Steve Lavin came to Queens hailed as a recruiting maestro. Five years later, that skill has come into question, with a paper-thin and limited roster that has started out 0-3 for the second straight year in the Big East and raised even more doubt about what the future holds with so many seniors set to graduate.
Lavin produced results quickly, landing the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the country in his first full recruiting cycle, which included current NBA players Maurice Harkless and JaKarr Sampson as well as current seniors D'Angelo Harrison, Sir'Dominic Pointer and Phil Greene IV.
His second class wasn't as big, but it was impressive, including shot-blocking specialist Chris Obekpa — who had de-committed after failing to qualify as a freshman — and Felix Balamou, at the time considered an important piece.
The past two years have produced less success. St. John's has signed four players — two have failed to qualify, one, forward Amar Abilegovic, rarely plays, and the other, sophomore Rysheed Jordan, is a talented enigma.
Here, we delve into what has gone wrong:
Misses
Not since Harkless has Lavin brought in a city star. He missed on current freshmen Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall) and Chris McCullough (Syracuse), players who would have made an immediate impact as core pieces. Another Seton Hall freshman guard, Khadeen Carrington of Brooklyn, would have been a useful player. St. John's was considered his leader before backing off over the summer.
The staff spent a large portion of their 2013 summer on current North Carolina State freshman forward Malik Abdul-Abu, but failed to crack his final four. They landed a commitment from Rico Gathers in the summer of 2011, but he opted for Baylor months later, and they were in the final four for forward Jarell Martin in the fall of 2012, but he chose LSU, where he's the SEC's leading scorer.
Questionable choices
Lavin and his staff have gambled throughout their tenure on academic question marks, and that often has hurt them. It began right away. Center Novel Pelle — the centerpiece of that top three recruiting class — was one of three players not to qualify, along with Sampson and Amir Garrett. Unlike the others, Pelle never played a second of Division I college basketball.
St. John's coach Steve Lavin talks to his team during a recent game.Photo: AP
JUCO transfer Orlando Sanchez only played one year instead of two because it was deemed by the NCAA that, at age 24, he only had one year of eligibility. The biggest gaffe was Keith Thomas, the nation's leading JUCO rebounder who was supposed to replace Sampson and Sanchez up front.
Thomas, an investigation revealed, was part of a transcript-fixing scheme at Westchester CC and was ruled a non-qualifier in the fall.
As a result St. John's has been forced to play small without him — in addition to partial qualifier Adonis De La Rosa of Christ the King in Queens who can only practice — using the 6-foot-6 Pointer at power forward. Thomas was considered an academic question mark in coaching circles.
Furthermore, there has been dead weight on the roster, players on scholarship who either lack the talent or haven't been developed enough to make an impact. Some were recruiting reaches, others just haven't improved.
Roster management is an issue, which is one reason St. John's only signed one player in its 2013 class, because of the presence of seldom-used guards Max Hooper and Marco Bourgault. Forward Christian Jones and Balamou are in their third year in the program and yet neither has shown the ability to play at this level.
The team is playing one scholarship short — 12 players are on scholarship as opposed to 13 most teams have — but that group includes former walk-on Khadim Ndiaye, who has yet to play a meaningful minute this season, and De La Rosa, who only is able to practice. Thus, it is more like 10.
Murky future
Lavin has earmarked 2015 as a key class for a while now, pointing to this year as why he didn't recruit much in 2014. Yet St. John's signed just one player — three-star Philadelphia guard Samir Doughty — during the early period. There is a chance the Red Storm will lose their top six players if Jordan and Obekpa declare for the NBA, leaving a barren roster in need of a drastic makeover.
Lavin, it should be noted, is in good position with Louisiana shooting guard Brandon Sampson, a top 50 recruit in the senior class who is down to the Red Storm, USC and California. He remains in the mix for top 10 forward Cheick Diallo of Our Savior New American (L.I.) and highly regarded JUCO forward DeShawn Freeman. The loss of heralded New Jersey guard Isaiah Briscoe, who picked Kentucky over St. John's, was a crushing blow for a program in need of a boost.
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