Mullin's handling of the last four minutes
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When we play them again it would be nice to take over MSG and make it a Seton Hall home court. And them crush them.
John Wooden thought that the real active personal coaching occurred during practice and that if you had to do much coaching during a game, you failed to properly coach in practice. In other words, it was too late during a game. Of course, John Wooden rarely had to be an active coach during games with the personnel he had. Correlatively, Mullen certainly doesn't have the talent that Wooden had. But would very active coaching really have changed the outcome during the game?
Look..... I wonder how much of a rope St. John's will give Mullin. No one knows if he can coach, as he hasn't done so on any level, and he has to be in his 50's. I think the rope is long....now.... but if improvement is not significant next year, well I wonder.
When I saw him laughing on the bench during the last few minutes of Wednesday's game and down by 20, I wondered how our fans would have reacted had that been Willard in the same circumstances.
Lots of interesting commentary here. People are trying to look at Mullin's demeanor and figure out whether he is a good coach or not. I think that's a bit misleading. Yelling, stomping and pointing doesn't win games. Game preparation and talent does. Surprisingly enough, all that in-game coaching pomp and circumstance is rarely related to a team's success. If it was, coaches like Mike Rice would be winning national championships.
Mullin as a player has played on good and bad teams, for decades... These were for NBA teams playing hundreds of games. My guess is his on court demeanor has been groomed by his thousands of games as an NBA'er and not getting hot under the collar every loss. It's not productive.
Mullin knows what kind of talent he has this year, but this team has kept fighting in a lot of games. Just not enough down the stretch. SJU missing starters at PG, C and PF. Mussini is a freshman PG who really isn't a PG. this teams is really decimated this year, with two starters being Christian Jones and Felix Balamou who were end-of-bench players last season.
Definitely agree the jury is still out. I'd still caution writing Mullin off based on his cool sideline demeanor. He's been around basketball since out of the womb, and you can be assured he hates losing, despite his sideline demeanor. SJU is going to have a LOT of talent coming in next season, and I think there will be a big transition point when SJU finally has enough talent to compete at this level. SJU will add 2 top 40 guards, the best JUCO in the country, Sima will be back and SJU will likely land a few more guys, including a 6'10" Euro forward who is a 4* prospect. I don't think this season is any indication of what Mullin will be able to do over his career here.
Mullin as a player has played on good and bad teams, for decades... These were for NBA teams playing hundreds of games. My guess is his on court demeanor has been groomed by his thousands of games as an NBA'er and not getting hot under the collar every loss. It's not productive.
Mullin knows what kind of talent he has this year, but this team has kept fighting in a lot of games. Just not enough down the stretch. SJU missing starters at PG, C and PF. Mussini is a freshman PG who really isn't a PG. this teams is really decimated this year, with two starters being Christian Jones and Felix Balamou who were end-of-bench players last season.
Definitely agree the jury is still out. I'd still caution writing Mullin off based on his cool sideline demeanor. He's been around basketball since out of the womb, and you can be assured he hates losing, despite his sideline demeanor. SJU is going to have a LOT of talent coming in next season, and I think there will be a big transition point when SJU finally has enough talent to compete at this level. SJU will add 2 top 40 guards, the best JUCO in the country, Sima will be back and SJU will likely land a few more guys, including a 6'10" Euro forward who is a 4* prospect. I don't think this season is any indication of what Mullin will be able to do over his career here.
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I heard we should likely get commit this week from the German kid. Heard he's very good player. SJU still in strong with Alkins who is visiting now. Will be tough, but with guys like Rohrrsen and Abdelmassih, I think we have our best shot at landing a kid like that. He's a special talent. Regardless, SJU will have s very, very good recruiting class when all is said and done this year. I love the young guys like Yakwe, Sima and Mussini, so there's a core there that is very talented. SJU will still be very young next season, but I think will finally have some talent to put at all positions. Most importantly is to get Mussini out at PG to a more SG/ combo role that he is suited for. A lot was asked of him this season,
I don't think most people know what goes into good coaching. 97% of the coaching is done in practice. Winning games is mostly a combination of talent and practices. A coach with a white board, barking plays and drawing up stuff ala Hoosiers isn't necessarily more effective. Look at college football, or even pro football It's s much more complex dynamic coaching-wise than college basketball with 5 players. Sometimes the head coach doesn't even know what is going on on one side of the ball. They leave those parts to their coordinators and and specialty coaches.
Mullin had said even before he started that he wasn't going to be the type of coach drawing up plays every play and having his kids reliant on the coaches to create for them. He wanted to develop in practice, players who know how to think, know when to take the good shot, pass and use their teammates. Mullin has been around the game forever and is one of the hardest working players you've ever seen. To read some say that he doesn't know the amount of work it takes is ridiculous. His calm demeanor and more analytic approach as well as his use of his assistant coaches on the sideline is in no way a weakness. Barking at players and drawing specialty plays every time down is showy, but basketball isn't an extremely complex game. Good players make shots, rebound and win games. Good preparation does too. Very rarely does a magic chalkboard, or barking at kids all game because the kids don't know where to be from practice.
All that yelling and jumping around that Willard does hasn't helped one iota. Seton Hall is good this season because of one thing...more talent!
Mullin had said even before he started that he wasn't going to be the type of coach drawing up plays every play and having his kids reliant on the coaches to create for them. He wanted to develop in practice, players who know how to think, know when to take the good shot, pass and use their teammates. Mullin has been around the game forever and is one of the hardest working players you've ever seen. To read some say that he doesn't know the amount of work it takes is ridiculous. His calm demeanor and more analytic approach as well as his use of his assistant coaches on the sideline is in no way a weakness. Barking at players and drawing specialty plays every time down is showy, but basketball isn't an extremely complex game. Good players make shots, rebound and win games. Good preparation does too. Very rarely does a magic chalkboard, or barking at kids all game because the kids don't know where to be from practice.
All that yelling and jumping around that Willard does hasn't helped one iota. Seton Hall is good this season because of one thing...more talent!
That's even worse. Greg st Jean is a 24 year old former video assistant who only has the job as a favor to his father. At least slice has been an assistant for good teams.
That was the biggest load of horse shit I've read on here in a long time. Being a good in-game coach is essential to being a good coach. Making adjustments, proper substitution patterns, drawing up inbounds plays, know how to massage/yell at specific refs, knowing what buttons to push when your team is playing flat...shall I go on?
You go to the greatest lengths of anyone to try and make it like everything is ok at SJU no matter what the plain reality we all see is.
You go to the greatest lengths of anyone to try and make it like everything is ok at SJU no matter what the plain reality we all see is.
I don't think a coach needs to scream and yell on the sideline. But he should be able to discuss the plays the kids are expected to execute and discuss what strategy is best for the particular time in the game.
This idea that Mullin is the man in practice but his coordinators handle the show during the games is tough to believe. It just doesn't make sense. This isn't like football where you have a hundred players to deal with.
This idea that Mullin is the man in practice but his coordinators handle the show during the games is tough to believe. It just doesn't make sense. This isn't like football where you have a hundred players to deal with.
SJU, I am with both Solo and Ball on this side of the argument, but I think it is correct to state the strengths that Mullin does have, and while he does not seem to think that in-game stuff is important for the college game (an error), he is going to get good players and he understands the game very well. No question, some kind of good happens on Utopia Parkway.
By the way, although many disagree with your take on things, I for one am glad that you seem to be more healthy and that you are participating in the discussion here. Same for Ball by the way. A strong, basketball focused board is a really good thing.
By the way, although many disagree with your take on things, I for one am glad that you seem to be more healthy and that you are participating in the discussion here. Same for Ball by the way. A strong, basketball focused board is a really good thing.
During the nova game they did an inside the huddle. But not with mullin, rather with slice. Mullin nowhere to be seen.
And what he was saying was ridiculous. No strategy or game plan, was just saying, "hey, you need to rebound and don't turn it over on offense. If you miss a shot, whatever.."
I can't recall ever seeing something like this. And if you're going to have an assistant handle the in game stuff, why slice?
And what he was saying was ridiculous. No strategy or game plan, was just saying, "hey, you need to rebound and don't turn it over on offense. If you miss a shot, whatever.."
I can't recall ever seeing something like this. And if you're going to have an assistant handle the in game stuff, why slice?
I've always tried to be part of the discussion, not a distraction. Always been a good citizen here. Been of hiatus for a bit. I have just thought the in-game stuff was always a bit overrated. I said it when Lavin was here, etc. I didn't think Norm had the chops and didn't really know basketball well. Mullin is the antithesis. He knows basketball as well as anybody on the planet.
The interesting thing is that even this year, I think the team has played hard, adjusted as well as possible and tried to play to strengths as well as possible. Mullin just runs a more pro-style offense which is a bit more loose and hands off in terms of micromanaging at game time. He said he would do so. I don't think it's a bogus point. He just doesn't have the horses this year to get any further than we have.
I do think we have gone as far as our talent would take us this season. We are giving lots of teams a hard time. We can't sustain down the stretch since we don't have the skill guys to play a total game. We have starters like Balamou and Jones who were getting 0-5 minutes a game last season. Not much Mullin can do this season.
I'm just saying, despite his demeanor, don't be surprised if SJU is a lot better in coming years despite Mullin's demeanor. He's a winner, and knows the game inside and out. He didn't come to SJU to coach and lose.
The interesting thing is that even this year, I think the team has played hard, adjusted as well as possible and tried to play to strengths as well as possible. Mullin just runs a more pro-style offense which is a bit more loose and hands off in terms of micromanaging at game time. He said he would do so. I don't think it's a bogus point. He just doesn't have the horses this year to get any further than we have.
I do think we have gone as far as our talent would take us this season. We are giving lots of teams a hard time. We can't sustain down the stretch since we don't have the skill guys to play a total game. We have starters like Balamou and Jones who were getting 0-5 minutes a game last season. Not much Mullin can do this season.
I'm just saying, despite his demeanor, don't be surprised if SJU is a lot better in coming years despite Mullin's demeanor. He's a winner, and knows the game inside and out. He didn't come to SJU to coach and lose.
you need a coach who is confident and the players believe in. when its tight at the end of the game and a guy like bill self tells you what to do, youre going to believe its going to work and do it.
well im not sold on mullin by any means. but i agree that its a throwaway season at its finest so no judgement can be made yet.
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