Perhaps the single biggest change
that the internet age has wrought on college basketball is that it's now
possible for gym rats everywhere to, in effect, cover every nook and cranny of
recruiting from the comfort of his own home. Gone are the days for instance
when North Carolina could recruit Michael Jordan without much competition until
their own staff placed him at Five Star camp just to make sure he could play
against the best in the country. These days thanks to the internet everyone
knows everyone there are no secrets anymore.
Last spring St. John's signing of
Texas native Christian Jones was largely overlooked until the announcement. And
then the chatter that followed on message boards and blogs wondered who he was
"How come this guy isn't on any lists?" was a question that was
posted over and over on St. John's blogs, rival team blogs and recruiting blogs
all over the web.
To be sure the lead story of the
Red Storm's 73-55 exhibition win over Sanoma State Saturday was the return to
the sidelines of Coach Lavin, who missed all but two games last season while he
recovered from prostate cancer. it's also fair to say that two of Jones'
freshman teammates nosier introductions to the fans at Carnesecca Arena than
Jones did. Jakar Sampson, the fine forward from Akron who comes to Queens already sporting a national reputation scored
14 points, tied Jones for team high rebounding honors with 7 and had 6 steals.
Chris Obekpa, the shot blocking specialist who is known more locally than
nationally because of his time at Our Savior New American School on Long
Island, also made a loud first impression with 7 blocks officially and enough
altered shots that St. John's should consider adding that category to the statistical
totals it hands out after each game.
Even as Obekpa Sampson and the
rest of his teammates were exciting the crowd with explosive plays there was
Jones whose presence may have been quieter but was still hard to miss. He hit
the boards for 7 rebounds against a team that was shorter but stronger, he
scored 8 points of his own and added 3 assists and 2 blocks. In 29 minutes he
showed as much versatility as anyone on the floor for St. John's and the kind
of rugged body and physical approach that will likely serve him well as he gets
ready for college hoops.
Coach Lavin was also impressed at
how the game, "never really got too fast for him." And when asked to
summarize how he found such an unheralded but talented recruit he told a story
that was more likely to have been heard in the days before the internet. It included "a guy from Detroit"
who had seen the Texas native on the summer circuit and whet Lavin described as
"six degrees of St. John's" that made the youngster curious about the program. Those connections included a year
with guard Phil Greene as his teammate at Florida's IMG Academy, an acquaintance
with fellow Texas native D;angelo Harrison and the chance to meet former St.
John's star Mo Harkless while he prepared for the draft at IMG. Jones game may
be quiet and polished but his confidence and poise are outstanding. And the
fact that he's taken Harkless' number 4 likely speaks to that confidence in
addition to being a tribute to the Orlando Magic rookie For Lavin there's a moral to the story, as he
put it "this is why I always tell my assistants to pick up the phone you
never know what you might find." Indeed while an exhibition game is only a
small and flawed sample, Jones showed enough poise strength and hoops IQ that
there's a chance he may be a hidden gem. And just think, he was just a little
luck and a phone call away.
News and
Notes from Saturday:
Four Johnnies, freshman Felix Balamou senior God'sgift Achiuwa along with
junior college transfers Orlando Sanchez and
Marco Bourgault were held out of the game. Bourgault and Sanchez are
reportedly awaiting decisions from the NCAA regarding separate eligibility
issues while Achiuwa and Balamou are considering red-shirting this season.
Lavin said they expected final determination on Sanchez and Bourgault to be
made soon and that their status would be one of several considerations in the
decision to redshirt Balamou and Achiuwa. Sophomores Phil Greene and Amir
Garrett tied for game high scoring honors with 17 apiece
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