Rebuilding Program ...

My beloved St. John's University basketball team and the BIG EAST Conference in which they compete might take a good look at the efforts of Patrick Dixon, the Johnnies' strength and conditioning coach, who is rebuilding his home in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Long Beach, Long Island.

NBC's College Basketball Talk column called attention to the LI Newsday article which detailed Dixon's decision to go above and beyond a basic replacement of his dwelling.  Instead, Dixon dreamed a little dream that has come true in the construction of a three-story home with a real foundation to replace the single story house that might be subject to the next natural disaster.

Like many others who call wonderful Long Beach home, including a really good buddy, Eddie O, the daunting task of rebuilding was the focus of their lives beginning October 22, 2012 through October 29, 2012 when the storm approached New York City. To refresh your memory, just last fall Hurricane Sandy hit - with winds at some 175-mph and a record-low barometric pressure reading of 940 millibars (27.76 inches) a figure which placed Sandy with a punch that was more powerful than the 1938 "Long Island Express" storm, the longtime measuring stick for Atlantic-based hurricanes. The day after Sandy blew by and headed towards Canada, New Yorkers and their neighbors in New Jersey and Connecticut, were left with only two options. Clean up and rebuild or move on out.

Syracuse Jim Boeheim will be missed by BIG EAST

While not anywhere near as important and certainly nowhere close near the life-taking, life threatening ways of a Category 1 hurricane, the BIG EAST Conference, too, has been devastated and must rebuild. The news - they call it progress - left the BIG EAST in shambles. Gone are the likes of Boston College (to the ACC in 2005), UConn, Syracuse (to the ACC, much to coach Jim Boeheim's dismay), Pittsburgh, Rutgers and West Virginia - among others over the years. Left to the BIG EAST are the "Catholic 7" - a number of the original schools of 1979 (St. John's, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, an '80 member) to join with recent members Marquette (Milwaukee, Wisc) and DePaul (Chicago, Illinois) newcomers such as Creighton (Omaha, Nebraska), Butler (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio).

The BIG EAST, while wallowing in its glorious past success, was left with no other path than to rebuild. To their credit, the university presidents circled their wagons around the success of the "Catholic 7" basketball history and took the necessary steps to sustain themselves and protect themselves on the athletic front while maintaining pretty serious and "high" standards in academia. The result was the "LITTLE EAST" that many of us called for many years ago when the (former) BIG EAST football schools (Miami, Louisville, South Florida, Notre Dame) began to ransack the conference.

The big step for the (new) BIG EAST was hiring my colleague Val Ackerman to head up the effort as conference Commissioner. Ackerman is a proven sports maven with a resume that approaches perfection in athletic and sports marketing circles. Ackerman also tapped a seasoned Direct TV, NBA, NY Road Runners and Pac-12 Conference veteran in Ann Wells Crandall to begin the process of bailing water out of the new conference's well.

Fall sports are competing and the winter sports schedules - especially in men's basketball - are on the calendar. Ackerman, Wells-Crandall and PR-man extraordinaire, John Pacquette, are on the job. Others soon will follow and the initial finish line for the conference will have the bright spotlights of Broadway focused on Madison Square Garden this coming March 12-15, 2014.

I'm hoping they gradually build a new, three-story home rather than trying to reconstruct what was once a mighty fortress. The (new) BIG EAST needs to practice its lay-ups before it strives for a 360-reverse slam dunk. The key issue is not just the re-building of the conference, complete with the fancy, new and financially pleasing FoxSports1 TV deal, it is building a real foundation for future success. 

To build that foundation, the (new) BIG EAST schools need to rebuild basketball program upon basketball program. Of major concern are the likes of Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and DePaul, four once-proud basketball schools that have become irrelevant in the "tell me what you're going to do for me tomorrow" world of NCAA hoops. 

Georgetown and Villanova will hold down the fort amongst the old-school teams while Marquette will maintain its highly-credible program amongst the newer schools. Surely, Butler, Creighton and Xavier will provide the conference with depth and respectability with all three potential tournament teams.

My only concern is to wake up on March 15 and see the very real possibility of a Creighton vs. Butler BIG EAST final at a half-empty Madison Square Garden while the BIG EAST faithful pine for days gone by while their watching the ACC on TV.

Philly Hoops Summer Tourney Heating Up ...

Lance Stephenson and his AND1s

Former Big East rivals Anthony Glover of St. John’s University and former Rice High School and University of Cincinnati star Kenny Satterfield are among the list of talented New York City-based basketball players to compete in the inaugural 12-team, $100,000, winner-take-all Summer Remix Tournament, according to spokespeople for the AND1 basketball shoe brand.

AND1 and event partner IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, are staging the four-day event, featuring the largest prize in Streetball history, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University during Labor Day Weekend (August 29 – September 1). 

Glover and Satterfield are the latest additions for “Bingo’s All-Stars” team, a legendary NYC playground and former AAU traveling squad to join the previously announced streetball teams led by NBA legend Shawn Kemp, who will form a team of players from the Seattle area, Indiana Pacers star and AND1 athlete Lance Stephenson, who will coach a team of players from Indiana.

Glover, a 6-4 forward from The Bronx, played for two State championship teams at Rice HS in Harlem before his collegiate days at St. John’s from 1999-2003 when he averaged 11.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In two seasons at University of Cincinnati from 1999-2001, Satterfield played 68 games, averaging 11.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Satterfield also played in 75 NBA games, 58 with the Denver Nuggets in 2001-02 and 17 with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003.

In addition “elite dunkers” will compete in a Slam Dunk contest on Sunday, Sept. 1, including: Justin Darlington, also known as “Jus Fly,” winner of the 2012 Nike World Basketball Festival Dunk Contest in Washington, D.C.; Guy Dupuy, a 6-foot-3, 22-year old star from France, known as “The Best Dunker In The World,”; Brandon “Werm” Lacrue, winner of the Sprite Slam-Dunk Showdown; Haneef Munir, known by the nickname of “Young Hollywood”; and former Globetrotter star Chris Staples, known to many by the nickname of “Hoopstar,” are all scheduled to compete for an additional $10,000 “winner- take-all” prize. 

AND1 Steps Up to Help St. Francis de Sales in Rockaways

Every now and then, a blog post doesn't need much of an introduction. In this case, I'd like to just thank the people at AND1 apparel for their good deed and its future impact on the community of Belle Harbor (Rockaway peninsula in New York City). It's a place that all basketball-lovin' NYers hold close to their hearts and from the story below, you'll see why and what that means to Terence Mullin, a former St. John's guard, member of NYCs #1 basketball family, and Lenn Robbins, a NY Post columnist for college basketball.

Enjoy ... and try to drop a $20

See this:

By Lenn Robbins (New York Post college basketball columnist).

Basketball...The City Game

MARCH 9 - Basketball, the city game, has always struck me as being a cathartic sport. The drumming beat of a basketball being dribbled. The calming swish of a basketball licking the nets. A player can lose himself for hours in a school yard — just him, his ball and his dreams.

Sometimes dreams get wrecked and there’s nothing we can do about it. A knee gets blown out. A 6-foot-3 high school power forward doesn’t have another growth spurt. Only the good Lord determines who among us will be blessed with talent and drive to make a dream come true.

A lot of people’s faith were shaken in late October when Hurricane Sandy tore through the metropolitan area. There were deaths. There was destruction. But never did I see the death of hope.

I saw hope at places such as Saint Francis de Sales in Belle Harbor, one of the hardest hit areas. The parish and school became the epicenter of relief efforts on the Rockaway Peninsula.

Food, clothing and flashlights poured in, love, compassion and support flowed out.

Monsignor John Brown slept in a classroom on several nights with displaced families. The word, “No,” was never uttered at the neighborhood school on Beach 129th Street.

As the days and weeks went by, as debris was cleared, as homes were either torn down or attempts to rebuild began, St. Francis de Sales tried to return to some semblance of normalcy. The basketball court in the gym, which was badly damaged after being used as a supply center/shelter was covered by insurance and restored. But the outdoor courts, the uniforms, the socks were a total loss.

Those losses might sound trivial compared to the loss of life and home, but you have to understand what basketball means in Belle Harbor and Breezy Point. Every summer for the past 25 years, the St. Francis de Sales Summer Classic has become the Rockaway Peninsula’s focal point for residents.
On any given night hundreds of families gather to talk about their kids, their community, their jobs, their heartbreaks and their celebrations. The Summer Classic, which runs from mid-June to mid-August and provides organized ball for second-graders to greybeards, is the city version of summer camp.
“It’s kind of the focus and backbone of the community,’’ former St. John’s player Terence Mullin told The Post. “Every player down here either plays hoops and/or surfs. That’s what Rockaway is. I mean you look around the neighborhood, there’s four hoops, five hoops on every single street.’’

Players from Brooklyn, The Bronx, Westchester and other neighborhoods in Queens flock to St. Francis de Sales during the summer. Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Armond Hill, Kenny Anderson, Ernie Grunfeld are among the hundreds of NBA players that made this their summer home.

There might not be a home this summer. The four outdoor courts were torn up by the storm and the triage center it was used for. The rims hang sideways. The fence is Swiss cheese.

But there is hope. Terence bumped into Terry Lyons, another St. John’s grad and former NBA media relations guru during a 12-12-12 benefit at a local watering hole, and the two chatted about the storm’s devastation. Lyons thought Mullin still lived in Brooklyn. He was blown away by Mullin’s story of what had happened at St. Francis de Sales. (Blog Editor Note:  Lyons works with the good people at AND1 and is helping them re-launch their brand after company was purchased by a longtime NYC basketball loving family).

“I told him we’d been hit pretty bad and he said, ‘We’re going to get the courts fixed,’ ’’ said Mullin. “The next day he calls me and says ‘AND1’ is on board. It was amazing.’’

AND1, the sneaker and apparel company that turned out some of the coolest hoops videos ever, has pledged $5,000 to start a fund to help rebuild the courts that help rebuild a community that continues to rebuild.

It’s a generous start but Terence Mullin, who coaches and runs a camp at St. Francis de Sales, said it will take about $100,000 to finish the job and replace the uniforms, socks, headbands. It also will tell a community that felt somewhat abandoned after Hurricane Sandy that it has not been forgotten.

It certainly would nice to hear the sound of basketballs being dribbled and the swish of a ball going through the net at St. Francis de Sale this summer. If charity isn’t cathartic, what is?

Those wishing to donate can do so by going to: www.stfrancisdesales.kintera.org

Bay Area Salutes Chris Mullin, Hall of Famer

This column was posted by Scott Ostler, a longtime LA and Bay Area columnist and one of the better writers in the USA.  

Mullin Worked Hard for the Fun of It

Chris Mullin always knew who he wasn't.

Julius Erving, he wasn't.

Mullin celebrates Big East title with Jackson and Berry at his side

"I wish I could've been like Dr. J," Mullin said. "I knew that was far-fetched. Walt Frazier. They were the cool guys. Something told me I was more like (Dave) DeBusschere and (Bill) Bradley."

Mullin knew he wasn't Michael Jordan. Mullin was a year ahead of Jordan and watched him play in a prep all-star game. The next season, Mullin's St. John's team opened the season against North Carolina and Jordan, a freshman.

"I went, 'He's the same size as me, so we're gonna be matched up.' I'm like, 'Can we play a little zone?'"

Yet Mullin played ball on a level with Dr. J and Jordan, and so Mullin will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday.

It's not that Mullin didn't have flashy skills. Shooting, attacking the lane? Textbook. But so much of his game was digging ditches -- wearing out defenders with nonstop movement without the ball.

You've seen a bratty kid in a supermarket, crying and wheedling until the exasperated parent caves and buys the kid candy? That was Mullin and the man guarding him. After a while, mom/defender says the heck with it.

"I knew I was playing well when my guy would be, 'You never stop movin'! Stop movin'!' I was like, 'OK, it's working.' If the game was all about getting the ball and (everyone else on your team) clearing out, I probably never would've made the team at St. John's."

Mullin was sitting in the shade outside a coffee shop in Danville, Calif. last week. He still plays basketball, works out like a fiend and is probably about 3 ounces above his playing weight.

When he talks ball, what comes through is the passion. You can't run relentlessly for 16 NBA seasons unless there is something inside you deeper than talent.

His first three seasons with the Golden State Warriors, all that running was wasted. It was a team of mostly bored players. Then in came Mitch Richmond and coach Don Nelson. A year later, Tim Hardaway. It was as if someone plugged in the Christmas tree.

"They had a huge passion to play, that was the biggest thing," said Mullin, adding that with the Warriors' previous clubs, "You would've thought we were digging ditches with that team. I was like, 'Geez, really? Is it that bad?' ... A lot of those guys were playing just to make a living."

Mullin?

"For a while, I loved everything about it, every single aspect of what was supposed to be a job. The training, I loved to train, I loved the traveling, I dug being in the locker room, I didn't mind icing and heat. I dug it. It was, like, 'Cool, I'd rather do this than anything.'"

Mullin wasn't bragging. It's not like he had a choice. From childhood, it was drilled into his head to play hard, do stuff the right way, and enjoy the game. It was fun in the fourth grade and it was fun 30 years down the road.

He recalled at age 12 going to a Lou Carnesecca (St. John's coach) camp.

"Pass, ahead," Mullin recited. "Give and go, you come out the other side. When you pass laterally, you screen away. That's what you do. You don't get the ball and dribble, you get it and move it."

Timing was vital in Mullin's career. He developed his game before the three-point arc, which devalued a lot of the purposeful running.

With "Run TMC,'' passion begot passion. Warriors fans, hoop fans in general, got into it and made it a party. Mullin said he realized how much the fans meant to him during the 1988-89 season, when he returned to the Warriors from alcohol rehab in Los Angeles.

"My first game back from rehab, little fragile, still trying to get your bearings back about life in general, stepping out in public, and then getting that ovation. It was like, 'I got a shot (to make it).' "

Mullin said he hadn't thought about how the crowd might react until he jogged to the scorer's table to check into the game.

"I'm going, 'There's a chance this might not go good. I didn't think about this part. Now what? They told me it was all good down there in L.A.'"

So it took a village -- his coaches, his teammates, the fans -- to get Mullin to the Hall. He has a lot of people to thank, and he said he'll do it quickly, maybe not even use his allotted three minutes.

"I might lend a minute to Artis Gilmore," Mullin said, laughing. "I'll donate a minute to the ABA. I loved that league."

Knight and Forde - Give us a Better Idea

College basketball TV and online analysts, college coaches and NCAA administrators just love to point the finger at NBA Commissioner David Stern when they complain about the Collective Bargaining Agreement which calls for NBA players to be 19 years of age and one year removed from high school. They bitch and moan about collectively bargained NBA rules and their effect on the college game without so much as a suggestion of a legal and better idea nor a hint that the NCAA easily can control its own destiny and adjust its own rules to deal with the age issue.

Pat Forde of ESPN.com recently wrote: "If I were NCAA president Mark Emmert, I'd overnight a manila envelope to David Stern labeled 'Josh Selby.' The young man's dossier would contain every example of what is wrong in Stern's National Basketball Association and how it undermines the mission of higher education."  He later writes: "The NBA needs to make its Developmental League an option -- a viable, straight from high school option -- for teenagers who want to play pro ball but don't want to go to college.  The NBA owes that much to all interested parties."


He continues: "Spare the schools from enabling a sham that makes a mockery of education.  Spare the franchises from babysitting unprepared and/or immature teenagers.  And spare the fans from being force-fed the big lie."


Read on, Mr. Forde, read on.


Meanwhile, former Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight, a basketball Hall of Famer, frequently criticizes the NBA rule and often puts his foot in his mouth by misstating the facts while attempting to put his own opinion forth as a fact.  Knight went so far as to accuse University of Kentucky freshman players of not attending class in the spring semester a year ago and not adhering to eligibility standards, an act for which he later apologized while simultaneously side-stepping the real issue -- NCAA college basketball needs to look in the mirror.


In Knight's ESPN apology, he stated: "My overall point is that one and dones are not healthy for college basketball."


Well, then, (former) Coach Knight, why don't you suggest a solution rather than pointing the finger at the professional game?  Nah, its much easier to lay-out the pro game for self-serving reasons, isn't it?


Rather than point the finger and pass the buck, here are a few points to mull over while you make an intelligent decision and shape your own view on the issue of the NBA's rules and their effect on the game of college basketball in the United States:


1. First, the NBA does allow 18-year old basketball players to go directly from high school to its "D League."  The very premise of Forde's entire post on ESPN.com's college basketball subsection is for the NBA to solve the negative experience of Josh Selby at the University of Kansas by allowing a player like him to bypass playing in the American college system and play in the D League.  Well, Selby could've done just that but the University of Kansas, for some reason, persuaded him to play basketball at their school. So, to be clear, the NBA - via its development league - has a mechanism for players to go directly to the D-League, improve their game, then to play in the NBA if they are talented enough to compete at such a high level.  A player also has the right to take a pass on college, practice or play pro ball in a country other than the United States, the latter being a very attractive option.


2. The NBA and its players collectively bargain the rules that govern the league.  The entire 'early entry' system was a product of collective bargaining, back when Oscar Robertson (then-president of the NBA Players Association) brought forth a major lawsuit against the league which resulted in the Robertson Settlement Agreement allowing for "a player whose high school class has graduated" to enter the draft by notifying the league 45 days in advance of the draft that he was foregoing his NCAA/college basketball eligibility and making his talents available to the NBA.


That stated, the NBA and its players agree to rules that are best for the NBA.  At times, that might have an effect on college basketball in the USA or pro basketball in other parts of the world, but the NBA, as a business entity, has the right to create rules which are good for the NBA, so long as they are legal in terms of USA labor laws.


You can't criticize the NBA for resolving a lawsuit one day and then collectively bargaining for a better agreement with its players another day as the league plots what's best for its longterm business.  The laws of the USA allow for entertainers, musicians, electricians and plumbers to make a living after attending high school, regardless of their effect on NCAA basketball programs. Why should pro basketball be held to a different legal standard?


3. The NCAA can adjust its own rules to deal with the issue.  How they do that is up to the NCAA and the very influential breed of college basketball coaches that seem to govern the very sport they coach.  A very simple adjustment might be to reinstitute the freshman basketball eligibility rule and have first year players compete on a freshman only team, the way they did back when Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) played for UCLA in the late '60s.


I might guess, if the NCAA did that, the freshman games just might find their way on to ESPN or ESPNU, in some shape or form, which would generate some dollars for the institutions of higher learning, in the same manner that spring football has somehow found its way to TV.


4. College coaches, like Bill Self, could change their recruiting policies and only recruit players who (verbally) commit to more than a year at school.  That might be pie-in-the-sky thinking, I admit, as the player could change his/her mind after a very successful freshman year.  But, my point is that the coaches themselves can control their own recruiting.


5. I mention this for sheer comedy sake - might it be unintentional comedy by Mr. Forde - why on earth should anyone care whether Josh Selby attended the University of Kansas' team banquet?  More importantly, why is it the NBA's problem that Selby, Self and Kansas spent enormous amounts of time dealing with the NCAA's eligibility issues and requirements?


6. If the NCAA recruiting rules required a player to commit to three years of college basketball, would the ruling stand up if a "student athlete" challenged it in a US court of law?  And, isn't it possible that the so-called "one year charade" would become a "three year charade" at many a collegiate hoops factory, err, institute?  


7. If the mission of higher education is the main issue, as Forde proclaims in his lede paragraph, then why doesn't the NCAA require all "student athletes" to make a 3.0 or 3.5 grade point average before they become eligible for sports?  Any sport, I might add, not just men and women's hoops.  How would that hold up in court, I do not know?  But, it would certainly protect Forde's mission for higher learning and the "holier than thou" attitude of collegiate sport which has all the revenue streams of pro sports minus the enormous line item of payroll.


8. NBA teams do not need to be spared "the babysitting" duties.  They have a great option and it's called waiving the player.


9. Why is okay for baseball players, hockey players or businessmen to bolt college to play their sports or create their businesses, like Microsoft or Facebook, but the sky falls when college basketball is discussed in the same manner?  St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca always said, "If an underclassman were to play the violin at Lincoln Center, we'd throw them a parade."


10. Beside all of these points, don't you think the NBA would agree and do cart-wheels if the flow of talent from the American college system would come on a regular basis after players completed four years of college?  That, combined with a regular flow of international players (age 20, 21 or 22) would create the greatest system of talent development any sport could ever imagine.  The fact of the matter is that such a system might be illegal under labor laws.


Food for thought, Mr. Forde and Mr. Knight.  It might be time for re-write and another apology?  This time for the NBA and Mr. Stern.

The Johnnies are Back in Business

Here is the Associated Press story on today's St. John's basketball win over PITT at Madison Square Garden.

NEW YORK -- Dwight Hardy's underhanded flip with 1.2 seconds to play gave St. John's a 60-59 victory over No. 4 Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Red Storm's fifth win over a highly ranked team this season.

Hardy, who finished with 19 points, started his drive near midcourt, went past one defender on the right side of the court only to find another one there. He went to the baseline and underhanded the ball up and over the rim to give the Red Storm (17-9, 9-5 Big East) another highly ranked victim in Madison Square Garden.

St. John's beat then-No. 13 Georgetown, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 3 Duke and No. 10 Connecticut, all big wins in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee and the Red Storm are looking for their first bid since 2002.

Ashton Gibbs, who missed the last three games with an MCL injury to his left knee, came back in a big way for the Panthers (24-3, 12-2), who had won five straight overall and five in a row over St. John's.
The junior guard finished with a career-high 26 points and was 6 of 9 from the 3-point line, matching Pittsburgh's total number of 3s in his absence.

The win is the sixth in seven games for St. John's and all of them have been with coach Steve Lavin and his staff wearing white sneakers and no ties. They started the look in the win over Duke and plan to keep it the rest of the season.

Johnnie's

How do you like that?  A slow news day combines with the start of the BIG EAST and a St. John's upset over UCONN and the Johnnie's are back on the "Back Page" of the NY tabs.  Both the NY Daily News and the NY Post ran banner St. John's headlines, reminding us all of the days of yesteryear when the Johnnie's would dominate the headlines at this time of year.

The 'comp' gets a lot tougher for the Tuesday play-in teams when the likes of South Florida, St. John's, Seton Hall and Cincy that on teams that had a one-day bye (South Fla vs Georgetown; St. John's vs Marquette; Seton Hall vs. ND and Cincy vs Louisville).

The BIG BOYS begin play in the BIG EAST on Thursday.

It doesn't seem like all that long ago when the tournament had eight teams which all began play Thursday and we all looked forward to the day when both day and night sessions were packed with fans and great match-ups.

Ship Be Sinkin' - aka ...Long time passing...when will they ever learn?

Where Have All the Playoffs Gone?

words by T Lyons... courtesy of Pete (see below)

Where have all the Playoffs gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the Playoffs gone?

Long time ago.

Where have all the Playoffs gone?

Knicks have packed them in, every one,

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the Series gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the Series gone?

Long time ago.

Where have all the Series gone?

Taken to Cable , every one.

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have the Johnnie's gone?

Long time passing.

Where have the Johnnie's gone?

Long time ago.

Where have the Johnnie's gone?

Taken to the grave yard, Jarvis done,

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Please, please bring the NBA Playoffs and the NCAAs back to NYC....

Thank you.

T L

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE 

words and music by Pete Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the flowers gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the flowers gone?

Girls have picked them every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the young girls gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the young girls gone?

Taken husbands every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the young men gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the young men gone?

Gone for soldiers every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Gone to graveyards every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Covered with flowers every one

When will we ever learn?

When will we ever learn?

MSG is the best...but St. John's Needs some help

NEW YORK, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, The GREATEST VENUE in the WORLD -- The St. John's "Johnnies" took it on the chin tonight when Syracuse University earned the 350th BIG EAST coaching victory for Jim Boeheim with an 87-58 "ear-slapping" of their former New York State rivals.

It was once a mighty match-up, pitting the likes "Louie" Orr and (Roosevelt) "Bouie" against St. John's center Wayne McKoy or many more would remember the epic 1986 BIG EAST final (St. John's 70-Syr-69) of the wonder Orangemen named Wendall Alexis-Rony Seikaly-Raf Addison-and-Pearl Washington against a Johnnies team led by Willie Glass-Shelton Jones-Walter Berry-Mark Jackson-Ron Rowan -- never mind Marco Baldi's six point contribution.

But now-a-days, the world's most famous arena provides a road game atmosphere for St. John's as team after team (i.e. UConn-Duke-Syracuse) draw their loyal alum to The Garden for a slaughterhouse five walk-through at the hands of the Jamaica Mistakes.

It's been a rough road for Coach Norm Roberts, but the St. John's faithful still show support for the man who inherited the mess of the century from former coach Mike Jarvis. Roberts has the kids playing hard but the team's lack of experience and depth allows their opponents to wear down the Deadmen night after night. St. John's fights the uphill battle in a conference stacked with big-time coaches and powerful programs.

Roberts does his very best to compete against the likes of the conglomerates to be named later. I list them in no particular order:

Jim Cal and the UConn Huskies. (Don't get me started....Ray Allen..)

Pitt and a decade long streak of Top 10-25s.

In Boston, I have to whisper the name "Pitino" and his Louisville program. (Excuse the Queen's English) - "There ain't no Pervis Ellison's walking through that door... there ain't no Darrell Griffith's walking through that door...and there ain't going to be (no) Rodney McCray's walking through that door, either."

Villanova and the best coach in the conference in Jay Wright

The aforementioned Syracuse with Boeheim running the zone and a Top 10 college program playbook -- maybe the program of all-time when you think about it, as he recruits top players/teams year after year to a Carrier Dome setting in a city where the sun doesn't shine from November until April.

And, how about Marquette? The class program of the BIG EAST conference and lost a gem of Tom Crean as he took the mone$ and ran to Indiana.

***

I digress -- as I am not here to bury the Johnnies nor their coach. I am here to suggest they grab the likes of Providence (Rhode Island), Seton Hall (NJ), Depaul (CHI) and toss in a Northeastern (Boston), Niagara (Buff), Hofstra (Long Island), GW (The District), St. Joe's (Philly), or three and create the LITTLE EAST. At least one would make the Big Dance.

***

Notes: MSG announced 11,148 in attendance for the St. John's vs Syracuse tilt. Hey, that's only 8,352 short of the '86 BIG EAST Final crowd and "only" 21,234 fans short of the epic 1982-83 St. John's vs. 'Cuse match-up at the Carrier (Pigeon) Dome ... St. John's trails Syracuse 45-37 in the all-time series rivalry. The Red(blank) won the 2007 match-up at MSG, 64-60. (A distant memory)... St. John's plays at Depaul at Noon (EST) on February 28 and finish their season with a March 3 game against Georgetown at The Garden, then a March 6 grunge-match against Notre Dame in the shadows of touchdown Jesus. ND Irish will look to avenge their January 3rd loss to St. John's at MSG (71-65) which was the high point of the Red-blank season.

Roberts had this to say post-game when asked what his message was to his team after the loss: "We talked. I was frustrated that we didn't meet the intensity of the game early like we should have. In the second half, we started off getting a lot of stops. We stopped them - pretty much - six or seven straight times and we weren't able to convert. And, we needed to convert to get back into the game.

"We just played (somewhat) immature. Things didn't go our way and we got frustrated. We let one play affect the next play and you can't do that in this league."

"You've got to get ready for the next one, get re-focused and learn from what you didn't do right."

***

Buy the 100 Years of St. John's Basketball book if you can afford it.

***

By the way - click on the MSG headline above for a Feb 1 story that ran in the NY Daily Snooze. Think the prez and AD might be under some pressure soon, nevermind Norm?
Good luck to one and all. The St. John's faithful remain in their season tiks, even though we were moved out of the "Yellows" and into the "Blues."

So, we sing the "Blues" for the Red-Blanks.

-TL-

The Good Ole Days of the Redmen ...

St. John's brings back nostalgia

By S.E. Cupp on CNN/SI.com


(I was surprised and quite amused to read this column on CNN/SI today. I can't say I had too many PBRs but did enjoy a Shaeffer or Schmidtties now and then. Check it out and let me know your St.J memories.)

A lady never reveals her age. But since I've been known to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon straight out of the can while watching NASCAR with a horde of foul-mouthed dudes, the classification has been understandably questioned from time to time. So here you go: I'm turning 30 this year. And yes, it's a bit of a problem.

I've enjoyed my 20s, despite working incredibly hard, and would very much like to remain here. It's been quite a nice place to live. Successes in one's 20s are seen as laudably premature, and mistakes are lovingly forgiven. But I've been assured by dozens of famous actresses and countless self-help gurus that my 30s and 40s will be even better, and I think they're all lying. Right to my still un-botoxed face.

Getting older is a clumsy and disheartening process. I no longer have the energy for all-night benders, and everyone around me is suddenly procreating. Increased fiscal responsibilities and a whole new set of medical exams I'll now need annually are constant reminders that I am, in fact, mortal.

But nothing has been more of a downer than a recent trip to watch a college basketball game at Madison Square Garden.

When I was in high school I'd watch Marcus Camby at UMass, Tim Duncan at Wake Forest, and Elton Brand and Shane Battier at Duke and think, these are men. They were massive and lumbering, and carried their bulging muscles up and down the court with the weight of grown-ups who had far greater responsibilities than I. And even though Battier and I were the same age (and we went to middle school together) on television he looked 40 to me.

But as I sat courtside the Garden on Sunday to watch St John's play Louisville, I was the one who felt 40. Coming face to face (and at one frightening point, ball-to-face) with these elfin collegians, who seemed to flaunt their uncanny agility and boyish swagger, felt unnecessarily mean. Kudos on the boundless energy, and enjoy the frivolity of 14 tattoos. And thanks very much, adorable, pint-sized Red Storm cheerleaders who don't look old enough to babysit, for piling on. Is it too much to ask that my front-row seats don't come with a big gulp-sized ration of depression?

Thus in order to refrain from walking out of the Garden and throwing myself in front of an oncoming cab (driven by someone who's also probably younger than I am), I decided a change of seat was imperative. I needed to immediately recreate the comforting distance of watching these infants on television. So I hauled my aging betrayal of a body up a few flights to sit with Nick and DanMarino, a father-son team who are diehard, lifelong fans of St John's basketball.

Nick, a Long Island attorney, inherited season tickets from his father, a St John's alumnus who started taking his son to games back in 1962, just three years before the great Lou Carnesecca would descend on the Queens campus. Dan, a 23-year-old Albany graduate who works for the government, has been going to games for the past 20 years. And Dan's friend George Layer, a 24-year-old high school math teacher, has been their constant companion.

At the onset, meeting up with two twentysomethings may not have been the best plan. As I sat down next to them, I worried that Dan and George could see in me the fragile mania of a woman on the verge. But as they began to wax poetic about their favorite team like grandfathers ushering their offspring's offspring into the storied corners of their world, I knew I had found just the right fans to turn this day around for me.

They spoke with the gravitas and well-worn fandom of loyalists who had been through a war. There had been serious carnage in the two decades that Dan and George had been going to St John's games, and, as a New York Mets fan, I could relate.

"I've been through the scandals, all the troubles," said Dan.

In 1983, St John's established the Red-White Club to help support the basketball team, and Nick's seats were moved a dozen rows back to accommodate club donors.

But through it all, they have remained devout. "I just hope they get better," said Dan. "We're not fair-weather fans. We have loyalty. We're rooting for them for the name across the jersey."

As the game wore on, and Rick Pitino's boys held St John's to a fractional lead that would become a growing deficit, Nick, Dan and George alternated tales of regret and disappointment with ones of awe and pride.

"I was here in 1999 for the best college basketball game I've ever seen," said Dan. "It was the overtime game against Duke when Ron Artest had a three-pointer at the buzzer to put it into overtime."

They talked about old traditions that made games great. "They used to have 'flag boy' in the 90s," said Dan. "He would run back and forth down the court and the fans would count how many times he could go. All those rituals are gone now."

They recalled games against UConn, which is still a great rivalry no matter what their records.

They discussed the successes of Norm Roberts -- "Well, he's better than Mike Jarvis," George said. And they sunk into a nostalgic reverence for the legend that is Carnesecca.

"There was a time, a long time, that New York was St John's basketball," said Nick. And of course he's right. In 101 years of basketball, St John's is the seventh-winningest team in college basketball history, and has sent 59 players to the NBA draft. The school has two Wooden Award winners and six players in the Basketball Hall of Fame. And this team that plays in the greatest arena on earth, they hope, can be great again some day.

"The coaching staff really cares," George said. "They're honestly trying to turn the team around." But he's not a kid anymore, and George has seen it all, so he adds a careful and cautious caveat for good measure. "Next year they should be better, but not where they used to be. They'll be rebuilding for a while."

In the end, St John's lost, 60-47, but I knew that the score didn't tell the whole story for Nick, Dan and George, who would be back for the next home game to watch their team fight the good fight. And I remembered that there's something about the experience and wisdom that comes with age, and that the accumulation of memories only makes a fan better, less naive, more passionate.

They had stories to tell, and the stories made me want to be a part of their Red Storm experience. And thanks to some twentysomethings who seem to be far more mature than I am, for one day, I was. So I can forgive the basketball team for their rude awakening -- really, I'm just jealous. But next time, I'll remember to sit a few rows back.

TL Comments ... Wow. Did I relate to this column. I realized this week that the 2008-09 basketball season was churning along and I hadn't seen my beloved St. John's University Redmen play a game. I caught a few minutes of Redmen basketball against Seton Hall and a glimpse or two of some other games on TV, but nothing in person.

The streak of watching at least one St. John's game LIVE began in 1968-69.

I plan to attend the St. John's vs Duke game at MSG next week, although I can not say I am optimistic about the outcome.

For some good St. John's memories, search my blog for 100 Years of St. John's basketball.

I still have NOT forgiven Mike Jarvis.

I'm in a BIG EAST and March Madness State of Mind ...

Fade to Black....

One thing is for sure and it can never be taken away ... I have a lot of great memories of St. John's basketball.

It was March of 1983 and former NBA Asst. Supervisor of Officials, Cecil Watkins, had a single ticket left under my name at MSG's window 7. It was a third row, courtside, the same seat that I had yesterday, believe it or not.

The BIG EAST tournament, previously held in Providence, Syracuse and Hartford, had moved to a new home at New York's Madison Square Garden. It was the beginning of the incredible rise to become among the very best basketball conferences in the land, college basketball's elite - alongside the ACC, the Big 10 and the PAC 10.

The 1983 tournament was 'memorialized' by a Sports Illustrated cover, featuring Billy Goodwin sitting atop the rim with his "We Are St. John's" poster held high for all the fans in Madison Square Garden to see.

In 1983, St. John's had a very strong basketball program.

Fast foward to March, 1986.

I sat in pretty good "Red" seats alongside my brother, Tom. I can remember the fact St. John's limped into the tournament that year under the microscope of the NCAA and BIG EAST, as reserve center Marco Baldi was under investigation for playing sumemrtime ball his club team, Tracer Milan.

Marco had to take a one-game suspension, if I remember correctly, but it blew over and he re-joined the team and played in the title game.

That 1986 title was special. Syracuse, with Pearl Washington and Rony Seikaly, had knocked off Georgetown. St. John's went 30-4 to march to the BIG EAST title and the NCAAs with Walter Berry and Mark Jackson leading the way for lovable Louie Carnesecca.

in 1986, St. John's had a basketball program on top of the world. Ron Rowan, a transfer student who had started at Notre Dame, hit the winner and Washington drove the length of the court like lightening, only to have his buzzer-beating attempt blocked by Walter Berry, the '86 college basketball player of the year.

To bring back some memories, here is the NY Times game story, written back in '86 by then-college basketball scribe, William Rhoden, now an accomplished sports columnist for the NYT.

BIG EAST; ST. JOHN'S RALLIES TO WIN CHAMPIONSHIP, 70-69

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
St. John's, down by as many as 13 points in the second half, began a furious rally with 16 minutes left that ended when Ron Rowan hit a 14-foot jumper with 8 seconds remaining last night at Madison Square Garden.

Rowan's shot lifted the Redmen to a 70-69 victory over Syracuse and brought St. John's its second Big East tournament championship in four years. Walter Berry sealed the victory by blocking Dwayne Washington's shot off a drive with three seconds left.

''I knew it was in when I shot it,'' said Rowan, who finished with 13 points.

''There's nothing to compare to this - winning the Big East championship in Madison Square Garden for someone like me from a small town -it feels great.''

The game was a fitting tribute to a team that has distinguished itself by outstanding achievement through 34 games this season, including 16 in the Big East regular schedule and three in this tournament.

St. John's raised its record to 30-4 and earned an automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Redmen will probably be the top-seeded team in one of the four regions when the 64-team field is announced today. Syracuse (25-5), which shared the regular season Big East title with St. John's on 14-2 records, is assured of receiving an invitation.

St. John's had been routed in the first half last night, run ragged and rattled by a Syracuse team that seemed as if it couldn't miss. The Orangemen made 73 percent of their shots and led by 11 points at the half. But the next 20 minutes were unbelievable - for both teams.

Even though they trailed by as many as 13 points, the Redmen kept their composure and outscored Syracuse by 15-6 to begin the second half and pull to 45-43. The Redmen still trailed by a point with 32 seconds left but found themselves with the ball with 21 seconds left, trailing 69-68.

Then Rowan hit a 14-foot lean-in jumper with eight seconds left to give the Redmen their first lead, and apparently the Big East Championship. But there was one final drama. Eight seconds is an eternity for a player like Washington. He rocketed downcourt with the inbounds pass and was three feet from the basket with three seconds left. He juked right then went left and shot. But Berry streaked over from the weak side, blocked Washington's shot and kept it on the floor as the buzzer sounded.

It was a satisfying end to a frustrating night for Berry, the Redmen's best scorer. His powerful inside game on offense was nullified by the Syracuse frontline. Frustrated by taller defenders, he was held to 16 points.

''I was just moving guys out the way trying to get in position to block the shot,'' Berry said of the final shot by Washington. ''I knew he was going left, there was no doubt in my mind. He always makes you think he's going right, but he goes left.''

Washington said he saw Berry. ''He looked like he was a long way away,'' Washington said. ''He got it; it was a clean block.''

Washington scored a game-high 20 points, handed out a game-high 14 assists and earned the tournament's most valuable player award. But he was disconsolate afterward. Aside from having the final shot blocked, he also missed a critical one-and-one opportunity when Syracuse held a 1-point lead late in the game.

''I'd rather have the win,'' Washington said.

Mark Jackson, the St. John's point guard who had just 2 points in the first half, made 4 of 7 shots from the floor in the second and finished with 10 points. He also handed out 9 assists to break the N.C.A.A. season record. Jackson now has 311, two more than Houston's Reid Gettys had in the 1984-85 season.

Willie Glass scored 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, but the player that broke Syracuse's back was an unlikely one, Marco Baldi.

The 6-10 freshman, who is a foul-prone player who lacks finesse, entered the game with 6:08 left after Berry picked up his fourth foul.

Baldi, who was left all alone by a defense intent on stopping Berry, hit a jumper to make it 61-57. After a basket by Syracuse, Baldi, a 52 percent foul shooter, drew a foul and made both shots to make it 63-59.

His biggest contribution came with 4:09 left when he blocked out after a Rafael Addison miss and forced Rony Seikaly, the Syracuse center, to climb over his back. The foul was the fifth for Seikaly, who had been punishing the Redmen with a strong inside game. Seikaly finished with 16 points.

Baldi then converted two more free throws to make it 63-61.

''When I saw that they were leaving me alone, I just looked up and said 'thanks,' '' Baldi said. ''We needed a big body to stop their big guy,'' Carnesecca said when asked why he went with Baldi over Shelton Jones. ''Seikaly was killing us inside, we matched up, went man to man, overplayed,'' Carnesecca said. ''Nothing worked.'' After Washington hit to make it 65-61, Berry turned in a 3-point play on an alley-oop pass from Jackson that made it 65-64 with 3:22 left. Washington answered with another jumper, the teams exchanged misses and Rowan hit a jumper off the break to make it 67-66.

Washington made a pair of free throws, Glass made a pair, then Washington missed the free throw leading up to Rowan's clutch shot.

When Syracuse had its final chance, it was out of timeouts, and Coach Jim Boeheim could not develop a set play. He took his last timeout with 6:20 left when Syracuse was leading, 59-55.



In 2000, St. John's upset UConn, 80-70, to win their last BIG EAST title. The victory came behind an MVP performance by the one-and-only "Bootsy" Thornton. The team was coached by Mike Jarvis and the pieces began to fall apart soon after that glorious BIG EAST championship trophy was tucked into the trophy case in Jamaica Estates, Queens.

The first piece to fall? An early round upset at the hands of Gonzaga.

St. John's earned the #2 seed in the West that year, and as luck would have it, we had scheduled a spring break vacation for Phoenix, Arizona.

Selection Sunday came along and St. John's was send packing... to Tucson, Arizona.

They barely survived a first round match-up vs. Northern Arizona - the Dan McClintock-led Louie the Lumberjack squad. After the near-disaster of a 61-56 win, I arranged tickets for the second round game through the Phoenix Suns and we flew to Phoenix that Saturday morning, then bee-lined it to Tucson in time for the tip-off vs. Gonzaga. I remember calling my brother to tell him we were 'there,' staring straight at the big cactus on the floor of the McKale Center on the campus of the University of Arizona.

St. John's found itself in a real dog-fight that day, and I remember thinking that Eric Barkley was cramping up late in the game. I wondered why? I questioned his conditioning.

They lost, 82-76, to the #10 seed Zags, who eventually lost to the #6 seed Purdue Boilermakers coached by Gene Keady.

The end of the era was near.

A tale of two programs ...

My New York Times was wrapped in a rubber band to keep the Saturday paper connected with the inserts for tomorrow's multi-section edition. The SportsSaturday section of the paper included two interesting stories. The first, a take-out on the Davidson College basketball program, featuring longtime friend and head coach of the team, Bob McKillop. The other was a story a news item on the St. John's men's basketball program announcing that they will honor Norm Roberts' final year on his contract and the proverbial 'vote of confidence' to allow Roberts to continue to recruit players for the year to come.

Two programs. Two different directions.

If St. John's had only hired McKillop instead of Mike Jarvis, I can only imagine what March would be like for college basketball at St. John's.

Small and Quirky Davidson Faces Uphill Fight

By JOHN BRANCH
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Among the unusual facets of Davidson College, besides a basketball team with the nation’s longest winning streak, is a low-slung building amid the stately ones made of red bricks and white columns.

The Lula Bell Houston Laundry is where the 1,700 Davidson students can drop off their dirty clothes, to be cleaned and folded at no charge. Last week, the center did 815 bundles of laundry weighing 7,913 pounds — nearly four tons — so that the students could focus on other things.

“You drop it off, and two days later it’s folded in a big paper bag for you, in a bundle,” said Stephen Curry, the team’s silk-shooting sophomore guard. “It’s pretty nice.”

Davidson has its quirks. An honor code allows students to schedule their own final exams, and tests are taken without proctors. Davidson recently eliminated student loans, relying instead on grants and work-study programs, so that no student graduates with debt. The campus sits in a cocoon of a village 15 miles north of sprawling Charlotte, far closer in feel to North Carolina’s fictitious Mayberry.

But the most surprising aspect of Davidson may be the basketball team, led by Bob McKillop, a 57-year-old from Queens who has quietly rebuilt a once-proud program at one of the most elite liberal arts colleges in the country.

Basketball polls have the Wildcats at the edge of the top 25, but the 2008 U.S. News & World Report rankings placed Davidson ninth on the list of top liberal-arts colleges, a list devoid of other Division I basketball powers.

Davidson can brag of 23 Rhodes scholars, but it has not produced a single N.B.A. All-Star. That has not kept McKillop from believing, 19 seasons into his tenure, that Davidson can reclaim the elite basketball status it had 40 years ago under Lefty Driesell.

Behind Curry, the son of the former N.B.A. star Dell Curry, and an assembly of perfectly cast role players, the Wildcats (22-6) have won 18 games in a row. They are 19-0 in the Southern Conference heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at second-place Georgia Southern.

If any team in the country is positioned to play the spoiler at this year’s N.C.A.A. tournament, it is this one — if Davidson makes the 65-team bracket.

The Ratings Percentage Index seems to hold more sway than records or rankings, and Davidson was at No. 61 in the most recent R.P.I., just inside the tournament’s proverbial bubble. It tried to combat its weak conference schedule with difficult nonconference games.

“They gave Carolina all they could take, they gave Duke a good game, and they had U.C.L.A. down 18 points in the first half,” said Kenneth Norton, 79, who has provided haircuts in Davidson since he was 14 and who summed up this season from behind his chair at Raefords Barber Shop.

Davidson could not complete the early-season upsets, losing to No. 1 North Carolina, 72-68; to No. 7 Duke, 79-73; and to No. 7 U.C.L.A., 75-63. The Wildcats may have to win their conference tournament, as they did the past two years, to guarantee another chance to win their first N.C.A.A. tournament game since 1969. The Southern Conference has never received an at-large bid.

“We understand that,” McKillop said in his office, where classical music played in the background. “That’s the dynamic we have to deal with.”

McKillop might be the most unusual Davidson feature of all. The son of a New York City police officer, he played college basketball at East Carolina and Hofstra. He made a bigger name for himself as a New York high school coach, at Holy Trinity and Long Island Lutheran.

He took the job at Davidson in 1989, seeing a slingshot to bigger college programs. His team did not finish above .500 until his fifth season, and he said he felt fortunate not to have been fired.

“I was a cocky high-school coach who enjoyed great success because I had great players,” said McKillop, whose silver hair and assuring voice give him the air of a trusty news anchor. “I came here thinking I could wave a magic wand and move up the basketball ladder.”

Instead, he has pulled Davidson up the rungs gradually. McKillop has often been a candidate for jobs in the Northeast, including at St. John’s, Seton Hall and Boston College in recent years. But no one has yet pulled him from Davidson, where he and his wife, Cathy, live in a white house across from campus, with a Wildcats flag on the porch and a wreath on the door.

Two of their children graduated from Davidson. Their youngest, Brendan, is a freshman on his father’s team.

“How many Division I basketball coaches have been able to raise three children in the same house?” athletic director Jim Murphy said.

McKillop has embraced the town’s intimacy and the college’s hurdles — its small size (and fan base) and its academic standards: 88 percent of this year’s freshmen finished in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

After a 68-55 victory against Appalachian State on Wednesday, McKillop and his coaches and players mingled with family and fans, as they always do, at the Brickhouse Tavern. Five players soon left for the campus library, where they stayed until nearly 1 a.m. McKillop is one coach without the constant worry over what his players are doing.

“I’m not suggesting that we have nerds,” McKillop said. “But I am suggesting that there is a measure of accountability and responsibility that permeates the campus.”

Davidson has more international players (six) than players from North Carolina (three) on its roster. This season’s team, however, rides largely with Curry, the slippery shooting guard from Charlotte who is averaging 25 points. Overlooked by bigger programs because of his slight frame (still growing, he is 6 feet 3 inches and 185 pounds), Curry has a quick release and a deft passing touch, which he may hone further next season as the point guard.

“I wouldn’t want my son to play for anybody else,” Dell Curry said while sitting among Wednesday’s sellout crowd of 5,838 at Davidson’s Belk Arena.

Stephen (pronounced STEFF-in) Curry and the senior Jason Richards, who leads N.C.A.A. Division I in assists a game, could be the nation’s best backcourt tandem, and probably the most underrated.

Add a bevy of midsize bangers, like Thomas Sander (from Cincinnati), Boris Meno (Paris) and Max Paulhus Gosselin (Carignan, Quebec), and the Wildcats could be a dangerous tournament team.

“You saw what we did against those big-name teams in the beginning of the season,” Richards said. “Yeah, we didn’t win, but came really close, and we kind of proved to ourselves that we can play with anyone.”

Davidson is motivated by the recent successes of small programs. Gonzaga is a basketball power. George Mason reached the Final Four two years ago. The likes of Butler, Drake and Kent State are surging this season.

But Davidson does not have to look elsewhere for inspiration. On a table in McKillop’s office are two Sports Illustrated magazines in clear vinyl sleeves. One, from 1968, cast three contenders to U.C.L.A. — North Carolina, Kentucky and Davidson; Davidson lost to the Tar Heels in the national quarterfinals. The other, from 1964, tabbed Davidson as the preseason No. 1 team. It finished 24-2 and ranked sixth, but missed the N.C.A.A. tournament because it was beaten by West Virginia in its conference final.

“Each day I walk into the office, and I keep them in my vision as a reminder that it has happened here,” McKillop said. “Now, can it happen again? The stars have to be so uniquely aligned for it to happen again.”

McKillop smiled. The stars are on the move.

***

MEN’S COLLEGE ROUNDUP
St. John’s Says Roberts Will Stay

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The St. John’s men’s basketball coach, Norm Roberts, will return next season to finish his contract, and the athletic director Chris Monasch said Friday that he would meet with Roberts after the season to pursue an extension.

The Red Storm (10-17, 4-11) enters Saturday’s home game against Seton Hall one game behind the 12th and final berth for the Big East tournament.

“In recent weeks there has been speculation regarding the status of Norm Roberts’s future as head men’s basketball coach at St. John’s University,” Monasch said in a statement. “Most of those comments focused on the pace of progress measured solely by wins. Our assessment of what Norm and his staff have accomplished over the past four years is broader than that.”

Roberts’s record at St. John’s is 47-65 in four years, including 19-44 in the Big East.