FanPost

What is Happening on Utopia?

The rumors are rampant on twitter and the message boards, St. John's is back in the news for the wrong reasons, and players are leaving like the Johnnies are the Titanic. What the hell just happened here? Here's what we know so far. The season started out with huge hype and it was warranted. This was a Johnnies team returning everyone except Amir Garrett and getting highly touted Orlando Sanchez, Super Freshman Rysheed Jordan and three point assassin Max Hooper. Also, D'Angello Harrison was back on board, ready to claim his spot among the Big East's best. There was a trip to Europe that was to give them an early opportunity to gel. We then started the non-conference season and it was not spectacular. One bad loss to Penn State and no signature wins. Despite having a lead with under three minutes at the Garden, the Johnnies could not hold off the Orange. But even with the wins, there was concern. There were no real blow outs. Teams the Johnnies should have destroyed were in every game. There was concern and Lavin gave the answer that many were a little surprised with - the team would not hit it's stride until mid-January or February. We all hoped that wold not be the case as it seemed it could be a little late by then. We then moved into the Big East schedule. The New Big East would be where St. John's did not have to worry about Cuse, Louisville, UConn and Pitt any more. They started out 0-5 with losses to DePaul and a double overtime loss to Providence in Queens. Again, Lavs said we would need to wait for February. Unfortunately he was right. The Johnnies worked their way all the way back to finish 10-8 in the league, tied for 3rd and with the fifth seed in the Big East Tournament. Most predicted that a win in the first round against Providence would send them dancing. But something happened just prior to that Providence game that has sent the program into what appears to be a death spin. I don't know what it was, but something definitely happened. The Johnnies came out uninspired against the Friars at the Garden. Chris Obekpa barely played and the word was that he refused to enter the game in the second half. The Johnnies lose and we wait to see where we are in the NIT. Then, we find out that the committee has done the Johnnies a huge favor. We get a number one seed that means a Championship would run through three games in Carnesecca and two at the Garden. But on game day, Jordan sits with a sore throat (but he is on the bench which was interesting), and the Johnnies basically say "F you" to the NIT and wind up no showing the game. No effort at all. Jakarr grabs a player by the throat and the NIT loses its home team. Jakarr declares for the draft despite everyone from coaches to scouts stating he is simply not ready. Obekpa transfers and what was talk of an extension for Lavs now centers on whether he should come back. There are rumors that both Greene and Jordan are leaving, our 2014 class has no commits, and that includes a local impact player who had us at the top of his list but has indicated that may no longer be the case. What is going on here? How did this happen so quickly? Has Lavs really lost this much of the team. There is something that we are not getting in all of this - something big. I don't know what it is, but it had to be really big that these players are seemingly on the move and walked through a BET game and the NIT. It certainly doesn't look good and Lavin is nowhere to be found. I truly don't know where we should go from here. What I do know is next year's, "The View from Section 110" and "The View From Section 3" may wind up being "The View From My Couch", because it's getting hard to support a program this dysfunctional from the seats.

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