Wall-Street Journal Click HereThe story of Steve Lavin's success so far at St. John's hit a high point last month in Times Square. Jakarr Sampson, a 6-foot-8 forward from Ohio and one of the top high school players in the country, took a trek outside his hotel, and fans of the recently dormant program began calling his name. St. John's fans knew who he was—and they were excited.
"One guy even knew my stats," Mr. Sampson said. "I said, 'How did you know that? I don't even know my own statistics.'"
Mr. Sampson is part of a talented, pivotal and particularly large recruiting class, that, if the scouting reports are to be believed, may restore St. John's to its former glory. Mr. Lavin, the former UCLA coach who took the job after last season, has 10 open scholarships—an amount so high he's never even heard of it happening before, let alone experienced it. As the team starts a year in which expectations are low, the 2011 recruiting class is quickly becoming the crown jewel of the program.
While Mr. Lavin seems downright giddy about the opportunity to re-make the program in his first season, he acknowledges there are pitfalls—saying that "if you miss on the evaluation on 10 guys, it will cost you your job, and in four or five years someone else will get a crack."
But for now, Mr. Lavin appears to be on the mark with the evaluations. Evan Daniels, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com, said the recruiting class is firmly among the top 10 in the country, and could even be in the top five by the time signing day comes on Nov. 10. Mr. Lavin can't specifically comment on recruits until they have signed their letter of intent.
"This whole class is a big deal," Mr. Daniels said. "I really commend Steve Lavin—they really worked for this first class. These players will be able to compete in the Big East."
Mr. Sampson is rated a five-star player by Scout, meaning he is among the elite prospects, and the class is filled with near-elite prospects. Mr. Daniels said that it's safe to say that this is the best Johnnies' recruiting class in recent memory. More importantly, the coaches of the recruits are noticing. While in many gyms across the country you can't throw a basketball without hitting an aggressive Big East recruiter, St. John's had mostly stayed away, according to one coach. Mike Carrabine, who coaches John Foster Dulles High School near Houston and who produced one of St. John's top commitments, D'Angelo Harrison, said recruiting has been relentless under Mr. Lavin.
"I think you could probably ask anyone in the area," Mr. Carrabine said. "I don't think they've heard much from St. John's, period, in the last few years."
Mr. Carrabine said he was impressed how hard Mr. Lavin worked to form a relationship with Mr. Harrison, after seeing Mr. Harrison on the summer basketball circuit. He said the appeal of St. John's was the chance to play early, playing in Madison Square Garden and what Mr. Harrison feels is a better chance to play in the NBA with Mr. Lavin's mentoring.
One interesting twist to the Red Storm's future is that despite its New York City location, St. John's will not be heavy on New Yorkers. Maurice Harkless, a Queens native who is attending school in Connecticut, is among the few bucking the recent trend of New York products leaving to play elsewhere.
"It's been the trend that no one wants to stay home, they needed that one guy, a guy of his caliber to say, 'We can do this at St. John's.' He was the catalyst for the whole class," Mr. Daniels said.
Mr. Lavin said his philosophy focuses on getting players from his recruiting base, which he said includes New Jersey, most of the Northeast and, of course, New York. But he cautioned that if a coach becomes too reliant on local talent, a down cycle in that talent could cost him his job. He's used his national recruiting connections to create geographic diversity—the five players expected to make their commitment official on signing day each hail from a different state.
Of course, there's a season to be played this year. Mr. Lavin said he's carrying "guarded optimism" into the season with a veteran team he says deserves success after some "rough times."
He said he's trying to instill a dose of reality into the program in the short term and diagnose why the team was 13th in the Big East last season, mentioning that free throws, turnovers and bad shot selection were some of the factors. Still, he said he likes the current Red Storm's resilience and said the goal is an NCAA Tournament berth.
For the fans and star recruits, the goals are long-term.
"I heard about St. John's. I know they were big time back in the day," Mr. Sampson said. "I want to bring it back to them."