The cameras are on, the stage is Carnesseca Arena, and lights as bright as the Emerald City illuminate St. John’s basketball. The crowd may not be chanting “Go Johnny, Go!,” but the Johnnies are doing exactly that under first-year head coach Steve Lavin.
At the corner of Utopia and Union, it’s not only the street names that are symbolic to a magical season. While a “utopia” may not be the best word to describe a 20-10 team, the union of Steve Lavin and the St. John’s faithful is only fitting.
Did I mention they are the Red Storm? Another microcosm for a team destined to “storm” right into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003. Before Lavin took the johnnies by storm (no pun intended), the Red Storm were 44-53 the previous three seasons, in the stages of recovery when the powerful storm turned against them, decimating the program with NCAA sanctions. Sanctions included the forfeiture of 47 wins over four seasons, the loss of two scholarships, and a two-year postseason ban, a result of impermissible benefits given to a player.
But with a roster boasting the largest senior class in the country of 10 seniors, those three years are nothing but the past, formulating an Emerald City that is a place like home.
“This is so unusual because, as far as we know, it’s the first time in the history of college basketball there has ever been 10 seniors, and I doubt that there will ever be 10 seniors in the future,” Lavin told the USA Today. “If you just think how it could ever happen again; it’s up there with unicorns and Halley’s comet.”
And it seems only natural that winning nine of your last 11 games, and finishing in a three-way tie for third place in the Big East would give Lavin a bit of a sense of humor.
Led by star senior guard Dwight Hardy, the Red Storm are regaining some recognition in the Big Apple. Call it the Emerald City spotlight because even Manhattan’s Time Square is competing for more than 15 seconds of fame.
Hired last March, Lavin has revamped a culture that had been dormant the past three years, along with revamping a coaching career after a seven-year hiatus. Lavin had spent seven seasons at UCLA, guiding the Bruins to five Sweet 16 appearances and one regional finals appearance, but was fired in 2003 after a 10-19 season.
“A shattered point in my life professionally,” Lavin said, calling his tenure as an ESPN analyst and color commentator a “sabbatical” tenure.
But maybe the underlying theme is being cursed and blessed. If one breaks a mirror, they are cursed for seven years. Maybe it was simply coincidence, but it took Lavin seven years to get back into coaching.
Either way, the Red Storm will play Rutgers Tuesday night in the second round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, the home away from home for marquee Red Storm games.
The “union” of Lavin and the St. John’s basketball program may not create a basketball “utopia,” but mashed together, represent a team at center stage, whether that is Carnesseca Arena, Madison Square Garden, or the new Emerald City that illuminates the site of an NCAA tournament game.