St. John's New "Wonder Five" Defeats West Virginia

St. John's sent five freshman out for the opening tip-off last night against West Virginia and never looked back in a 78-62 victory at Madison Square Garden.

It is believed to be the first time the university began a game with  five freshman since their 1927-28 team which later become known as the "Wonder Five."

Head coach Steve Lavin may have been watching his team from an luxury suite a few tiers above the action below— while recuperating from prostate cancer surgery— but it was his suggestion to assistant coach Mike Dunlap to start the five frosh.


"It's a lineup that coach Lavin has talked about in our staff meetings," said Dunlap.  "He just said 'When you feel it, do it' and I felt it today."

The five freshman— part of last year's highly anticipated recruiting class— put together one of the Red Storm's most complete games of the season and ended a four-game losing streak.

 

St. John's fans have been waiting all season to see some evidence of what is considered the greatest incoming class in the school's history.  Last night, they saw some harbingers of things (now woefully lacking) hopefully to come— defense and finishing.

While Lavin's suggestion worked brilliantly on Wednesday night, the team lacks height and is still only seven men deep.  Only Malik Stith has a full Big East season under his belt and actually knows how brutal the Big East schedule can be.

Last night there were more than a few groans after the Mountaineers (15-6, 6-3) went on a 13-2 run to trim the Storm's lead to 68-59 with less than three minutes left.  Even with a lead, there is still doubt in the hearts of Storm fans.

Amir Garrett, Phil Greene, Moe Harkless, D'Angelo Harrison and Sir' Dominic Pointer showed their poise and led a St. John's (9-11, 3-6) team that shot better (.484 FG) and finally closed out the game— especially after the blown ten-point second half lead against Villanova on Saturday still fresh in their minds.

A blocked shot by God's Gift Achiuwa into the hands of Phil Greene, who raced down court to make the score 73-59 with 2:15 left, turned the groans into victory cheers.

If any one can understand the virtue of patience and preach it to his young team through example, it's Lavin.

The coach isn't sure when he will return to the bench— it could be next season— but is still recruiting and recuperating.

"I'll definitely be back on the sidelines, but I have to be mindful of the doctor's advice about doing what's best for my health," he said.  "I am doing a disservice to our current team and to our program if I don't make the prudent choices for my health."

Even West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was asked about starting five freshmen and compared it to Michigan's famed squad which beat his Cincinnati team in the NCAA semifinals.

"In 1992, I saw the Fab Five and I didn't like that much," Huggins said.  "I didn't like this much more.  They are talented guys."

Just a reminder to the new "Wonder Five." The original group went on a 24-game win streak two years later.

St. John's Gets NCAA Tournament Bid Much To LSU's Chagrin

The chances for an NCAA Tournament bid didn't look good for the St. John's men's baseball team after losing to Seton Hall in the Big East championship game on Sunday, but the Red Storm were given one of the final at-large berths to make the field of 64 for the fourth time in five years.  National power LSU cried that the selection of St. John's is a farce and says the NCAA should take a look at how they select the 64 team field.

LSU (36-20) is claiming that they play in a tougher conference and should have been picked over the Johnnies.  St. John's (35-20) finished second in both the Big East regular season standings and championship series.  It is arguably the best team in the northeast.

For the record, LSU finished 9th in the SEC and didn't make their own conference tournament finals.

The Tigers are screaming that their #23 RPI and 12-3 finish entitles the team to be picked ahead of the Red Storm, who go into the NCAA's with a respectable #54 RPI.

"I would say that this year, as a committee, we didn't use RPI as the hammer that maybe it was in previous years," said Tim Weiser, the chairman of the 10-member NCAA Selection Committee.

If LSU wants to find a culprit, the school should look at some of the automatic-bids awarded to winners of conference championships.

Steve Lavin Must Toughen Up For Big East

St. John's University's new head coach Steve Lavin has had his ups and downs with his senior laden team in non-conference play so far.  Now comes a big test against West Virginia (8-2) and it won't get any easier.  His slicked back hair is about to get mussed.  Welcome to the Big East Conference coach Lavin.

The Red Storm (7-3) heads down to West Virginia tonight for Lavin's first Big East conference game against a physically big and tough team.  The Mountaineers have three New Yorkers who play rough and tumble Big East type basketball.  Kevin Jones (Mt. Vernon), Truck Bryant (Brooklyn) and Danny Jennings (Staten Island) should be a handful for the experienced St. John's squad.

St. John's won two tournament titles in the opening weeks of the young season in Alaska and New York and beat formidable opponents like Davidson and a good Big Ten team from Northwestern, but two deflating losses to St. Bonaventure and Fordham reminded fans of the underachieving Red Storm teams of the last head coach, Norm Roberts.  Maybe the jet-lagged team--they travelled over 12,000 miles before Dec.1--have their land legs back.

The Johnnies entered the season with high hopes and a lot of Big East experience.  Four seasoned seniors and highly-touted freshman, Dwayne Polle II make up the nucleus of a team which feels it could make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.

The seniors--Justin Brownlee, Justin Burrell, Dwight Hardy and pre-season Big East second-team player, D.J. Kennedy--will lead the charge and have been through plenty of Big East scrums.  It is a capable crew but they will need to learn how to focus and finish a game.  Too many times the players watch half-time leads dwindle to losses.  Turnovers and foul shooting are still problems too.

Lavin has brought lots of optimism to St. John's.  Next year's recruiting class is being called one of the top five in the country and arguably the best in the prestigious St. John's basketball history.  That is all and well for next year.  Now comes the reality of playing one of best collection of Big East teams in the conference's thirty year history.  Currently, five Big East teams reside in top ten national polls.

The Red Storm's brutal schedule includes Villanova, Georgetown (twice), Notre Dame (twice), Syracuse, Louisville, Connecticut and Pitt.  All of those teams are in or hover around every top-25 poll in the country. Even the middle-of-the pack teams will be battling it out for an NCAA bubble spot in March.  It isn't going to be easy for any team.

We all know now that Lavin can recruit on the East coast---even after being out of coaching since 2003---now let's see how he handles the ruggedness of Big East basketball and dealing with the referees.

Lavin, who is unfamiliar with Big East refs, will have to get on-the-job training in dealing with them.  The coach, who was issued only three technicals in seven years as head coach at UCLA, already has two in his first ten games at St. John's.

The new head coach comes to St. John's bringing hope for the future and tournament dreams to a solid transitional team of experienced players.  It is time for the Red Storm to find out what kind of team it really is.

The Mountaineers--a Final Four team last year-- are a physical bunch.  It should provide a good barometer of what the Red Storm can achieve.   Let's see how tough Lavin and the Red Storm really are.  Let the real season begin!