ST. JOHN'S RED STORM, 17-16 (8-10), NIT
Head Coach: Steve Lavin- Lavin is most remembered for his stint at UCLA where he took over for ousted Jim Harrick. Despite some success at UCLA, Lavin never took them to a Final Four despite some very talented teams. Lavin cut his teeth under Gene Keady and considers Keady a mentor. This is Lavin's 4th season at St. John's. In his first season, he took St. John's to their 1st dance in nearly a decade, He missed most of his 2nd season with prostate cancer but was back on the sidelines last season.
NCAA History:
Final Fours: 2 (1952 runner-up & 1985)
Elite 8's: 6, most recent in 1999
The legendary Frank McGuire coached St. John's to a national runner-up in 1952 before leaving for North Carolina. The most famous face of St. John's or sweater some might say is Lou Carneseca. Carneseca won 6 Big East titles between 1980 & 1992. His most famous team was the 1985 team that went to the 3 Big East Final 4 behind Walter Berry & Chris Mullin. Overall, St. John's ranks 7th all-time in total NCAA basketball wins.
2013-14 Glance: St. John's has been getting a lot of love from some of the talking heads at ESPN and the east coast basketball media. Part of me thinks part of this is Lavin's time at ESPN and a bit of a desire by east coast media members to see a rejuvenated St. John's and NYC college basketball scene.
Setting that aside, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the Johnnies. Lavin returns a lot of talent. Can Lavin piece it together and find success? Failure to do so and you'll hear some of he whispers about his coaching acumen you heard at UCLA. His most talented pice is probably SOPH G D'Angelo Harrison who Lavin had to suspend for the last 6 games of last year. A motivated and interested Harrison could be a devastating player. Harrison has averaged 17 points per game his first two seasons.
Other returnees include swingman and do everything Sir'Dominic Pointer. Pointer led the Johnnies in assists, steals and fg%. If things work out correctly, Pointer shouldn't be the lead assist man again. St. John's has plenty of options at PG. JR's Phil Greene IV and Jamal Branch return and will be pushed by St. John's most heralded newcomer, Rysheed Jordan. Jordan is probably the most talented of the 3 but Greene and Branch will see plenty of court time.
The Red Storm have plenty of bodies on the interior. SOPH JaKarr Sampson returns along with his 15 & 7 per game. Sampson could be an all-conference type player in his second season. Fellow SOPH, Chris Obekpa provides a menacing presnce averaging 4 blocks per game last season. They have depth with SOPH big man Christian Jones and SR. redshirts, Orlando Sanchez and God'sgift Achiuwa. Again, can Lavin get the most he can out of this group?
Just looking at the talent, reading about the talent, you can see why St. John's fans and pundits have reasons to be excited. With a year of experience under their belts, this team should be better in 2013-14. It really could go either way, contend for a title or fall in the middle of the Big East and be on the bubble. St. John's has two early season games worth paying attention to. First, they play Wisconsin in South Dakota in a game that should show what type of maturity they have or don't have given Wisconsin's style and a game in the Garden against Syracuse. I'm sold on the talent, not sold on it playing together well. Big challenge for Steve Lavin.
St. John's Basketball Blogs: rumbleinthegarden.com
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