St. John's Young Guns Begin Era With Impressive Win

The most anticipated St. John's basketball team in over a decade took to the floor at Carnesecca Arena and brought in a new era of pride after beating C.W. Post 110-80 last night in an exhibition game.   The Red Storm looked pretty impressive considering three of their 10 scholarship players weren't playing due to academic ineligibility.

The highly-rated recruiting class is filled with so much young talent, it's hard to say—after one game— who to deserves the most praise.

Every one of these players have their eyes on one day playing professionally but there is a sense that—for now— they know how to share the wealth.  Six players finished the game scoring in double figures.

What the St. John's team lacks in size, they make up with incredible athletic skills.  The rangy, young talent—wait until their bodies fill out—can run the floor with the best of them.

St. John's head coach Steve Lavin—who missed the game while recovering from prostate surgery—has assembled an unrelenting offensive machine.  When— and if— JaKarr Sampson, Norvell Pelle and Amir Garrettt return around Christmas time, Lavin might have more gifts than he can open.

Speaking of gifts, God's Gift Achiuwa (21 points, nine rebounds) looks like a real bruiser.  The muscular 6-foot-eight power-forward can run baseline to baseline like a guard and is a defensive and offensive match-up nightmare under the basket.  Achiuwa looked like a man among boys and started the game with 10 points in the first seven minutes.

Swing forward Moe Harkless (14 points, 14 rebounds), the highest rated New York high school player since Ron Artest to play for St. John's, is a high-flying board hoarder, while Nurideen Lindsay (16 points, 7 assists) can take the shot as well as dish them out.

The rest of the team just put on a scoring clinic and exploded for a 36-point lead at one time in the second half.

Combo guard Phil Greene (20 points, 4-of-6 3-pointers) looked like the floor leader and was joined in the backcourt by shooting guard D'Angelo Harrison (20 points, 4 assists).

While C.W. Post is no UConn, it still took advantage of the Red Storm's deficiencies on defense.  Mike Dunlap, who took over at the helm for the recovering Lavin, wasn't oblivious to the problem.

"We're a new unit and were trying to figure out who we were," said the interim coach.  "We know we need to do a better job on the defensive end."

The team speed and athleticism will only go so far when St. John's starts banging bodies with the giants of the Big East.  The smaller C.W. Post team battled to a 36-36 tie on the boards and that won't lead to wins in January and February.

St. John's gave up too many easy shots while C.W. Post's All-American Stefan Bonneau scored a game high 28 points and was 5-of-9 from the 3-point arc.

In their debut, St. John's fouled the Pioneers early and often and looked slow in transition during the first half.  Call it opening night jitters.  The inexperienced—but talented— Red Storm made it apparent that they were playing for the first time together and their game appeared skittish but effortless. 

What St. John's lacked in first-half D, they made up with a second-half O.  The 110 point total was the most points scored by the Red Storm since 115 vs. Niagara on Jan. 4 1999 and, as a team,  finished the game shooting 65.8% (50-for-76).  They also doled out 24 assists and forced 19 turnovers.

It's too early to put a label on this Red Storm team but, if last night was any indication, there are a lot of stars in the making and they are going to be a fun bunch to watch.

Last season, Lavin's first year in Queens,  St. John's surprised everyone by making the NCAA tournament for the first time since the last McRib.  He did it with a veteran bunch of over-achieving seniors.

This year, Lavin comes in with his team, the third-rated recruiting class in the nation and high hopes on the St. John's campus.  The Big East coaches picked the Red Storm to finish 12th in the league.  Last night, the young Storm looked a lot better than that.

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.