Johnny Jungle

The 6th Man of St. John's Basketball

For the die hard St. John's fan.
The unofficial 6th man. est. '07
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DJ Kennedy Passes Walter Berry

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DJ Kennedy
DJ took his game to new heights last season scoring in a variety of ways. Will he continue to move up the ranks? (Icon SMI)

Let the scoring watch begin for senior forward, DJ Kennedy.

Last night versus Marquette, Kennedy scored 15 points adding to his career total which now sits at 1432 points. Those 15 points also allowed him to pass not one but three guys on St. John’s scoring list. Lavor Postell, Walter Berry and Willie Glass all stood ahead of Kennedy and now stand behind him. Kennedy started the season as number 32 on the list and now is in sole possession of number 14.

Postell played at St. Johns from 1996-2000 scoring 1,427 points. Berry played from 1984-86 scoring 1,424 points and Willie Glass, a teammate of Berry for two years, played from 1983-87 scoring 1,419 points.

The 6’5” senior out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has been a four year starter for St. John’s and a jack of all trades with his ability to score, pass, rebound and defend as well as be a leader on the court for his teammates.

Coach Lavin on Kennedy: “DJ will be the central figure in terms of what we do offensively. His experience, skill and confidence position him as one of the premier players in the BIG EAST. DJ’s determination, passion and leadership will set the tone for what we can accomplish as a team this season.”

Kennedy came out of high school ranked 35th in the nation at his position and was being recruited by Georgia, New Mexico State, Wisconsin and Xavier but choose St. John’s as his destination.

Kennedy is averaging 10.4 points per game on 47.6% shooting and grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game as well.

Kennedy has a chance to pass some more people as he wraps up his career here at St. John’s. Look out for who’s next right here on Johnny Jungle.

Getting Down With the Brownlee

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Justin Brownlee is breaking out into a serious scoring threat for this St. John's Red Storm team this season. (Icon SMI)
Twice awarded with MVP honors, second leading scorer on the team, Justin Brownlee has become a staple to St. Johns success this season.

Earlier in the season Lavin spoke of Justin, “Justin has an outstanding sense and feel for the game. He is silky-smooth and explosive athlete with a diverse skill set. We will need him to impose his will on both ends of the floor for us to have a successful season.”

Brownlee is averaging 12.5 points per game on 49% as well as grabbing close to 5 rebounds a contest and hitting 70% from the free throw line. He has had big shots for the Red Storm this season. Against Ball State he nailed a three that helped gave momentum to give St. John’s the win in the first round of the Great Alaskan Shootout. In conference play he had the game winning layup against Georgetown off a Dwight Hardy miss and Brownlee recently had the game winning lay-up verse Rutgers.

The junior college transfer senior from Georgia has been a big surprise to many people this season. 6’-7” and 230lbs with the ability to score and defend, Brownlee has the chance to be the first St. Johns player since Omar Cook in 2000 to be drafted. He has found his way into some mock drafts right now being projected as a late second round pick.

The soft spoken Brownlee said at St. Johns Media Day, “I want to go out every night swinging. Fight every game to the finish and never let up.”

St. Johns has a real good chance to make it into March Madness. Having four wins against Top 25 teams, the third nationally ranked strength of schedule, and a top 25 ranking in the RPI ratings the Johnnies are bursting out of the bubble and into the dance floor.

One of the biggest reasons is because of Justin Brownlee.
 
“We want to win the Big East. It’s our conference. I don’t know how many years its been since we won it but we want to bring it back to St. John’s this year.” the soft spoken Brownlee exclaimed.

Justin Brownlee Fractures Thumb

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Senior forward Justin Brownlee has suffered a left thumb fracture during some point in the second half of the Duke game this past Sunday. It may have been at around the 12 minute mark when he ran into Blue Devil guard, Nolan Smith.

X-rays, taken on Monday, revealed a non-displaced hairline fracture in the distal phalange of Brownlee’s left thumb. He was fitted for a fiberglass splinter by specialist Michelle Carlson, M.D., of the Hospital for Special Surgery, which will allow him to play and not miss anytime. Lavin said it was all speculation and he would need to see Justin play today in practice before he could determine his status for tomorrow nights game verse Tri-State rival, Rutgers University.

Brownlee is averaging 13.6 points per game while shooting 51% from the field. In 20 games he has scored 15+ points in 10 of those games. Brownlee has earned two MVP awards this season winning hardware from the Great Alaskan Shootout and Holiday Festival.

For the official press release please visit Redstormsports.com

It’s Greene’r On This Side

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If upsetting Notre Dame wasn’t already great news for St. Johns fans, hearing that another recruit had committed to Coach Lavin and his staff definitely was. Six months in and eight recruits later we have a ninth. From the windy city of Chicago, Illinois to the currently slushy streets of Manhattan, New York City, Phillip Greene of IMG Academy (FL) has verbally committed to The Red Storm.

Player Development coach at IMG and also a native of Chicago like Phil, Loren Jackson said in early November that Greene would not commit until the second period of signing was in play. Greene, who is averaging 23.4 points per game for IMG, is another combo guard who has a great ability to run the court as well as create shots for him self. Has a terrific mid-range jump shot and his quickness along with length allows him to be a problem for guards he is defending.

On verbally committing to St. Johns, Greene had this to say to Adam Zagoria during The Big East Report, “It was fun going up there, seeing them play well against Notre Dame,” he said. “They got the win. They play my style of play; they play up-and-down. They’re really going to let you get after it. Coach Lavin is a really good coach and I got a real good feel for them when I was up there.”

Greene will join a backcourt that includes current sophomore, Malik Stith, Junior College transfer Nurideen Lindsey and Texas native, D’Angelo Harrison.

Greene’s name has swirled around St. Johns for the past couple months. A week prior to signing, a close source to me told me Phil Greene would commit after the Syracuse game but due to weather conditions he could not make his way over so instead he came to the Notre Dame game, which was also attended by already committed Sir’Dominic Pointer, and shortly after the game announced he would attend St. Johns in the fall.

Like all the recruits so far signed, Greene brings that certain aspect that Lavin loves; versatility. He can bring the ball up like any point guard but can easy move over to the shooting guard spot and put points up for you. Lavin loves versital players and Phil Grenne is just another added bonus to an already elite club.

IMG coach Andy Borman says St. John’s is “getting a kid that can do a lot of different things offensively and defensively.” I’m sure Lavin loves the sound of that.

Top 25 Forecast

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The storm is coming and no I do not mean the snow storm Wednesday, New Yorkers, I mean your very own St. Johns Red Storm. St. Johns is getting the national attention many thought they would once they hired Steve Lavin. 10-4 overall, 3-1 in the Big East including two road wins and one upset of a Top 15 team and of course two titles, Great Alaskan Shootout and Holiday Festival, not to mention all their fine recruits.

St. John's will need Justin Brownlee to bounce back to early season form for them to come out with a winning record over next 5 games. (Icon SMI)
After their impressive win verse Georgetown, St. Johns grabbed hold of the 7th best RPI rating but following their loss to Notre Dame Saturday, they find themselves now at 12th. Continuing with rankings, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Mr. Bracketology himself, moved St. Johns from their number eleven seeding to number eight this week. All the recent attention is great but this group of seniors is looking to make their first appearance in the Top 25 Coaches and AP polls. They received their first votes of the season gaining four supporters. What does St. John’s need to do in order to be a consensus top 25 team?

The Red Storm have a tough schedule ahead of them, first battle being against number 4 Syracuse and finishing with number 1, Duke. In between they face Notre Dame at home and Georgetown once more on the road as well as Louisville and Cincinnati all of whom have been ranked in the top 25 at one point this season. To break into the Top 25 you better believe St. John’s will have to create some upsets.

The biggest upsets in this stretch would be Duke and Syracuse. Duke has been on a roll despite their little scare verse Maryland last night and Syracuse hasn’t had much problem with opponents this season either evident by their unbeaten record.

Notre Dame lost tonight to Marquette, an unranked team and face the Johnnies on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Cincinnati suffered their first loss this season to Villanova. That was their first nationally ranked opponent this season. They started off 15-0 but have one of the weakest strengths of schedules in the country on their resume being sub 300. Louisville and Rick Pitino have played great basketball all season long. The Cardinals started off with a win verse Butler the national runner up from a season ago. They hit bumps in the road against Drexel and Kentucky but have been impressive the rest of way paced by emerging sophomore Peyton Silva.

If St. John’s can play the way they did in their five game win streak this season they are capable of finishing this tough stretch 4-2. If that happens they will be 14-6 with victories against five nationally ranked opponents. That should be enough to crack the Top 25 and if they play tough against Syracuse and Duke that looks better to the voters and a win verse either team would look phenomenal. If they finish 3-3 it’s still a good run but diminishes their chances to become ranked.

St. Johns needs to step up here, this is their moment to shine, and Coach Lavin’s moment to show that St. Johns being picked 6th by pre-season in the Big East wasn’t a mistake. A top 25 ranking would pave the way to the team goal of playing in March Madness.

While fans have the luxury to look ahead the Red Storm can not. Less than 48 hours away till St. John’s looks to defend it’s home court against in state conference rival Syracuse.