St. John's Lands Second Top 50 Player in Two Weeks

[texaswarrior74]

Jakarr Sampson to St John's. That's now two top 50 players that Lavin has gotten in the last two weeks.

He was really close to going with Tennessee until all the Pearl stuff hit the fan...

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/15378/sampson-gives-st-johns-more-good-news-2

Hearing that he may have some problems qualifying though...

[MarkCharles]

I'm glad to see St. Johns getting things going again. I say anytime one of the non-football, Catholic basketball programs succeeds, its good for the rest. St. John's and DePaul at least shouldn't be doormats like they've been in recent years.

[SacWarrior]

If St. John's gets better in coming years, are they still going to play in Carnesecca? I don't see how you can be a competitive BIG EAST program when you're playing in the equivalent of the Al McGuire Center. I don't think they can really get away with adding another permanent tenant to the Garden. Can they?

[Dave Krupinski]

If St. John's gets better in coming years, are they still going to play in Carnesecca? I don't see how you can be a competitive BIG EAST program when you're playing in the equivalent of the Al McGuire Center. I don't think they can really get away with adding another permanent tenant to the Garden. Can they?

Yea CA is a great place to play. I think the guys from this site who made it to the game last year would agree. The best game I went to last season by far was Marquette at St. John's. The energy in the building was great and could even be better with an improved St. John's team.

[NYWarrior]

Yea CA is a great place to play. I think the guys from this site who made it to the game last year would agree. The best game I went to last season by far was Marquette at St. John's. The energy in the building was great and could even be better with an improved St. John's team.

I was at CA last year (didn't we meet at the bar before the game, btw?) and was underwhelmed.  MU was on the SJU campus for a mid-week game and there was no juice in the building on Senior Night, very few students.  I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the Johnnies struggling for years - -but still, SJU should be all about MSG rather than CA.  It seems like with Lavin the university is willing to ante up for what it takes to be a big time program -- ie, charter flights, recruits stay in Manhattan rather than Queens hotels, and you gotta figure play most games at MSG. That's big time, especially with the coming remodeling of the facility.

Lavin is doing a great job of selling early PT and NYC to his crop of kids.

[Dave Krupinski]

The numbers aren't there and the fans haven't had something great to root for quite some time. NY fans are tough you need to produce for them to get behind you (its just how it is). Regardless if you pack CA thats a tough place to play. Even with a lackluster student crowd Buzz still had a very hard time calling plays. They had to move their huddle closer to center court because they were being heckled so loud during TO's.

MSG is 100k a game if you don't pack that place then the program just sinks money. CA is perfect to play teams who don't draw well OR a toss up conference game that you must win. (we didn't win last year but Marquette was certainly that scenario of must win)

[Mr. Nielsen]

Didn't some people not see this coming. Lavin is a good coach and a outgoing person. St.John's will be back as a winner in the Big East.

[nyg]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/classrankings?classyear=2011&classmonth=9&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmens-college-basketball%2frecruiting%2fclassrankings%3fclassyear%3d2011%26classmonth%3d9

I know its early, but I hate it when a Rutgers and St. Johns are jump started like this. 

[Dave Krupinski]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/classrankings?classyear=2011&classmonth=9&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmens-college-basketball%2frecruiting%2fclassrankings%3fclassyear%3d2011%26classmonth%3d9

I know its early, but I hate it when a Rutgers and St. Johns are jump started like this. 

I think Rutgers even deserves to be ranked a bit higher. Myles Mack is going to be a very good player for them and they did land the premiere big men of the Tri-State in Derrick Randall and Kadeem Jack (even though I feel Jack is a bit overrated he's solid but not amazing). Then the influx of DC guys do to Cox is probably the most astonishing development for Rutgers. They've created two amazing pipelines in the AAU circuit with NJ Playaz and DC Assault.

Whats great for St. John's is their ranking is purely quality and certainly they will add more quantity. I wouldn't be shocked to see St. John's finish in the top 5 (no homer).

[ChicosBailBonds]

I think Rutgers even deserves to be ranked a bit higher. Myles Mack is going to be a very good player for them and they did land the premiere big men of the Tri-State in Derrick Randall and Kadeem Jack (even though I feel Jack is a bit overrated he's solid but not amazing). Then the influx of DC guys do to Cox is probably the most astonishing development for Rutgers. They've created two amazing pipelines in the AAU circuit with NJ Playaz and DC Assault.

Whats great for St. John's is their ranking is purely quality and certainly they will add more quantity. I wouldn't be shocked to see St. John's finish in the top 5 (no homer).

You guys are going to the NCAA this year, I really believe that.

[Dave Krupinski]

You guys are going to the NCAA this year, I really believe that.

If Buzz was coaching our team last season we would have been in the sweet 16. The talent was and is there but game planning and lineups/subsitutions always set us up for failure. It was just so blatant too.

[nyg]

I think Rutgers even deserves to be ranked a bit higher. Myles Mack is going to be a very good player for them and they did land the premiere big men of the Tri-State in Derrick Randall and Kadeem Jack (even though I feel Jack is a bit overrated he's solid but not amazing). Then the influx of DC guys do to Cox is probably the most astonishing development for Rutgers. They've created two amazing pipelines in the AAU circuit with NJ Playaz and DC Assault.

Whats great for St. John's is their ranking is purely quality and certainly they will add more quantity. I wouldn't be shocked to see St. John's finish in the top 5 (no homer).

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1005876.html

Another Rutgers commit today.