Home Grown Thomas

On Saturday he shined at the IS8 quarterfinals dropping 24 points in a narrow four point loss to Thomas Jefferson. After today, Our Savior New American PG Jevon Thomas hopes to shine for the Red Storm starting in 2012.

Lenn Robbins of the New York Post first reported Thomas’ commitment to St. John’s this morning on twitter.

Thomas followed Robbins report by updating his Facebook status with a joyful “Its official..St. Johns here I come!!!!!!”

St. John’s and point guards haven’t been synonymous for many years. Aside from Erick Barkley, Omar Cook, Marcus Hatten and the great Mark Jackson when you think about the position, the Red Storm doesn’t pop into your head. Jevon Thomas could be the next great guard mentioned with those listed above.

What’s a word larger than huge? Enormous, Gigantic, otherworldly, that’s how important and monumental this commitment is from Thomas.

The 6’0 guard is the first to board the Lavin Ark for the 2012 recruiting class, fills the Red Storms major void at the point guard position. As of right now, he is the only PG on the 2012 roster but with the praise and expectations that follow him, it’s certainly a great start.

“Jevon will bring back that electric energy and fire back to the Garden and New York,” Casey Williams, Thomas’ AAU coach with the New York Gauchos told SNY’s Adam Zagoria.

Thomas was down to deciding between two Big East schools, Villanova and St. John’s. He attended both teams Midnight Madness events, St. John’s on October 15th and Villanova’s on October 22nd. At the end of the day Thomas chose the Storm over the Wildcats.

“I chose St. John’s [over Villanova] because of their style of play,” Thomas told me. “Lavin’s history along with his coaching staff had a major influence in my decision as well.”

Thomas who is part of a stellar backcourt for the NYC Gauchos AAU team is being hailed as one of the best point guards in New York City right now.

Something interesting to note, his running mate in the backcourt for the Gauchos is Christ the King’s 6-4 shooting guard Omar Calhoun whose name is being floated around St. John’s as well. When asked if Thomas would try and lure Calhoun to Jamica, Queens he said, “I’ll try.”

For many years St. John’s suffered from being unable to keep homegrown talent, home. Far too often top tier players raised on the blacktops of New York City would take their skills to high profile schools hundreds of miles away. It looks like head coach Steve Lavin is finally going to change that. Thomas joins coach Lavin’s first recruit, Queens native Maurice Harkless, as both will be suiting up in the red and white in front of their hometown fans.

“Lavin’s history along with his coaching staff had a major influence in my decision as well.”

One of the caveats of playing for St. John’s is their second home, Madison Square Garden, and for Thomas this was a major selling point.

Playing at MSG “means a lot to me,” said Thomas. “Growing up watching all the legends play there, it’s really a main attraction in New York.”

Thomas is a lightning quick guard who can take over a game at will, but he realizes the position he plays and the role he will have to fill.

“I’m a pass first point guard,” Thomas said. “But I know I still have to work on my jump shot.” I then asked Thomas about the Big East and what the biggest part of his game he is working on to play at that level; he simply said, “making better decisions with the ball.”

Even 1050 ESPN Radio host Brandon Tierney weighed in on the Thomas commitment saying, “HUGE get for Lavin…the momentum continues, impressive,” via twitter.

College Basketball insider Jon Rothstein told me that this was a “solid pick up” for coach Lavin and St. John’s.

Coach Lavin and his staffs recruiting pitch to Thomas was straight to the point. “They just told me how good I’ll feel 10 years from now knowing I was apart of the St. Johns come back,” Thomas said. Well Jevon I think it’s safe to say the entire St. John’s community boldly agrees with that.