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Tipping Off With Kenny the Jet Smith

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The St. John’s men’s basketball program invites all fans to its Annual Gala Tip-Off Dinner, to be held on Thursday, Oct. 21, at New York City’s Metropolitan Club. Alumni, fans, friends and supporters of St. John’s basketball are invited to join new head coach Steve Lavin, Director of Athletics Chris Monasch, Hall of Fame Coach Lou Carnesecca and NBA legend Kenny “The Jet” Smith for the evening of celebration.

“This year’s Tip-Off Dinner will have an extra element of excitement as we officially begin the Steve Lavin Era,” said Monasch. “We greatly appreciate Kenny Smith’s attendance, as well as the terrific support we always receive at this event. The contributions made assist us in compete in the best basketball conference in America.”

The annual event, which serves as one of the premier fundraisers for the men’s basketball program, is hosted each year by the St. John’s Office of Athletic Development. Live and silent auctions as part of the event will give ardent Red Storm fans the ability to bid on some premium items.

Fans in attendance will listen to a season-opening address by Coach Lavin, and enjoy a night dedicated to the celebration of St. John’s hardwood legacy. Smith, a former Archbishop Molloy standout who went on to play college basketball for the University of North Carolina, will also be on hand to entertain the crowd. Smith, who scored nearly 10,000 points during his 11-year NBA career, captured a pair of championships with the Houston Rockets (1994, 1995). He now serves as an analyst on TNT’s “Inside The NBA,” teaming with announcer Ernie Johnson and NBA legend Charles Barkley.

For more information or to reserve your place at the Tip-Off Dinner, please contact Elizabeth Austin at 718-990-2548 or austine@stjohns.edu.

The 2010-11 Red Storm men‘s squad returns five starters and 12 letterwinners from a 2009-10 team that posted a 17-16 record and reached the first round of the Postseason NIT. St. John’s 10-man senior class includes returning scoring leaders D.J. Kennedy (15.1 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 3.1 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game), Dwight Hardy (10.5 ppg, .383 3-point field goal percentage) and Paris Horne (9.2 ppg).

2010 Tip-Off To Air On ESPNU

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New head men’s coach Steve Lavin, head women’s coach Kim Barnes Arico and the Red Storm men’s and women’s basketball teams invite all St. John’s fans to the 2010 Red Storm Tip-Off, a season-opening celebration scheduled for Friday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.

Can Paris defend his Slam Dunk title? Who will be the 2010 slam dunk champion?
ADMISSION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED. This year’s Red Storm Tip-Off is open to the public, with free tickets available for pickup beginning at 2 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Carnesecca Arena Ticket Office. Free pizza will be available for the first 2,000 students through the doors at 7 p.m., and attendance at the event earns St. John’s students +3 MVP points.

ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Anderson will serve as the event’s host while New York City’s own D.J. S&S – the D.J. of music and entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs – will get the crowd moving during a night where the 2010-11 men’s and women’s basketball teams will be introduced, and Lavin and Barnes Arico will address fans about the excitement of the upcoming season. Both teams will hold short scrimmages and the men’s team will put on a dunk contest as part of what is sure to be an outstanding evening of contests, giveaways, performances and surprises on St. John’s Queens Campus. At the end of the night, one fan will have the opportunity to take home $10,000 by making a half-court shot.

ESPNU announced that the 2010 Red Storm Tip-Off will be included in its four-hour “whip-around” Midnight Madness Special. ESPNU, now in its fifth-consecutive year covering season-opening celebrations on college campuses all across the nation, will focus on the events at St. John’s, national champion Duke, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Memphis, Kansas State and two-time defending NCAA women’s champion Connecticut. ESPNU will provide studio coverage from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. E.T., while another ESPN college basketball analyst may join the thousands of Red Storm fans expected to be on hand in Queens.

The 2010-11 Red Storm men‘s squad returns five starters and 12 letterwinners from a 2009-10 team that posted a 17-16 record and reached the first round of the Postseason NIT. St. John’s 10-man senior class includes returning scoring leaders D.J. Kennedy (15.1 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 3.1 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game), Dwight Hardy (10.5 ppg, .383 3-point field goal percentage) and Paris Horne (9.2 ppg).

Barnes Arico, the 2010 MBWA Coach of the Year, and her squad are coming off the best season in program history, making its fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and advancing to the second round in 2010. St. John’s finished 25-7 overall, tied the program mark with 12 BIG EAST wins, boasted a 13-1 home record and finished No. 15 in the final AP Poll. With nine letterwinners returning, the squad has been rated as high as 13th in the basketball preview magazines and junior Da’Shena Stevens was named a second team Preseason All-American by the Sporting News.

Fans can be a part of the 2010-11 St. John’s hardwood campaign by visiting www.redstormsports.com and clicking on the “Tickets” link to order men’s and women’s basketball season tickets.

About ESPNU

ESPNU launched March 4, 2005. The 24-hour college sports television network televises more than 650 live events annually. Action includes a variety of top football and men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as Olympic sports from 26 Division I conferences. ESPNU is the destination for premier high school programming, including elite football and basketball events. The network also has a wide-ranging agreement with the NCAA for extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships.

ESPNU offers over 400 original studio shows, including SportsCenterU, ESPNU Recruiting Insider, The Experts, The Bracket, BCS Countdown and is the television home of ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd. The brand is also available in high definition on ESPNU HD, now in over 17 million homes. In addition, ESPNU Campus Connection is a multiplatform, student-generated content initiative to enhance the network’s link to college campuses nationwide.

ESPNU has seen a steady increase since its inception and is now in over 73 million households across the country. The network has long-term carriage agreements with all 10 of the top multichannel TV providers – Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV (Channel 208), DISH Network (Channel 141), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse.