Goodman on Canada trip

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UNDERMANNED JOHNNIES RETURN FROM CANADA

Anthony Mason strained a hamstring and sat out while Dele Coker didn’t make the trip due to visa issues. Justin Burrell went down with a hand injury in the first 10 minutes and his trip was history. Rob Thomas played sparingly with a groin injury, Quincy Roberts suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to the face and Sean Evans battled through turf toe.

St. John’s didn’t exactly have a full complement of players for the Red Storm’s trip north of the border this past weekend, but Norm Roberts wasn’t complaining.

``It gave our young guys a chance to play,” Roberts said.

Guys like junior college guard Dwight Hardy, who scored 20 and 18 in two of the four games on the trip, fellow JUCO product Justin Brownlee and freshman Malik Stith.

``Dwight can really score,” Roberts said. ``He can shoot it and you can tell he’s been well-coached in high school and at Indian Hills. He’s tougher than I thought.”

Roberts said that Burrell will be re-examined today, but the early prognosis was a slight fracture on the top of his hand. It didn’t sound as though Roberts was overly concerned about Burrell missing extensive time in the preseason.

Mason was held out with a strained hamstring and Thomas played a total of 17 minutes on the trip – and sat out the final game.

When Roberts does have his entire team, he said they’ll be able to play the way Roberts has envisioned when he first took the job – fast.

``We’re more athletic than we’ve been,” he said. ``We’ll be able to get up and pressure teams and be aggressive.”

But the difference with this year’s group isn’t just the fact that the Big East won’t be as powerful as it was last season.

``We have more maturity,” Roberts said. ``We have nine juniors and a senior and the young guys are unselfish and know what they need to do. This is the best group we’ve had.”

It’s also a team that has balance. Mason led the team two seasons ago at 14 points per game and Burrell averaged 10.8 points in 2007-08, but last season Paris Horne (14.6). D.J. Kennedy (13.0) and Sean Evans (10.3) led the team with Mason on the sidelines and Burrell having a disappointing season.

``It’s not a “me” thing,” Roberts said. ``It’s a “we” thing. It’s going to be different guys each night.”