Kyle Anderson

Kyle Anderson Drops 61 Points at iS8, Talks St. John’s

September 10, 2011 by Daniel Martin 2 Comments

It begins to sound like the stuff of folklore.

On a sunny September Saturday, in a stuffy, half-empty middle school gym, tucked away inside Jamaica, Queens, New York City, just over two miles from the campus of St. John’s University, Kyle Anderson showed why he is a consensus Top 5 player in the country.

kyle_andersonhudsoncountyvarsity — Anderson dropped an impressive 61 points in a win at iS8 in Queens. (Photo: Hudson Valley Varsity)

The 6’8” New Jersey product dropped 61 points (yes, 61 points) and grabbed 8 rebounds for the New Jersey Playaz in a 131-91 win in the first round of the iS8/Nike Fall Tip-Off Classic.

“A lot of big-time players like to come play in iS8,” Anderson told JohnnyJungle.com of playing in the tournament. “And me being right across the bridge [in New Jersey], coming over to play every spring and fall, it’s just a blessing.”

Anderson, nearing his September 20th college decision, is in the midst of a final round of campus and in-home visits before he chooses between St. John’s, Georgetown, Florida, UCLA, and Seton Hall.

This past Wednesday, September 7th, the St. Anthony (NJ) senior visited St. John’s campus, a visit that included time with the team and speaking with former UCLA guard and current Cleveland Cavalier Baron Davis, who was on campus for a workout.

Steve Lavin was also one of only two head coaches at St. Anthony yesterday, along with Seton Hall’s Kevin Willard, to watch Anderson work out. Another former UCLA point guard, Earl Watson, accompanied Lavin.

“It means I must be doing something right,” said the poker-faced Anderson, who has taken care not to hint toward which college he may be leaning. “Those are two great coaches right there and for them to take their time to actually come see me, that means I picked a great five schools.”

St. John’s has two commitments from the Class of 2012: Louisiana forward Ricardo Gathers and Washington D.C. point guard Darrick Wood, the latter of which plays AAU with Anderson on the New Jersey Playaz.

And the possibility of playing together has come up in conversation between the two.

“Yeah, we have those talks. But, you know, it’s still something I have to think about,” said Anderson. “I’ll go where I want to go, but it would be a plus to have another person that I played AAU with. That would help.”

Wood is currently enrolled at Bridgton Academy (ME), after transferring from NIA Prep (NJ), and did not make the trip to play in iS8 this weekend.

Ranked #5 overall by ESPN, Kyle Anderson is the highest-rated player St. John’s recruited heavily in the Lavin Era. If Anderson commits to the Red Storm, he would join the six Top 100 recruits that Lavin has already lured to Queens, along with top junior college players Nurideen Lindsey and God’sgift Achiuwa.

Anderson will host UCLA for an in-home visit tonight, September 10th, and Florida on September 12th, then travel to Florida for an official visit September 16th and 17th. A Seton Hall in-home will follow on September 18th, before the decision comes on his birthday, September 20th.

Top 5 Prospect Kyle Anderson of St. Anthony Visits St. John’s

September 7, 2011 by Daniel Martin Leave a Comment

Kyle Anderson’s college visitations have followed suit with his recruitment, to this point. That holding true, the far-from-glamorous, business-like, on-to-the-next-one “Kyle Anderson College Tour” made a stop in Queens on Wednesday.

kyleandersonNJ — Anderson will be making his college decision September 20th. (Photo: NJ Sports)

Anderson, the sought-after New Jersey product and consensus Top 5 player in the Class of 2012, is in the middle of a final round of visits that include Georgetown, Seton Hall, UCLA, and St. John’s. Those schools, along with Florida, are the five from which Anderson will choose in just under two weeks, on September 20th.

During Anderson’s visit, former UCLA point guard Baron Davis was on campus working out and had a chance to speak with the high school senior.

“It made a big impact,” Anderson told the New York Post’s Zach Braziller. “It shows [head coach Steve Lavin] gets guys NBA ready. Baron talked about Coach Lav, how he helped him get to where he is today.”

Anderson also met with university president Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. and took time to be with the team.

A physical anomoly as a 6’8″ point guard, Anderson is one of the most unique players in the country. Though lacking the quickness of many smaller point guards, he maintains a size and basketball IQ advantage over opponents.

As the on-floor leader of St. Anthony (NJ) and the New Jersey Playaz AAU team, Anderson has been a winner. Being such a calculated player, he works well with athletic teammates, whether in transition or the half court. He has great court vision and long arms that cover space on defense.

Following his visit to St. John’s, he tweeted, “St johns visit was great but i dont wanna hear about college for the next couple days [sic].”

Speculation leading up to Anderson’s decision are purely that: speculation. Few details have been released about which way the guard may be leaning.

No one expects it to be accompanied by the fanfare of other top recruits, but September 20th is the date. Mark your calendars.

St. John’s Skills and Drills Camp

June 7, 2010 by Dave Krupinski Leave a Comment

It was a warm day out in the city of Queens, New York. While many people were hitting the beach in anticipation for the summer, Steve Lavin and the St. John’s coaching staff (which included Mike Dunlap) were at the Elite Skills Camp in the Taffner Field house.

The Johnny’s had already received some good news prior to the camp when it was published that 6-foot-4 Nick Johnson ’11 of Findlay Prep was really into the school. Despite the hustle and bustle over the last month and a half, St. John’s is playing catch up better than the 2004 Boston Red Sox did when they came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

With over 50 players in attendance from primarily New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and the rest of the surrounding areas, it was a packed house. Despite Rice’s Jermaine Sanders ’11 not there, due to the S.A.T., big names from the classes of 2011, 2012 and 2013 showed up. Paterson Catholic’s Kyle Anderson ‘12, St. Patrick’s Austin Colbert and Jason Boswell ’13, Roy C. Ketcham High’s Ethan Telfair ’13 (who transferred from Lincoln a few months ago), St. Vincent’s-St. Mary’s JaKarr Sampson ’11, Our Savior New American’s Jevon Thomas ’13, NIA Prep’s Kelvin Amayo ’11, and even UConn-commit and the newest member of the South Kent basketball team, Maurice Harkless ’11. Those were just a few of the names who stood out!

“Yesterday was in a sense, our staffs coming out party and only having two and a half weeks to set it up we were very pleased,” remarked Assistant Coach Tony Chiles. “The turnout, talent, work effort was visible across the board. It was a great day for St. John’s Basketball and we hope it is the beginning of what’s to come.” Chiles, who came over from Drexel, was extremely proud of everything that happened. Both coaches and players alike were happy with the outcome.

“The camp was well run and I like the coaching staff,” said NIA Prep’s Kelvin Amayo ’11. “Their drills made you get after it.” More reviews came in and they were all positive.

5355544 — St. John's head coach Steve Lavin with his mentor the late coach John Wooden. Image courtesy of Redstormsports.com

“It was great! We got to work with some the coaches at St. John’s,” said Roy C. Ketcham’s Ethan Telfair ’13. “We learned new things, talked with the head coach and learned about (UCLA legend) John Wooden.” Telfair, the younger brother of Sebastian, went on to say, “we played 3 on 3, and 5 on 5. After that we had something to eat. I had the pasta and chicken.”

St. Patrick’s freshman Jason Boswell had similar thoughts. “Coach Lavin opened up the camp with a big speech about the late great Coach Wooden,” said Boswell, the cousin of Duke-signee Kyrie Irving. “We went into 6 stations. Those consisted of shooting, post play, ball handling, screen defense and agility. We ran by numerous people on the St. John’s staff when we went on a tour of the campus.”

Not only was the pasta and chicken good, but so was the competition. You know the camp had to be stacked when both Kyle Anderson and Maurice Harkless were playing on the same team!

More good news emerged for the Johnnies yesterday when Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com reported that Jermaine Sanders, despite not being in attendance, had plans to visit the Queens schools along with a few others this month. This was according to Sanders’ AAU Coach Kimani Young of New Heights.

The camp was like every other in that it included a tour of the gym and offices at the campus. Basic skills were evaluated through drills and live game sessions. Lunch was served, as well. The kids, parents and AAU coaches got a chance to interact with coaches and administrators, alike, during lunch. To wrap it up and put things in perspective, the one day camp was a success. Everyone who was a part of it did an excellent job at making the best of the situation.

St. John’s Administrator Derrick Wrobel summed it up by saying, “it was a very successful camp to say the least. There was a concerted team effort from a staff perspective.” Watch out for the Johnny’s to make some big moves in the coming year as the new staff looks to rebuild the program to what it once was.

Alex Kline is a high school recruiting expert who is a contributor to Zagsblog.com and Rivals.com. You can follow Alex on Twitter @TheRecruitScoop.

Stormfest 2009

October 3, 2009 by Dave Krupinski 2 Comments

St. John’s did all the right things last season when they rolled out the red carpet for literally every local recruit in the New York area with their version of midnight madness. “Stormfest” is the name of the student pep rally for both the men’s and women’s basketball team which is held in Taffner field house.

The pep rally consists of many different promotional giveaways for students, women’s intrasquad scrimmage, men’s intrasquad scrimmage, and dunk contest to wrap it up.

A source close to the team has confirmed that this year’s Stormfest will be held on October 22nd and you can expect a large guest list of recruits on campus for the festivities. This event is open to the general public.* Here is a look at who to expect:

2010 Class
Devon Collier
Jayvaughn Pinkston
JJ Moore
Kadeem Jack

2011 Class
Angel Nunez
Corey Edwards
Davontay Grace
Jermaine Sanders
Mike Taylor
Myles Mack
Sterling Gibbs
Jabari Hinds
Ryan Rhoomes

2012 Class
Kyle Anderson
Tariq Carey

Not only did St. John’s reach out to recruits but also one notable alumnus. No no no, I’m not talking about myself but rather Howie Schwab, who is the host of his own sports trivia show on ESPN called Stump the Schwab. It was nice to see St. John’s finally reaching out and including one of their own but we’re hoping for more this year.

It would be great to see St. John’s extend personal invitations to Mike Francessa (WFAN, YES), Brian Kenny (ESPN), Daryl McDaniels(Run DMC), John Franco (Former New York Met), and of course to all the basketball alumni. St. John’s has some tradition but its just been buried for so long that we have forgotten about it. We need to dig it up and resurrect this program back to where it should be.

We need to make people proud to call themselves redmen, excuse me I meant redstorm, again. Lets start embracing the ambassadors of the University we call alumni and tap into our potential instead of shunning it. This can be a very nice event like we had last year or it could be legendary and make these potential student athletes say, “I want to commit to St. John’s.” Please remember, St. John’s, they call this midnight madness for a reason. No matter what happens I’m excited to see this team together on the court and yes the season is right around the corner (look at top right of the screen for countdown timer).

*Edited on October 5th 2009 12:20pm as St. John’s Twitter updated us with the news.