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Big East Tournament: Steve Lavin Confuses Twitter After St. John’s Loss

By Chris Godfrey

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I was tempted to wait a few hours before addressing the bizarre nature of St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin’s postgame remarks in the aftermath of his team’s 74-57 blowout loss to Providence. I was about 37% certain that a story may surface revealing that Lavin coached the game drunk, and then proceeded to down an additional three glasses of scotch before addressing the media.

Here’s a sampling of Lavin’s most awkward gems — starting with the highlight of the evening

The second statement isn’t even true, by the way; he won a game in the Big East Tournament during his first year. It was against Rutgers, and the refs blew a call that would have given the Scarlet Knights a chance to win in the final seconds, but it counted nonetheless. Unfortunately the jury may be close to resting its case on the initial statement. I’m still in shock that coach entering the last year of his contract would make such a statement.

Along with the piece of self-deprecating hyperbole mentioned above, there’s also this stunningly inaccurate assessment of his team’s strengths on the offensive end.

Sure, Coach Lavin is entitled to his opinion, but nearly anybody who has seen the Johnnies play this year knows that the team’s best form of offense is getting out on the run. Lavin starts four guards and an agile rim-running big man. Thus, the Red Storm’s half-court offense disappears for weeks without being noticed. Obviously, my opinion on the matter doesn’t mean much, but at least St. John’s point guard Jamal Branch agrees with me.

The subsequent Twitter reactions were all that you would expect from puzzled journalists and frustrated New York-area fans who probably thought they were watching the Knicks at the Garden considering the quality of effort and performance.

I don’t think he’s TRYING to get fired, Dana. However, he’s definitely working towards accomplishing that goal.

Here’s another one of my favorites…

This shout out probably wasn’t made with the utmost sincerity. It definitely isn’t the shout out you give to the guy who just bought everyone a round at the bar. This a much different shout out than that.

This one is pretty special, too.

For the record, Conor: denial is the first stage of grief. Let’s see if we can go for all five!

The second stage is anger…

So that was probably a bit too easy. Thanks for the slam dunk Gio. You even included hashtags for convenience.

The third stage of grief is bargaining. Can we keep rolling?

Yes we can! This actually led to a productive tweet. Shazad had the decency to offer a very viable alternative. Tim Cluess has one less NCAA at-large bid than Lavin since he’s been at St. John’s, but then again, Cluess works at Iona. Tim Cluess is on line 1! That’s actually not a bad bargain.

What’s next #StJohnsTwitter?

The fourth stage of grief is depression…and Carl Martinez could probably use a hug right about now.

Finally, the fifth and final stage of grief is accepting it.

Congrats on getting there, Jake Nazar. The rest of the Red Storm nation is probably a stage or three behind you.

Despite taking you through that epic journey of frustration. I should admit that I am a well known Steve Lavin apologist, and I honestly don’t believe he even deserves the scrutiny that he gets. Lavin has taken the Red Storm from the bottom rungs of their conference to a place where they are expected to annually compete for a top four spot in a top four league.

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Even with pressure bearing down, Coach Lav carried a certain bravado into the Big East Tournament, knowing that his team’s postseason reservations are already booked. I think this circumstance may have been the determining factor for the coach’s behavior, and despite Lavin’s strange approach to his postgame media obligations, I’d say that even today there was a method to his madness.

Consider this.

After two straight embarrassing losses, Steve Lavin took a bullet for his team. Thanks to Lavin tapping his chest in front of the media, the notepad wolf pack has set their sights on Lavin’s job security, not the questionable play of a veteran group that is heading towards the biggest game of their lives next week. I think any coach would take that trade, especially since there is very little chance that Lavin actually  loses his job.

The reality of this situation is that Lavin has added to his record as a calculated talker, and a master manipulator of situations. If the Johnnies win a first round tournament game, none of these tweets will have a shelf life beyond next weekend. Doesn’t that seem worth it?

I guess we will find out soon enough.

Next: Big East Tournament Opening Round Thoughts

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