BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI
Christmas came early for St. John's.
The Red Storm finally got a healthy Anthony Mason Jr. yesterday. Imagine the smile on coach Norm Roberts face seeing that nestled under his Christmas tree.
His 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting helped lead St. John's to 68-62 win over host Hawaii in the consolation round of the Rainbow Classic. He was one of four players in double figures. D.J. Kennedy and Justin Burrell each had 12 and Eugene Lawrence added 10. Kennedy also had 11 rebounds.
Mason's health is arguably the key to St. John's (5-3) going from a bottom of the Big East team to one that can be highly competitive. Roberts raved about Mason's versatility from the day the 6-foot-7 swingman stepped foot on campus.
His presence on the court helps St. John's in so many ways. Mason is a legitimate scorer who can shoot from the outside. His ability to rebound will help an inexperienced front line compete in a physical Big East. He is an athletic leader that now deepens the rotation.
And he plays defense.
Mason held Bobby Nash, Hawaii's best player, to 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting. His ability to guard a team's top scorer has a trickle down effect. As they did last night Eugene Lawrence and Malik Boothe are then able to try to wear down and frustrate an opponent's point guard and stifle their offense.
While kudos go to Lawrence for his leadership and other incredible final minutes, the story yesterday was Mason.
So go tell it from the mountain: Young Mase is back
Comments (4)
yes, mase is back...but so is norm roberts. here's a guy who flat out can't coach.
i'm not alone in my thinking. check out bigeastboards.com for the consensus.
As a graduate of St. John's I've read all the message boards for the last six years. I know how much dislike there is for Norm. People, like myself, believed the turn around would be quicker. It wasn't. You have to deal with it. The university certainly is. There are no Fire Norm signs on campus. Is Norm a great X's and O's guys? No. Do his players play hard for him and are the recruiting classes getting better? Yes. There are only a few complete coaches out there. Those guys are staying at there respective universities. Norm is here to stay for a while.
most people are dealing with it by tuning the team out. season ticket sales are way down. the university is dealing with it by not caring...the way dolan doesn't care about the knicks as long as cablevision's profits are up again.
you say recruiting classes are getting better? we have no recruits coming in for the upcoming year. the elite ones are taken if you're pointing towards spring. the players we have now really aren't better than jackson, gray, patterson, calhoun, etc...they just have different names on the backs of their jerseys.
you say norm is here to stay for a while. i'll bet you a sandwich at chrebet's that he's not back next year.
I've thought about the Dolan/Knicks comparison myself, but I am not ready to go there yet. Yes, season tickets are down, so are the number of Big East games the team will play at the Garden I believe. It's not a coincidence. Listen, I've been to MSG when 3/4 of the crowd is Syracuse or Georgetown fans who drown out the St. John's fans. The place is usually not half full. It sickens me too. Yes, next year's recruiting class is certainly a problem. The biggest needs are point guard with Geno leaving and maybe another big man if someone other than Burrell does not develop. Don't be surprised if JUCO kids are used to fill in the gaps. It would not be a bad idea with a young team. Look how well Marcus Hatten worked out, with a minimal talent around him outside of Anthony Glover. He saved Jarvis's job for at least two seasons, which probably set the program back. Maybe some JUCO kid can do the same for Norm, with better long tern effects. It’s sad that its may have come to this. I still think Norm is here to stay for a while, another year or two at the most, especially with such a young team. The administration likes Norm and will probably give him at least another year with this year’s recruits. After that, if the losses, especially the embarrassing ones like Niagara continue, all bets are off.