Heron eager to prove his mettle for St. John's

Now eligible after hardship waiver was approved, Mustapha Heron is wasting no time immersing himself in fabric of St. John's makeup as Red Storm hope to live up to massive hype. (Photo by Amanda Negretti/The Torch)

JAMAICA, NY -- It was a sigh of relief.

That was how Mustapha Heron described the approval of his hardship waiver, granted last Saturday, allowing the Connecticut native to suit up for St. John's this season without penalty of sitting out a year following his transfer from Auburn to be closer to his ailing mother, Thalia.

"I waited the whole summer for it," Heron recounted Tuesday, discussing the circumstances of his dilemma before a throng of reporters gathered for St. John's annual media day. "But we still had practice during the summer, and I just went to practice every day as if I was playing, as if I was cleared already. I didn't want to get to this point of the season and just be getting ready to try to learn plays and stuff, so we came in with the idea that I'm playing right away, so we learned the plays, we learned the sets. I'm ready as if I was told from day one that I was able to play."

"I went in with the mindset that I was playing, so I didn't think about the waiver that much. If it didn't come this year, then next year would be the year. It wasn't a hard process."

To paraphrase the rally cry of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, this is next year, and Heron joins a St. John's lineup that boasts perhaps the Big East Conference's best all-around talent in junior point guard Shamorie Ponds, plus a Swiss Army knife in Justin Simon and war horse down low in senior Marvin Clark II. That quartet, together with incoming transfers Mikey Dixon and Sedee Keita, form a deep rotation that projects as the Red Storm's most talented roster since head coach Chris Mullin returned to the program in 2015, but among the newcomers, it is clear who stands out most.

"We both play off each other," Ponds said of the interplay between he and Heron, with whom he played and competed against in various high school tournaments over the years in the tri-state area, and quickly becomes his primary running mate in one of the Big East's most formidable backcourts. "We've both developed to be great leaders, and I feel like if I'm off the ball and he's on the ball, we're pretty confident. He helps us a lot. He can definitely go down there and bang, push the tempo. When I first committed, I was trying to convince him to come, but it didn't work out. It's definitely exciting because we've got a lot of chemistry."

Early returns have indicated Heron already stands as a consummate teammate, but his true leadership values have yet to translate to the rabid fan base who now places its trust in him to help carry St. John's back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years. Having won a game on that stage at Auburn last season, he has a distinct sense of what it takes to get there and prevail, and is ready for the challenge of instilling that in his brethren, along with that of being a leader by example on and off the floor.

"I think it's valuable," he said of his postseason experience. "We have three guys that made it, and we can talk to the younger guys about what it means, what it takes to get to the tournament. I think it's just about going out and having fun, and at the end of the day, it's just a game that brings people together. As long as we go out and have fun and play hard, the end result will take care of itself."

"I try to pride myself on being one of the hardest workers every time I step into any type of arena. From a leadership standpoint, I'm just being as vocal as I can and being a guy who leads by example, I go out and play hard every night with the mindset that we're gonna get better and just try to learn."