Shamorie Ponds leads St. John’s to 76-73 win over No. 13 Butler in Big East opener

Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points, including four free throws in the final 9.1 seconds, as St. John’s upset No. 13 Butler 76-73 in the Big East opener for both teams at Carnesecca Arena Thursday night.

“I was just confident. I was confident going to the foul line and saying, ‘I’m going to make these two free throws,’” the Brooklyn-bred freshman said after the victory.

The Red Storm (7-7, 1-0), coming off last week’s overpowering 33-point win at Syracuse, came back from a ten point deficit with the Bulldogs (11-2, 0-1) before taking the lead at 72-71 on a free throw by Malik Ellison with 14.1 seconds left.

St. John’s kept the ball on the second miss and Ponds was fouled. He made two free throws before Tyler Lewis of Butler countered with the same at 6.7 seconds left. Ponds added two more with 6.2 seconds to go. Kelan Martin of Butler let a shot go from half-court at the buzzer that hit the rim before giving the young Red Storm team its first Big East victory of the season.

Tie game!!!! Malik Ellison with the steal and score to knot it at 69! pic.twitter.com/DknCw8SWqF

— St. John's BBall (@StJohnsBBall) December 30, 2016

“He’s a really phenomenal player, but he also has that (calm and cool) personality,” Johnnies coach Chris Mullin said of Ponds. “That is his demeanor on and off the court.”

Bashir Ahmed added 19 points for the Red Storm.

Tyler Wideman had 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting for the Bulldogs, and Martin scored 13.

The win ended Butler’s four-game winning streak over the Red Storm and stopped a streak of losses in St. John’s last four conference openers.

Dagmara Wozniak helps lead U.S. fencing team to Bronze medal

The U.S. women's fencing contingent came into the Olympic team sabre event Saturday with a chip on their shoulders after coming away relatively disappointed in the individual competitions. But as team, they found reason to celebrate after winning the bronze medal, beating Italy 45-30 and matching the 2008 bronze-medal finish in Beijing.

Led by a duo of determined Olympic veterans Dagmara Wozniak — the purple-haired St. John's alum who earned her first Olympic medal after being an alternate in Beijing and placing eighth individually in London — and Mariel Zagunis — who was on the 2008 team and now adds a fourth Olympic medal to her collection. They were joined by Ibtihaj Muhammad and Monica Aksamit, both appearing in their first Olympic Games.

Muhammad, who became the first U.S. Olympian to wear a hijab during competition earlier this week, can now proudly bring a bronze medal back home to New Jersey with her.

After losing a close semifinals match, 45-42, against eventual Gold medal winner Russia, team USA built up a lead against Italy before Muhammad started to lose ground against her Italian opponent, Irene Vecchi, in the third bout.

 Zagunis, the most decorated U.S. fencer of all time, yelled support “It’s OK, it’s OK” from behind the piste and Muhammad ended the third bout in a 5-5 tie with Team USA still in the lead at 15-11.

While the Italians drew closer in the seventh bout, winning for the first time 8-5, it was Wozniak who extended the lead again to 40-27 overall. Zagunis anchored the team, closing out with a 5-3 bout, and leading the team in a well deserved group hug after the victory.

For St. John's, that means two former Red Storm fencers went home with medals in Rio.

Daryl Homer took home a Silver earlier in the week. Homer, a 26-year-old from the Bronx, born in the Virgin Islands, became the first American to win a silver medal in men’s individual sabre in 112 years.

St. John's opens Chris Mullin era with 32-point loss to Division II school

Chris Mullin knew his first year at St. John's was going to be rough, but the new head coach might be calling his mentor and former coach Lou Carnesecca out of retirement after how bad it started Wednesday night in Queens.

Mullin opened his Red Storm coaching career with with an embarrassing 90-58 exhibition loss to Division II St. Thomas Aquinas.

That's right. A Big East team lost to tiny St. Thomas Aquinas by 32 points.

But the former St. John's and NBA star took the loss in stride.

"You have to give the other team a lot of credit," Mullin said of the exhibition match. "They played hard, they played together and aggressive. This will be a tremendous teaching tool. A lot of our guys have not played in a college basketball game, and we tried to emulate that in practice and the scrimmage, but it's different. We have to learn from this."

St. Thomas Aquinas shot 61.8 percent in the first half and led 50-34 at the break. The Spartans finished at 48 percent and had only 14 turnovers. The Red Storm shot 36.7 percent and had 27 turnovers against the Spartans full-court press.

Justin Reyes had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans, and Chaz Walter added 18 points.

Federico Mussini led St. John's with 16 points. 

St. John's will face Sonoma State on Saturday in another exhibition game, then open the regular season Nov. 13 against Wagner.

While St. Thomas goes on to face those real powerhouses on their schedule: St. Anselm, Felician and Daemen.

Steve Lavin, St. John’s ‘mutually agree’ to part ways: Report

Steve Lavin will no longer be the men's basketball coach at St. John's, the school announced Friday, after the two sides mutually parted ways.

The news comes days after reports said Lavin was in talks over a contract extension and one week after the Red Storm were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the first round. Those extension talks didn't last long, as reports later stated his job was in jeopardy.

“Coach Lavin returned high expectations to our men’s basketball program and represented St. John’s in a positive way,” St. John's athletic director Chris Monasch said in a statement. “We appreciate his commitment to the program and to our student-athletes over the past five years. Our student-athletes represented the University well, especially our five-member senior class who excelled on the court, inside the classroom and within the community.”

Lavin did a lot of good at St. John's. He raised the profile of the basketball program, won 20 games 3 times and most will say he left the program in better shape now than when he got here. After all, he took the program to the 2011 NCAA Tournament for the first time after a nine-year drought but critics point out it was a roster filled mostly with previous coach Norm Roberts' recruits. And in postseason play, Lavin’s teams did not fare well. They were 1-5 in the Big East Tournament, 1-2 in the NIT and 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament.  

While Lavin went 21-12 during the 2014-15 season, and compiled a decent 81-55 record over five years, he never seemed to get the team over the hump.

And the disappointing 12 point loss to San Diego State in Charlotte last week — due largely because of the suspension of Chris Obekpa — was probably the last hinge to his fate despite all of the talk about the contract extension.

Granted, Lavin coached only four games in 2011-12 after bravely battling prostate cancer surgery, but there was always the academically ineligible recruits, untimely player suspensions and relatively low profile for a team in the nation's biggest media market that kept his job in question.

“In life change is inevitable, so I take the long view. I'm grateful for my time teaching at St. John’s University,” Lavin said in a statement. “I will take with me the lasting friendships forged during my tenure as Head Coach. I'm proud of our results both on and off the court — in particular our memorable runs to the NCAA tournament in 2011 and 2015. Most importantly, I take pride in our performance in the classroom having graduated our student athletes who will represent the institution in a first class manner."

Lavin is a decent man of principles and a well-liked coach but, with his senior-laden team all but gone, it seemed the time was right for the Red Storm to begin all over again.

And something tells me you'll be hearing the names Mullin and Hurley around Carneseca Arena a lot in the next few weeks. And maybe Mark Jackson.

Chris Mullin, Danny Hurley among favorites to be new St. John's coach, sources tell @SNYtv http://t.co/BoYje1MLiO
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 27, 2015

Source: Big East football schools to keep $100 million in split

After days of talks and negotiations, a person familiar with the discussions says the Big East football schools will get almost all of a $110 million pot in a deal that will allow seven departing basketball schools to keep the name Big East and start playing in their own conference next year.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the separation agreement has not been finalized.  That should happen by the end of the week.

According to the source, the basketball schools (aka The Catholic 7) — DePaul, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown —will keep the Big East name and the right to play their conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.  They will likely receive about $10 million to divide amongst themselves.

Meanwhile the football schools, most of which will go to holdover members Connecticut, South Florida and Cincinnati, will get about $100 million in the deal.

The whole deal is rotten from top to bottom — or since football invaded the once-proud league.  The football schools came into the conference on the shoulders of the basketball schools — the sport that built the Big East brand name.

These so-called Big East football schools were mostly middling at best and jumped in and out of the ACC and Big Ten hoops like trained circus dogs who crapped in the middle of the big top which originally took the strays in.

The new Big East is looking to add two or three basketball schools and a TV deal could be announced as early as today with the new Fox Sports 1 cable channel, reports USAToday.

Good riddance to Big Least football.  Long live Big East basketball. It rose up once, it can do it again.

St. John's mascot rappels down 470-foot building

St. John's mascot, Johnny the Thunderbird, might not be the coolest mascot in college sports but it is probably the ballsiest.

The big-headed bird was probably hoping its wings were functional when it rappelled down the side of the 470-foot Harborside  Financial Center Building No. 5 as part of the "Over the Edge" fundraising  initiative on Friday.

Johnny joined Rutgers head basketball coach Mike Rice  and other fundraisers help raise money for the American Cancer Society by lowering themselves down the glass structure which rises up from the Jersey City waterfront.

After the fearless Red Storm mascot got his feet firmly planted back on the ground, he tweeted about the stunt on Twitter.

You can have your Leprechaun looking for a fight, Sooners in a wagon or Trojan on a horse but when it comes flat out mascot toughness — try lowering yourself down a 50-story building wearing a giant ten-pound bird head.

The Over the Edge event helped raise over $250,000 for cancer research.

Bobcats hire St. John's assistant Mike Dunlap as head coach

The Charlotte Bobcats have hired St. John's assistant coach Mike Dunlap to be their new head coach according to the The Charlotte Observer.

Dunlap, 54, is the former Denver Nuggets assistant who was acting head coach at St. John's last season while Steve Lavin recovered from prostate surgery.

Sources told the newspaper that Dunlap was offered the job, after interviewing in Charlotte with owner Michael Jordan, vice-chairman Curtis Polk, president of basketball operations Rod Higgins and general manager Rich Cho.  Dunlap accepted the offer.

The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity Monday because Dunlap's hire isn't official — yet.  The choice comes as a bit of a surprise because  Dunlap was not one of the team's three finalists and rejoined  the picture late.  The team had trimmed the list down to former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Quin Snyder.

Dunlap was one of 10 candidates interviewed since the Bobcats began their search May 8.  He will replace Paul Silas, who was not given a new contract following last season's dismal 7-59 record.

Dunlap— who has spent most of his career at the college level— worked for Lute Olsen in Arizona and essentially ran the St. John's program last season while Steve Lavin observed from off the court.  Early in his career he was an assistant at USC and Iowa.

His only NBA experience was two seasons in the NBA with the Nuggets working under head coach George Karl in 2007-08.  The Nuggets compiled a 95-69 record during his tenure and made two playoff appearances.

Karl had nothing but praise for his former assistant earlier this year on the St. John's athletic department website.

"Mike Dunlap absolutely elevates every player and team he comes in contact with," said Karl.  "He takes you from a good to great.  Name every top-level, elite coach in the game— the only difference between Mike and them is their addresses. . . There is absolutely no one better."

Word is that Dunlap impressed the Bobcats front office with his high energy and collaborative approach.  Also, he wants to run an up-tempo offense and attacking defense that figures to fit in with the young team's personality.

Dunlap will be the Bobcats fifth coach in its nine-year history.

UConn, Syracuse Tie For 1st In Big East Coaches' Poll

It had to be one of the most awkward Big East media days in memory.  The coaches picked both  national champion Connecticut and soon-to-be-gone Syracuse as the best teams in the upcoming  season.  However, the real topic hanging on everyone's tongue at Wednesday's annual event was conference expansion and realignment.

Most of the talk centered around Syracuse and Pittsburgh's announcements that they were leaving the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and the TCU team which ran away.

TCU was slated to join the Big East but is now headed for the Big 12 before the Big East could do anything about it.  Big East commissioner John Marinatto announced at the conference he was looking to bring in schools to make up for the defections and prevent any others from leaving.

There has been a lot of talk-- some by the governor of Connecticut-- that UConn would also be interested in joining the ACC.  Marinatto would have none of it.

"In the past five years, we've had the best basketball league in the country," he said.  "We had [a record] 11 teams in the NCAA tournament last year and, on paper today, nine of them would be in it again."

Opinions about the defectors and the effect they will have on the league were at a fever pitch at the Manhattan gathering. 

"My problem is not them leaving," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino-- in a statement dripping with irony.  "My problem is you did it in 36-48 hours.  Don't run away with a girl after one date to get married in Las Vegas when you've been dating someone else for three or four years.  You've been dating this woman for 30 years, show a little respect."

Pitino, as you will recall, is the same man who almost threw away his career by cheating on his wife of thirty years for a 15-second fling with a woman who later tried to extort $10 million from him.

Last September, Pitino also compared Pitt's move to the ACC to Sal Tessio betraying the Corleone family in "The Godfather."  Funny, because rumors have been swirling about the Cardinals jumping ship as well.

Pitino's poorly-chosen analogy, along with Pitt and Syracuse wearing track shoes and ready to bolt aside, there were plenty of other topics at hand including the upcoming season and the coaches' pre-season picks.

Connecticut, which closed out their season with an 11-game winning streak by winning the Big East tournament and the national championship will have to do it without All-America guard Kemba Walker, the heart and soul of the team.

Head coach Jim Calhoun has three returning starters-- including sophomore guard Jerry Lamb, a pre-season first-team pick-- and junior Alex Oriakhi, a second-team selection.  Freshman center, 6-foot-11 Andre Drummond was chosen pre-season rookie-of-the-year.

Syracuse, which had five first place votes-- two less than UConn-- has senior Kris Joseph, a first-team selection, and second-teamer junior Scoop Jardine returning to the court.

Asked if he thinks the team will be treated differently during road games because of the school's decision to leave the Big East, Boeheim was philosophical.

"Nobody has ever cheered for us on the road," he said.  "We never get a lot of cheers."

Louisville, which got three first place votes, was third followed by Pittsburgh.

Pitt's senior guard Ashton Gibbs was selected pre-season player of the year after leading the conference in scoring (16.8) and 3-point shooting (49%) last season.

Cincinnati was fifth followed by Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, South Florida, Providence and DePaul.  In addition to Gibbs, Lamb and Joseph,  the pre-season first team included seniors Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette and grad-student Tim Abromaitis of Notre Dame.

Next year's coaches' poll might be without some familiar teams but not if Marinatto has his way.  The commissioner said he will not let Syracuse or Pitt out of their contracts, which requires them to stay in the league for two more years.

Georgetown coach John Thompson III got sentimental about the Big East's fracturing conference.

"When I think of the Big East, I think of Georgetown-Syracuse, Georgetown-St. John's, " he said.

So do a lot of fans.

RED STORM A COMIN'

By Tony Mangia

ST. JOHN'S LANDS ANOTHER TOP RECRUIT

St. John's coach Steve Lavin continues to lure talented high school basketball players to New York.    Lavin scored his third major recruiting coup when D'Angelo Harrison of Fort Bend, Texas picked the Red Storm over Marquette, Oklahoma State and Baylor.  Harrison, a 6-foot 3 shooter will join forwards Jakarr Sampson and Maurice Harkless in what is shaping up to be one of the best recruiting classes in the country.

When Lavin took over as head coach of the Johnnies, many experts considered his chances of luring top name players to St. John's a long shot.  NCAA sanctions, penalties and middling teams had the program in a downward spiral for nearly a decade.  Lavin had no east coast connections, was away from coaching too long and the west coast was Lavin's only hard-wood harvesting grounds, the cynics cried.

The former UCLA coach has surprised everyone by making the Queens campus a hot destination. He came to New York City with a reputation as a good recruiter for any player west of Vegas.  He used the glamor of UCLA as enticement.  He had about as much of a chance to lure prospects to Queens as getting a cab on a rainy Madison Avenue rush-hour said the skeptics.  Lavin has now surprised everyone by displaying this much success so quickly with recruits from every section of the country.

Lavin seems bent on a recruiting mission and said he hoped to have three more commitments by the end of this week.  He is prohibited from commenting on specific recruits until the university receives a letter of intent from the players.

The team has seven remaining scholarships and is looking to get a big-time point guard.  The Johnnies are on the inside track to sign scoring guard Nurideen Lindsay of Philadelphia, have the possibility of getting small forward Amir Garrett and center Norvel Pelle of California and North Carolina small forward Dominique Pointer.

Harrison is the ninth-ranked shooting guard in the nation according to Rivals.com.  Eric Bossi, a national recruiting analyst for the website, said if St. John's gets all the players  just named, it would be one of the great recruiting coups of all time.  "They're all top 50 players," said Bossi.  Harrison and Lindsay would give the Red Storm one of the most versatile and dynamic backcourts in the nation.

CORN-FED COMB OVER

St John's will announce the hiring of one of college basketball's greatest coaching professors and possessor of one of the scariest stares in all of sports, Gene Keady.  Suddenly, comb overs may become vogue in New York basketball circles this winter.

Keady, the imposing 74 year-old, former head coach of Purdue will join the team as an Advisor to the Head Coach as early as tonight's Red Storm Tip-Off.

The long-time coach is one of Steve Lavin's mentors.  He gave Lavin his start as a Purdue assistant coach in 1988.  Keady's role will be of a non-coaching position.  He assist the Red Storm coaches with strategy, analyzing game film and as an all-around ambassador for the school.

The ex-Pittsburgh Steeler draftee casts quite a shadow on the court.  His career spans decades coaching at the collegiate, international and professional levels. He is regarded as a spectacular tactician and will help bring fundamentally-sound basketball back to Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden.

Lavin and Keady---old school and new wave hoops peppered with blue-chippers.  The yin and yang of Lavin's poofed- up Hollywood hair and flair complimenting Keady's peculiar hair-do and Midwestern stoicism. 

Lavin says his former boss gives the team that "grandfather presence." "He's the most influential person in my coaching style," praised the pupil of his teacher.

Keady won't be sitting on the bench but it would be nice to see his icy stares and slightly askew coif on the sidelines.  His intimidating gaze would be worth the admission alone. I'd like to see U Conn's head coach, Jim Calhoun, out-glare the grizzled ex-coach with over 800 career victories.

Lavin may be paying back the man who gave him his first college coaching position.  St. John's new head coach has made great strides in recruiting and it looks like the future of Red Storm basketball  could be on a major upswing.  Its nice that Lavin didn't forget his roots and will take his trusted sage Keady with him.