I was watching my favorite sports show, Pardon the Interruption, the other day and one of the topics on oddsmakers was “chances St. John’s makes the Final Four”. While the obvious and correct answer is close to nil, (although stranger things have happened – NC State comes to mind) as is the case with another storied program fallen on hard times Indiana University, it’s not too early to call it a comeback to paraphrase LL Cool J. I must admit that I have more than a passing interest in St. John’s as my Dad is a proud alumni, having attended the school when Hall of Famers Joe Lapchick (.720 winning percentage) and the colorful Lou “Looie” Carnesecca (.725 winning percentage) coached.
In fact, unbeknownst to many, the Red Storm has the most NCAA postseason appearances (27) albeit without a championship. They’ve sent over 50 players to the NBA including Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Ron Artest. But since Carnesecca retired in 1992, the program has fallen on hard times including a string of unsuccessful coaches, the consistent loss of homegrown talent to other teams and, most disturbingly, a series of off-court incidents during Mike Jarvis’ tenure. Regarding the latter, the University was forced to forfeit its 2002 NCAA tournament and 2003 NIT appearances when it discovered its basketball staff was paying center Abe Keita a monthly stipend for 4 years! Although this isn’t worse than John Calipari’s record of vacating 2 Final Fours (!), the trouble marked the beginning of a swandive into obscurity for New York basketball if we include the travails of the Knicks.
This season, however, seems to have a different feel. As of today, St. John’s is 15-9 overall with a Big East record of 7-5. While not exceptional, especially considering the losses to St. Bonnie’s and Fordham, they’ve recorded impressive wins over 4 top-ranked teams including Duke. Now, I’m old enough to remember when the Big East included only teams actually in the Northeast (please tell me why South Florida and Cincinnati are members?) but I will say that this is a highly competitive conference. I think the turnaround can be partly attributed to the fresh attitude new coach Steve Lavin has brought to the team. Lavin was considered somewhat of a failure at UCLA but that was probably a case of being the wrong fit. Imagine Rex Ryan coaching the Chargers instead of the Jets and you get the idea! The recent recruiting class doesn’t include many New Yorkers but Lavin did manage to sign 6 of the top 100 high school players according to SI so future success seems likely. The biggest stroke of genius though is the hiring of Gene Keady, revered former coach of Purdue, as “special adviser”. Instantly, the program has gained status and credibility, even if it hints at Lavin’s lack of tactical prowess.
So, will they make the tournament? If they keep up the high quality wins and have a good showing in the Big East tournament (Pitt, Notre Dame and Georgetown are the best teams), St. John’s should get a lower seed. It’s a start – Go Johnnies!
St. John's logo from 1965-1979 (sportslogos.net)
St. John's present logo (sportslogos.net)
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