to show in the latter part of the regular season. But, given his extensive HC experience, did anyone ever imagine he could rip the guts out of this program to the extent he has?

It all begins and ends with recruiting. You have to have talent. Crews went after good players but missed and settled for plan Bs and Cs. Plus, there were just some out and out reaches, ie Gillman and Jolly. Obviously Crews is not much of a salesman since he couldn't sell off our recent success, a good education, and superb facilities. Granted, he didn't have the rep of a Majerus, but neither was he a total loser at his previous posts. It's a mystery to me how he could not have landed at least a couple of stalwarts who could have kept us up there with the A10 elites. Especially a true PG. Losing Carter after one semester makes you wonder what he saw and we didn't.

Coaching and teaching. We saw with Rick that you can win big with a roster not stacked with 4 and 5 star talent. But, man, could he coach them up and teach them skills that became instinctive and entrenched. He got them to buy in to his system and they executed it to a t, even after he'd left them. We never saw this from Crews. In fact, we saw more regression than progression. We witnessed a system that looked more like mass confusion than disciplined. The simplest things like setting good screens, defensive footwork, blocking out were nowhere in evidence these past two seasons. Hard to fathom how a guy with 30 years experience in the profession could not find a way to impart these skills.

For a guy who was mentored by one of the game's great HC's (you may not have agreed w/his antics, but it's hard to argue w/his results) and ran two D1 programs, albeit not overly successful programs, we still should have expected more than the back to back train wreck seasons we've witnessed. It's hard to understand.

[Taj79]

Crews cannot identify talent, he can't recruit talent,and he can't coach up talent. His 1970's-80's upbringing does not play well in today's CBB atmosphere and he is loathe to change. His greatest seasons were accomplished with another man's team. At best, he had recruited three players who are good for supporting, not starring, roles. With no point guard on the roster, our only recruit is a shooting guard with questions on playing defense and sharing the ball.

If Crews and this entire team stays, why would you expect anything above ten more wins next year? If Crews stays and four transfers leave, Why would you expect the players Crews brings in to be any better than what he has shown over these last few years? If four leave and he gets four more freshmen, we are once again incredibly young and going back at least year --- back to the future. With their development resting once again on Jim Crews, Toady Platt, and Tanner Bronson. If a change happens, the only difference between next yera with Crews and next year with whoever is behind door #1-2-3 is the comfort knowing Crews is nto the future. It may still fail, but based on what I've seen these last two years, I'll take that over Jim Crews. Any day.

[billiken_roy]

isnt it interesting that those that have defended crews and said he should not be held responsible for the that recruiting class in his interim year (crawford and agbeko) and should only be judged on the players thereafter that the only players on the roster that are probably deserving of A-10 level play are crawford and agbeko? let's hope a week from now our discussion is focused only on who will be our new coach.

[Soderball]

Crews cannot identify talent, he can't recruit talent,and he can't coach up talent. His 1970's-80's upbringing does not play well in today's CBB atmosphere and he is loathe to change. His greatest seasons were accomplished with another man's team. At best, he had recruited three players who are good for supporting, not starring, roles. With no point guard on the roster, our only recruit is a shooting guard with questions on playing defense and sharing the ball.

If Crews and this entire team stays, why would you expect anything above ten more wins next year? If Crews stays and four transfers leave, Why would you expect the players Crews brings in to be any better than what he has shown over these last few years? If four leave and he gets four more freshmen, we are once again incredibly young and going back at least year --- back to the future. With their development resting once again on Jim Crews, Toady Platt, and Tanner Bronson. If a change happens, the only difference between next yera with Crews and next year with whoever is behind door #1-2-3 is the comfort knowing Crews is nto the future. It may still fail, but based on what I've seen these last two years, I'll take that over Jim Crews. Any day.

Majerus' "not three and four star recruits" had far more skill, talent, size, and athleticism than our current crop.

You look at a guy like Jett and compare him to Bishop.. the size and strength as freshmen is noticeable. The frame differences are noticable.

I think Bishop is a good player, I use him as a comparison because he seems like a legit D1 A-10 guard, comparing any Majerus recruits to other guys is just not fair.. a lot shouldn't be playing ball at this level.

[kmbilliken]

Majerus' "not three and four star recruits" had far more skill, talent, size, and athleticism than our current crop.

You look at a guy like Jett and compare him to Bishop.. the size and strength as freshmen is noticeable. The frame differences are noticable.

I think Bishop is a good player, I use him as a comparison because he seems like a legit D1 A-10 guard, comparing any Majerus recruits to other guys is just not fair.. a lot shouldn't be playing ball at this level.

Majerus' players didn't have more size, they had more skills. We have plenty of size on this team. What we lack is skill.

[Bay Area Billiken]

The single biggest problem the last 2 seasons has been the lack of a pure, true Division 1 level point guard. To succeed, a team really needs 2 point guards.

The second problem is the lack of proper height and athletic Division 1 power forward(s). I consider Reggie to be a 6'7" Center, not a Forward.

The recruiting, past and present, has been woefully inept.

[slufan13]

Crews failed because he couldn't recruit despite being gifted a top 10 team, excellent facilities, and tons of national exposure. Crews failed because he tried to implement a system that was average at best in 1988 to a team that had no identity, no balance, and a handful of selfish hot-heads. Crews failed because he didn't learn from his mistakes throughout his career here.

Crews gave us 2 really good years even if all he did was babysit Majerus' players. But Crews gave us 2 horrible years as well. He'll be gone by April 1st, and the program will take a couple years to recover.

[moytoy12]

His poor recruiting is compounded by his poor roster construction. Very little has made sense during the Crews' era.

[Bay Area Billiken]

We will never know, but it is my belief that a Rick Majerus coached SLU team would have won that '13 Round of 32 NCAA Tournament game vs. #12 seed Oregon in San Jose in March '13. Rick Majerus would have diagnosed and implemented a game plan against that Oregon zone, would have made the necessary halftime adjustments. Recall, the Rick Majerus coached Billikens nearly knocked off #1 seed Michigan State in Columbus the year before. And had SLU won that game that fateful Saturday afternoon in San Jose, it is very possible, if not even likely, that SLU would be in the Big East today.

I will never forget literally being at the Eiffel Tower in Paris in August '12 and receiving 2 text messages from 2 different SLU classmates in St. Louis that Coach Majerus was taking a medical leave of absence. The rest is history.

[slu72]

Not only Oregon in 13, but he would have had an answer for Tricky Ricky as well in 14. Majerus was a frickin' genius. Can we get the Zombie Rick back as coach?

[Bay Area Billiken]

As for the recruiting gaffes, these specifics are relevant:

1. Not hiring Justin Tatum as a SLU Assistant Coach. Justin Tatum is a legitimate coach, whose team won a Missouri High School State Championship, and is a SLU alumnus and former St. Louis U 6'7" Center.

2. Not recruiting Jordan Barnes, the point guard from Justin Tatum's CBC team, who is reportedly Jayson Tatum's best friend. Barnes has since signed with Indiana State in the Valley. Given SLU's current point guard situation, or lack thereof, Barnes is certainly good enough, under the circumstances ... to be the recipient of one of SLU's 13 basketball scholarships.

1a and 2a. As Justin Tatum said re SLU's recruitment of his son, Jayson, SLU did what it needed to do, but not all it could have done.

3. Reportedly not offering early Jordan Goodwin, the best player on the powerful Belleville Althoff team, who wanted to be a Billiken. This recruiting gaffe has allowed the Big Ten to swoop in.

Like starting at point guard, a former walk-on, who started 1 game for John Wood CC, you just cannot make up these things.

When I see SLU, with its endowment of $1.027 Billion losing twice to a St. Bonaventure, with its endowment of $60 Million, there is something very wrong. That's like an elephant getting beat by an ant.

And in advance, please do not cite WashU's endowment. Seriously. WashU deemphasized sports after World War II and plays at the D-3 non-scholarship level, in other words, apples and oranges, no comparison.

[Basketbill]

isnt it interesting that those that have defended crews and said he should not be held responsible for the that recruiting class in his interim year (crawford and agbeko) and should only be judged on the players thereafter that the only players on the roster that are probably deserving of A-10 level play are crawford and agbeko? let's hope a week from now our discussion is focused only on who will be our new coach.

ironic

[DeSmetBilliken]

Good reasons for Crews' failure so far. I'll add another simple one: he wasn't qualified for the job in the first place.

Aside from being handed the best SLU team in the modern era and not driving it off a cliff, there was nothing in Crews' career that suggested that he was at the level to be given control of a program in the Atlantic 10 conference, much less a team at the top of the conference. His greatest success in his career had been at Evansville 15-20 years before, in conferences below A-10 level. He hadn't had to recruit in years either. Nevertheless, he gets all these accolades for his interim coach year, and SLU gives him the permanent job to avoid immediate negative backlash. In doing that, they were gambling that it wouldn't blow up in their face in the future. Unfortunately for everyone, it has blown up in SLU's face.

I can't fault Crews. Any of us would say yes if an employer was going to give us a couple million dollars, even if we weren't qualified.

[hsmith19]

As for me, I thought the way he handled the 13-14 season was a big red flag. He ran that team into the ground, and it started to show in the latter part of the regular season.

Did he have much choice there, though? That team was five deep, and it only became more obvious how bad the supporting cast was once the seniors moved on. In hindsight, the poor offensive efficiency of that team was a sign of things to come, but I can hardly blame him for running the seniors into the ground.

[hsmith19]

The single biggest problem the last 2 seasons has been the lack of a pure, true Division 1 level point guard. To succeed, a team really needs 2 point guards.

The second problem is the lack of proper height and athletic Division 1 power forward(s). I consider Reggie to be a 6'7" Center, not a Forward.

The recruiting, past and present, has been woefully inept.

But we do have a half dozen 6'4" guards! Doesn't that make up for it?

[slu72]

Did he have much choice there, though? That team was five deep, and it only became more obvious how bad the supporting cast was once the seniors moved on. In hindsight, the poor offensive efficiency of that team was a sign of things to come, but I can hardly blame him for running the seniors into the ground.

Mc Broom, Glaze, Crawford, Agbeko, and Lancona were on that squad. Our starting 5 averaged about 35 mpg, some played 40 injured. I think he could have afforded some mpg to that bench to ease the burden. For example, Crawford played some decent minutes early on that year then was largely ignored. I think Agbeko actually started a few games then got buried. I really don't think Crews knows how to utilize what he's got.

[hsmith19]

Crawford probably could have played more than he did, but he was pretty bad defensively as a freshman and that team's biggest weakness was at the 4. They lost Ellis and Remekun and never replaced them. Agbeko played a fair amount until he got hurt, and unless I'm mixed up Grandy was banged up some that season too. So the running the seniors into the ground thing is the least of my problems with Crews. I do think he has to take some of the blame for how bad that team was offensively, though. The only plan seemed to be to hang close for 35 minutes and then let Jett take over.

[majerus mojo]

As for the recruiting gaffes, these specifics are relevant:

1. Not hiring Justin Tatum as a SLU Assistant Coach. Justin Tatum is a legitimate coach, whose team won a Missouri High School State Championship, and is a SLU alumnus and former St. Louis U 6'7" Center.

2. Not recruiting Jordan Barnes, the point guard from Justin Tatum's CBC team, who is reportedly Jayson Tatum's best friend. Barnes has since signed with Indiana State in the Valley. Given SLU's current point guard situation, or lack thereof, Barnes is certainly good enough, under the circumstances ... to be the recipient of one of SLU's 13 basketball scholarships.

1a and 2a. As Justin Tatum said re SLU's recruitment of his son, Jayson, SLU did what it needed to do, but not all it could have done.

3. Reportedly not offering early Jordan Goodwin, the best player on the powerful Belleville Althoff team, who wanted to be a Billiken. This recruiting gaffe has allowed the Big Ten to swoop in.

Like starting at point guard, a former walk-on, who started 1 game for John Wood CC, you just cannot make up these things.

When I see SLU, with its endowment of $1.027 Billion losing twice to a St. Bonaventure, with its endowment of $60 Million, there is something very wrong. That's like an elephant getting beat by an ant.

And in advance, please do not cite WashU's endowment. Seriously. WashU deemphasized sports after World War II and plays at the D-3 non-scholarship level, in other words, apples and oranges, no comparison.

Puking (see: Urgent thread). I'm going to see myself hating Chris May just as much as Crews when this is all said and done

[Clock_Tower]

It's hard to argue with the above. Some of us, of course, would place more blame on certain deficiencies rather than upon others... but at the end of the day, Jim Crews will likely be gone because his teams did not play hard or smart. By that, I mean that his teams simply have not played good defense or worked hard to get needed rebounds which would have give us 5 to 8 more games per year. Ask yourself: how many times have our teams these past two (2) years played really good team defense to come away with a big stop at a key point of a close game? Or gotten that big rebound to give us another chance to keep the game close or to pull away? I say next to none.

In short, this has been going on for years. Yes, MC, RA and TL did not play good defense when they arrived on campus as Freshmen but they also did not play good defense when they finished their Freshman year -- and therefore could not help our then Seniors very much. Even guys like MM who turned into a defensive specialist for us did not play good defense when they first arrived on campus either. Defense and rebounding requires hard work (effort) and being smart (knowing angles and mentally processing distances and percentages). RM was a master at both motivating and teaching angles, percentages, etc. Crews has been completely deficient and even taught our guys to concede rebounding - both on FT's and on our shots preferring for our guys to cut and run back on defense.

No, had Jim Crews' teams at least played good defense and rebounded, then despite all of the other mistakes mentioned above and even with our existing talent level, we would be a mediocre team - probably good enough to finish out his contract. Instead, we are a truly bad team and Crews must go now.

[GOSLU68]

Crews is not even close to smart. The first clue should be he sat on IU bench as an assistant for nearly 20 years without being sought as a head coach. 2nd clue Evansville fired him. Third clue Army fired him and they are used to losing.

Crews has been letting the assistants take turns planning each game. He has built a shell between himself and the reality of SLU basketball.

Starting Hines game after game could only be compounded by the stupidity of having Crews back another year and Hines getting another year of scholarship. This team needed a rebounder and a point guard. Watching Hines get stuffed, pass like a freshman and

Go 1/8 was certainly turning the knife after getting it run into my gut.

The start of this season saw an improved Davel Roby. Obviously, he had practiced his three point shooting which would add to his ability to steal the ball. Fast Forward Davel Roby sits the bench for the start or nearly all of second semester. Team steals evaporate.

Miles Reynolds becomes team leader in assists and steals fast forward MR gets buried on bench.

Tanner Lancona could pass from high post. TL could shoot half way decent when he got here. He along with most of our shooters started rushing their shots out of lack of confidence. Austin McBroom came here as a shooter and Crews got him to give up shooting to look for assists. He passed up open shots for fear of the bench.

If Crews stays look for anyone on this team with talent to leave

[Billikenboy]

It's hard to argue with the above. Some of us, of course, would place more blame on certain deficiencies rather than upon others... but at the end of the day, Jim Crews will likely be gone because his teams did not play hard or smart. By that, I mean that his teams simply have not played good defense or worked hard to get needed rebounds which would have give us 5 to 8 more games per year. Ask yourself: how many times have our teams these past two (2) years played really good team defense to come away with a big stop at a key point of a close game? Or gotten that big rebound to give us another chance to keep the game close or to pull away? I say next to none.

In short, this has been going on for years. Yes, MC, RA and TL did not play good defense when they arrived on campus as Freshmen but they also did not play good defense when they finished their Freshman year -- and therefore could not help our then Seniors very much. Even guys like MM who turned into a defensive specialist for us did not play good defense when they first arrived on campus either. Defense and rebounding requires hard work (effort) and being smart (knowing angles and mentally processing distances and percentages). RM was a master at both motivating and teaching angles, percentages, etc. Crews has been completely deficient and even taught our guys to concede rebounding - both on FT's and on our shots preferring for our guys to cut and run back on defense.

No, had Jim Crews' teams at least played good defense and rebounded, then despite all of the other mistakes mentioned above and even with our existing talent level, we would be a mediocre team - probably good enough to finish out his contract. Instead, we are a truly bad team and Crews must go now.

Cannot disagree with you. Defense first has been dying under JCs watch. Only with that in place can you truly compete at this level.

[slufan13]

I remember a couple games that season where we were up 20 with 5 minutes to go and Crews still only played 7 or 8 guys that game.

[brianstl]

I remember a couple games that season where we were up 20 with 5 minutes to go and Crews still only played 7 or 8 guys that game.

And he still practiced them like it was an old school NFL training camp. I think the practices were a bigger problem than the minutes those guys were racking up.

[slu72]

And he still practiced them like it was an old school NFL training camp. I think the practices were a bigger problem than the minutes those guys were racking up.

Could be. It was clear after breaking into the top 10, that seems like ancient history today, that we were tired and came limping home. The NC State game was a miracle win, but it was clear that the team was running on fumes against Louisville.

[slu72]

Speaking of the UL game, I seem to recall someone saying Crews held a brutal practice session before that game. Probably not the best idea after a long grueling win over NC State.