NEW YORK – Oh, baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now?
Don’t it feel like something from a dream?
Yeah, I’ve never known nothing quite like this. Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again?
– Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “The Waiting”
The desire among St. John’s fans for a cohesive basketball team, one whose collective whole is greater than the sum of its parts, has spent nearly two decades in a cycle of reformation, never quite reaching a finished product.
Mike Jarvis. Norm Roberts. Steve Lavin, Chris Mullin. The names changed, the players did, too. The end result – outside of just four NCAA Tournament appearances since the Clinton administration – has remained the same. Only now does it seem like the latest attempt at reinventing the wheel might be one in which the adhesive thrown at the proverbial wall finally sticks.
When looking at the final score of the Red Storm’s 82-63 victory Wednesday night over Columbia, look not at how the final margin was trimmed from 30 points to a more manageable 19, nor at the lack of a takeover scorer that has come to be commonplace on the corner of Union and Utopia in the Marcus Hattens, D’Angelo Harrisons and Shamorie Pondses of the world. Rather, the one prevailing takeaway is that of the head coach and his staff taking players and developing them to both their fullest potential AND the betterment of the team as a whole.
“I thought we got some more guys ready tonight,” Mike Anderson assessed when questions lingered as to how St. John’s (4-1) would respond off a loss for the first time this season following a two-point, last-second setback at the hands of Vermont Saturday afternoon. “You look at Greg Williams, I thought he got more comfortable. You saw David (Caraher) out there and what he brings to the table for our basketball team, so we’ve got some other guys that, now, all of a sudden, they’re contributing. You continue to see what Marcellus (Earlington) brings to our team.”
What a 180, right? And it only begins there on the surface. Williams continues to round into form after a preseason injury, Caraher has provided a lethal shot off the bench, and with eight points and eight rebounds, Earlington once again showed why the cries from Red Storm fans for Mullin to play him more often were legitimate gripes.
Then, there was Rasheem Dunn, who racked up 14 first-half points in almost as many minutes to raise his two-game total to 27 points in 50 minutes since receiving a waiver to play immediately, and more importantly, the interior presence of Josh Roberts (11 rebounds and three blocked shots in a defensive tour de force) and freshman Julian Champagnie (14 points, seven rebounds) in his latest revelatory moment in an X-factor rookie campaign.
“We’ve got a grading system,” Anderson revealed after a performance where Champagnie’s two-way play belied his tender age on more than one occasion. “And Julian and Josh have been probably the guys that have graded out the most consistent. Tonight, even early on, he wasn’t making shots, but then he started attacking the glass, running lanes, I think he got some offensive rebounds for us. He continues to get confidence, and that’s going to be important for us. His confidence growing only makes us a much better basketball team. I’ve been pleased thus far.”
With regard to Roberts, Anderson praised the rapid ascent of his sophomore forward’s own trajectory.
“He continues to patrol the backboard,” he said after last week’s win over New Hampshire. “He’s that back line. If we’re pressuring up, somebody’s got to be back there, and he’s starting to see that. Early on, he wasn’t seeing that, and now his rotation is getting there. He’s just playing with maximum effort, and it just takes our guys to another level. When he’s playing like that and engaged like that, you see our defense really just kind of go up. He’s playing to his strengths, and I think what you see right now – even in January and February – I think you’re going to see a guy that’s oozing with a lot of confidence.”
Heading into a weekend where on tap for the Red Storm is a third meeting with Arizona State in 23 months and a potential date with reigning national champion Virginia should St. John’s finally eclipse the Sun Devils, the growth is a welcome sight. So, too, is the assertion – a brutally honest and heartfelt claim at that as opposed to past lip service – that the best is yet to come.
“We’re not the type of team that’s going to show up and win,” said Anderson. “We’ve got to be blue-collar, do the right things defensively and offensively. This team is building right in front of your eyes. We’ve still got a ways to go, but we’ve got to continue – even the guys that start out – to bring that same sense of urgency, offensively and defensively.”
The waiting is the hardest part.
Have not seen this kind of growth in players in such a short period of time in over 20 years. Great job by Coach Anderson and his hard working staff!
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