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.

Boeheimian Rhapsody in ... Orange?

Jim Boeheim dealt us Marty Headd, Louis Orr and Roosevelt Bouie - the "Louis and Bouie Show," then he turned it over to Erik Santifer, then to Dwayne "Not the Pearl" Washington, then Derrick Coleman and they kept on coming and coming.  Through long, cold winter after winter, the Syracuse Orange just kept on keepin' on, winning game after game after game. Twenty win seasons, all of them.

Coach Jim Boeheim

How did he do it?

Never a blip on the screen for a recruiting violation.  Never a degree above 32 in the hottest of places in town, and that was from November through March 15th. Never a loss, only a missed free throw or two and a terribly thought-out mascot.

We made fun of the "Dome Ranger" as he ran around the Carrier Dome like a maniac ... we shook our heads with disgust as the fans dressed in Orange far outnumbered the fans in Red at Madison Square Garden for the "big" CBS Game of the Week. 

St John's faded like a cheap suit from Beijing while Georgetown and Syracuse looked like a $5G Burberry from Wall Street.  Syracuse had Bob Costas and the Newhouse School and David Falk ... and they had that zone.  Yes, that zone defense that caused every team in the BIG EAST nightmares fro decades on end.  The Redmen would practice and practice but they couldn't break the zone and Syracuse would win another.  And another.

Years after graduation, we still had to watch Boeheim come into the Garden, his team often limping in with a losing streak - but then - ZAPPO.  Big East Finals.  Gerry McNamara and all.

Six hundred wins (in about 2000-01) became 700 became 800 and now 900 ... err... make that 920.

All that, and the Dome Ranger and the stupid looking squashed Orange are all I can criticize? Well, yessss.  That and the fact, when I met Boeheim and his staff and his charming wife and the family, he was great. Yes it was the 2006-08 USA Basketball experience and he was.... well. Great.

Although very quiet at first, he would open up a little in (very) small groups.  Gradually, as he gained some comfort and surely a little behind the scenes resume or background checking, he would open up more. Witty, sarcastic as hell, funny.  Yes, funny.

Many people would say?  Boeheim?  Funny?  Huh? What?

But they didn't see him in quiet, closed quarters - maybe with an NBA veep of Red Wine presiding.  But, I saw it and I wondered aloud.

One day, with Carmelo Anthony in the prelims before the 2004 Olympics, I gave in and asked, " So, okay, why on earth did you go to Syracuse, freeze your ass off and play up there for Boeheim where you don;t see the sun between November and April?

Melo:  "He recruited me. and ...   no one else did."

When Boeheim and UConn coach Jim Calhoun were enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame, it was enough to make any St. John's or Georgetown follower's skin crawl - even though our coaches beat them to the honor. The player turnout for both Syracuse and UConn was OUT-standing.  They were all there.  Ray Allen to Coleman and tons and tons of BIG East fans. Busloads and busloads of 'em, just like on Eighth Ave. and 33rd Street. 

Damn Boeheim. Good luck in the ACC and don't let the door hit ch'ya on the way out.

Here's your Syracuse treat:

Amazing...

Ricky R is Gahn ...

Spanish radio station Catalan COMRadio and the spanish newspaper Diario AS are reporting that Ricky Rubio is now close to signing a two-year deal with Real Madrid. Read On:

As reported by the station this afternoon Catalan COMRàdio, Ricky Rubio would have reached an agreement with Real Madrid to play in all white the next two seasons. The Catalan player was selected in the fifth position in the 'Draft' of the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves. To play in the NBA Ricky should pay his clause, about 4 million, so the player has claimed the club for the great difference between their wages and their regulation. The player was left with two choices, pay or play clause in Europe. The options I had in Spain were of Unicaja Malaga and Real Madrid. "There is nothing to negotiate with Ricky Rubio or anyone else while the player does not withdraw the claim against the club. Doing so can negotiate what you want," said Jordi Villacampa, President of DKV Joventut.

Minnesota announced the signings of two other draft choices, Jonny Flynn of Syracuse and Wayne Ellington of North Carolina/Chapel Hill.

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.

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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."

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

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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-