BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI
St. John’s suffered a historic loss to Niagara on Saturday. It was the first time the Red Storm’s sister school won in Jamaica since Feb. 16, 1963 when it beat then coach Joe Lapchick 53-49. St. John’s was a dismal 9-15 that season. It is the second time Niagara has beaten the Johnnies under Norm Roberts. In 2004, Roberts first season, they fell 102-82.
The game before that St. John’s lost to St. Francis College 53-52, on the night they named Carnesecca Arena, for the second straight historic loss that season. It was the first time the Terriers beat St. John’s since a 76-73 win in 1956, the game was played at a neutral site. The last time the Terriers had beaten St. John’s at home was a 67-48 victory in 1954. Both of those losses came with Alfred “Dusty” DeStefano on the bench.
Now there is a name you don’t hear to often.
In 2004, St. John’s was depleted after the sex scandal gutted any talent left from a team that won the NIT two seasons prior. When the season ended Roberts sat behind his desk and told me:
“This past year that we played was a mirage. It wasn’t the true atmosphere, the true way St. John’s is going to be as far as depth. Last year we had eight players. Even if you played bad you were going to play.”
Since then Roberts has improved St. John’s talent and depth. So, losses to teams like Niagara shouldn’t happen any more. Right?
They will when you are as sloppy as St. John’s was Saturday
Eighteen Red Storm turnovers led to 21 Niagara points and 28 St. John’s fouls allowed Niagara to score 32 points from the free throw line. Big men Dele Coke and Sean Evans combined for six points, two rebounds, and nine fouls in 28 minutes.
While the talent has risen, St. John’s has still needed players on the lower end of the team’s talent pool to play a good number of minutes because of injuries and the chance to get experience. That should change with Anthony Mason Jr. and Rob Thomas’s return for St. John's game against Ohio in the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii on Wednesday.
As St. John’s says aloha to its first national tournament outside New York since the Great Alaskan shootout in 2001, try to do the same to any memories of Saturday.
Comments (5)
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... HEAR TOO ....
back to spinning in my grave now ...................
you're living in a fantasy world if you think norm will ever coach this team to respectability.
I think Norm has already coached them to respectability. Mike Jarvis left the program in shambles both on and off the court. The returning roster was bad and so was St. John's image on the recruiting trail. Roberts has mended that. Last season St. John's was over .500 for the first time since 2003 and has knocked off a handful of Top 25 teams during Roberts tenor. He has coached them to respectability. Can he coach them greatness? We will have to wait and see. St. John's will give him a ton of chance, but all indications so far have to make you believe it probably won't happen.
When I wear my St John's stuff, I usually get sympathetic stares. I don't know how being the laughing stock of the Big East and the Hofstra campus translates into "respectability". The administration would have been smarter to have the basketball program go the route of NYU. It doesn't have the inclination nor is it equipped to handle division I basketball.
Hofstra has its own problems this season, 2-6 overall and 0-4 on the road. If St. John's beats them in the Holiday Festival you won't have to worry about them for another year. I agree with you the administration has ways to go when it comes to marketing its product. Check back before the Holiday Festival for a quick blog about that and awful mistake made in the radio ad for it.