South Florida Pregame Links

St. John's Still Ready For Tourney - ESPN Video - ESPN


NEWARK, N.J. -- When first-year St. John's coach Steve Lavin signed a top-rated recruiting class before his new team had even played a game for him, it was a startling achievement. Yet, it's still not the most startling thing Lavin has done in this program-reviving season that's hurtling toward Big East tournament play next week. Lavin had reeled in two top-rated recruiting classes before, at UCLA. He's like one of those baseball players who can fall out of bed and hit .400.


The real shocker this season has been how Lavin rolled into the Big East -- arguably the best conference in the country that boasts heavyweights Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino and could send 11 teams to the NCAA tournament -- and, after seven seasons off the sidelines, now has people saying it'll be a crime if he doesn't win coach of the year.

Read More:
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/ncb/columns/story?columnist=howard_johnette&id=6182128

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/colleges/post/_/id/1829/w2w4-st-johns-vs-south-florida

SPECIAL OCCASION: Tonight is Senior Night, and there are a number of special things planned. First of all, Carnesecca Arena is sold out -- and it's being dubbed a "Carnesecca Blackout" because 6,000 black T-shirts are being distributed to fans as they enter the building. The team will be wearing its alternate black uniforms -- St. John's is 0-5 wearing these uniforms, but the players requested to wear them, planning to break the hex. Also, 4,000 Steve Lavin bobbleheads will be distributed tonight.

But most importantly, the nine St. John's seniors who have played such a major role in turning around this program will be honored tonight, in a ceremony approximately 20 minutes before tip-off.

"I think it will be mixed emotions," senior forward Sean Evans said on Thursday. "It's our final game in Carnesecca, but it's not going to be our final game this season. It's going to be tough to let go of Carnesecca, but we know we have more games ahead of us."

"There's been a lot of sweat, blood and tears into this building and into the floor of Carnesecca and Taffner [Field House]," said senior guard Paris Horne. "It's a special night for us."

Regardless of how this turns out, whether St. John's wins the Big East Conference Tournament or advances past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament or has no postseason success at all, this has been a season for the ages for the little engine that could in Queens.

But as Gordon Gekko famously said, "Greed is good."

So now that St. John's is looking to post its first 20-win season since 2003, and the team's nine remarkably resolved and resilient seniors have finally beaten Duke, Marquette, Pitt, Villanova and West Virginia, the long-suffering Red Storm faithful have gotten greedy.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/seniors_moment_OiwITsesSUoFeG4j5FiXsK#ixzz1FkxcWt98

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/seniors_moment_OiwITsesSUoFeG4j5FiXsK


Meet the seniors photos

There will be pomp and circumstance Saturday night at Carnesecca Arena as St. John's fans celebrate the careers of the 10 seniors exiting the program. Unfortunately for the No. 15 Red Storm, there also will be a test.

The Johnnies (19-10, 11-6) need to show that Thursday night's upset loss to Seton Hall was nothing more than a glitch when they face South Florida (9-21, 3-14) at 8. The Storm still has an outside chance of earning the double-bye into the quarterfinals of next week's Big East Tournament, needing to win and for Syracuse to lose to DePaul.


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2011/03/05/2011-03-05_storm_seniors_get_ready_to_graduate.html

Pregame press conference

http://www.redstormsports.com/allaccess/?media=234714