Familiar Face Minds the Store as Nets Plot Next Moves

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            A month ago, when the Nets were 11-4 it all seemed so easy. The transition to Brooklyn had gone nicely, they had beaten the Knicks, seen Brooke Lopez at his healthy best and gotten off to that start despite severe shooting struggles from the two guys who, on paper at least, were their two best players Deron Williams and Joe Johnson.

            Fast forward to yesterday when Avery Johnson has been asked to take his Coach of the Month award home with him. The Knicks have established themselves as clear favorites along with the Heat in the Eastern Conference.  The Nets are 3-10 since the start, and Williams decided he's better in the system he left in Utah; a system taught and used by a coach many feel he forced out.

            Now a coach familiar to New York area basketball fans, P.J. Carlesimo becomes interim coach. Carlesimo lead Seton Hall to the 1989 NCAA championship game and an overtime loss to Michigan with a cast of players that featured local stars Darryl Walker (All Hallows) Gerald Greene (Westinghouse) and John Morton (Walton High) from New York along with Jersey natives Franz Volcy (Seton Hall Prep) and Anthony Avent (Shabazz High)   One internet report says a new coach will be named shortly while others suggest that even Prokorov will have to wait till next season to get the high profile guy he wants. Speculation has ranged from the zen master Phil Jackson to former Indiana University coach Kelvin Sampson who was successful at three college coaching stints but found his way to the NBA ranks of assistant coaches as the NCAA posse bore down on him.

            Surely there's more to this than the notion that Johnson, "was not reaching them" as Billy King  suggests. But I wonder if the tune out began on December 21 when following a loss to the Lakers Johnson held out Gerald Wallace to avoid playing him in back to back games. The Nets lost a game they felt they should win and even though their extended streak began a bit later and was triggered in large part to the absence of Lopez, the Nets were not an are not a team that can compromise themselves even in games they're "supposed to win". That may have been one factor that lead to Johnson's demise, and the burying of last year's first round pick Marshon Brooks may have been another. Say what you will about Brooks' defense, the Nets need his scoring punch and creativity as part of their rotation. And he had reached a point where he was held out of most games and when he did play his confidence was clearly shaken. And a scorer without confidence is, if I may coin a Brooklyn metaphor, like an egg cream without Fox's Ubet, completely useless. The two losses to Golden State and the loss to Milwaukee that sealed Johnson's fate exposed the Nets' two biggest weaknesses,  quickness and length

            The guy who delivered the news of Johnson's firing, GM Billy King is not blameless in the Nets' struggles. Sure the big moves; the trades for Williams and Wallace, and Johnson still appear solid even as the team struggles to find chemistry. resigning Lopez after a deal for Dwight Howard failed to materialize was the right move, and the amnesty signing of Andray Blatche has proven to be perhaps the Nets' best move even though it now remains to be seen whether he will continue to be productive in Johnson's absence.

            But while the roster has talent there's a terrible lack of depth that's exacerbated when Brooks doesn't figure in the rotation. Right now, Merza Teletovic looks like a guy who has neither the desire or athleticism to compete for rebounds at the NBA level. Toko Shengelia plays with loads of energy but in hindsight perhaps should have been stashed in Europe because his best chance at NBA success appears to be as a skilled power forward rather than a long "3 man" he needs to bulk up for that conversion. Can Brooks' confidence be restored by a new coach. Can Taylor become a rotation player and improve the team's perimeter quickness.        Time will tell if those players are given a chance and can help put the team back on track. A season that began with such promise is now full of the kind of intrigue no team wants and no successful team has. Hopefully for the new team and their fans they can emerge from it stronger and better than before.

Defense Lets One Get Away From St. John's 72-65

              Suffice it to say, St. John's didn't want to go into Big East play following a game like this. The Red Storm begin Big East play on Jan. 2nd at the pavilion against Villanova and if last night's surprising loss to Big South Conference champion UNC-Ashville is any indication, problems the team has had all season remain trouble spots that could hurt the team's chances as they start to face teams that can match, and in some cases, surpass them physically.

            For the third time this season, St. John's let a significant double digit lead slip away. It happened twice in Charleston in losses to Murray State and Baylor. This time, St. John's led on their home floor at Carnesseca Arena by 17 points with 3:11 to go in the first half. And as they built that lead there were lots of good signs. primarily with ball movement and shooting. To their credit Ashville never wavered in their style of play and tempo. They responded to the high flying athletes St. John's features in the paint with terrific fundamentals and physical toughness. Chris Obekpa had another big day with 6 blocks but often the opportunities for those plays came from poor defense as St. John's guards repeatedly allowed penetration. After St. John's opened that 17 point margin coach Eddie Biedenbach's squad had a run that included the last 5 points of the opening stanza and suddenly the lead was just 40-30 and the feeling that St. John's had let the Bulldogs hang around was palpable.

            St. John's held a 54-42 lead with just over 12 minutes left when Jeremy Atkinson began a rally with consecutive 3 pointers against what appeared to be a confused St. John's defense. Their zone inevitably gives up treys and Ashville made 4 in the second half. Today they also allowed inside plays. Ashville's point guard Keith Hornsby. who broke a 65-65 tie with a buzzer beating triple with 1:30 remaining. Moments earlier he had tied the game at 65 by leaking out following a forced St. John's shot for a breakaway dunk. The Bulldogs closed the game with a 7-0 run and out rebounded St. John's 40-30.  That margin included 13 offensive  rebounds. Atkinson pumped in a career high 31 points and added 9 rebounds. Hornsby added 14 and had 5 assist. D'Angelo Harrison lead St. John's with  24 points . In his Red Storm debut Jamal Branch had 2 points 3 boards 2 assists and 4 turnovers in 14 minutes of action. Although he was charged with those 4 turnovers he helped provide the ball movement for St. John's strong first half start.

            

Knicks vs. Nets Round 2. Plus Other Items From the Past Few Weeks

                        

            Thankfully the games, mostly college games, these days have kept me busy and with the high school season fully underway there's less time for me to wax nostalgic, poetic or any other way in these columns that jump from subject to subject with the common thread of basketball running through them. My plan is to still write them from time to time because with the resurgence in pro basketball here combined with the always good high school and college hoops there's lots to write about. And sometimes a summary of  things is all that's needed.  With all this in mind, here I go with some news and notes on the past few weeks.

Knicks Vs. Nets Round 2 Last night's 100-97 win by the Knicks over the Nets was so good on so many levels. The intensity from  fans and players alike at Barckay's Center was phenomenal and the basketball was spectacular in both its explosiveness and its subtlety. Carmelo Anthony scored 45 and essentially lifted the Knicks from a huge deficit to a position to win in the closing moments. From there Jason Kidd, J.R. Smith and the rest of the Knicks hit clutch shots to put the Knicks over the top for the win. And Anthony made the "hockey assist" pass that set up Kidd's game winning triple.  And for those who want to diminish the rivalry because it "doesn't match the Yankees vs. Red Sox or Rangers vs. Is Islanders think not only about the intensity of the crowd but the way the teams elevated their play.  The Nets could've rolled over without Lopez, they didn't and the Knicks likely would have folded last year after the early deficit.  Keep in mind too that Anthony, a guy whose capacity for leadership was questioned from the moment he arrived was the one who helped his team regain their footing and win the game.

Sad News at Hofstra It is hard to hear the news that broke from Hofstra on Nov. 30th. Four players, including local stars Jimmy Hall and Shaquille Stokes were arrested and chanrged with multiple counts of burglary in connection with a string of dorm thefts at the school. If even a small portion of these charges are proven true, these guys have sadly lost sight of the fact that it's a privilege to play basketball or any other sport on a full scholarship, and in doing so they threw away the opportunity of a lifetime. Our hearts go out to the victims and to others on campus who must be left feeling unsafe in a place where safety should be a given to foster learning and growth.

Farewell Rick Majerus The news of master coach Rick Majerus' death on December 2nd touched the hearts of many basketball fans who remember a guy who loved the game and had a great sense of humor. Though he was born in Wisconsin his connection to New York comes from his association with the late Al McGuire  Marquette coach who played at St. John's University and St. John's Prep in high school. Majerus  He was first a player and then a coach for McGuire on teams that seemed to always be on TV in the 60's and 70's before the UCLA games with John Wooden came on at 4 and they were loaded with stars from this area like Dean Meminger (Rice) Hugh McMahon (St. Francis Prep) George Thompson (Erasmus Hall) and many others. As a coach at Ball State, Marquette, Utah and finally St. Louis, Majerus won 517 games, numerous conference titles and made one trip with Utah to the final four. To me, Majerus and McGuire shared the same coaching gifts of being able to communicate with different kinds of players and a mastery of the importance of tempo in basketball. He appreciated both the structure and the freedom of basketball and incorporated both into a winning basketball strategy that was great to watch.

Local Guys Start Revival at Duquesne  Former LIU coach Jim Ferry has begun a revival in Pittsburgh at Duquesne and helped his team bounce back  from two season opening losses to win six of their last eight games; a streak that includes a win over backyard and Big 12 rival West Virginia.  His successor at LIU Jack Peri experienced a bit of coaching karma when a day after the Dukes win over WVa, the Blackbirds posted a big win in Texas against Rice. Another New Yorker, former Christ the King star Sean Johnson recently notched his 1,000th career point and is averaging a shade over 12 ppg in this his senior season.

Big East Non-Football Schools Meet to Discuss Their Future My first reaction to this can be summed up in one word FINALLY. But with a closer look at the circumstances I realize that the reason it's coming now is that if Temple, which is in for football only presently is not a full voting member of the league the 7 basketball schools have the ability to dissolve the league by themselves which would spare them from paying a costly exit fee. Leaving remains an option that is more easily said than done in light of the alternatives being discussed.  St. John's, Villanova, Georgetown, Marquette and even DePaul have long and rich  traditions in basketball and could form the basis of a league that would compete at a national level. Cherry picking teams from the Atlantic 10 may not be so easy because those schools will not leave without the promise of a bigger pay day.  ESPN's Andy Katz stated that the "ideal 5" to form a 12 team league with the original Big East seven would be Xavier, Dayton, Creighton  St Louis and Butler.   While he's correct that Dayton and Xavier are both essential even though they're both in western Ohio, to add both Creighton and St. Louis along with Butler is a bit of market saturation, which is not a bad thing but why do it in the mid west and not in the northeast by adding St. Joe' s?? Also, 12 is a good amount to begin with rather than say, a 16 team non basketball mega conference because even if they played an old school home and home conference regular season, there would still be enough games to keep strong geographic rivalries.  St. John's could still for example play Syracuse, Providence could still play Boston College and Xavier could still play Cincinnati.  This is a drama that will take a while to unfold so here's hoping that the AD's and presidents of the non football schools make the kinds of choices that allow them to stay in the big time.

Obekpa and St. John's Turn Festival Into Block Party

                                           

            Chris Obekpa set a personal best and school record of 11 blocked shots and helped his teammates to a school record of 15 blocks as St. John's held off Fordham 58-47 in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden last night.

            The Rams entered the game with a 1-7 mark and the problems that have plagued them all season did in this game also. They shot poorly (29%) and .turned the ball over entirely too much (23  times).

            In the face of those ugly numbers Fordham had done a few things right.  As coach Tom Pecora  said after the game, "If you had told me that we'd contain D'Angelo Harrison to 14 points and Phil Greene to 8 I'd say hey we have a chance to win this game".

            His team also out rebounded the Red Storm 54-40 thanks primarily to a strong effort from sophomore center Ryan Canty whose hard running led to easy opportunities for baskets and while the presence of Obekpa and JaKark Sampson meant he didn't finish them all he had made enough to give the Rams a 27-24 halftime advantage.

            St. John's would bounce back from that first half that coach Steve Lavin called "our poorest of the season" to score take a 31-27 lead as the second half began.  They'd take the lead for good with an 11-3 run that gave them a 49-41 advantage with 5:31. Sampson contributed six points to that rally including two with his trademark jumper from the key and two free throws. And while Lavin talked about Obekpa's unique combination of timing and length to describe what he called a "unique" shot blocking ability. Sampson succinctly described his teammate's impact on the game. "When Chris blocks a shot it energizes us it's like a dunk on offense," Sampson said.  "t makes us want to play defense and be there with him defensively."

            That energy helped St. John's fight their way past both a wide rebounding margin and a poor shooting effort for an important win against a local rival. Sampson posted a double double with 16 points and 10 boards. Obekpa added five rebounds and seven points  which included one tough jumper from the key and one put back dunk which had the same energizing effect as his blocks .St. John's improved to 7-3 on the year. Fordham which dropped to 1-8 and hopes to have leading scorer Chris Gaston back for Saturday's game against Princeton at Barclay's Center got 15 points and 16 rebounds from Canty

Harrison and Sampson Combine to Rescue St. John's

            

     D'angelo Harrison's 17 second half points and JaKar Sampson's first career double-double helped St. John's avoid an upset loss to a determined N.J.I.T. team 57-49 win at Carnesecca Arena yesterday.

            Throughout the first half coach Jim Engles squad had the game at their pace thanks to a patient offense and what St. John's coach Steve Lavin might have referred to as a "quicksand man to man" defense. St. John's often uses a zone to force the opposition to use the shot clock. The Highlanders followed cutters through the lane and switched on dribble hand offs but seldom ventured outside the key to challenge shooters. That strategy worked and N.J.I.T. combined that with outstanding 3-point marksmanship (6=10) to surge to a 35-23 halftime advantage. Former St Peter's (SI) High standout Ryan Woods who began his college career at Division II Pace University connected on 3 of those first half tri-fectas and finished with a team high 16 points.

            Harrison, who finished the game with 21 points was briefly admonished by Lavin for showing up his teammates who weren't catching his passes. In the second half he did a much better job of leadership scoring 9 points and playing with better energy to ignite a 19-5 spurt out of the locker room and give St. John's a 42-40 lead. Meanwhile Sampson snared 17 rebounds to go along with 15 points and his effort helped St. John's turn a 6 rebound deficit at halftime into a 6 rebound margin for the game. Chris Obekpa who added 8 points and 5 blocks scored 4 consecutive points when he and Harrison first faked a dribble hand off that led to a spin move off the right block and a dunk. On the very next play he took a feed from Sampson and connected on a short jumper to move the Red Storm's lead from 1 point to 5, bring a listless crowd to its feet and effectively salt the game away.

            St. John's heads west to face the University of San Francisco on Tuesday ay 10:pm