After a hard Saturday night of partying and a few great hours of sleep the following morning, I woke up to see something I thought I would never see during my years as a student at St. John’s University: A dominating lead over Duke, the defending national champions.
The hype leading up to the game the previous week was enormous on campus. Students were waiting for hours in between classes to try to win tickets in a raffle and general admission tickets for the Madison Square Garden showdown sold out days after they went on sale. That’s usually the case any time we host Duke, but with the national championship bulls-eye on their backs now, tickets were harder to come by than usual. St. John’s plays Duke at least once every season. Being a third-year student, I had come to the realization that waking up early on a Sunday morning to go see St. John’s get embarrassed on a national stage just wasn’t worth it.
This time I was wrong. As you know, St. John’s annihilated the Blue Devils in a 93-78 blowout upset. It was the Red Storm’s first game since a 25-point loss at Georgetown.
General Steve Lavin had the troops prepared for war, as they entered the game with a focused mindset and energy I’ve never really seen out of them before. Defensively, Lavin’s strategy to apply pressure with a full-court, trapping zone rattled Duke in the first half, which left them tentative and apprehensive for the remainder of the game. To compliment their efforts on the defensive end, St. John’s scored consistently on the offensive end, hitting jumpers and finishing at the rim. Dwight Hardy and Justin Brownlee led the team as usual, along with key contributions from the supporting cast.
In his first season as head coach, Lavin has already attracted a pretty big buzz. He can officially cross “Beat Duke at MSG” off of his to-do list for winning back New York. Now that he has put together somewhat of a decent season (thus far) and pulled off a signature upset in front of a sold-out Garden, he is one step closer to New York embracing the Johnnies as the city’s team again. The previous few seasons, enthusiasm about St. John’s basketball has been very scarce, on campus and in general. This season, Coach Lavin has done a great job turning that around. He already has three wins over ranked teams, which hasn’t been done at this school since the ’01-02 season. He’s sold out Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden, and he has the school optimistic about the team’s tournament chances. The mission is far from accomplished however he is making decent headway, and sooner than most expected.
The big victory over Duke means several different things for St. John’s. The bar is raised now, and expectations have grown. The team has showed that they are capable of playing at a high level, and Lavin has proven that he is capable of out-coaching the best of them. Now the lights are on and it’s time to perform. The team’s play thus far has helped fans recover from the Norm Roberts hangover, and St. John’s basketball has the city’s attention once again.
Lavin has the Red Storm on the road to success, however there are several obstacles in the way for the remainder of this season. The Red Storm will have the opportunity to prove to themselves and to the fans that they are worthy of competing in the NCAA Tournament with their remaining schedule. Tough tests against UConn, Pittsburgh and Villanova will play a key factor in the NCAA Tournament committee’s decision making.
Now that they have defied the odds and overcome a challenge that frankly, many thought they weren’t built for, they are expected to do so again. What they have to do to succeed is play with the same energy and intensity they played with against Duke.
There are 10 seniors on the St. John’s roster. All of them were brought in under Norm Roberts, and to this point they had have all underachieved on the expectations heaped upon them. Without any significant achievement to be proud of, this is their last chance to leave a mark at our school and they have to play like it. Against Duke, they had a now or never mentality that lead them to victory. If they play with that same relentless mentality and aggressiveness, they will prevail in their upcoming endeavors.
The future of St. John’s basketball is bright, largely in part to Lavin’s ability as a coach, and as a recruiter. His coaching strategies have the Red Storm playing at their best potential. He is great at using players to their strengths and isn’t scared to make bold decisions and that helps the team succeed. For example in key moments in close games, he trusts 6-8 forward Justin Brownlee with the responsibility of bringing up the ball safely, and it works. He also lets Dwight Hardy freelance a bit at the end of games often trusting him to get the big bucket rather than calling a timeout, which also often works.
To Lavin’s credit, he is also coaching somebody else’s team. When he can pick and choose players perfectly fit for his system, the Johnnies could become a dangerous team in the Big East. Dwayne Polee is Lavin’s first recruit and he is already gaining great experience in his freshman year, starting in several games already. He has a lot of developing to do, but Lavin trusts that he will emerge to play a key role in the teams success in the future. The experience he’s getting this season will surely put him in a better position to do that. Steve Lavin has always been known as a great recruiter, and he has already proved he is going to maintain that reputation. His 2011 recruiting class is ranked #2 in the nation, behind only Kentucky. He has three four-star forwards on the way: Dominick Pointer, Maurice Harkless and Jakarr Sampson are all ranked among the Top 100 players in the nation. He also has scoring firepower on the way as well with combo guard D’Angelo Harrison and JUCO standout Nurideen Lindsey who are both known for filling it up. However, most importantly Lavin landed 6-10 center Norvel Pelle, a five-star recruit who is ranked #2 at his position to complete his 2011 class. A well-rounded recruiting class is raising a few eyebrows around the NCAA. With promising talent, and a strong buzz built this season, it’s going to be a good season for St. John’s basketball next year.
The spotlight is on Steve Lavin now more than ever, and he is faced with the responsibility of bringing St. John’s basketball back to being New York’s team. Not an easy task at hand but hey, he asked for it, so it’s his duty to give New Yorkers something to be proud of when it comes to college basketball. So far he looks to be off to a good start.
