Adam Zagoria

The Dom Of New York

October 18, 2010 by David Berov 2 Comments

Steve Lavin strikes again.

Five days after D’Angelo Harrison committed to St. John’s, a fourth player has been added to an already impressive 2011 class. Quality Education Academy SF Dom Pointer, another ESPNU top 100 recruit has said yes to the Red Storm.

rec_e_pointer_200 — Dom Pointer at the Kevin Durant Skills Academy. The 6'5 swing will be the stopper for the Red Storm. (Kelly Kline)

Pointer is widely regarded as one of if not the best defender in the entire 2011 class, and is a player who prides himself on the defense he plays.

“I take [guarding the other teams best player] personally,” Pointer told ESPN’s Paul Biancardi. “I need it. I want it. I gotta’ have it.”

The 6’5, 200 lbs Pointer is a versatile forward that can handle the ball as well as play in the paint. Don’t be surprised if you see Pointer playing some point guard and or time at the 2 guard as all this fits his comfort zone.

“I liked the small classroom size and felt comfortable with the coaching staff and players,” said Pointer. “I also like the fact that coach Lavin has been so successful in the past (at UCLA).”

There was tons of speculation within the St. John’s fan base on whether or not Pointer would choose St. John’s. Pointer’s father, Tony Nolan made it very clear he wanted his son to play for the hometown Wolverines.

“My dad’s OK with it,” Pointer said to SNY’s Adam Zagoria. “He said he wanted me [to go to Michigan] but he was good with the decision I made. We’re all together on it.”

Pointer is the 21st ranked SF in the 2011 class according to Rivals. He joins the 12th ranked SF JaKarr Sampson, the 13th ranked SF Moe Harkless and 9th best SG in D’Angelo Harrison.

Although some may say the Lavin is loading up on players on the wings, this all seems like a mighty fine problem to have.

Following the commitment by Harrison last week, ESPN moved St. John’s to the #9 best 2011 class in the country. Today’s updated rankings with the Pointer addition, has the Red Storm ranked 5th.

The ark that Steve Lavin has been talking about building since he got to St. John’s is starting to fill up.

Still waiting in the wings are possible commitments from Amir Garrett, Norvel Pelle and an expected commitment from Nurideen Lindsey.

It’s scary how the 2011 class is starting to shape up for the Red Storm and with many more scholarships available, this is only the beginning.

Lamb of God Lavin to Deliver?

April 2, 2010 by Dave Krupinski 1 Comment

Isn’t it apropos that Steve Lavin is in the process of resurrecting St. John’s basketball in the midst of the Easter season. His first point of agenda seems to be to talk to local recruit, Doron Lamb, who is one of the most highly coveted recruits in the country but has yet to commit to a school.

“Doron and his family will be meeting with Steve Lavin after the Final Four,” a source said. “St. John’s is an option.” according to a report from SNY’s Adam Zagoria.

Our friends over at Box of M.E.S.S got a chance to catch up with Lamb before the McDonalds All-American game to ask him about his college choice. He listed UConn, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia but he mentioned that none of those schools stand out any more than the next.

Can Lavin deliver his first recruit before he delivers his first assistant coach? If so it will be a very happy Easter Sunday for St. John’s fans.

***Update: 6:24PM Jeff Borzello reports that Doron Lamb denies reports that he has a meeting set up with Steve Lavin.

“No I never talk to him,” Lamb told the NBE Basketball Report in a text message. “It’s not true, I don’t know him.”

Hot Lavin Erupting Red

March 28, 2010 by Dave Krupinski Leave a Comment

St. John’s fans want a new “homerun” coach in a New York minute. The latest and greatest name to emerge from the list of potential candidates is former UCLA coach and current ESPN analyst, Steve Lavin.

Most of you reading this site should already be pretty informed on who Lavin is but for those of you who aren’t here is a little background on the 45 year old.

stevelavin — Steve Lavin has quickly emerged as the leading candidate for the St. John's head coaching vacancy.

Lavin started his career as an assistant for Purdue under the tutelage of legendary coach Gene Keady. After three seasons on the Boilermakers staff he took an offer to work under Jim Harrick at UCLA. After five seasons as an assistant he was promoted to interim head coach and eventually permanent replacement to become UCLA’s 11th coach in the school’s history.

In his five years as a head coach for the Bruins he led them 145-78 record, 6 NCAA Tournament appearances, and advancing to the Sweet 16 or beyond five of those seven years.

However things came to an abrupt ending for Lavin as Bruin fans still hold animosity for their first losing season since the invention of the wheel.

“Steve Lavin would be a huge get for St. John’s,” a source affiliated with the Pac-10 told JohnnyJungle.com. “He would drive Lute Olsen crazy because he was the one guy who could go into someone’s living room and out recruit Lute in his hay day.”

Lavin sure sounds like Superman however everyone has their kryptonite. For Lavin it was his player development and overall knowledge of the X’s and O’s.

The most famous shot at Lavin was by former Bruin and current NBA player Baron Davis who told the LA Daily News, “We should have a banner up there: the only team to make the tournament without a coach.”

Its looks like Lavin has matured in his 7 years after his departure from the Bruins. He’s been a respectable analyst for ESPN, a keynote speaker at many camps and clinics, and is already rumored to be assembling an all-star coaching staff to surround him at St. John’s. Names like former UVA coach Dave Leitao, current Manhattan Coach Barry Rohrssen, Fordham Coach Jared Grasso, and the latest name to be added to the list is Jay Williams who works with Lavin at ESPN.

Lavin has stayed local on the east coast in preparation for his interview with AD Chris Monasch according to everyone in the NY media who exclusively reported it first.

Perfect or Pinkston Situation

November 5, 2009 by Dave Krupinski Leave a Comment

Many St. John’s fans were up in arms when former St. John’s video coordinator Kimani Young told Adam Zagoria “Villanova is probably a perfect scenario for a kid like Jayvaugn…” Thats all it took for St. John’s fans to start throwing challenge flags saying whoa what the heck Kimani?!?!

However that wasn’t the end of his statement. Young went onto say how that Villanova is also like that for a lot of other kids in this area and why not? Villanova is a great academic school, they have a beautiful campus, and a great coach who has built a winning program. Sounds like a recipe for success and I agree with Young.

So at IS8 this past weekend I got a chance to talk to Kimani Young about Jayvaughn Pinkston and his recent conversation with Zags and he said,

“I said its the perfect situation for a lot of kids from this area. I mean not necessarily for him (Jayvaughn) per se.”

So then what would make St. John’s more of a perfect situation?

Young smiled and said, “They got to starting winning and I think thats going to happen this year.”

Pinkston also canceled his visit to Seton Hall this weekend. Speculation was that it was due to IS8 playoffs and Young confirmed, “Yea, it’s tough getting over there at that time but we’ll get over there in the future.”

Young also said that there could be some developments and possibly a decision over the next couple of weeks which concidently happens to be the beginning of the early signing period.

JJ Moore Update

JJ Moore has been a busy young man lately taking visits to Louisville, St. John’s, and Pittsburgh in about a 10 day stretch. He really enjoyed all three of his visits and he is going to make his decision in two weeks from Friday according to his mother. “He will be making his decision in two weeks from Friday. We don’t want to make the coaches hold out if they can recruit someone else.”

Looking at this local recruiting carousel that St. John’s is on to fill one scholarship it could go a number of ways. It looks like that decisions could be imminent soon from all parties.

In other news Myles Davis really enjoyed his visit to St. John’s campus. What Davis wasn’t expecting was the quality and size of campus. “It had a lot of open space it was really nice. You wouldnt expect something like St. Johns to look like that because it is in New York. It is seperated from the whole city and has its own spot which is really nice.” Davis is very far away from a decision as he mentioned over a dozen schools of interest. Kudos to Coach Casey for inviting Myles Davis to come visit campus for practice.