On the Prowl with the Panthers

There was once a time in St. John’s history where they had to turn down local talent because they didn’t have room on their roster for all the players who wanted to play.

But the days of players like Ron Artest, Chris Mullin, and Walter Berry being recruiting locks to St. John’s are long gone.

With players defecting from the city’s most historic program left and right, head coach Norm Roberts is aggressively pursuing New York area talent.

Among the players Roberts is showing interest towards are Omari Lawrence and Kevin Parrom. Lawrence, a 6-foot-4, 185 pound shooting guard and Parrom a 6-foot-6, 185-pound small forward, both played at St. Raymond’s last season. Next season they will both move their game to South Kent, Connecticut for their senior seasons. While Lawrence’s ranking may have dropped a bit in recent weeks, Parrom is skyrocketing up the recruiting chart.  After moving up to a four-star prospect, he was recently ranked as the 88th best 2009 prospect by Rivals.
n a recent interview, when asked about schools interested in him, St. John’s was the first school out of Parrom’s mouth.

There are strong indications that the players may end up being a package deal.  They have already visited St. John’s, Xavier and Marquette together and have plans to visit Clemson.

The competition for the two is deep, with numerous Big East and other east coast schools showing interest in one or both of them.

If everything goes to plan for St. John’s, then they will receive these two verbal commitments for 2009, but one intriguing prospect is 2010 guard Mike Poole.

While just being a sophomore this past season, the 6-foot-5, 175 pound Poole has shot up the New York City rankings into the top 10.

If Parrom and Lawrence commit, St. John’s might be overloaded with swingmen.  That would make both St. John’s and Poole reluctant for a commitment.

However, St. John’s isn’t putting all their eggs in one basket so to speak because if the offers to Parrom and Lawrence fall through, then St. John’s may try to gobble up Poole before some of the other bigger schools have a chance to truly get into his ear.

One major factor that may tie into St. John’s recruiting is the rumor that Oz Cross may be hired at some capacity on the St. John’s staff. Cross is a coach with the New York Panthers AAU program and has strong ties to all three of the players. Cross also coached current St. John’s sophomore forward Justin Burrell with the Panthers. If Cross is hired by St. John’s then it’s a clear indication that St. John’s is trying to reclaim their edge on city recruiting. Especially the way other schools have basically come into the city and plucked all the talent.

A lot of these players “show interest” in St. John’s but ultimately end up elsewhere. Take 2008 point guard Kemba Walker for instance. Both Walker and St. John’s were interested.  But Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies came in and scooped him up. Why is that?

One reason is that the UConn produces NBA players.  Walker is a top prospect and barring injury should see himself in the league in a couple years.  St. John’s hasn’t produced an NBA draft pick since Omar Cook.  That immediately goes out as a red flag for a prospective player. Walker is the type of player that used to regularly come to St. John’s. Walker isn’t the only one. Queens guard Sylven Landesberg ended up in the ACC at Virginia. Also former New Jersey guard Earl Clark played big minutes for Louisville or Long Island native Danny Green coming off the bench in crucial times for North Carolina.

Robert’s is fighting to turn the corner and make his run into building St. John’s back to the powerhouse they once were.  Early recruiting is the key and we need to land our first choice guys in order to win.  If St. John’s has any type of a year like the last couple and we miss out on recruits again then its almost certain that Norm’s job will again be in jeopardy. So it is in his best interest to be on the prowl recruiting as hard as humanly possible. All indications have him doing so.

“The last few years you see (St. John’s coaches) at more and more games,” Lincoln coach Dwayne Morton said. “It’s a sign they are hustling, doing their homework.”

They say all you could do is try, but its been a long time since St. John’s has seen postseason basketball, so trying might not be enough. However Robert’s early persistence in this case might help him finally win the race and hopefully St. John’s and the Panthers paths cross for 2009 and beyond.

Ken Walter is a freelance writer who regularly contributes to JohnnyJungle.com. Ken is a Temple Alumnus and roots for the North Carolina Tarheels. He is not the punter for the NE Patriots but girls would think he was cooler if he was. He can be contacted at tua38210@temple.edu